Another PM Interview?

I have been interviewing candidates for product management roles for a few years now. My current count is fifty (yes, I keep count). It’s such a fun challenge and experience to discuss and debate a new problem with smart individuals and co-create creative solutions. An hour is never enough but that’s what you have to demonstrate your knowledge, thinking, and attitude. I want to use this article to share my interview observations which might be useful for candidates interested in PM roles at Walmart or elsewhere. The advise below is not very different from how we do our jobs every day.

1. Focus on the customer — the individual, the family or the enterprise that will use the product. What do they think (not just you)? Are there more than type of users? What do they use it for? How and when do they use it? Do they like current offerings in the market? If not, what’s not working and what is not? As you develop solutions, think about value, usability, feasibility and viability. Will customers even find this solution worthy (value)? How will you design it to make it easy to use (usability)? Will legal let you launch it (viability)? Are you planning to build flying cars (feasibility)?
2. Assumptions, assumptions, assumptions. State them. Every single time. Every sentence you utter is likely to have one or more assumptions. What are these? Have you thought about them? Take a moment and call it out. Did you jump to a specific user, market and use case, without describing how you got there? Is it because this is the largest user base or the ones with the most pain points or the biggest $ opportunity? Did you mix up your behavior with the target demographic and did not mention it?
3. A method to the madness. Interviews can be crazy. An hour is never enough time to truly evaluate an individual, but in this busy and attention-deficient world, that’s what you got! You have to make the best of it. How can you present your best self through every minute of the conversation. Structured thinking comes in handy. Having a framework, a process, a set of steps and laying them out is a must. List the main steps down and slowly walk the other party through it. Keep coming back to it to ensure you are on the right track and that you have not lost sight of your goals. Summarizing at each step is critical. It will keep you and the other person at check.
4. Stop and think. Pause every few minutes. Check the pulse of your audience. Are they getting what you are saying? Are they following you? Are you making sense? Ask. Does this make sense! What do you think? Would you like me to dive deeper into area A or B? If it were up to me, I’d pick B because… My philosophy is: talk less, say more. Be conscious of where you are. Have you been rambling for 10 min and the audience has lost all interest and are back on their phones? Unfortunately, it’s our job to make sure the audience is engaged.
5. Options and KPIs. How did you arrive at this particular solution you stated? Because you like it! What would users like? Can you generate more ideas? What are your guiding principles? I am sure you can think of a few ideas. Lay them out, evaluate them on a common set of rules, and pick one to develop further. Interviews are never about the solution you picked but the framework you used and how you tweaked it for the problem at hand. Having the right KPI is key — at least one leading KPI and perhaps some secondary ones. As product and business owners, it’s paramount we define, measure and track the right metrics.

These guidelines are by no means sufficient but they are necessary for a successful conversation. An interview is a pitch. You present and pitch yourselves to someone you are evaluating to work with. This is your opportunity to not just present your best selves but also evaluate how capable they are. Is this someone you want to work with? Can they guide and lead you in the right direction. Are they polite, humble and respectful? Use the opportunity to learn about them, their business and goals, and what motivates and drives them. More than anything else, ENJOY the conversation. It’s another opportunity to learn and do better. Good luck!