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 :-)
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.
@GehaniNeil Agreed.
@RaphKomjat I dig the site and am saving it for later, but the questions like "How long would it take to drain a bathtub with a straw?" are meh.
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@gergmuure I was dying for someone to tell me that. Would love to talk with people in these positions to come up with relevant questions and build sibling sites.
@GehaniNeil I really wanted to show the concept, with relevant enough questions (though not everyone agrees - which is fine). I want to work on the content now and make it better, so thanks for the input. Even for my own interviews I haven't found so many of the questions in the site, however the type was similar, and working on those was definitely great training > which leads me back to my idea of presenting useful frameworks for answering w/ every question.
As for the personality/culture fit questions, that could definitely be a category to add. I need to figure out where we could add even more value to this.
@ffumarola Thanks for the cheers :) As for the questions, is it the overall type of question, or just these examples? I'm looking at how to have estimation questions closer to industry examples ("How much data does company X uses to store Y?", "How much money does company X spends/makes in Y per year?",...) I have actually been asked these questions.
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@Nale love the structure. Starting with the introduction also helps the candidate feel more at ease.
What do you think of a section in the site to explain clearly to the applicant what is expected from him / what companies look for?
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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 :)
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.
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