Cracking the PM Interview: How to Land a Product Manager Job in Technology (Cracking the Interview & Career)

by Gayle Laakmann McDowell

way. Consider integrating one or more of these aspects into your answer: Company Research: You can use your answer to show that you’ve done research about the company or position. Doing research shows passion for the position, and passionate employees make good employees. For exa...

UI designer made about the different methods you use for data analysis, and how this helps you build a better product. I’m very quantitative, so I really want to work for such a data-driven company.” Relevant Experience: Your answer can actually communicate to the interviewer directly that you have rel...

really interested in testing tools. For my senior project in college, I built an automated way of detecting certain types of errors. I learned a ton about different types of website errors and ways to detect them. I was really intrigued by how much impact automated testing can do, if done well—but I also learned just how challenging...

Passion: It can be valuable to directly communicate passion for a position. This is especially true for startups that are focused on some sort of “greater good” for the world. For example, for an education-related startup, it could be good to have an explanation like this: “I grew up fairly poor and attended pretty mediocre elementary ...

and college was seeking out extra resources. At that time, this meant public libraries, mentors, and a small number of websites. I think your company has the potential to bring these online resources to a much broader community of disadvantaged students. This was so meaningful to me growing up that I really...

by your having researched the company or being really passionate about working for them. They presume, for better or worse, that you want to work for them. It’s better to show a passion for the role/team, or some experience that makes you a good fit. Avoid answers about it being a good stepping stone for your career or a nice name for a resume....

At a startup, passion for the company or expertise in the space can be really important. You should use the company’s product and have an opinion about it. Avoid answers about wanting the “financial upside” of a startup. That doesn’t make you a better candidate; it just means you like money. It also means you might be unrealistic about the hardships of a startup or that you might leave the second things get rough. Try to come up with two or three reasons prior to your interview. And, of course, practice your answer. If you’re asked this questio...

Why you are a good PM: Have you shown initiative in your current job? Do you have deep technical skills? Have you been successful as a PM in the past?

Where possible, back up your answer with evidence. It will be much more convincing. Why you are a good fit for this space: Have you worked in an area relevant to the team or company? Are you really passionate about the space? Why? This is a good time to mention what you know about the company or team’s industry. For example, if you know a bunch about advertising, talk to the

interviewer about how you have experience in this area. Why you are a good fit for this company’s culture or work environment: Sometimes, there can be unique aspects of the company’s environment that make you a good fit. For example, suppose it’s a very small startup where PMs take on a lot of responsibilities b...

First, he’s shown he wants to be there and he can do the job well. Second, he’s offered information to compensate for what an interviewer might perceive as a gap in his expertise: data analysis. Third, he’s used the opportunity to list specific, concrete accomplishments that wouldn’t otherwise appear on his resume, such as being recruited by a manager.

“Why are you leaving your current job?” Often, this question is asked as an icebreaker. Your interviewer isn’t necessarily looking for anything specific; she just wants to learn a bit more about you. Your goal is essentially to not screw things up.

“To be honest, I’m actually pretty happy in my current role and wasn’t really looking to leave. I stumbled across this job opening though, and it sounded like such a great opportunity I just couldn’t pass it up.”

This is not a time to blabber for a while. Keep it short and sweet; one to three sentences should be enough to handle this question.

“Where do you see yourself in five years?”

An interviewer asks this question for several reasons: To understand if you actually want

this job: If the role doesn’t fit into your long-term goals, it’s a good tip-off to your interviewer you are just looking at this as a short-term job to fill in the gaps. Moreover, if you’re not prepared to answer this question, it might be a sign you don’t really care about the job. To see if you even have a plan: Successful people tend to know where they’re going in life. If you don’t have a plan, an interviewer might worry you’re not

very serious about your career. To test your ambition: Ambitious people generally make good employees. If your long-term goals reflect a lack of ambition, that’s not a good sign. Similarly, if you’re unrealistically ambitious, that also isn’t a good sign. You have expectations the company can’t match, and you’re unlikely to be a...

for your long-term goals, the company wants to know that. You’d be unhappy in the job, would likely be unsuccessful, and would quickly lea...

“What are your strengths and weaknesses?”

That said, it is a good idea to accentuate—or at least mention—the positive side of the weakness. What have you learned from it? Are there any benefits to this? How do you compensate for this weakness?

Sample Strengths creative decisive calm under pressure understand people’s feelings detail-oriented multitasking persistent independent

not afraid of challenges add humor and fun to a team scrappy organized risk taking see things through initiative quantitative good at taking feedback data-driven

good mentor; caring enjoy learning new skills analytical energetic thinking outside the box thorough flexible go...

self-critical prior...

Sample Weaknesses lack of confidence unrealistic indecisive procrastinator hesitant asking for help argumentative bad at multitasking shy

overly confident makes too many assumptions impatient intimidating to others difficulty admitting failure overanalyzing can be very vague short attention span not detail-oriented too negative

unassertive stubborn take feedback personally too direct / blunt easily distra...

Communication There’s good news about behavioral questions: even if you can’t nail the content part, you can at least nail the communication part. The trick is to apply some specific structures.

Nugget First The “nugget first” structure is a simple one. It means to start off your response with the “nugget”—or thesis—of what your story will be about. For example, when your interviewer asks you about a challenge you faced at work, you might open your response with, “Sure, let

me tell you about the time had an underperforming teammate.” Such as opener helps your interviewer focus on what you’re about to say, allowing them to slot all the bits of information you’re about to give them into that context. The remainder of your story feels more structured as a result. When you mention additional details, such as being behind on a deadline, your interviewer knows that the point of

the story is the coworker, not the deadline. It also helps to focus you on what you’re about to say. You’ll be less likely to provide extraneous details because you know you...

Situation, Action, Result (S.A.R.) The Situation, Action, Result structure can be used on its...

the Nugget First approach. The S.A.R. (also often called S.T.A.R.—Situation, Task, Action, Result) approach means to describe the following components: Situation: Your goal here is to provide sufficient background information to understand what you did and why it ma...

that doesn’t truly inform them. For example, if you’re describing a project where your team was behind, it may not be necessary to describe the details of the project. Simply saying “We were working on a project for a key client” might be enough. Action: You then describe the actions you took. Note that the stor...

after all, is hiring you. Result: Finally, you explain the results of your actions. How did you help your team or your company? How did people respond? When possible, quantify your impact. Tell your interviewer your actions led to a 10%...

By structuring your response this way, you allow the interviewer to clearly understand what was going on, what steps you took, and what the result was. Note that, in this case, there was no need to discuss what the feature was or why the developers were excited about it. It’s not relevant to this story.

Preparation To deliver strong content, you need to be well prepared. In fact, in many ways preparing for behavioral questions is probably the best “bang for your buck.” You know you’ll be asked behavioral questions and, with proper preparation, you really can master these questions. Step 1: Create a Preparation Grid

A preparation grid helps you map your experience to the common behavioral questions. It might look something like this: Job 1 Job 2 Extracurricular Leadership / Influence Teamwork Successes Challenges Mistakes /Failures In the columns, you list each major “chunk”

of your resume: each role, each project, and each extracurricular (volunteer, etc.) activity. In the rows, you list the major categories for behavioral questions: leadership / influence, teamwork, successes, challenges, and mistakes / failures. Then, fill in each cell with one to three stories. Creating such a grid will make it easy for ...

question like, “Tell me about a time when you dealt with a hostile coworker.” or, “How did you show leadership at your last company?” you’ll have a story on hand to deliver. Step 2: Master Five Key Stories The cells above have lots of stories, but what you want to master is five key stories that best represent why you’re a great PM candi...

She’s right; it could have been. It was the developers who tracked down the problem. All this candidate really did was write an email apologizing. That’s not substantial. Make sure each of your stories has a “meaty” situation, action, and result. Rehearse your story with someone and have them parrot back to you the gist of these three components. Many

five areas, so you’ll want to make sure that you have good coverage of these topics across your five key stories. These common topics are: Leadership & Influence Challenges Mistakes / failures Successes Teamwork

Mistakes & Failures At least one of your interviewers is likely to ask about failures or mistakes. The goal of this question, as with other behavioral questions, is to sell yourself. However, what “selling yourself” means here is a bit different than in other questions. Your interviewer will be looking for the following:

A Big Failure: Your interviewer wants to see that you’ve truly failed before. Right or wrong, many people believe that if you haven’t failed then you haven’t really tried. No one is perfect all the time. Thus, counterintuitively, you need to have a substantial failure under your belt.

Sample Questions Tell me about a time when you made a mistake. Tell me about a time when you failed. Tell me about a time when you improperly analyzed a situation. Tell me about a time when you were disappointed with yourself. Tell me about a time when you were unable to juggle all your responsibilities. Successes

Tell me about something you’re proud of accomplishing. Tell me about a time when you reached a goal that was important. Tell me a specific insight you

gained from something outside of work. Tell me about a time when you went above and beyond the call of duty. Describe a time when you resolved a situation before it became serious. Tell me about a time when you had to show innovation.

Tell me about a time when you solved a problem in...

Tell me about a time when you had to work across teams to accomplish something. Tell me about a time when you had a disagreement at work. Tell me about a time when you mentored or aided a coworker. Tell me about a time when you had to do something you didn’t want