AMA: Dovetail Head of Product Marketing, Alissa Lydon on Product Marketing Interviews

Getting too lost in the details. I am always evaluating a PMM's craft knowledge and attention to detail, but I don't need to know all of the details to know if you're a good PMM. Instead, I want to see you flex your storytelling muscle and show me that you can elevate mundane concepts into a strong and compelling narrative. When I'm interviewing PMM candidates, one of the questions I ask myself is, "Would I be able to put this person in front of the sales team/leadership team/entire company to get them excited about a launch or some other big PMM initiative?" If they are getting lost in details and not bringing it back to some larger narrative, then I worry that they would get lost and ultimately not fulfill one of our primary charters: aligning teams through a shared goal or purpose.

The best interviewing advice I ever received was when I was in Sales: always close your interviewer. Your final question should pivot away from asking about the company or opportunity, and instead start shifting to the next steps. Something like, "Based on our conversation today, is there any additional information I can provide about my experience that would move me on to the next step?" This gives the interviewer a chance to provide feedback on what they like about your experience, or even give feedback on what you might be missing in your resume that is causing them to hesitate. If it's the latter, it gives you one last chance to position yourself favorably and share that one last anecdote that could get them excited about your candidacy, and at least move you on to the next round to learn more.

You should always have a few case study-style stories in your back pocket for a product marketing interview, such as an example of a launch, a sales enablement program, a growth project, and more. This gives you a chance to showcase your craft knowledge (frameworks, processes, collaboration, etc.), along with an opportunity to tell the story about how your work drove commercial outcomes (pipeline, ARR, conversion rates, etc.).

In my experience, PMM teams are successful when you find the right blend of execution and strategy. I want to work with people who have a mind for the bigger picture but also aren't afraid to do the work. Red flags for me would be candidates who: 1. Are all execution, but can't communicate how their work contributes to real business impact, or 2. Only talk about strategy, and then get other people to do the dirty work I am always looking for people who are comfortable in that middle ground. They know how to prioritize their work, but also know when it's time to roll up their sleeves and just write the blog post.

My go-to technical assessment is asking candidates to present a case study on a launch they have done in the past. This helps me evaluate: * PMM craft—launches are a core competency of product marketing. While one launch process can vary from the next, I want to ensure that a candidate has a point of view on the mechanics and knows what good looks like. Do they understand concepts like tiering? Do they know the basic list of materials that need to be developed? How do they approach cross-functional stakeholders in Product, GTM, etc.? * Collaborative muscle - Building on the previous point, I want to see concrete examples of how they bring other teams into the launch process. Beyond just looping in legal to update T&Cs and those kinds of "checkbox" items, I want to see how they extend their efforts through deep partnership. For example, how are they working with Sales and Success to enable customer-facing teams for success from launch day? What about tapping marketing for content creation needs or Product for a beta customer quote? These are just a few examples of how I want to see candidates build meaningful relationships. * Storytelling ability - An exercise like this, when done well, is not simply a readout of tactics or a planning doc. Instead, it's an opportunity to showcase your ability to tell a broader story, which is ultimately the primary role of PMM. I want to see your ability to elevate the slog of a launch and tell me how it drove real impact for the business, and I want to leave the session feeling excited about how you might do the same at our organization.

No mentions of business impact. It's great to see experience with launches, sales enablement, and other PMM focus areas. But if you can't communicate the downstream positive effects (e.g. increased pipeline, higher close rates, etc.), then you're missing a key part of the puzzle. Wherever possible, be sure to connect tactical work to the larger business to showcase that you can operate on multiple levels.