Product team leaders face quite a challenge when hiring product managers. It would not be wrong to say that product manager jobs are increasing in today’s world. So, hiring an ideal candidate requires the right set of product manager interview questions to assess the capabilities of the candidates.
Here we will discuss the questions you can ask from the interested candidates for this position.
Let’s start with the questions to select the best fit for your organization –
What Are The Roles Of A Product Manager?
The answer to this question will let you determine the understanding of the candidates about this role. The variety of this role varies from organization to organization. Employees have different expectations about the duties of a product manager. The answer will help you know that the candidates are applying for the desired job and don’t feel overwhelmed once they start working for a product manager position.
How Will You Identify The Needs Of The Customers?
Customer satisfaction is the ultimate aim of any organization and business. Having the answer to this question will give you insight into how the candidate connects with the real customers. The candidates should be good at communicating with the customers and getting out the important information of their preferences from them.
Interviewing the current employees of your company for the position of the product manager:-
What Is Your Biggest Failure, And May I Know The Reason For It?
This question comes with two benefits. It will let you know about their critical thinking. Also, when they tell you about their failure, you get to know a little more about them and how broad their mind is.
What Is Your Favorite Product? Is There Anything You Would Like To Change About It?
The answer to this question will give you an idea about what your candidates value. If they say yes to the question that they would like to change something about the product, ask them what it is. Is it usability, appearance, or anything else? This question works on the psychology of asking the other person to find flaws in something they love. People often find ways to improve the products they love.
Share Some Strategies Of Lateral Transition (For instance – moving from engineering to product management).
Moving from one field to another from an existing role is one of the excellent ways to follow the profession. You are already an established employee of your company and know its culture from top to bottom. It is important to discuss this position with your team leader or manager. Your manager can help promote your strengths and make them known to the product manager who interviews the employees/candidates.
But, keep in mind the biases that the interviewer may have according to your strengths and weaknesses and your previous experiences in the company. For instance – If you are from an engineering background, the interviewer may assume that you are good in technical aspects but may find a little difficulty in identifying the customer needs or financial aspects of the product. If you are an engineer, you can describe the points where you worked with the design team to understand the customer needs. It will help change the perception of the interviewer.
What Is The Difference Between A Product Manager And A Product Marketing Manager?
Both these roles are complementary. Some organizations have different people who occupy these roles, while some companies have one person fulfilling the duties of both these roles. No matter what, both these roles hold a special place in determining the product’s success.
The main difference between the two is that the product managers focus on an inbound way while the product marketing manager has more focus on the outbound way. Simply put,
- The product manager’s chief duty is to put the right product on the rack or shelf.
- The product marketing manager makes strategies to get the products off the shelf successfully.
How Will You Spread Your Product Strategy Among The Employees or Your Team?
When the candidate answers this question, you can see which tools and methods the candidate is aware of to perform the job most effectively. You can also determine whether the candidate has worked in the consensus or not. Has he used the data to keep the backup of the things? Has he used a blueprint or roadmap to follow the strategies or just skipped the steps?
This question is very important. The reason is – Nearly 50% of the product managers do not feel satisfied with communicating the product strategy to the employees. Thus, it is high time to gauge the comfort level of the product managers about the communication aspect in this role.
To Sum It Up!
It is needless to say that conducting an interview is almost the final step of the hiring process. You can use a set of the above-listed questions to assess their answers. It provides a standard comparison among the interested candidates. Once you have hired the best fit, your organization will have a set of brilliant products in the market.