Sample product-manager interview questions at different companies

The goal of any job interview is to find out whether the interviewee is a good fit for the role. Of course there is a general, initial process for entering any role, covering skills, experience, and personality. But in every specialized job there are particular questions whose answers show, to a large degree, how suitable that person is for the role and for your team. In this piece we look at the questions you should ask when choosing someone in a product-manager interview.

A product manager sets the strategy and roadmap of a product by defining the requirements of that product’s customers. So to find a good product manager you need someone with essential skills that include both strategic and tactical skills. The best product managers have their own soft skills. They are committed, curious, and interested. They need a range of leadership skills to energize and guide their team members.

If you want to be hired as a product manager at a large, grown organization that is looking for creativity and innovation, you have hard work ahead. The hiring manager will ask you a wide range of questions—from what kind of person you are to specialized and technical questions about the work and the business, and even questions about your decision-making skills.

In this piece we cover very common questions asked in product-manager interviews. You may also be asked unreasonable or unrelated questions. So be ready for any kind of question.

General background

Most interviews start with general questions. The goal of these questions is for the interviewer to get to know you better—what kind of person you are, and why you applied for this role.

A few general product-manager interview questions

• Tell me a bit about yourself
• How did you hear about this role?
• What do you like about this role?
• What are you looking for in this new role?
• Why do you intend to leave your current job?
• What do you like most / least about your current role?
• Why do you want to work here?
• What career goals do you have for yourself?

Product-management skills and experience

The interviewer wants to know a bit about your previous experience in product management, because they have to map that experience onto the current role and take it into account. Expect discussion of different product-management topics: setting strategy, building the product roadmap, release management, gathering ideas, and defining new product capabilities.

A list of specialized questions in a product-manager interview

• How do you explain product management to a stranger who knows nothing about it?
• Tell me about the product or products you worked on as product manager
• Who are the customers of these products? How large is the customer community?
• What kind of market research do you do, and how often?
• How do you develop your product strategy?
• What information or input data do you use to form the product roadmap?
• How do you schedule product releases? What development method do you use at your current company?
• How often do you add a new capability to your product?
• From what channels do ideas for new product capabilities come?
• How do you decide whether to add a new capability to the product or not?
• Please walk me through the steps of turning a raw initial idea into a capability in the product
• Tell me about one of your failures on previous products. Why do you think you failed? Knowing the issue and the problem now, how would you prevent this failure?
• How can you tell whether a product is successful or not?
• Can you share one of the lessons you learned from the last product release?

Leadership skills

Successful product managers must be highly skilled at leading and guiding cross-functional teams. That means the ability to make decisions, influence people on the team, and unite every person (including engineering, sales, marketing, and support) around a clear, shared vision. Below are some sample team-leadership questions that may be asked in a product-manager interview:

• What kind of people do you like to work with?
• Tell me how you motivate and encourage the people on your team
• What makes you very angry?
• How often do you meet with different teams?
• Can you tell me about a project where you had to influence and guide people who were not on your team and did not report to you?
• If I talk to your colleagues, what do you think is the first word they would say about you?
• Tell me about a time when something happened, everything at work went wrong, and you were able to manage and control it
• Have you ever had a disagreement or problem with one of your team members? What was the result of that disagreement?
• How do you communicate with your managers?
• Describe a time when you used data to make a decision
• How do you describe your leadership model?
• Among different leadership capabilities, which one do you like and respect most?

Asking questions of the interviewer

At the end of the interview you will be asked if you have questions about the company. This is a chance for you to ask your questions and find out whether this is the job you are looking for.

Below is a list of questions you can ask the interviewer:

• What is the strategic vision for this product?
• How do you prepare your product roadmap?
• In your company, how do product managers interact and work with executives?
• What kind of customer research do you do, and how often?
• What do your customers like most about your product?
• How do you manage different product releases?
• What is the best thing or reason about being a product manager here?
• What is the hardest thing about being a product manager here?
• What is the process for introducing a new product manager to the team?

Practical tips for the interview

Use this piece as a sample and as practice before you go to your interview. But always keep in mind that no matter how well you prepare, there is still a chance you will face strange questions in a product-manager interview.

Whatever question you get, think about the answer you want to give, and if needed ask the interviewer a question to make the topic clearer. The interviewer wants to see your ability to think and solve problems. If you do not have an answer for one of the questions, you can ask to come back to it later and give your answer then.

We wish you the best in the interview ahead. We would also be glad if you have experience interviewing as a product manager at an Iranian or international company and share it with us through the comments.

Source: a piece from the Aha! blog on hiring product managers