ZoomyJellybean

The PM interview is broken

Does anyone else feel like the PM interview process is easily scammable? I feel like 80% of it is a vibe check and 20% is the actual content itself. Am a PM with 3 YoE and have been interviewing around recently. I have 0 preparation for any interview I walk into and have gotten offers from multiple startups. (Not bragging, I'm a good talker) You need to just break down any questions into understandable parts and explain it well enough. Maybe it's imposter syndrome or maybe I'm a little disillusioned with my job.

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18mo ago

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PeppyPanda

Swiggy18mo

Agree! used chatgpt and some personal spin to stories and cracked bigtech interviews for pm.

Unlike PMs, there is no benchmark to these interviews, it's more like how easily can you sell your stories. Hardly any interviewer goes into the depth of the claims, all they want to talk about is case studies :/ & how you'll align your EM

ZoomyJellybean

Stealth18mo

exactly. i think a charming enough salesperson could crack a product interview with 0 product experience

WobblyLlama

Stealth18mo

Imo you have mentioned you break down problems well and are undervaluing that part tremendously. Most interviewers are looking for that and is not exactly as easy for others especially in an interview setting especially when you’re desperate to convert that opportunity. I’m assuming you’re relatively confident and relaxed in these interviews as you’re not desperate yet.

You are definitely in that mode ‘If I’m good at it, can’t be hard’. Which is understandable, but it is hard.

Plus, it helps you have 3 years of work ex to talk about. Can cover up in case you weren’t good at cases and other PM interview template evaluations.

WigglyWaffle

Browserstack18mo

Go through Amazon PMT loop and see if that can be scammed. Had a friend go through it and high level system design quickly turned into low level with discussion between choosing redis or kafka with detailed pointers on cost vs performance metrics. I agree though, majority of it is vibe check.

PrancingPotato

Stealth18mo

Unfortunately, across most Indian companies (including unicorns) this is true. Most hiring managers/ HRs do safe hiring. Safe hiring = Signalling (logos of previous cos, college) + product sense. That's literally about it.

No unicorn will give lateral entry to PM's beyond SPM stage if you haven't worked in other large cos (branded).

However this is drastically different in most cos in the west, where I have interviewed. Have had very deep revenue/churn/data rounds.

ZestyPenguin

Stealth18mo

Where you working at?

2 - true, I feel interviewers should go into depth of your past experiences and also the call should be recorded, I've felt many times due to grudges or idk they ask random questions and feel like you're not good enough. It's just sad, not everyone is a good talker

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