💼 Interview Guide for PM Jobs in the AI Era
Practical tips from 10+ years of experience: How to develop your personal pitch, ask great questions, and what AI means for the interview process
👋🏻 Helen here, with our weekly Sunday post. Every week, there seems to be another layoff in tech, so I’m reposting an article I wrote on how to interview for product jobs. This content comes from my lived experience from both sides (being the hiring manager and being a candidate) as well as now from my coaching lens as I spend more and more time with product folks on the hunt for their next job. I am seeing that qualified and prepared candidates are finding jobs, but it is a marathon, not a sprint. Companies are hiring but hiring managers can be patient and picky.
The first section of this post is the new content I wrote this week on the role of AI in the hiring process. And below that is a repost from 2022.
How to incorporate AI into your resume and interviews?
Whether you are interviewing for companies that are actively adopting AI, building AI or just thinking about AI, every hiring manager wants to know that you are aware that AI-powered technology is critical to consider in the context of every business and every job. So I highly recommend having your personal narrative on your relationship with AI.
More specifically, if you have been part of bringing AI into your organization, running experiments with various AI tools and in general embracing the new tech, you should bring a way to weave that into both your resume and your key stories. Many candidates that I talk to struggle to authentically claim business outcomes that have been powered by AI - that is totally fair. Try avoiding artificially creating outcomes where it is too early to tell. Instead, amplify your learner's mindset, the experimentation that you pioneered, and how you will bring lessons learned forward to your next job.
If you have no professional experience working with AI, then have a point of view of the role it should or should not play in the place you are applying to. To develop that point of view, do industry research, play with AI tech, and see how competitors are leveraging it.
How to use AI to prepare for your interviews?
It has never been easier to do mock interviews and get good feedback from ChatGPT (or tools like it) when getting ready for an interview. One thing to try is to run the job description through your AI tool of choice and ask for sample questions based on the job. I would also ask for sample classic product management questions (give me a product sense question, a product case study, etc.). Then record yourself answering the questions and give AI your recording or a transcript and ask it to give you feedback on how you did.
Don’t forget to ask AI to help you understand the company you are interviewing for - its culture, financial performance, summary of recent releases and press coverage.
Pitfalls to avoid
Be prepared to be thrown off - All hiring managers know that candidates are using AI to prepare their resumes and to practice answering questions. So do not be surprised if they try to get past your preparedness. Stay calm and curious. Take a deep breath and engage with your interviewer to get as much context on their questions/asks as it is reasonable.
Do not overstate your AI expertise - If you claim to be an AI expert in a product interview, be ready for deeply technical questions. So be clear if you have had experience building on top of AI with great user scenarios or you have experience with systems and models. Interviewers usually aren’t out to get you, so set yourself up for success by being clear on where your expertise lies.
Specialist PMs are more “in” than generatlist PMs right now - I am seeing more demand for PMs who have depth expertise vs. breadth. So if you have to choose a story of being a jack of all trades or going deep on your experience as a growth PM, I’d choose the latter. You can still talk about being adaptable and able to figure out any problem you have in front of you, but the depth (whether industry or type of PM) is in higher demand in this moment in time.
[Repost from November 2022]
By now with 10+ years in tech, I’ve been on both sides of the interview table (seeking as well as giving a job), so I’m going to share my lived experience as well as the tips and tricks I’ve gotten along the way that I have found to be most impactful.
No one really likes interviewing for jobs (especially after a layoff when it’s hard to separate an economic situation from seeing this as a personal deficiency) - seeking a work opportunity requires you to open yourself up to scrutiny and potential rejection. In my professional career, I have been rejected at seven companies (these are ones I got past the recruiter screen with) and have succeeded at three (and every time I have landed in awesome places). I have learned as much from the rejections as I have from the wins and have come to believe that an outcome of a job interview has very little to do with my worth and everything to do with preparation, circumstances and culture fit. However, since preparation is the only thing in our control, I will focus on that.
The first thing I recommend you do is read Cracking the PM Interview. The rest of this write-up is gravy, but really, if you are actively seeking a product role, stop what you are doing and go buy this book.
Also as you get into the interviews with all the ups and downs of the journey, here is a Ted Lasso reminder to be a goldfish:
Have a personal pitch – why you, why now, why this company
When I worked in politics, the first exercise I’d do with a candidate is to help them develop a 30-word and a 3- minute pitch on why they were running for office. I told them that success is if a constituent, donor, or endorser could name the top reasons why she was running for office. This same advice applies to interviewing. You should be able to tell a compelling and memorable story – why you, why now, and why this company. I recommend finding an opportunity at the beginning of the interview/conversation to get your pitch in.
Why you. This question is always asked in some form. You may hear questions like “tell me about yourself” or “how did you get here.” This is your chance to be concise, humble, and preferably memorable. I’ve used lines like “my career has been more of a walk through a jungle with a machete rather than a career ladder” - which I have found people have remembered. Whatever your tagline is, I’d spend some time figuring it out and inserting it into your pitch.
Why now. Even if you are in the job market because you have been part of layoffs, I recommend mentioning it quickly (if asked directly) but pivoting to excitement about the new opportunity that has come your way and its timeliness. Examples of things to say if you are in the market due to a reduction in force:
“I’ve had your company on my radar and I have read an article about this cool new area of tech/investment/growth, so I’m excited to learn more.”
“As I’ve had time to think about my career growth and what’s next, I’m excited to talk to you about this opportunity and my unique skills that can contribute.”
Why this company. If you are changing jobs externally, be prepared to answer this question. The bigger the company – the harder the question. For example, when I was interviewing for Microsoft, the answer of “I’m really excited to work on problems that impact the whole world” is a B- answer – because you can easily substitute Amazon, Google, Meta, and the answer will not change. Instead, focus on impact + something unique - like if you are interviewing for a role in Azure, being excited to overtake AWS because of the opportunity you see (insert some analysis you did).
If you are interviewing for a mission-based company, calling that out as a primary reason you want to work there falls into the same bucket – you can go work at a bunch of other mission-based companies, so why this specific one is the question. When I answered that question as I was going to Guild, I focused more on being excited to contribute to a company that was facing scaling challenges and why I was uniquely positioned to drive meaningful change.
Behavioral questions – dig deep and make a table
Almost certainly you are going to get questions that will ask you to reflect on your past experiences. These usually start with “tell me about your biggest professional accomplishment” or “tell me about a complex project you led and the challenges you overcame.”
To prepare for these kinds of questions. I usually make a table with 1-3 rich examples from the past couple of years. I try to pick stories with many things that went well and didn’t go well and then I use that to draw upon when interviewing. This approach helps me organize my thoughts and not be searching for new examples/experiences in the moment.
As an interviewer, I really appreciate when interviewees have structured answers – in business school, I was taught to follow the STAR method by describing situation, task, action, and result – it’s easy to tell what the impact was of the outcome (moved key metric by x or impacted y customers).
Embrace the case questions – showcase your curiosity, organized mind, and customer empathy
As a hiring manager, I can teach new employees many things on the job – how to create a backlog, how to do a competitive analysis, how to present an idea, and so on. But there are “unteachable skills” that are almost impossible to teach. Examples include passion for the product, customer empathy, product judgment, and organized thinking.
The best way for me as an interviewer to try to understand if you have the “unteachables” is to manufacture a scenario for you to reason through. Examples of case questions can be found here.
As an interviewee, the goal is not to come up with the perfect answer but to share your thinking process and showcase that you can organize your thoughts, clarify assumptions and lead with customer needs. There is no right answer to a case interview – so most importantly think out loud and bring your interviewer along on your journey.
One more quick tip - if you get to pick the product to analyze, pick something that your interviewer is likely to be on equal footing with you, and do not pick a product the company you are interviewing for works on. Only select the company’s product if you are explicitly asked to do so.
Things I’ve picked in the past for my “case” were Apple’s Fitness + program (and then I compared it to Peloton), Hydroflask and InstaPot.
Ask good questions – People love to talk about themselves
An interview is a two-way conversation. You are interviewing the company for culture and fit as much as they are interviewing you. As an interviewer, I look for whether or not the candidate has good questions because it tells me if they are thinking seriously about the role. But don’t stop there – the candidates I’ve been impressed by were those that could then carry on the conversation and balance letting me talk (who doesn’t like to talk about themselves) as well as engaging in the back and forth – following up and digging deeper to find that common ground.
Here are some questions that helped me achieve a great conversation as an interviewee:
“What does your day look like?”
“What’s the biggest challenge you are facing at work today?”
“What is your team’s culture?”
Reality check: Practice is key – put on your “heels”, and record your “pitch”
Interviewing is a muscle. If you haven't interviewed in a long time, don’t expect it to come back naturally. I have always hoped to do a practice interview with a company I didn’t care about, but really, every time I’ve gotten into the process, I got excited about the opportunity – realistically, a “practice” round never really worked for me.
To that end, the best advice I’ve ever gotten is to actually practice. So I put on my heels, stand up tall and record my “why me” intro pitch on my phone. Then I listen to myself (cringing) and adjust my talk track.
Second best advice I got is to do a mock case interview with a coworker or a friend. I have found this to be a very vulnerable practice but so helpful every time. If your friend doesn’t know what case to give you, Cracking the PM Interview has a section of them and they can follow along the guidelines.
Pitfalls to avoid
On average, I’ve interviewed every few years proactively or reactively. I always ask for feedback and while I don’t always get it, here are some of the patterns that I have collected and reflected on of where I have fallen short:
Listen carefully. Jumping in too quickly without hearing the question has backfired on me multiple times. When I did that, I wasted precious interview time answering the wrong question. I chalk this up to nerves and lack of interview practice so to combat this, I paraphrase the question before I start answering it.
Informationals ARE interviews, so prepare accordingly. While you don’t need to be prepared for a case, I have found that you need your personal pitch ready on why you, why now, and why this company (even if you are trying to get this latter question answered, to begin with). Be enthusiastic about the company by researching what it’s all about (product line, latest announcements) and ask thoughtful questions. I once asked a late-stage start-up about their exit strategy. Unsurprisingly, I didn’t get a callback. While I don’t think that was a bad question to ask, that didn’t convey how excited I was about what the company was working on.
Try instead “what is your competitive advantage” or “what do your customers love most about [specific product]”
Cramming the night before an interview has never worked well for me. Good night’s sleep, exercise, and a meal have taken me farther than reviewing my pitch, or case questions in the 11th hour. Also, remember to take breaks during the interview if you are scheduled to go back-to-back – most interviewers will offer you a chance to get a glass of water (if you are doing interviews remotely) or to take a break if you are in person. Take a breather and rest.
Dwell less, follow up more – I often find myself spending time after interviews double-guessing and rehashing my conversations. As Ted Lasso says, be a goldfish (the happiest animal on earth because it’s got a 10-second memory) and move on. However, do send a compelling follow-up note (use AI to help you with your first draft and then edit) where you thank the interviewer for their time and share an insightful takeaway or an interesting resource.
Resources:
Cracking the PM Interview has been the most effective resource to prepare for product management interviews. It will walk you through how to write your pitch, how to answer behavioral questions and prepare you for case questions. If you are interviewing for a product job, this is a must read. No other book has come close for me.
Guide to reading PM books by Nils Janse - This is a reading guide for you as a product manager. It is a curated list of the best book on product management. But it not just a numbered list of books to read. Instead, this guide is guided by your preferences, with visual guide to go with. Let's get into it.
I hope you found this write up helpful. If you have other tips and tricks that have worked for you, please share. Good luck and remember it only takes one yes.