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The marketing lifespan and growth of a company’s product falls into the hands of a product manager. These individuals bridge the gap between a particular product and its customer base.
Companies are eager to hire the best applicants for open product manager roles because their skills have such a large impact on a product’s marketing success.
Looking for a job? These position are hiring now near you:
The responsibilities of a product manager involve establishing plans and following through with product marketing strategies. There are a few skills and personality traits that companies specifically look for in applicants, that make them cut out for a position as a product manager.
While you may not need every single one of these qualities to get a job, it helps your chances of being hired if you have at least a couple.
Strong communication. Since a lot of a product manager’s job is about developing a product vision and turning it into a reality, it requires strong communication skills to get the job done. Interviewers ask questions to determine a candidate’s communication style to choose the individual with the strongest skills in this area.
The ability to delegate. A product manager creates a game plan for a product’s marketing strategy, and that means handing out tasks to other people. A product manager must be able to delegate jobs effectively to members of a team. If they can’t effectively delegate, their plans won’t come to fruition.
Leadership skills. At its core, the job of a product manager is a position of leadership. Understanding that a lot of the responsibilities associated with the role involve displaying quality leadership, an interviewer asks a lot of questions to assess an applicant’s abilities in this department.
Getting familiar with the kinds of questions that are likely going to be asked of you during a product manager interview makes you more prepared to take them on.
Below are five common questions that are posed during a product manager interview.
Why do you want to work for our organization? Companies hiring for any type of role want to know that the candidate they choose to bring on their team cares about working for them.
By asking applicants in an interview why they want to work for the organization, they demonstrate their knowledge of the company and illuminates their reasons for applying to the position.
How to Answer: Researching the background and values of the company you’re interviewing with helps form a more well-rounded answer for this question. Be honest about your motivations for applying, but work into the conversation reasons for why you believe your skills fit the job description, too.
Example Answer:
“I decided to apply for a product manager role with this organization because I’m attracted to the company culture. After looking into the company for a bit, I came to the understanding that you value putting quality products on the market, and you’re looking for someone who also values the customer. I am very customer and quality-oriented, and I think I could fill this opening well.”
How would you describe product management to someone who knows nothing about it? While an interviewer doesn’t want to hear the entire history of the product management industry, they might ask you this question to get a candidate’s quick rendition of it. Giving a brief synopsis of the field shows the interviewer their communication skills.
How to Answer: Provide a simplistic rendering of the product management field. Since the interviewer is directly providing a scenario in which the listener is uneducated in the subject, keep it as basic as possible. They’re looking to see how well you’ll be able to communicate complex topics with customers.
Example Answer:
“The industry of product management works towards the goal of bringing a product to its full market potential. Many of the tasks associated with the position involve branding, creating strategic marketing plans, and evaluating projects for success.”
What tools do you use to find product management data? Many of the questions in an interview for a product management position are likely to test your technical knowledge in the field. This one casually inquires about a candidate’s experience with data tools to improve their strategy.
How to Answer: There isn’t an underlying way to crack the code on this question. Explain which tools you use to find product management data, and why you prefer to use them.
Example Answer:
“My favorite tools to use for finding product management data are ProductPlan, Trello, and Evernote. I think that these tools provide the best interfaces for organizing and collaborating with a team on a project.”
How would you describe your communication style? Since many of the responsibilities that product managers have to tackle deal with communicating to co-workers and customers, it’s obvious that an interviewer would toss in some questions about it.
This question, in particular, shows a hiring manager how a candidate might communicate with their team if chosen to supervise a product project.
How to Answer: There are generally four types of communication styles that people identify with and not all are created equal when it comes to acting professionally at work. These include:
Passive
Aggressive
Passive-aggressive
Assertive
Identify the communication style that resonates with your professional approach and describe it with an example when possible.
Example Answer:
“I would describe my communication style at work as assertive. I want to make sure that my co-workers and customers hear what I have to say, but I also spend time listening to their input.”
“For example, in a previous role as a product manager, I felt some tension between me and my co-worker. Instead of letting it go, I talked to him directly and we ended up working it out between the two of us in a single sitting because I listened to everything he had to say and responded calmly.”
What makes you stand-out from other candidates? An interviewer is always looking for the reason that your product managing talent sweeps them off their feet. By asking this question, they’re prying for this type of information. The final details are needed to decide that you’re the perfect person for the job.
How to Answer: This isn’t the time to hold back from talking about your accomplishments and skills. Let the interviewer know what you do well and why you’re better than other candidates. However, do it in a way that demonstrates humility about your greatness.
Example Answer:
“I think the quality that makes me stand-out from other candidates is my dedication to product management. I knew that I was interested in marketing since I was in high school, so I paid to put myself through college in that discipline. It probably would’ve been easier at times to go down another career path, but I was determined to make it work.”
“That determination to succeed has led me to be a product manager for several large companies and working on more marketing campaigns than I can count on both hands. This drive is what makes me different from other people you may interview today.”
What made you apply for this position?
Tell me about a successful project you’ve managed.
Tell me a little more about yourself.
Where do you see yourself in five years?
How do you know if a product is well-designed?
How does this position fit your career goals?
How do you approach relationships with clients?
How do you communicate your product strategy to others?
Why did you decide to go into product management?
What’s the most exciting part of being a product manager?
What parts of being a product manager do you dislike?
What is one improvement you’d suggest for our product?
Are you familiar with our product?
How do you determine what a product user wants or needs?
Tell me about a time you faced conflict at work and how you handled it.
How do you go about interacting with customers?
What would you do in the first 90 days if we decided to hire you?
What are your greatest strengths?
How do you determine if a product launch was a success?
What do you do if your budget constraints aren’t enough for two desirable features?
How would you define a great customer experience?
What is your process of assessing a customer’s needs?
What was your process for gathering feedback in your previous job?
How do you develop a product strategy?
How would you describe our company’s product to someone else?
What is the key to a solid user interface?
How would you choose to monetize Facebook Messenger?
How did you interact with users in your previous role?
You’re working for a company whose product sees a sales decline of 17%. How do you handle the situation?
How do you handle pressure at work?
Have you had experience leading a team?
What did you dislike about your former job?
What do you think are the most important parts of a product manager’s job?
Tell me about your favorite boss that you ever had.
Are you willing to travel for work?
Tell me about a time you made a mistake at work, and how you handled it.
Tell me about the best job you’ve ever had.
I have Youtube’s website pulled up on my cell-phone. Can you tell me how you would improve their homepage?
Which of our company’s products is your favorite?
Tell me about a time you had to inspire your team.
If you won the lottery tomorrow, what’s the first thing you would do?
Tell me about a time you had to say no to senior management at your company.
Do you prefer working by yourself or on a team?
Describe your top three soft skills.
Are you willing to attend more school or take on extra training for this role?
What is the most difficult decision you’ve ever had to make?
What do you think has made Nike successful?
Tell me about a time when a marketing strategy failed. How did you respond?
Where would you go if you could time travel?
What did you study in college?
How do you motivate a team?
What’s your ideal work environment?
How many hours do you usually work per week?
What’s your availability like?
How do you want to improve yourself in the future?
Tell me about a time you got angry at work and how you handled it.
What accomplishment are you most proud of?
What are your short-term and long-term professional goals?
Do you have any pet-peeves?
What qualities make a successful product manager?
Think of a product you use regularly and one way that you could make it better.
What are you passionate about?
What do you think creates an effective team?