One of the most daunting tasks for product team leaders is to hire the best product managers for your company. There is no perfect way to hire the ideal candidate. It is all about selecting the right one from the sea of unicorns. And how do product manager headhunters do that? By asking the right product manager interview questions. Following a cookie-cutter approach is not the right way to hire managers. You need to have a solid strategy to determine an excellent fit for your organization.
The job description of a product manager varies from company to company. For instance – sometimes your organization needs a technical expert, or other times it needs a person who has hands-on experience in marketing.
Getting the right candidate adds an invaluable asset to your product team. But the moment you get it wrong, your company’s reputation is at stake. So, what is the solution in this case? The key to selecting the right candidate is to ask them the right questions. These questions will help reveal the value and intentions of the candidate.
Let’s find out the key product manager interview questions that you may ask from the candidates to select the best product manager for your company.
What Is The Role Of The Product Manager?
Knowing the answer to this question will get you an understanding of what the candidate thinks about this role. There are different types of organizations. So, people have different expectations for the role of a product manager. This question helps to give a clear idea that candidates know about the job they are applying for and do not feel disappointed once they start working in this role.
Do You Have Any Experience In Product Management?
The employer should have an idea of the candidate’s skills and effectiveness you bring to the table from day one. You want to know the kind of training the candidate requires with respect to the new organization. You may also need to know how the candidate deals with challenging situations when it comes to product management.
The education and professional experience of the candidate may differ. The candidate may have worked in the field of product management. They may discuss their past employment experience to describe the training they have undergone. For instance – A candidate may say, “In addition to my training, I learned different skills in the field of data visualization and market analysis.” An experience like this may impress the employers to a large extent.
Describe Your Technical Skills As A Product Manager?
Usually, product managers won’t keep a focus on the technical questions related to software development or engineering unless the candidate has specifically come for the technical product manager. But you might still want to check the technical knowledge of the candidate for his/her ability to communicate with the product development engineers. So, candidates should come prepared to speak about whatever skills they have in an easy manner.
If a candidate is applying for a specialized area like technical product manager, he/she should be able to clearly explain the technological concepts in his area of expertise.
What Is Your Favorite Product, And What Do You Like About It?
This question will let you know what the candidate feels about the products and do they value them? It will make you determine what the candidate finds useful about the product. Is it the product’s appearance? Or endurance? Or technicalities that make him adore the product. Ask them to critically examine the product they love. This question gives you an idea of how the candidate finds ways to improve them.
What Is Your Way Of Communicating The Product Strategy?
This question will help you determine the tools and methods that a candidate uses to get the tasks done. It also gives you the knowledge on whether the candidate is using data to back up the things or using a roadmap to meet the deadlines? Healthy communication is the key to developing a good product strategy and ultimately making the product a success.
Way To Become A Good Product Manager
The employers in an organization conduct a thorough process to find a suitable product manager for their organization. They conduct a topgrading interview for the perfect match. They believe that core competencies, developing a good product roadmap, flexibility to adapt to new features, and responding proactively to new obstacles are the key things that make a great product manager.
To Sum It Up
Conducting product management interviews is one of the important and final steps in determining the right fit for this role. Undoubtedly, every interview is different. So, use the same set of questions to evaluate the candidates. Track the answers of the candidates in the document to review it afterwards. It will give you a standard mode of comparison between candidates. After selecting the candidate, make the best offer and develop the best management strategy.
