The PM Interview

Thanks @ellenchisa ! I made this for my own needs as I felt I didn't have enough preparation interviews, and found out it helped a lot. Some other applicants have started using it and it's a great feeling to hear that it helps other. I'd love to improve it over time so please chime in with your suggestions of feature or content :)

When I interviewed PM candidates in the past I would break up the interview into; introduction, recent work project, sample problem and conclude with any remaining questions. When discussing a recent project, the candidate should be able to explain their work clearly. I look for signs of leadership and initiative. What was a difficult situation they ran into and how did they handle it? Did they give up or come up with a creative way to get out of the bind? Most importantly I probe for getting things done. Strong candidates are smart and get things done :-)

A good way to prep for PM interviews - gives you lots of the standard questions (tell me about yourself, estimation, product design) - and a timer to let you know how long you're taking. I find the "surprise" element much more helpful than prepping for a long list.

Made by @RaphKomjat, who might be willing to weigh in/answer questions :)

Great tool @RaphKomjat ! Could be great to get anonymous (but validated) proposals for answers (from candidates) and questions (from recruiters). We often feel uncomfortable asking for help, review, advices when it comes to preparing interviews because we don't know if it's the right person, if it's very appropriate, .... Especially in PM as it is such a large field! Record your interview preparation (do you remember talking to your wall preparing your first interview ;), then filter the voice so you feel *free* and get frank feedback. Just an idea!

Thanks for your contribution @SoleneMa :) I first thought about proposing my answers to the questions - you do need to work on them -, so I definitely feel you here. However because answers have to be really personal and relate to your experience, I started to feel like anonymity would be hard to keep. Plus I don't pretend to have the perfect answers. It would be a good idea though to start with the Design and Estimation categories, for which good answers can be a bit more generic What I thought about adding shortly for each category of question would be a "hint", showing an adequate framework for answering. I found it very useful to structure your thoughts during an interview. The opportunity to have your answers evaluated by some professional recruiters is an interesting idea, if you know any recruiter that may enjoy the concept, please put me in touch!

Good prep tool however, I know people are getting away from questions that you can google search like how much does a school bus weigh or basketballs sold in the US, etc. Even google is getting away from these types of questions. When I interview people I want to know what people are like so I ask - "What is the latest book you have read?" Who is your favorite author and why? (some people don't have time to read a lot of books and they may read things related to what they like via flipboard, etc) so a simpler question is "What do you like to read?" What are your news sources? What shows do you like to watch? What kind of music do you like to listen to? In addition to the normal job specific questions.