🎧 How to Make a Great Impression in a PM Interview
A little prep and a dash of initiative goes a long way. 🚀
In this episode, I share a story about a candidate who didn’t just say they were excited about the role I was hiring for - they showed it.
They managed to get a demo account of my company's hard-to-access enterprise SaaS app and come to the interview with actual insight and questions. This person stood out in a way I’ve never forgotten.
If you're navigating this challenging job market and looking for ways to stand out, this story will give you a clear, actionable takeaway:
Don’t just tell them you want the job. Show them! 🫶
Could you use some support tackling Product Manager interviews?
Whether you’re new to Product Management or looking for your next role, interviewing can be tough. If know you need guidance, strategy, and end-to-end support, learn more about my SPRINT coaching program that helps Product Managers land their first (or next!) role.
-
Jess Sherlock (00:00)
y'all, I was like, holy initiative, holy commitment. How cool is that? And that clearly stuck with me all these years. That was a really exceptional story where someone, like they didn't just tell me they were excited about the role, they showed me.
Jess Sherlock (00:14)
Welcome to another episode of AFTER THE CERT the career podcast for product managers who've collected all the certifications and taken all the courses and still feel stuck in their product career. I'm your host, Jess Sherlock, product management career coach. I know firsthand what it feels like to be overwhelmed, lonely, and stuck in your product career. And I'm on a mission to help you feel confident and empowered to take the lead your product career and achieve your unique career goals.
on me for practical and actionable advice, plus relatable stories from PMs navigating the messy middle of their career.
And remember, if you're feeling stuck with your product management job search, worried about making a great impression during your first 90 days in a new product job, or you want to position yourself for a promotion at work, I'm here to help. You can check out my coaching programs at jesssherlock.com/apply.
and book time on my calendar so we can chat.
Let's get into it.
Jess Sherlock (01:10)
want to tell you a story about a candidate that I had who went the extra mile. And I still remember this situation so clearly because it was such a good example of someone taking massive initiative during an interview process. And clearly here I am talking about it. It has left an impression on me all these years.
I guess think of this as a bonus tip, a tip that you can apply or I would encourage you to apply, especially in a market like this one where hiring managers and recruiters have lots of candidates to choose from. And so if you see an opportunity to go the extra mile or if this inspires you with some idea to go the extra mile, I would encourage you to do it, especially if it is a job that you think you're a really good fit for
So here's the story. years ago, I was the director of product and I was hiring an additional product manager onto the team. And at this point in time, it was an enterprise product. So what I mean by that is the types of customers that would use our product were giant brands. So think companies like Levi's Jeans, or Danone, the parent company that owns Dannon yogurt brands.
or even Pepsi or Coke, right? Large brands like that would use the platform. Their employees would use the platform to gather data. And then VPs and executives at the company would look at the data in the system. Point being, this is not a product that you're going to be using, you know, on your phone at home on a Tuesday night while you're like watching Netflix. This is not by any stretch of the imagination of B2C product. It's also the type of product where
At the time, you could go to the app store and download our mobile app, but you would not be able to get past the sign in screen. So unfortunately, when I was doing interviews, a lot of folks, a lot of candidates would be really curious about how the product actually worked and looked because you couldn't find much. mean, I guess you could go to our help center on our website, maybe see some screenshots and stuff, but it wasn't the type of product where you could really like get in there and do a demo and use it.
be somewhat familiar so that when you have the interview, you kind of speak the language, which side note, I do recommend that if you can ever get in and do a demo account, definitely do. Anyways, in this case, that was not something that folks could do with our product. And so it was very common for me to get questions when I would ⁓ do a hiring manager screen interview with folks where they might ask me a few questions, but like, what does the product actually do? I saw it in the App Store, but I can't log in. So imagine my surprise when I go into an interview and
I start chatting with this individual and they start telling me some of the things that they noticed in the product about how it worked. And they had some questions about particular feature sets. Imagine my surprise, right? I'm going, wait a minute, have you used our product before? Does your company have you use our product? Like why are, that's so bizarre that you're so familiar with it. And guess what this person did? I still, this is amazing to me. And they go, oh no, no, no, no, no. My company doesn't use it.
I ⁓ was really excited for this interview. I've been following the company for a long time. And you have to remember this company was one of the like, you know, best places to work. We hosted happy hours at our really cool downtown office location. Like it was, was one of those companies are, it was pretty exciting to be a team member there. anyways, this candidate says to me, well, I just, I,
emailed your support team and I let them know that I had an interview and I asked them if they could set me up a demo account because I really wanted to make sure I had the chance to see and use the product before my interview. Y'all I was stunned. I was like you did what? And they were like yeah, yeah, so I got in there. I set up a we called them like sir their missions. We called them missions, but they were surveys.
this person was like, yeah, I went in, I created one, and then I entered some data so I could see some reports. So it's really cool, you know, and this part was cool, and this part was cool. I have some feedback and questions on this area, and I just, y'all, I was like, holy initiative, holy commitment. How cool is that? And that clearly stuck with me all these years. That was a really exceptional story where someone, like they didn't just tell me they were excited about the role, they showed me.
They were in it. They had messed around in there. They already had a point of view. Like this was amazing. So especially in a market like this one where there is lots of competition, try to take a moment and see if there is a way that you could go the extra mile. Some easy ways you might be able to do that would be, you know, go in create a demo account or actually create an account if it is a publicly available tool.
Maybe you go do some research so that you're a little bit more familiar with what's going on with the company. Or maybe you set up a coffee date with someone who works at the company just so you can get a little intel on what's going on there, why they're hiring for this role. But I'll tell you, going that extra mile, really change the dynamic of that interview. And here's the unfortunate thing is I remember that so clearly, but I don't remember if I ended up hiring that person.
Maybe one of these days that person will listen and go, my God, that was me. So if you're out there listening, let me know where that ended up going and just refresh my memory. Cause that interview sticks with me more than where that conversation ended up going.
As always, if you feel like you could use some one-on-one support in your job search, please reach out. I'd love to chat with you about my SPRINT program. It is for end-to-end everything from deciding on your application strategy and building out an effective resume and LinkedIn, all the way out to take home assignment, mock interview prep, and of course, offer and negotiation.
You can check out all of my programs at jesssherlock.com/apply That's jesssherlock.com/apply. And you can book a call so we can chat. You can also connect with me on LinkedIn, send me any questions or comments you have in a DM, I'd love to hear from you. And I'll see you next time on AFTER THE CERT.
