Ask HN: How do you prepare for PM interviews?

5 points·zhangtwin··4 comments

What resources do you use and how do you approach them?

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PM as in Project or Product Manager? (there is definitely some overlap though)

I look for a couple things, and ask questions that help evaluate their:

1) Technical background

2) Product instincts & creativity

3) How they've earned leadership

4) Ability to channel multiple points-of-view

5) Ship-ability

As an interviewer or a candidate?

I'm looking at this more from a candidate perspective both I think having a view from both sides is important. IE - what is the interviewer looking for in an ideal candidate and as a candidate what is the best way to prepare.

So there's lots of thing to say. Picking one I'd say have some meaningful stories to tell. Not to recite, but the interviewer will probably ask you some "situational" questions where she asks for you to demonstrate dealing with some specific type of problem in the past. So you need examples. And you won't be able to think of them on the spot. So think of them now. The format some interviewers use is STAR - Situation, Task, Action, Response. Describe what the problem was, what you had to do, what you did and how it turned out.

This is not a strategic suggestion, but a tactical suggestion. But a large number of candidates that I've interviewed don't do well at answering this type of question and it keeps me from giving them a good interview evaluation since I don't really have an answer.

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