I failed another Product Management interview : Here is what you can learn !

Product management interview has never been easy, a lot of things are attached from confidence to good communication skills and product sense. I had read a lot books about these but reading and actualizing are two different things entirely.

I learnt few things from my recent interviews and I would love to share with you.

1. Prepare well and over confidence kills : To prepare for a product management interview, one has to prepare well and also do few research on the company and set connections with their present employees. Well, overconfidence can make you feel all these aren’t necessary but they actually matter.
2. Thought process : As a product manager, at each stage the structure of your thoughts plays a critical role in the interview. I was asked a question about “ being the VP of product in twitter and how I will handle internal stakeholders collaboration” … Well, I couldn’t respond well because I was amazed and I wasn’t expecting it tho..
3. Prove that you’ve had success : I don’t care how many certifications you have. I don’t care how many letters you have after your name. I don’t care how many inside connections you have in the market or the company. All that I care about is that you can prove to me that you know your shit. What have you done that worked well in the past? What things have you done that you’d do differently now? How have you contributed to the bottom line in other companies that you’ve worked at? How do your coworkers view you — an enabler or an obstacle?
4. Understand context : This is the stage where you need to zoom out and have a 10000 feet view. Consider following elements for context…

• Core competency: How relevant is the new feature/product to companies goals and core competencies.
• Economics: Why is it important for us to launch this feature/product now?
• Competition: Who are the players that are already there in the market sometimes, you need to look beyond obvious for understanding the competition.
• Behavioural changes: Have there been any recent behavioural changes in the population? For eg., adoption of mobile phone or penetration of internet.
• Ecosystem: Be aware of the eco-system. At times when you are too focused on customer, you may miss-out on other users in the eco-system and cause destruction in value for them.

5. The future : A common question you are likely to encounter is, “What are you looking forward to in this job?” or “Why are you looking for change and why this job”

• Talk about future plans, what excites you?
• Talk about what you learnt in your previous job, that you can contribute to in the new job
• Talk about how this role is perfect for you to make career progression
• Talk about how you really hold the prospective company in high regard

Below are some reasons why I was rejected in this round :

• Not having the understanding of role or company.
• Unable to justify the shift of domain or industry
• Unable to justify the shift from leadership role to individual contributor role

Thank you so much for reading this !

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