How to Practice Interviewing for Product Manager Jobs

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Practice makes perfect. This saying holds true in almost every facet of life, and that’s definitely the case when it comes to preparing for a product manager interview. Without proper practice, you’ll find it difficult — if not impossible — to land a PM role.

Before we discuss how to practice interviewing for product manager jobs, there’s something else worth noting. Practice is good but perfect practice is what you’re really striving for. In other words, if you don’t practice with a purpose, you’ll waste a lot of time (and possibly money) and end up no better than where you started.

Now, let’s examine an example strategy — with step-by-step guidance — to practice interviewing for product manager jobs. 

1. Take a PM Interview Prep Course

With 100+ lessons and 50+ video hours, our PM interview prep course is one of the best ways to practice interviewing for PM jobs. As a self-guided course, you can work at your own pace to improve your ability to process and retain the information. 

After a brief introduction, the course is broken down into six categories:

• Product sense
• Execution
• Analytics
• Strategy
• Technical 
• Behavior

For example, in the execution category, you’ll find videos for:

• How to answer metric questions
• Mock interview with a Google product manager
• How to answer company/product specific questions

To get the most value out of the course, make note of areas that require additional attention so you can revisit them in the future. 

2. Answer Common PM Interview Questions

Head to the product manager interview questions section of PM Exercises and briefly scour the 2,000+ questions for a handful that pique your interest. The questions are broken down by category and come from community members who have recently gone through the interview process. Categories include::

• Estimation
• Metrics
• Product Improvement
• Product Design
• Product Launch
• Problem-solving
• Strategy
• Technical
• Behavioral

Tip: You can work in whatever order you want, but the above allows you to slowly move from easiest to hardest. Work through one category at a time and then repeat the cycle (more on this below). 

Here’s a basic approach you can take:

• Read answers to understand other ways of thinking. 
• Post answers to receive feedback from the community (don’t worry about perfect answers, as everyone’s here to learn). ​This feature is available to both free and paid users.
• Learn how to put yourself in the shoes of the interviewer by giving feedback to community members.

3. Attend Group Practice Sessions

This is where it all starts. It doesn’t matter if you’re practicing for your first interview or you’ve been down this path before, attending group practice sessions puts you on the right track from the start.

These sessions allow you to practice answering PM interview questions in a group setting. Not only do you gain practice answering questions, but you’re able to see the approach taken by other people in a similar position. There are so many different ways to answer PM questions and the only limit is your imagination. Group sessions help you learn how to answer a question in different ways. This gives you more flexibility during an interview, as you can take multiple paths.

Even if you don’t feel comfortable participating, attend a few group practice sessions as a silent observer. You’ll quickly gain a better understanding of how to approach different questions and scenarios in a PM interview. 

When complete, you also have the opportunity to watch the recorded session (as many times as you want). Jot down notes, critique your performance, and take notice of how others approached specific questions. 

4. Partake in Mock Interviews

Mock PM  interviews are exactly what they sound like. You connect with product manager partners who are willing to practice interviewing with you. This is one step beyond answering PM interview questions, as you now find yourself in a mock interview setting during which you can learn:

• How to quickly formulate educated answers
• How to control the direction of the interview 
• The manner in which a PM interview generally unfolds 

The most successful candidates partake in 100+ mock interviews before moving on to the real thing. If you want to compete with them on a level playing field — by obtaining feedback in a “safe” environment — it’s imperative to do the same. Imagine how confident you’ll be with 100 practice interviews under your belt. T

Tip: This is a good time to understand what to do if you’re stumped by an interview question.

Repeat the Cycle

Once you feel comfortable with the category of questions you’re working on — such as product improvement or product design — move to the next category on the list. Your goal is to build the confidence necessary to effectively manage a PM interview from start to finish. 

This is an intense preparation process, but if you’re competing for a top role you need to take this approach. It’s the only way to move to the top of the candidate pool, as the majority of other interviewees are preparing night and day. 

Other Things You Can Do

The above is a three-step process for practicing interviewing for product manager jobs. If you follow that framework, you’re taking the steps necessary to build your interviewing skills to a point where you can perform at a high level.

However, there’s no such thing as too much practice, so here are some other things you can do.

• Read company-specific guides: For example, if you’re interviewing at Facebook or hope to in the future, our Facebook product manager interview guide will prepare you accordingly. This allows you to practice interviewing with knowledge of what to specifically expect. If you’re applying at a startup, we have a guide for that, too.
• Sign up for product manager interview coaching: Personal training may be just what you need to better practice interviewing for PM jobs. Our 1-on-1 private coaching program connects you with seasoned PMs who have worked at top tech companies such as Amazon and Google. With customized sessions, you can focus on the areas that require the most attention. 

Adding these three steps to your practice plan will produce even better results. And once again, it’s worth noting that other candidates are going the extra mile. You need to do the same if you want to outperform them.  

Final Thoughts

There’s no exact science to how you should practice interviewing for product manager jobs, but the strategy laid out above will prepare you for every aspect of the process. 

Move through the first three steps in order — group practice sessions, answering interview questions, and mock interviews — and then introduce the “other things you can do” as time allows. 

The more you practice, the more you’ll realize where you need to focus your efforts and resources. It’s that progression that allows you to successfully prepare for future product manager job interviews.