As a hiring manager, do you look for AI savviness or usage experience? If so, how do you evaluate for it?

When evaluating candidates, I look for AI sophistication and operational application. I want product marketers who view AI as a strategic thought partner and force multiplier to solve complex operational problems, rather than a crutch to outsource their own thinking.During the case study presentation, I stress-test how dependent a candidate is on AI. I do this by drilling into the underlying logic behind their framework - pressing them on why they chose a specific vertical or how they arrived at ...Read More

I value curiosity and problem-solving. A PMM who hit a token limit and then switched to another tool showed the kind of resourcefulness I look for. I ran a week-long project where I mentored PMMs daily, watching their learning and problem-solving. One person hit their Claude token max, so I asked if they tried continuing in Gemini. That ability to pivot and find a workaround is exactly the hunger and outside-the-box thinking I want. It's not about mastery of one tool but the drive to keep going ...Read More

I look for candidates who can quickly learn and build using AI; I might give them 24 hours to research my business and produce a deliverable, testing their curiosity and ability to generate valuable output fast. AI's two core uses for me are learning and building. I want to see candidates demonstrate both: the curiosity to dive into an industry and the skill to produce something tangible. In interviews, I give them an ambiguous problem about our space and see if, with AI tools, they can research ...Read More

I don't test for AI proficiency; I look for curiosity, comfort with ambiguity, and desire to learn. AI enables even junior PMMs to punch above their weight, accelerating the core human skills of storytelling and positioning. AI changes so fast that tool-specific skills are less important. I seek candidates who are eager to learn business context and audience nuance. With AI automating early tasks, junior PMMs can focus on high-level crafts like message differentiation and storytelling. So I eval ...Read More