I was on the lookout for a Product Manager (PM) job during arguably the worst time in a generation, the COVID-19 pandemic. I applied for many jobs and attended quite a few interviews. In this blog, I want to share my learnings and some nuances of attending the interview in India. Please refer to this post for some sample interview questions.
Among the overwhelming amount of material available to help you prepare for the PM interview, I recommend the below:
These are extremely good PM interview preparatory resources. Along with them, it would be helpful to know the nuances of the Indian PM interviews. There are slight differences, in the terms of the questions usually asked and the answers expected.
Given below are my tips for cracking the PM interview along with some suggestions on customizing this material to the Indian PM job market.
There are different types of questions one gets asked in a typical PM interview. Given below are the types in the order of its prevalence in India:
What are these: Define yourself questions include introduction, strength, weaknesses, why this job, why are you looking for a change, etc. You will certainly be asked some of these and is hence the most important. You must be thorough with this set of questions so practice as much as you can.
Recommended material: Cracking the PM Interview has some great tips for preparing for these questions.
The book recommends preparing a comprehensive introduction of oneself. As per my experience, it is difficult to keep the interviewer’s attention long enough to give such a comprehensive introduction. My suggestion would be to prepare for the comprehensive introduction as mentioned in the book, but at the interview, tune to the interviewer’s mood and patience and customize.
The next bang for your buck is the behavioral questions as they are the next popular type. As a bonus, preparing for these questions will give you the structure and content to answer other general questions on your background.
What are these: There are questions, where you would be asked for scenarios from your past experience, side project or personal life that showcase leadership skills, teamwork or talk about a challenge or failure you faced, etc.
What’s important: The format in which you answer these questions is important. Equally important is the stories you say because it shows the wealth of experience you have had.
Recommended material: Cracking the PM Interview gives a useful guideline for preparing for behavioral questions. Follow the nugget first and S.A.R formats mentioned in the book and prepare your 5 key master stories.
What are these: Product and Design questions are those where you would be asked to design a new product, critique an existing app or website or discuss a product that is shared during the interview process.
What’s important: The approach you use these problems is what is important. The interviewer may ask you to think aloud or share your screen so he/she can see your approach. For B2C companies, in addition to approach, innovative and uniques ideas would give you the extra edge.
Recommended material: Practice the CIRCLES method and the Design critique criteria in Decode and Conquer for answering the Product and Design questions.
What are these: Case Study questions are those where you would be given a business scenario and asked specific questions on that scenario.
Recommended material: In my experience, you could answer these questions by using clues from past experience and logical thinking. However, I recommend going through the common problems and causes mentioned in Cracking the PM Interview as it gives some ideas which are otherwise difficult to come up with yourself during a stressful interview.
I have attended PM interviews for 7 firms in India so far and I have never been asked an estimation question and I have not known anyone who has been asked an estimation question. So if you are short of time and if you want to skip preparing for a question, this would be the one. But if you can prepare, it would boost your confidence as you know that you have everything covered.
What are these: Mostly hypothetical questions, such as how many golf balls would fit into a school bus. The intention is to test how you can break down seemingly complex problems into simpler parts and solve them.
Recommended material: I recommend Cracking the PM Interview as this book makes these questions seem a little less intimidating.
If you are seeking a Cloud PM role, these questions are one of the most critical and would be at #2 in this list. Given the increasing importance of Cloud technology, even if the Job Description does not specifically mention it, make sure you know the basics of Cloud technology, at a minimum.
What are these: Questions range from the basics of Cloud technology to more technical questions such as authentication or virtualization, etc.
Recommended material: I have found this free course on Introduction to Cloud Computing helpful in answering most of the Cloud-based questions. You can also read my blogposts on basics of cloud computing, how emerging technologies are supported by the cloud and virtualization.
You can also practise PM interview questions here.