My personal take is that when I am speaking with strong product candidates, I
can see a few qualities shine through in their story. For me, those are: 1.
They are constant Learners/curious They are c
Product Management Interviews
8 answers
VP of Product at Shopify • February 9
Product Management Area Lead at Asana • May 17
For me the biggest differentiator is having a growth mindset. This doesn't just
mean they want to make an impact and improve as a PM. For me it comes down to
three things: They have a sense of what t
Senior Product Lead at Shopify | Formerly Salesforce, Google, Nest, Cisco Systems • July 26
They teach you something in the interview I once interviewed a woman who had
extensive experience working for a telecommunications company. I have zero
experience in telco – aside from being a custo
Senior Director, Product Management at Headspace Health • August 23
A few things: A very deep understanding of the problems they are looking to
solve. This gets reflected in how they speak about past experiences (why did you
choose to work on a specific problem, what
Director of Product, Fulfillment at ezCater | Formerly Wayfair, Abstract, CustomMade, Sonicbids • November 7
I'll speak to commonalities in IC PMs since I have less experience hiring other
product leaders. It's really just 4 things in my view: A clear ability to break
down complex, multi-faceted problems in
Head of Product, Enterprise Agility at Atlassian • November 9
Best product management candidates craft compelling, concise and inspirational
narratives when they interview. They demonstrate clarity of thinking, knowing
both the facts and the "why" behind their a
Product Leadership - Ads, Personalization & ML/ AI at Meta | Formerly Stripe, Flipkart, Yahoo • January 17
The best Product managers combine curiosity with structured problem solving
skills. Being curious helps them look at problems as opportunities to learn &
grow. Ability to frame & structure a p
Director of Product Management (Cloud Platform) at Atlassian • March 28
The best PM's have: - Strong leadership and communication skills. To be able to
talk to customers, stakeholders, and leadership with the right context. They are
good at leading teams with ambiguous pr
6 answers
Director of Product Management at Carta | Formerly Salesforce, MuleSoft, Apple • February 3
My favorite interview question was asked by a hiring manager ~8 years ago when I
interviewed for an Associate PM position at MuleSoft. I was asked the following:
"Imagine humans decided to take the mo
Head of Product, Enterprise Agility at Atlassian • February 16
"Assume I don't know anything. Teach me something in the next two minutes about
a topic you are passionate about - can be anything". This questions helps me
understand how a person thinks on their fee
Head of Product, Revenue & Monetization at Asana • May 17
The question I love asking every candidate is "tell me the story of the most
impactful thing you’ve ever worked on." I like this question for several
reasons: It works for every level of experience.
Senior Director, Product Management at Headspace Health • August 23
For very role-specific hiring: "Knowing about the role, how does your experience
and skillset fit the needs?" The best answer: Reflects the candidate really
understands our company, has done research
Group Manager, Product Management at GitLab • March 6
One question I love to ask is: "Tell me about a time when a conversation with a
customer made you realize that your product direction was wrong." I have heard
so many great stories about dispelling
3 answers
Director of Product Management at Carta | Formerly Salesforce, MuleSoft, Apple • February 3
There are different paths that each product manager takes, but the common ones
I've seen are: 1. Joining a tech company as an Associate PM or an intern
straight from college. For college grads, I sugg
Head of Product, Enterprise Agility at Atlassian • February 16
There is a fork in the PM career path road: one is becoming a people manager,
the other becoming an expert in a deep thinking product area sans managing a
team. My recommendation is to figure out whi
Product Leadership - Ads, Personalization & ML/ AI at Meta | Formerly Stripe, Flipkart, Yahoo • January 17
This is a very interesting question and one that I keep touching upon on almost
all career conversations with my teams & mentees. There is no one typical career
path for PMs, which can be both lib
2 answers
Director of Product, Fulfillment at ezCater | Formerly Wayfair, Abstract, CustomMade, Sonicbids • November 7
I personally bias toward PMs (or aspiring PMs) with a creative mind, whether
that's shown through actual background experience in a creative field, or a
highly creative or unconventional response to a
VP, Product Management at Contentful | Formerly Twilio, SendGrid • January 3
I look for candidates who demonstrate curiosity and structured thinking during
product interviews. Curiosity is an essential trait for PMs because it helps
them stay up to date on industry trends and
2 answers
Senior Product Lead at Shopify | Formerly Salesforce, Google, Nest, Cisco Systems • July 26
What are your greatest hits? You really can’t avoid the “tell me about yourself”
question in any interview you do and every candidate should be prepared for this
question. I like to put a twist on t
Director of Product, Fulfillment at ezCater | Formerly Wayfair, Abstract, CustomMade, Sonicbids • November 7
I like to ask two types of questions: (1) behavioral-style questions, which
prompt the candidate to use specific examples from their past experience, rather
than hypotheticals, to describe how they ha
2 answers
Senior Product Lead at Shopify | Formerly Salesforce, Google, Nest, Cisco Systems • July 26
Tell the interviewee what they want to hear up front Who are you? What type of
interview is this? How long will this last? Will I be able to ask questions?
What's the next step after this? Don’t ask
Director of Product, Fulfillment at ezCater | Formerly Wayfair, Abstract, CustomMade, Sonicbids • November 7
Talk even less and give the candidate even more time/space than you think to
thoroughly respond to your question. You'll learn a ton about a candidate simply
by giving them the floor. Also - it's a l
2 answers
Senior Product Lead at Shopify | Formerly Salesforce, Google, Nest, Cisco Systems • July 26
Interview Red Flags During a Product Case Interview – If your interviewer is
having to guide you through each section or prompt you with several follow up
questions, that’s not a good thing. If a can
Director of Product, Fulfillment at ezCater | Formerly Wayfair, Abstract, CustomMade, Sonicbids • November 8
I've sort of answered this in other questions asked, but to restate: Red Flags
usually manifest in candidates who are Unable to speak to specific impact they
(as opposed to their team/org) have had o
1 answer
Director of Product, Fulfillment at ezCater | Formerly Wayfair, Abstract, CustomMade, Sonicbids • November 8
I think going "above and beyond" is a totally subjective thing; it is up to each
individual what is above their baseline of preparation for an interview. But -
here are a list of things I think are ta
3 answers
Senior Product Lead at Shopify | Formerly Salesforce, Google, Nest, Cisco Systems • July 26
There are 2 main types of interviews for Product Management roles: Product case
interviews Behavioral interviews (by cross functional partners like UX or
Engineering, or by the hiring manager) With
Head of Product Marketing at LottieFiles | Formerly WeLoveNoCode (made $3.6M ARR), Abstract, Flawless App (sold) • August 17
Some typical mistakes to avoid on the PM & PMM interviews: Not having your story
tailored to the job requirements. Not having your homework done: the less you
know about the company, the less yo
Director of Product, Fulfillment at ezCater | Formerly Wayfair, Abstract, CustomMade, Sonicbids • November 8
I have a few simple ones: Not being able to clearly denote what they (the
candidate) did to achieve something of impact, as opposed to the
team/partners/etc. they worked with. In a case-style intervi
2 answers
Senior Product Lead at Shopify | Formerly Salesforce, Google, Nest, Cisco Systems • July 26
There’s a ton of literature published on PM interviewing - frameworks, types of
questions, types of interviews, etc. Your time is best spent introspecting, not
obsessing over all the interviewing cont
Director of Product, Fulfillment at ezCater | Formerly Wayfair, Abstract, CustomMade, Sonicbids • November 8
I've found that the ability to speak clearly to your past experiences and how
you've either (a) uniquely added value or (b) learned and grew from a given
experience largely is the most important thing