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The Product Management Interview Cheat Sheet

The Product Management Interview Cheat Sheet

bowtiedwhitebelt's avatar
bowtiedwhitebelt
Mar 12, 2022
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The Product Management Interview Cheat Sheet
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As someone on the outside of Product, how can I land my first role in product management?

Epic: Breaking into Product Series


Hello Product Thinkers,

Below is a cheat sheet I put together for a friend a year or so back on what the product interview process looks like to give a taste of the paid offering.

If looking to break into the product, consider the following services I offer.

45-minute general product consult
Resume Review + 30-minute call

Better yet, I’m offering the first 5 paid subscribers a complimentary service as I build up my most valuable of content.


Product Manager Cheat Sheet - Breaking Into the role 

Step 1 - Get an interview

  • Get an interview request

  • Get past HR Barrier

Target Associate Product Manager/Product Analyst Jobs

  • 1-3 years product experience – considered “Entry level product”

  • Related to your current company industry

  • Product Analyst more technical (Know SQL, be able to analyze data)

  • 80-100K comp range

Needs to get interviews/to the hiring manager

  • Good Resume – vary by type of role (Industry-specific, or more Technical for PA vs business for APM)

  • Cover letter – Have a default cover letter, where you adjust only 2-4 sentences to make it company-specific. (Change a line or two in the first and last paragraph)

  • “So tell me about your current role”- 1 minute story, don’t ramble

  • Why are you leaving your current company

  • Why (Insert company applying too)

Step 2 - Phone Interviews

1st - Hiring Manager (Director of Product)

2nd – VP

Phone Interview Questions :

  • Case Study

  • Tell me about a problem you went about solving where you defined the parameters of the solution

  • What is an industry that interests you, why, and where do you see that industry going?

  • Understanding of Agile Development Principles, and be able to relate those to your current work. (Know the basics of Scrum/sprints/user stories/release cycles/managing a backlog

Step 3 – Round table/extended product team interviews

Engineering Lead

UX Lead

Other Product Managers 

Hiring Manager/VP again

Step 4 - Final Blessing Interview

Chief Product Officer

  • High-level interview, looking for red flags, checking for potential confidence/ability to move up quickly

  • Don’t freeze, don’t get too cute. 

  • Demonstrate understanding by asking a question that have some depth, but not too specific (IE industry trend and how they’ll address it

    Case Study questions, engineering & UX talking points behind the paywall.

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