Hundreds of people have been interviewed for product manager (PM) positions. Surprisingly, many candidates get themselves kicked out of the interview process by making simple blunders that could have been avoided. My goal is to assist you in recognising and avoiding these typical blunders so that you can stay on track for your interview. To begin, it is vital to comprehend the objectives and requirements of both parties involved in this transaction. I'm leaving out the positions of recruiters, search consultants, and head-hunters for the sake of simplicity.
How to get into the mind of the hiring manager?
It's natural for a job seeker to focus on his or her own requirements when looking for work. Hiring managers, on the other hand, have specific needs in mind when looking for applicants that the job seeker may not be aware of. Certain qualities are sought by managers for a given.
These should be self-evident, as no one wants to recruit someone who possesses the polar opposite of these characteristics. A manager's difficulty is to find the perfect balance of these qualities, linked to the appropriate seniority level for the job.
The manager's job has other responsibilities that aren't always visible, especially when they're looking for a new team member. A search begins when a manager needs to fill a vacancy or because the company needs more PM coverage due to product growth or expansion. Because recruiting is based on need, the manager and team are likely already performing the role in addition to their regular duties.
To gain approval for a new team member, the manager must first justify the new employee with a value or benefits case before working to get a requisition accepted. To put it another way, they require permission to hire someone from the corporate budget. Depending on the company's budget cycles or yearly operational plan cycle approvals, this can take a long period. However, requisitions are difficult to come by. As budgets or quarterly earnings fluctuate in unanticipated directions, they can emerge, freeze, or go overnight, leaving hiring attempts dissatisfied despite months of work.
The job seeker is motivated by a variety of factors, including career advancement (such as a desire for a promotion), the need for steady employment, and the need for better pay. There are other intangibles to consider, including:
In comparison to an interview, there could be hundreds of route combinations to land on a position or incorrect connections that would put you out of the running. The work will eventually come to a single-halt, and you'll need to keep on track and navigate the proper connection points to get there.
Let's say an applicant applies to a job posting with enough experience to be a good fit for the position and gets a couple of interviews. They work in a relevant field, have a similar background, and meet the minimum requirements for experience and education. They are a viable applicant who is already one step ahead of many others who may apply.
In my experience, I've seen a slew of critical errors that have thrown off otherwise eligible individuals. Don't let anything like this happen to you. Interviewing is a challenging process, and you don't always receive the job, even if you meet many of the requirements.
Seven interviewee mistakes made by product managers are listed below with a brief description of how one can prevent them.
1. You don't show any signs of motivation.
Job opportunities in product management are few. Hiring managers seek candidates who are highly motivated and enthusiastic about the position and product. When a candidate enters an interview with indifferent or disinterested feelings, their body language generally reflects this. To be clear, you are not required to act in a sycophantic manner. I'd like to know whether you're interested in the position. In fact, expressing your desire for the job is beneficial.
I'm particularly interested in a candidate who can come in and perform admirably in the role, fit into the culture, and enjoy what they're doing. They should be able to stay for several years. Hopefully, I won't have to re-hire in less than two years for the same position.
2. You Have No Idea What We Do
This happens frequently, and I'm not sure why. This happens to me more frequently with candidates who are fresh out of college or graduate school. A PM is a position with a lot of clout and a distinct set of responsibilities. You must be familiar with the customer, the product, and the industry. You've self-exited the candidate funnel if you show up for an interview and can't effectively describe what we do as a firm. This demonstrates a lack of forethought and basic research on the company's website, which is a major red flag. You may not have been prepared when we contacted you, but you still have time to study up before replying to an email or taking a phone screen.
3. You Aren't Ready
It's bad enough that you don't know what the company you're interviewing for does to warrant its own bullet. Being unprepared in general is far worse. In some ways, a job interview is a dance with pre-determined steps. "Hello, tell me about yourself," it begins, then proceeds on through qualification and fit questions before concluding with, "Do you have any questions for me?" PM positions are rarely accessible at the outset of a career, though there are occasional exceptions. Managers expect candidates to be familiar with a company's business and fundamental product portfolio, given the amount of free online career counselling and online interview education videos available with a few clicks. It's a simple routing filter that determines whether you'll be considered for additional interviews, let alone an offer.
4. You are unfamiliar with our product
This one is only for PMs. Product managers are regarded as industry and product experts. When interviewing for a PM position, you should be familiar with the basics of the product we offer. If you're switching product lines, you're not expected to be an expert at this stage. You should know what it is, what primary use cases it solves, and where and how it fits into the industry when you arrive. There is no justification for not learning these principles. On the firm website, YouTube, news, and blogs, this information is readily available. The level of detail will vary depending on the role's seniority and level of responsibility. I'd expect a candidate to know the product, the business, the selling motion, common objections, the market, and so on, the higher the position.
If you're selling a B2C (business to consumer) product, you may simply set yourself apart by downloading a trial version, trying it out, and forming an opinion about it. Trial versions of B2B (business to business) solutions are frequently available. Conduct interviews with people in your network who use the product and summarize their feedback with ideas to set yourself apart.
If the position is entry-level, the recruiter is less concerned with the quality of your research and responses. The goal isn't to get every question correct 100% of the time. The very minimum is to demonstrate that you did your homework and arrived prepared. Having said that, everyone wants the best talent available. They will advance past you if your personal competition is better prepared than you.
5. You Inform Me That You Are Uninterested in the Position
This is a less typical occurrence, but it does happen. In most cases, you should just decline an interview for a position you don't desire. This, I feel, only happens when a job seeker is trying out different possibilities or looking for a role that is a perfect fit for them. While this error is understandable for an entry-level candidate, it is not acceptable for a senior candidate. Hiring is costly for businesses and takes up a lot of resources. Some readers may believe that businesses do the same thing when they want people to interview them. Keep in mind that once you've narrowed your search to a specific field, the pool of candidates diminishes, and hiring managers have long memories. Another method to signal you don't desire the job is to prioritise things that aren't linked to it.
6. You're Not Trying to Sell Me
PM positions, as I previously stated, are highly competitive and professional. Working with marketing and sales teams to position and sell products is a part of the job. I'd like to know why you think you'd be a good fit for the job. You are the product I am considering purchasing throughout the interview process. Are you aware of why you are the best? Do you have faith in your abilities? What makes you unique? What can you offer the company that your competitors can't? PMs have informal power over their products and teams. You will not be effective in your role if you are unable to sell a tale. I'm assuming you're the best product you know, because interviews are, at their foundation, sales presentations.
7. You Haven't Made a Commitment
Let's pretend you've been doing great in your interviews, staying on track, and you're the genuine deal. You are intelligent, motivated, well-informed, and aware of your abilities. You've been offered a job! Congratulations. We're serious, and we'd like to have you on board. Let's get this done. There are two methods to halt the process by refusing to commit. The first option is to just refuse the offer. This is painful since we've spent time on interviews and follow-ups, and we've done it in good faith. We've probably parted ways with other prospects by the time we make an offer. This can work in both directions. I've been a candidate who has made it through 12 interviews without receiving an offer. You should have known well before the offer that you weren't actually interested in the position. Hopefully, at the last minute, a company representative did not create a terminal red flag for you.
The second method of failing to demonstrate commitment is far more unpleasant. You accept the offer but refuse to join the company, or you just do not show up. In this scenario, we've both invested a significant amount of time and money to get to this position. We've informed other candidates who are no longer in the pipeline after making a firm choice to make an offer that the candidate accepted. An offer signifies that 3–5 other executives and I have agreed to your offer and compensation plan and have signed off on it. If you say "yes" and sign the contract, tickets will be printed for you to receive a seat, a computer, an email account, and other day-one activities. There's a lot to unravel and start over with a new candidate pipeline, and getting back to this point may take months.
Avoiding these mistakes may seem obvious, but these are encountered in interviews all the time. PM responsibilities are extremely cross-functional and have a direct impact on a number of teams as well as the company as a whole. It's no surprise that PM is a function that many start-up founders, executives, and venture capitalists have had some experience with. As a result, a PM candidate is held to a high standard. Hopefully, this has provided you with a new perspective that will assist you in landing your next dream job.
Originally published on Prosple India
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