## Q: I’m interviewing for a PM role. What should I do to prepare?
I’ve interviewed hundreds of PMs over the years. As an interviewer, you want to believe that no matter how long the candidate has spent preparing, you can see through it all to their true PM nature. But that’s just not true. Preparing gives you a big leg up, even if you spend just a few hours. A little prep helps you nail common questions, build frameworks for confronting unexpected questions, and gets your mind into the interviewing game (which is very different from doing the job itself).
Broadly, there are three parts to the preparation process:
1. Research 2. Practice 3. Study
Below I’ll share a bunch of advice, and point you to my favorite resources, to help you through your preparation process.
If there’s anything else you’ve found helpful in your own interview prep process, I’d love to hear it 👇
Disclaimer: This guide will help you prepare for an interview, but it won’t help you do the actual job. Be careful about becoming so good at interviewing that you get into a role you aren’t ready for and end up having a bad time.
1. Research
Start by doing your homework on the product, the company, and its interview process.
1. Use the product. Form an opinion about what could be improved, what you’d prioritize if you were in charge, and where the product might go in the future. 2. Research the company. What’s its mission and vision? What has it launched recently? Who does it compete with? Where do you think it’s going next? Try to find someone at the company to get insight from. 3. Review common interview questions. Skim questions on Glassdoor, Exponent, and PMExercises. Identify the typical question structure, and the skill sets the company seems to care most about, e.g.:
1. Product design/sense 2. Execution 3. Strategy 4. Leadership/behavioral 5. Analytical skills 6. Technical skills
2. Practice
Nothing will better help you prepare for an interview than actually doing interviews. Instead of reading about interviewing, start practicing with real people. I put this section above “Study” because too many people spend their time studying and not doing.
1. Find PMs who can do mock interviews with you. If you can’t find enough willing friends, check out peer groups from Exponent, PMExercises, IGotAnOffer, and Lewis C. Lin’s Interview Community.
1. Watch mock interviews byExponent, Product Alliance, RocketBlocks, and Diego Granados. These are particularly useful if you’re interviewing at a larger company with a consistent interview process. While you’re watching these mock interviews, pause the video as soon as you hear the question and try to answer it yourself in front of a friend. Then watch the answer and see what you could have done better. 2. Get an interview coach through IGotAnOffer, Exponent, RocketBlocks, Product Alliance, or PMExercises.
A few select videos to get you started:
[Watch on YouTube](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=m-qyEDwB1tw)Watch on YouTubeWatch on YouTube
Above all else, start practicing with real people ASAP.
3. Study
Finally, while you’re practicing, study up on frameworks, best practices, and core PM skills.
1. Learn a few useful frameworks
1. CIRCLES, for product design questions 2. STAR and DIGS, for behavioral questions 3. AARM, for picking a metric for a product 4. RICE, for prioritizing 5. Broad then deep, for any question 2. Read the two most popular books on PM interviewing
1. [Cracking the PM Interview](https://www.crackingthepminterview.com/) 2. [Decode and Conquer](https://www.amazon.com/Decode-Conquer-Answers-Management-Interviews/dp/0615930417/ref=tmm_pap_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=) 3. Read up on the core PM skills
1. Ruthless prioritization by Brandon Chu 2. Prioritizing by me 3. WTF is strategy? by Vince Law 4. Getting better at product strategy by me 5. How to become a strategic leader by Julie Zhuo 6. How am I going to move my product forward today? by Sachin Rekhi 7. What is product management by me 8. How to develop product sense by Jules Walter 9. Building products by Julie Zhuo 4. Prepare stories and answers to common interview questions
1. Walk me through your resume. 2. Why are you excited about this role? 3. What’s your biggest weakness? 4. What’s your favorite product and why? 5. What’s a project you led that drove significant impact? 6. Tell me about a time you had a disagreement with an engineer. How did you get past it? 7. Tell me about a time you had a conflict with someone. How did you resolve it and what did you learn? 8. Tell me about a time you made a mistake. 9. Tell me about a time you went against what the data told you, and relied on instinct or some other insight.
Good luck 🙏
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🧠 Inspiration for the week ahead
1. Watch: Flying Through Giga Berlin
2. Listen: Rick Rubin: Legendary Music Producer on Lex Fridman Podcast
3. Read: The Marketplace 100: 2022 by a16z
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Sincerely,
Lenny 👋