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Choosing the Right Case Study for a Product Manager Interview 🤔👔
In product manager (PM) interviews, the next step after a recruiter screen and the hiring manager is a case study interview to measure your technical aptitude in product management, like a coding interview for a software engineer.
In my 6+ years as a PM, I’ve done hundreds of these interviews as both a candidate and the interviewer. So I’ve developed a few opinions on what works and what doesn’t.
For new and aspiring PMs, this article is an introduction to the process. For group and director PMs, this article is my critical evaluation of the process.
The goal is to take the same critical thinking skills that we use to develop great products and apply it recruiting too. Hopefully we can make a messy, noisy, human process a little bit better for both candidates and managers.
Live Interviews vs Homework Assigments
First to consider is how the interview is conducted. Two typical options:
- Live interview: 45 min over video. Usually verbal, but bonus if the candidate uses Excalidraw, Google Docs, or a similar whiteboard tool.
- Homework assignment: Candidate is emailed a prompt. They are asked to create a quick PRD and give an informal presentation.
No one format is better; both have good and bad points.
(1) From the manager’s point of view
Live interviews speed things up if you are in a hurry to hire. Live interviews are more common than homework, and every PM candidate practices for these. Live interviews highly test verbal communication.
Homework slows things down, so they are better if you are searching for the “perfect” candidate. Homework usually involves more uncertainty, as few people have a PRD template ready. So it is a better test of how a candidate structures a problem, which is exactly what we are testing for.
Because homework is less common than a live call, you also get a wider range of answer qualities. So you get some very good answers and some very bad answers. This can make it easier to weed out candidates. And of course, writing a PRD tests for good written communication.
