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When it comes to FAANG interviews, you can never really be too prepared — especially if you’re applying for the role of a product manager. Going in, be prepared for a wide range of product manager interview questions.
Finding the right candidate for the job is no walk-in-the-park for recruiters either. When FAANG companies look for product managers, they’re looking for someone who is motivated, a team player, and has deep expertise in product management. Accordingly, product manager interview questions at FAANG and other tier-1 companies are designed to test all these aspects and more.
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As you gear up to prepare for your product manager interviews at FAANG, we’ve put together the most relevant product manager interview questions. In this article, we’ll cover:
- Important product manager interview questions
- How to Prepare for Product Manager Interview Questions at FAANG
- FAQs on product manager interview questions
Important Product Manager Interview Questions
To help you prepare well for your product manager interview, we have categorized the questions into product-based, technical, and behavioral.
Product-based Product Manager Interview Questions
Through these questions, your experience as a product manager will be tested:
- Tell us about a time when you had to say no to an idea or project.
- On what grounds do you judge what to build or what not to?
- What is a product you currently use every day, why and how would you improve it?
- According to you, what’s the key to creating a good user interface?
- How do you determine if a product is well designed?
- What makes X product so successful?
- List some drawbacks of a product of ours.
- What are the features on which the price of a product depends?
- Who are our competitors?
- Which company has the best customer service? What do they do, and why do they do it well?
Technical Product Manager Interview Questions
While overtly technical questions are pretty rare in product manager interviews, you need to be prepared to answer a few of them. So here are some critical technical product manager interview questions:
- We have been using X methodologies for quite a while now. What do you think of them?
- How do you ensure that market-oriented teams understand technical challenges?
- When are Bayesian methods more appropriate than “Artificial Intelligence” techniques for predictive analytics?
- List the technical skills that set you apart from other candidates.
- Give us an example of when a technical solution designed by you or your team resulted in creating a commercial product.
- How do you deal with technical issues/hiccups?
- What tools do you prefer to work with when managing X process (could be a workflow, wire-framing, people management tool)? Why is that?
- How do you approach new techniques?
- What technical tasks will you get done in the first 90 days if we hire you?
- How do you plan on helping your team uplevel their technical skills?
Behavioral Product Manager Interview Questions
Since this is a leadership role, your recruiters will need to gauge how well you handle day-to-day tasks and if you’re capable of resolving any conflicts or issues that may arise. To test this, they’ll ask you behavioral product manager interview questions similar to these:
- How do you interact with customers or users?
- Tell us about the time you made a mistake and how you handled it.
- If two people from your team have different views about a certain topic, how do you choose which one you’ll opt for?
- How will you get your team to stick to a schedule?
- How do you resolve disputes among team members?
For more examples of behavioral interview questions, read this article.
How to Prepare for Product Manager Interview Questions at FAANG
Going to interviews for a job at FAANG companies can be quite daunting. But, if you prepare for product manager interview questions based on what each company is looking for, the process can feel a little less overwhelming:
How to Prepare for Facebook Product Manager Interview Questions
The Facebook product manager interview questions are quite extensive and are divided into three major themes:
- Product sense
- Execution
- Leadership
The interview process can be pretty in-depth and lengthy because Facebook is very clear about the kind of candidate they want. So you need to put in the time and effort.
Read the Facebook Product Manager Interview Process article for more questions and tips.
How to Prepare for Amazon Product Manager Interview Questions
Sometimes known to have as many as six different stages, an Amazon product manager interview process can last three to six weeks. The product manager interview questions are designed to test you in all the areas — strategy, technical, and behavioral. So be as thoroughly prepared as you can be.
Check out this article on How to Prepare for the Amazon Product Manager Interview to learn more.
How to Prepare for Apple Product Manager Interview Questions
When you appear for the Apple product manager interview, ensure that you thoroughly go over the company’s history and core values. Apple is very particular about determining whether you’ll be a cultural fit or not, and most of their product manager interview questions are aimed at it.
Their core values are Accessibility, Education, Environment, Inclusion and Diversity, Privacy, Racial Equity and Justice, and Supplier Responsibility. These values dictate Apple’s product strategy and the features they build into each device.
If you know their company’s culture well, it’ll help you understand their product needs.
Did you know that a Senior Product Manager at Apple earns an average of $185,000 per year? Read this article to learn more.
How to Prepare for Netflix Product Manager Interview Questions
Just like Apple, Netflix’s product manager interview questions are aimed at finding out if you’ll be a cultural fit and whether you have the required knowledge of the products they provide to their users. Netflix values candidates who do their research on the company.
“Candidates should prepare themselves with an understanding of Netflix’s values and any relevant news about the company.” — Patty McCord, a talent manager at Netflix
“Each candidate should be a Netflix subscriber and be familiar with the product from the user perspective. Everyone at Netflix is passionate about the product, and they own it from day one.” — Christophe Jouin, Device Engineer
How to Prepare for Google Product Manager Interview Questions
As Google always puts its users first, they highly value the customer experience. A significant part of the Google product manager interview questions will be centered around determining how you will elevate the customer experience.
Google will also test whether you’ll be a good cultural fit or not and if you have knowledge about data and analytics.
Read How to Prepare for Google Product Manager Interview to learn more.
We hope this article helps you get ready for all the critical product manager interview questions. Create a solid prep plan, put in the work, be as efficient and productive as you can be, and you can surely nail it!
FAQs on Product Manager Interview Questions
Some of the most commonly asked questions about product manager interviews are:
Q1. How to prepare for a product manager interview?
Read up on the core values and principles of the company you’re applying to thoroughly. Research the questions and answers and prepare accordingly. You should have thorough product knowledge (Design, Improvement, Growth, Launch, Pricing, Prioritization, Kickoff/Sunset, Risk).
Q2. What is a product manager responsible for?
A product manager is responsible for gathering and prioritizing product and customer requirements, defining the product vision, and working closely with engineering, sales, marketing, and support teams.
Q3. What are the qualifications of a product manager?
A bachelor’s degree in computer science or a related field or equivalent experience is usually required for a technical program manager.
Q4. What skills must a good product manager have?
Some essential skills a good product manager must have are — technical expertise, communication skills, business acumen, and research and analytical skills.
Q5. List the five stages of product development.
The five stages involved in product development are ideation, screening, conceptualization, product development, and commercialization.
Want to Land a Product Manager Job at FAANG?
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