Interviewing for an entry level PM role
Here's how to pitch yourself if you have 0-2 years of product experience
I want to preface this post by saying that my word on interviewing is not gospel. I’ve probably had more job rejections in 4 years than most. People have different opinions on interviewing and how to land a role in product.
But I do believe I’ve studied and learned a lot about interviewing and specifically, what hiring managers look for in potential PMs. My perspective has changed since I am no longer fresh out of college. I understand more now what all of the factors are that impact hiring decisions.
I’ve written before about how I continue learning as a PM, and there could be an entire post on interview prep (stay tuned!). In this piece, I want to focus on how I think aspiring PMs should be pitching themselves on interviews.
Come off as ready to make an impact immediately, but also as coachable
This is a very delicate balance. Over the years I’ve often wondered what the best way is of phrasing to an interviewer that you are ready to make an impact on day 1, while also acknowledging that you have little to no product experience. All of the below categories will make your interviewer realize that you may in fact be ready to jump into a PM role. But that is something you have to show in your answers, and not necessarily say explicitly.
Being coachable is also incredibly important. I don’t think there is a single product person on the planet that thinks they are perfect at what they do. I’ve said before that this job is an art and a science. As with all things that are, it takes time to master the craft. On PM interviews, one way of showing you are coachable and a true learner is acknowledging that you might not have the answers to everything immediately. On the job, you can socialize ideas and ask a ton of questions to ultimately get to the right answers and move projects forward.
Think in terms of problems, not solutions
You are bound to get questions like, “What type of feature might you build to monetize the 25% of Substack’s power users who use the product weekly?” The wrong way to answer this question is to immediately brainstorm features. A good PM candidate puts customers first by trying to understand their pain points before recommending any features. A good candidate will also ask questions about the business itself to put the question in proper context. Perhaps ask your interviewer:
How does Substack make money now?
Are these power users already paying for Substack, or are they merely writing for free?
Do we have any customer research indicating problems that these users are experiencing with the product or with their newsletters / audiences?
Do we have any other research indicating what these users might be willing to pay for?
There are many more questions you can ask. But the point here is to demonstrate that you know how important it is to properly understand the context of the situation and the customer base’s pain points before jumping into solutions.
Show that you are able to think about all sides of a problem
This one is highly related to #2 above and is why jumping into a solution immediately is incorrect. Questions that PMs deal with on a daily basis can be complex and don’t merely impact customers. Your colleagues have pain points, too. For example, in B2B companies, customers often ask for reporting functionality so that they can have insights about how their business is performing. Engineering needs to spend time to power these reports on the back end, and display them via interactive charts or exportable spreadsheets.
Customers and engineers, however, are not the only stakeholders impacted here! When considering how big of a priority reporting might be, you should also consider that your internal CS team might be manually creating these reports for customers right now, which takes time away from other important tasks they need to work on. At the end of the day, reporting functionality not only helps customers, it also might make internal operations more efficient.
If you provided interviewers with the above insight, it shows them that you can properly think through a situation by considering all sides of a problem (in this case, mainly all stakeholders involved) and how the solution impacts each of them.
Demonstrate your ability to lead a project from start to finish
PMs need to take charge on projects. This doesn’t mean they order everyone around, but it does mean they are providing direction and guidance along the way. And PMs are involved in every step of the process from ideation to launch.
You will likely be asked to walk through a project you led from start to finish. It is important to show the interviewer that you are organized and methodical in your thinking and know what tasks need to be accomplished at each juncture of the project.
As an example of how you might walk through this process, here’s how the product development process works at my company:
One pager outlining business value and KPIs
Requirements gathering (includes customer research)
Versioning & lo-fi sketches
Requirements estimation and mid-fi mockups (usability testing begins)
Story finalization (Jira) & internal alignment on final versioning plan
Proof of Concept (if necessary)
Development
When development is complete, it is the PMs role to coordinate on GTM activities and assist with internal training. PMs also need to monitor feedback after a feature is launched and ensure the right follow-on items are being prioritized.
Think of a new feature or product line that might add value to your interviewer’s company (AKA: add value to the customers of your interviewer’s company)
If you don’t have a decent understanding of what your interviewer’s company does by the time you are on the interview, consider the rest of this post moot :) . One thing that can really help you stand out from other candidates is sharing a potential feature idea with the interviewer. This really shows that you can think creatively and did a bunch of research in advance of the interview. It shows you really care about the position and have an interest in working at the company. I’ve been on the other side of interviews where it is obvious that the interviewee does not have a real interest in working at the company. It is the easiest win to show up prepared — and then some!
Show you are human and likable
This is just as important as everything else I’ve mentioned. As a PM, you are not number crunching all day. You are interfacing with all departments and have many meetings. You have to gain the trust of others and others need to have faith that you can make good decisions and also escalate issues when necessary.
I know that one point of anxiety for aspiring PMs (I certainly fell into this category) was worrying about how many technicals you need to know. You can spend a lot of time researching what APIs are and the difference between UI and UX. It’s important not to dive so much into this stuff that when it’s time for the interview, you forget to be naturally curious and have good conversation. It’s ok to acknowledge you might not know the answer to something — come up with a plan for how you might arrive at the answer. Showing you are a good culture fit (by reading your interviewer and gathering what is important to them in a candidate and what their needs are) is more important than anything else.
I hope this is helpful in your job search. Please do feel free to leave a comment below or shoot me an email at scott.gartenberg@gmail.com if I can answer any other questions about interviewing for entry level PM roles!