BYOMSPM

In this post I recap The Product Podcast’s episode with Randy Edgar on interviewing for PM roles.

Grade I gave myself for this assignment: 87/100

First, Edgar gives his top two tips for answering any question in a PM interview:

1. Always tie your answer to the “why.” What is the goal of the company? What is the goal of the feature or product? If you don’t know, ask before you continue with your answer, or state your assumption as such.

2. Always push to support any answers or assertions with metrics and data. Don’t just state lofty visions or ideas grounded solely in your personal opinions. Qualitative data is OK here too.

Next, he goes through some things you might want to clarify ahead of time. He advises that you can ask a recruiter how technical the interview will be or what the technical expectations for the role are. Generally, though, unless they explicitly state that there is a technical requirement you can assume that the interview only requires a high level understanding of what the goals of any technical solutions are. Another question to ask a recruiter ahead of time is whether you will be expected to understand the industry or the company’s business model. Some companies pretty much always expect this.

Edgar then discusses 3 key characteristics that he believes most interviewers are trying to decipher whether you have through common interview questions.

The first key thing that interviewers want to know about you is how effective of a leader you are. To do this, they will listen to your stories to understand you ability to create a long term vision and work with cross-functional teams to gain support to make it happen. Make sure you have stories that show this ready.

The second key thing that interviewers want to know is whether you can get stuff done. Ideally, you should have a story that demonstrates this, so try to come up with a good story that proves you not only have vision but can overcome obstacles and be creative to get stuff done.

The last key thing that Edgar proposes that interviewers want to know is how good you are at communication. A key aspect of this is your ability to be succinct, specifically with the classic “Tell me about yourself” question. If you aren’t already, practice your personal elevator pitch to nail this.

The last part of the podcast that I capture here is how to capitalize on interview time with designers and engineers. Edgar suggests that when you talk to designers, you want to communicate that you are an effective team leader & very good listener. This helps convey to them that you will work collaboratively with them and hear their opinions rather than just bulldozing. When talking to engineers, Edgar emphasizes that you want them to know you will make space for technical priorities as well as the product vision.

Thanks for reading.

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Works Cited

“Uber Product Manager Talks: How to Crack the PM Interview.” The Product Podcast. 28 February 2017. Spotify.