As a hiring manager & after interviewing 300+ mid-level, senior, principal, and director-level product managers in 2023 and 2024, here’s a quick collection of 7 tips (in no particular order):
- Show your curiosity. It’s such a key part of being a PM. Asking questions, not being satisfied with surface-level answers, connecting dots, & seeking confirmation of your hunches. Even if it’s not in the rubric, you’ll seem/feel more like a PM to the interviewers.
- Ask good questions. Not just to show you’re curious but to show that you think like a product leader. Actually, get to know the business, the product, and how the team operates. It’s useful information, and you demonstrate that you know what to look for.
- If the interview process includes a case study, the content you put on the “future iterations” slide is often equally important to the phase #1 recommendation.
- Remember the PM equivalent of “I’m not a lawyer” and “This is not financial advice” — I would never estimate a project on my own without working closely with engineering.
- Ensure you have your technology set up appropriately and know how to use Google Meet / Zoom / whatever the hiring company uses. Know how to share your screen. Make sure your mic works clearly. Don’t use a phone in portrait mode as your video…
- On your resume, if the company isn’t a household brand – incl. a one-liner explaining what they do. Many company websites don’t do a good job at that, and you don’t want to be judged based on your marketing team.
- Let them record your interview. Why? 1) panelists watch recordings from your earlier/later interviews & get a fuller picture of who you are; 2) if someone’s on the fence & they ask for a 2nd opinion, you get a 2nd chance that might otherwise have been a no.