The Product Management Interview Cheat Sheet
As someone on the outside of Product, how can I land my first role in product management?
Epic: Breaking into Product Series
Hello Product Thinkers,
Below is a cheat sheet I put together for a friend a year or so back on what the product interview process looks like to give a taste of the paid offering.
If looking to break into the product, consider the following services I offer.
45-minute general product consult
Resume Review + 30-minute call
Better yet, I’m offering the first 5 paid subscribers a complimentary service as I build up my most valuable of content.
Product Manager Cheat Sheet - Breaking Into the role
Step 1 - Get an interview
Get an interview request
Get past HR Barrier
Target Associate Product Manager/Product Analyst Jobs
1-3 years product experience – considered “Entry level product”
Related to your current company industry
Product Analyst more technical (Know SQL, be able to analyze data)
80-100K comp range
Needs to get interviews/to the hiring manager
Good Resume – vary by type of role (Industry-specific, or more Technical for PA vs business for APM)
Cover letter – Have a default cover letter, where you adjust only 2-4 sentences to make it company-specific. (Change a line or two in the first and last paragraph)
“So tell me about your current role”- 1 minute story, don’t ramble
Why are you leaving your current company
Why (Insert company applying too)
Step 2 - Phone Interviews
1st - Hiring Manager (Director of Product)
2nd – VP
Phone Interview Questions :
Case Study
Tell me about a problem you went about solving where you defined the parameters of the solution
What is an industry that interests you, why, and where do you see that industry going?
Understanding of Agile Development Principles, and be able to relate those to your current work. (Know the basics of Scrum/sprints/user stories/release cycles/managing a backlog
Step 3 – Round table/extended product team interviews
Engineering Lead
UX Lead
Other Product Managers
Hiring Manager/VP again
Step 4 - Final Blessing Interview
Chief Product Officer
High-level interview, looking for red flags, checking for potential confidence/ability to move up quickly
Don’t freeze, don’t get too cute.
Demonstrate understanding by asking a question that have some depth, but not too specific (IE industry trend and how they’ll address it
Case Study questions, engineering & UX talking points behind the paywall.
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