What do you do if you make these common mistakes in a product management interview?

Product, Strategy, Culture, and Role: Competitors? Target Market? Revenue strategies? What do customers love or hate about the product? KPIs? Any interesting News Reports? Formulate an opinion. What is the company's Strategy? What is the company's Mission Statement? Strengths of the company? Weaknesses? Challenges? Opportunities? Threats? Future? What is the company's Culture? What are the company's Values? How long has the company been around? Talk to employees at the company. Who founded the company? What were they doing previously? How big is the company? How is the company organized? How technical is the PM role? Where do ideas come from? Bold ideas or incremental improvements? Why do you want the job? Why would you be a good fit?

Don't just google their website, instead try to visualize yourself in the shoes of their devs, their users, their sales teams, and their product team. Sometimes vague understandings hurt your case more than it helps them and just looks like you are reading from the internet. However, trying to deeply associate with their problems and positioning yourself to deliver value from the first call makes you a stand-out candidate from day 1!

Firstly, it is essential to acknowledge the mistake and not try to cover it up. You can then demonstrate your willingness to learn by asking insightful questions about the company and the product during the interview. Additionally, you can conduct thorough research before the interview to familiarize yourself with the company's background, products, services, and industry. Showing genuine interest and curiosity can help mitigate the impact of this mistake and showcase your proactive approach to learning and adapting in a professional setting.

Even if you are sure the interview questions won't be centered on the company and its products. It will be very absurd to go for such interview without doing thorough research about the company and its products if truly you desire to be part and parcel of the company. In fact as a Product Manager, it is expedient to teardown the company's product so you won't be caught unaware on questions around what you think about their product, why you want to be a product manager for their product and how you can improve the product.

In the case when you really don’t know something or there is no right answer, it is important to start searching it or explaining how would you do it. Important to show that you don’t stay on the same place but start to actively look for an answer or search.

Firstly, acknowledge the oversight and ask for clarification if needed to ensure you understand the question fully. Take a moment to gather your thoughts before responding to provide a clear and concise answer. Focus on addressing the specific points raised in the question and provide relevant examples or insights to support your response. Practice active listening during the interview to grasp the interviewer's intent and tailor your responses accordingly.

Acknowledge the importance of asking insightful questions to demonstrate your interest and understanding of the role. Prepare relevant questions in advance that showcase your curiosity about the company, product, team dynamics, and challenges. Avoid asking generic or irrelevant questions that do not add value to the conversation. By actively engaging with the interviewer through thoughtful inquiries, you can convey your enthusiasm for the role and gather valuable information to make informed decisions about your fit within the organization.

Avoid pre-canned questions and always come with real questions. I always form questions by first trying to answer how the product team has been driving value at the organization up until now. You will learn more about their applied strategies, detailed roadmaps, metrics, and team dynamics throughout the process and when you are hired. The number one question you need to have answered is how this product role delivers exceptional value in the past, right now, and what excellence looks like in the future!

The current job market is overwhelmed, if you feel you are doing everything right and still not getting offers, it may not be your fault. Constantly audit yourself, do mock scenarios, and upskill. But right now you may be competing against hundreds or thousands of candidates. Keep your head up, stay positive, communicate learning and positivity, and keep going!

The problems listed here are not even remotely the main challenges. Not knowing the company in an interview? If this isn't funny. How did you then apply for the job? I'd say the major challenges are - Showing up without energy and confidence would hurt you more than anything - Responding too quickly to product questions that require deep thinking shows you are not thoughtful - Bs'ing your way through a question when you could just admit you don't know and speak on how you'd learn or approach it with the right information