Comments on Cauvin: Why Product Management Interviews Suck

Roger, Great topic with great comments from all. ...

2010-03-18T15:09:10.357-05:00

Roger,
Great topic with great comments from all.

In my recent experience looking for my next PM gig I've found both good and bad in terms of a companies interviewing plan/strategy and as a result the kind of questions I get asked. I've been asked ones close to what Rich suggested. A good one I did get was "Tell me about a product you've recently started using in your personal/professional life and tell me what you would do to make it better, why and how would you make those decisions?"

I've also been asked to whiteboard my plan for scaling/leveraging PM function within a fast growing company given certain goals and constraints as inputs to the problem. This was fun for me and the VP.

I will definitely go read Cindy's questions and would love to contribute to creating questions/exercises for the community.

How can we start this? Should we blog it as Roger suggested?

I fish for "tell me a PM mistake you made and...

2009-08-19T14:24:27.305-05:00

I fish for "tell me a PM mistake you made and how you fixed it" to find out if the candidate has been on a product long enough to live with consequences of decisions. Can naturally follow with "how successful was your product and why?" to listen for not-my-fault-it-failed

8 Non-Useless Interview Questions for Product Mana...

2009-08-19T14:02:15.155-05:00

8 Non-Useless Interview Questions for Product Managers is a good read on this topic.

http://www.cindyalvarez.com/psychology/8-non-useless-interview-questions-for-product-managers

Now only if more hiring managers read this!

Sandra, I totally agree that not all decision-maki...

2009-07-16T12:37:49.155-05:00

Sandra, I totally agree that not all decision-making can or should be formalized.

Product management interviews are on the extreme side of the spectrum. There are not even any de facto or informal standards and almost no probing into the candidates' knowledge of established principles of product management and marketing.

If inteviewers are unable to test or measure the quality of candidates with even a modicum of rigor (aside from credentials listed on a resume, which are unreliable), then it strongly suggests that they simply don't understand the role and why they need to fill it.

Roger, A perspective from someone who knows noth...

2009-07-16T12:22:48.251-05:00

Roger,

A perspective from someone who knows nothing about product management...

Very often we make decisions based on intuition (vs. reason, i.e. intellectualizing). In his book "How We Decide" http://bit.ly/nOf8k Lehrer explains that intuition is a collection of positively reinforced behaviors that have been internalized. In other words, intuition is a shortcut to a feeling derived after many years of thousands of positively reinforced thoughts. Sometimes it's helpful to intellectualize our decision but many times it's wise to go with our more "emotional" intuition.

Mike, I totally agree with you that the product ma...

2009-06-10T18:08:00.630-05:00

Mike, I totally agree with you that the product manager role varies, and that the role is usually a way of filling a tactical gap or set of immediate needs.

In fact, in a recent interview, it became apparent that the hiring manager was simply looking for someone to perform a hodge-podge of tactical activities that she had become too busy to do herself.

I happened to talk to three other product managers with whom she discussed the position, and we all realized that we told her she was barking up the wrong tree.

In short, it's not too difficult to figure out what the company needs, but it's very difficult to overcome the hiring manager's preconceptions of what the company needs.

Cindy, I like your idea of collectively coming up ...

2009-06-10T17:57:23.710-05:00

Cindy, I like your idea of collectively coming up with questions and exercises for use in product management interviews. Perhaps we could use a series of entries on our blogs to brainstorm them?

From what I've witnessed, the product manager ...

2009-06-10T17:36:43.536-05:00

From what I've witnessed, the product manager role varies greatly from company to company. In many cases, unfortunately, this role is setup to fill varying gaps between marketing and engineering. Often, the most important role of converting customer needs into product is being subsumed by one or more individuals who may be reluctant to give up this control.

All of these variables add up to make the product management interview a mine field of questions and agendas. Having a firm grasp of the organization's needs and the people involved may be more important for landing this type of job than most others.

It's almost impossible to find good questions/...

2009-06-10T17:19:56.277-05:00

It's almost impossible to find good questions/exercises online if you're searching for them, too.

We'd be doing a huge service to the Product Management community if we collectively came up with question or exercise suggestions (collective = could cover different industries/domains).