Elevate Your Game: Top Tips for Acing PM Interviews
In the last year, many of my PM network contacts have reached out to me for advice on how to prepare for product management interviews. I’ve been fortunate enough to have passed PM interviews and received offers from Amazon, Doordash, Reddit, Instacart, Uber, and Facebook to name a few. I’ve also failed a bunch of interviews, so I have personally felt the excitement and disappointment from going through the interview process.
I always like to tell folks that Interviewing for a product management role is not for the faint of heart. The process is rigorous because it tests your ability to solve problems on the fly (e.g., case studies) and you’ll need to talk about what you’ve built and launched, demonstrating great storytelling. It’s rare for a job candidate to get a PM role with no prior interview preparation and the preparation varies based on your work experience, your company’s ways of working, and your studying style.
To help out my fellow PMs or to-be PMs (that’s you, my reader), I wanted to share my approach to preparing for PM interviews.
Tip #1: Form a Tribe and Go through the Journey Together
If you think about the harder challenges in life (e.g., health, career, family), a support group usually exists to help you overcome those challenges together. The challenges of getting a new job are no different. You can learn from one another and motivate each other (✊”Fighting!” K-drama fans would understand the reference of encouragement).
Get matched in a Job Search Council (link): I heard about these from my network and from the Women in Product conference talks. For free, you can sign up to get matched to a group of 4-6 job seekers who are close to your experience level and/or your sector. Then for the next 10-12 weeks, you meet weekly to discuss progress and unblock each other in job finding tasks / goals. The nice thing is that they try their best to not put you in a group where you have any overlapping contacts. Today, I still talk to two members to discuss career topics and us three all got jobs.
Join a PM Facebook group such as Women in PM (link): FB has great career-focused groups to join, more valuable than LinkedIn groups. You can post anonymous questions if you’re afraid to reveal your identity and you can build your network on a personal and career level (it’s FB after all). I find this resource is most valuable when you are a contributor to the group questions / comments to build up trust with the members.
Tip #2: Don’t Do it Blindly, Research Interview Questions
It’s best to first identify your target companies because there are different styles of interviews / questions. For example, Amazon asks mostly behavioral questions based on their leadership principles. Facebook / Meta asks questions based on product sense and analytical topics. Google includes strategic questions that may be disguised as a simple question, but in fact it’s a complex question to answer. To find example and actual questions, some of the best resources are your professional peers (aka your PM friends) and online (e.g., google search: “product management interview questions”).
Glassdoor (e.g., Google, GPM interviews): Search your targeting company, then select Interviews, in “Find Interviews” enter in the PM level you’re interviewing for. Sometimes you find recent actual questions.
Blind (link): You may be able to find questions here also, but the content seems a bit outdated. You have to dig around. You may find it more useful for company culture and comp discussions.
Recent interviewees: Network and find someone who has interviewed at your target company recently, then ask them what they were asked. Some candidates are skittish about sharing this info with just anyone, so I would ask those who trust you for a higher rate of success.
DIY question bank: For product sense questions, I created a google sheet with this question format, “Build a <vertical> product / feature for <user segment>.” Then I had columns of verticals (e.g., health, travel, auto, financial services) and user segments (e.g., kids, seniors, adults, teens) and built a random sentence formula to generate a bunch of product sense questions for me to practice with.
Amazon’s leadership principle questions (principles): Do a search online and you’ll find a bunch of sites with example questions (example). A few real behavioral questions that made me think: 1/ How did you make an already good product feature better?, 2/ Tell me about a conflict you had with engineering, 3/ What transformative feedback did you get from a manager?, and 4/ What are you reading now? Tell me something that you’ve learned so far.
See next tip for other resources.
Tip #3: See How Others Answer Interview Questions
If this is your first time preparing for a product management interview or if you’re a little rough, it’s a great idea to review online answers to questions and decide for yourself what sounds like a good answer and what sounds like a bad answer. Once you get good at identifying good / bad answers, you can incorporate what to do and what not to do. Also, you will start to become more familiar with an answer format that resonates more with you. This took me awhile to figure out. For a long time, I forced myself to use the CIRCLE method (link), but the way I thought naturally wasn’t lining up with the framework. I ended up combining a bunch of frameworks to suit me and what I do at work.
Exponent YouTube practice videos (link): I really enjoy watching Exponent videos because I like hearing creative answers and know that the answerer is a vetted PM at companies that I find reputable.
PM Exercises online interview Q&A forums (link): PM Exercises used to be without a login and not paid. For the free version, I still find it valuable to see mostly OK answers and some good answers. The diversity of questions are decent also.
Steller Peers example answers (link): Back in the day, Stellar Peers was one of the earlier websites that offered a lot of example answers. I appreciate the curated, indepth, and unique answers.
Tip #4: Practice Makes Perfect, But More is Needed
Depending on your learning style, you may get a lot from doing mock interviews. This was the case for me. Based on a small sample size of my PM friends, you can expect to do 50-100 live mock interviews to be good at answering PM questions. You should aim for 10-15 mocks a week to complete your prep in 2-4 weeks. This assumes you have a good framework and are answering questions end-to-end, not stopping in the middle. Lastly, mocking many times will get you to good. Mocking with a great PM partner (who is not looking) will get you to great. If you can provide great answers in a mock environment, then assume in a real interview, you’ll do about 80% performance to get you to really good. So it’s important to produce great answers in a mock interview.
Stellar Peers mock partners (link): This is a great resource if you want to find people to mock with 24-7. People from all over the world are available and of all varying experience and mock levels. I’ve mocked before and after work and during random times during the weekend. If you’re lucky enough, you may also make friends off the platform.
PM friends who have passed interviews at your target companies: It is a commitment to the other PM to mock with you for 1-2 hours at a time. Your best chance is to ask a good PM friends who wants to see you succeed. For me personally, I had about 5-7 PM friends who worked, gave interviews, or passed interviews at MAANG companies. I would rotate through my list of PM friends to space out my ask to them. I was also very appreciative of those who leaned in the most.
Come up with answers that standout: Ask yourself, if I heard this answer, would I think “Wow, that’s a great answer”? If not, hop to it, do the question again and incorporate a standout creative twist. I know it’s possible because when I started getting into my stride, I would get positive comments from my mockers. Tip for the tip: Do not share your best answers with others during mocks. Keep it as your secret interview weapon.
PARADE method for behavioral questions (link): I preferred PARADE over SMART (link) because it had more emphasis on what would happen if I didn’t get involved and it was more natural for me to answer behavioral questions. For some, SMART may be easier. Consider either.
Bonus Tips: Worth Doing If You’re Up for It
Win at behavioral by doing your best bragging: If you’re not not passing interviews or not getting job offers AND you feel that you are capable, then it’s your storytelling that needs work. Practice with a friend whom you believe is great at storytelling, for me that’s my husband. Be prepared to hear how bad you are and just focus on making your stories sound amazing.
Be an interviewer at your current workplace: Learn how interviewers are assessing candidates so that you can learn. Knowing a company’s interview rubrik is super valuable.
Read the 10Ks of your target companies: Get to know how they’re talking about their businesses to investors. You may get some ideas for product sense questions for other companies.
Don’t interview your target company first: First impressions are everything, so be sure you’re prepared and don’t interview with your dream company first. Use the first 2-3 companies as practice and you might be pleasantly surprised if one of those companies decide to give you an offer.
Wrap Up
Wow, this post took me longer than I expected. These tips have been my tried and tested approach for PM interview preparation. Since employing these methods, I’ve landed 2-5 job offers each in my last 3 job moves including MAANG companies. Best of luck my PM friends! Stay motivated and get that job! Fighting!