Complete Guide for Behavioral Interview Questions for Product Managers

Today we tackle behavioral interview questions for product managers including common mistakes, popular questions asked during PM interviews, and tips on how you can respond with confidence.

It’s always a big plus for any aspiring product manager to have a good set of hard skills on their resume. But a good set of soft skills, which involve interpersonal and behavioral skills, should not be put in the back seat since they are just as important.

 “Winging it” and schmoozing just won’t work anymore. You need to be ready to answer questions that will gauge how you handled past situations as well as assess your day-to-day professional behavior.

What is the purpose of asking behavioral interview questions?

In a nutshell, behavioral interview questions aim to see how PM candidates handle specific situations. 

Interviewers would like to learn about past workplace behavior and the applicant’s general demeanor. These types of questions are the quickest way to know who the job-seeker is beyond his or her resume. 

As a product manager, the interviewer is going to find out if you can:

• Handle high-pressure situations
• Communicate with and manage stakeholders’ expectations
• Influence teams without being aggressive with authority

Whatever your responses are, they will be good indicators of your future performance with the company.

Common Mistakes to Avoid

If you are unprepared, you’re likely to make some of the most common mistakes a product manager makes when answering behavioral questions. 

To most, practice and preparation are unnecessary because they’re banking on their communication skills and their ability to solve problems. It’s possible to do but if one of the questions catches you off-guard you could:

Give answers that are too vague or too general.

Interviewers need specific answers from you. You need to learn how to structure your response so don’t divert from the main idea of your solution. If you don’t have a structure in place, you will likely give answers that sound vague and plain.

Deliver a response that’s too long (you ramble).

Applicants tend to ramble when they don’t know exactly what to answer. It’s a kind of coping mechanism to make ourselves seem like we know what we’re talking about. Seasoned interviewers will see right through your answer no matter how lengthy it is.

Give an answer that’s not directly related to the question.

You have to listen actively. If there’s something that’s not clear to you, be sure to let the interviewer know. Politely ask him or her to repeat the scenario or the question. Ask clarificatory questions if needed.

It’s also common for candidates to miss the point when asked “Tell me about a time when…” questions. One example of this question is: “Tell me about a time you were trying to understand a problem on your team and you had to go down several layers to figure it out.“

You can read the response of our PM Community here.  Note: For some questions, you need to upgrade your account to view the complete answers.

Not answer at all.

During a behavioral interview, one of the worst things you can do is not answer at all. It’s possible that the specific scenario the interviewer is painting doesn’t apply to you.

In this case, be honest. Let the interviewer know that you may not have experienced the situation before but you can always present a hypothetical solution to it.

Give an answer that reflects negatively on you. 

If you give an answer that sheds a negative light on yourself, you might not end up with the product management job of your dreams. 

For example, if the interviewer asks: “Describe your day-to-day activities as a Product Manager.” Then, you give an answer that makes it seem like you’re all over the place, it can’t be good.

Preparation is one of the keys to getting through this process successfully. Take time to review the questions that you think might be asked during the interview.

At PM Exercises, we have a product management interview course that you can check out. It includes an introduction to behavioral questions for product managers. It also discusses typical general questions asked in companies like Google and Meta.

Most Popular Behavioral Interview Questions at PM Exercises

The PM Exercises questions database has about 2500+ interview questions and sample answers for product managers. We sorted the questions to reflect the five most popular behavioral interview questions:

In layman terms, describe your day-to-day activities as a Product Manager.

Each day is never the same when you are in product management. So how do you explain the kind of work you do to someone who may not understand technology? 

One approach is to give simple examples. Liken yourself to a building contractor who builds houses based on the preferences of their client. 

You can check how our PM Community answered this question here. Note: For some questions, you need to upgrade your account to view the complete answers

How would you keep developers working on a product motivated and turning out quality work?

Plenty of product managers can probably relate to this problem. It’s one of the questions in our database that has the most engagement. Each of our community members has their take on how to solve the problem but it always boils down to making the developers understand their role within the bigger picture. 

A good product manager will focus on communicating with the developers, ensuring that their strengths are leveraged and that they’re not overloaded.

You can check how our PM Community answered this question here. Note: For some questions, you need to upgrade your account to view the complete answers

What are you looking for in your next role?

According to one of our resident coaches, this is one question that causes the most anxiety among product managers. Our coach suggests giving an open, vulnerable and thoughtful answer. 

She gave a very insightful answer to the question. She answered it according to the different phases in her career. We highly recommend reviewing her response here. Note: For some questions, you need to upgrade your account to view the complete answers

If there are 3 different items on top priority for a release and the client is insisting on getting all 3 delivered in the same release. As a PM you know there is not enough engineering capacity. What will you do?

As a product manager, you have to know to prioritize. In your career, there will be situations where you have to choose one main priority over the others. You can use prioritization methods like Important VS Urgent. Then, talk to the engineering team to discuss their actual capacity.

You can check how our PM Community answered this question here. Note: For some questions, you need to upgrade your account to view the complete answers

You are a PM and you are about to enter the product launch meeting with all stakeholders. How would you prepare for that meeting?

To answer this question appropriately, you have to know certain details like what the product is and who the specific stakeholders are. As soon as the interviewer gives you the details, you can proceed with:

• Identifying the objective for the meeting
• Determining how long the meeting will be
• Listing the agenda that you’re going to tackle during the meeting

You can check how our PM Community answered this question here. Note: For some questions, you need to upgrade your account to view the complete answers.

Tell me a time when you influenced engineering to build a particular feature.

This question was asked in companies like Amazon, Walmart, Paypal, and more. The “Tell me about a time when…” questions are usual behavioral interview questions. It’s always good to share experiences that resulted in a good outcome.

One of our community members shared her experience about their engineering team wanting to take out some fields on their platform. She wasn’t the happiest with the recommendation but she went on a deep dive to see why this was the direction the engineering team wanted to go. 

She analyzed the circumstances and suggested some alternatives that wouldn’t affect the number of their existing customers.

You can check how our PM Community answered this question here. Note: For some questions, you need to upgrade your account to view the complete answers.

How should a Product Manager prepare for a behavioral interview?

One of the best ways for you to be ready for a behavioral interview is to prepare and practice as much as you can. As cliche as it sounds, “practice makes perfect” is an age-old saying that applies to product management interviews. Here are a few tips to consider:

Practice by Yourself

Go through the popular behavioral interview questions above and record yourself answering the questions. Usually, you will learn a lot from listening to your voice and your answer. From your recording, you can hear what you sound like, and you can review if your answer sounds right.

Get Others’ Feedback

On Product Management Exercises, we have a section called “Practice” where you can find mock interview partners. There are plenty of other members of the community who are also preparing for their PM interviews. Their feedback, and vice versa, can be very valuable.

Prepare Three Answers for Each Situation-Based Question

Sometimes, an interview might ask you to give an example of a situation that’s similar to the last question they asked. 

There are also other times when interviewers ask two similar questions. You want to show off your vast experience and use the answers that you have already practiced.

Give Real Examples

Interviewers will see right through your examples if they’re made up. Always draw from your past experience. It’s never a good idea to make something up.

Be Honest

As mentioned, if the interviewer is asking for an example or situation that you don’t have experience with, be sure to tell the interviewer. Instead, you can share what you might do if you were put in that situation.

Behavioral Interview Questions with a Google PM

Below is a video of Alicia, one of the members of our community who used PM Exercises to prepare for her Google PM Interview. Her interview was successful so now she shares some insights into answering behavioral interview questions effectively.  

Summary

Interviewers use behavioral interview questions to gain a better understanding of who you are and if you’re a good fit for their company. These types of questions will see how you react to stress, leverage your existing skills, and handle delicate situations professionally.

Lessen your anxiety and gain more confidence in answering behavioral questions by preparing and practicing. Make use of available resources like the PM Exercises prep course and our database for behavioral interview questions + sample answers.

Lastly, don’t forget to join the PM Exercises community so you can find a partner to practice with.