I’ve been part of hiring panels for at least a few dozen PMs now, and I know that product hiring is just as complicated as the rest of the craft - the competencies aren’t clear, the expectations are different for every company, and the right answers to questions seem subjective. So I asked some great people managers what they look for in Product Managers when hiring. Rather than focusing on the specifics for each job role, we decided to look at the absolute must have, non-negotiable skills that PMs should possess.
Here’s the list
Working effectively with cross functional teams
You must be able to understand the role of each craft in and around your team, and flex your communication style accordingly. The considerations of a software developer, a designer, an operations expert, or a member of a leadership team are different. As a PM, you’re the bridge that makes sure everyone understands each other.Identifying the right problem to solve
Most product managers think they need to find the best solutions to problems. That’s not true. No one person can solve every problem, every time. Instead, your ability to find the right problem to solve critical for your craft. Once the team is working on the right problem, collective brainstorming can generate many solutions, most of which are appropriate for the problem at hand. Your job as a PM is to identify the problems your team needs to solve. If you’ve got solutions, that’s an added bonus.Making a practical execution plan and following through
Once a problem-solution combination is identified, how well can you execute? Can you identify the cheapest, most sustainable solution? Can you break it down into parts? Can you create tasks for each team member, and inspire them to the finish line? Coming up with a solution is great, but ideas are a dime a dozen. Flawless execution is every great PM’s strength.Baseline Logical Thinking
PMs often have to find creative solutions or hustle their way to a finish. Your ability to think on your feet and a baseline appetite for logical thinking will serve you well when making decisions. What are the things you can compromise on if you’re up against the wall with a deadline? What wouldn’t you compromise on? What creative ways would you use to unblock your team?Transparency and openness in communication
PMs take countless decisions every day. Some of them are bound to be wrong. Can you acknowledge when you go wrong and ask for help? Are you open to others challenging your decisions and thought processes, and revising them when necessary? Transparency in communication, a willingness to hear views different from one’s own, and the ability to change your outlook when necessary build trust, help you avoid catastrophes, and foster shared responsibility.Ambition and a drive to succeed
PMs often find themselves responsible for keeping team morale high and team members motivated. Further, PMs need to keep learning and processing information - evolutions to business strategy, competitor news, current events, everything. They need to keep growing their skills and becoming better at a seemingly endless list of asks. A high degree of ambition and drive helps keep the PMs motivated and allows the rest of the team to derive energy from them.
What’s not on the list
Agile/Scrum
We don’t care if you’ve worked with agile/scrum or waterfall or a system you devised for yourself. As long as you had a degree of organisation within the team, the specific frameworks you worked with honestly don’t matter. Techniques and frameworks can always be learnt.Software development experience
Product Management and Software Development are two different competencies in the same team. Unless you work with highly technical teams or products made specifically for developers, being a developer in a past life is absolutely not essential. You do need to understand systems and how data flows within your systems, but this can be learnt on the job (remember, you’re good at baseline logical thinking!)Product Certifications
Product certifications tell us you’ve read the theory. Reading the theory helps formalise everything you’ve learnt in a practical scenario, but it’s of no use if you haven’t had a playground to practice on. If you’re an aspiring PM, what would actually stand out for me much more than a certification is a side hustle or product you built entirely on your own.5+ years experience
Almost every job posts the number of years of experience required, and as such it’s an indicator for the experience level of the ideal candidate. A good way to read it is, you need to have done at least as much PMing as an average PM would do in 5 years. Sometimes we work at something very fast paced that accelerated our learning curve, sometimes life got in the way and we decide to slow down. Just ask yourself if you have, on average, the same learnings as a person doing this job for 5 years.
What *may* be on the list
Someone who can get the ground running ASAP
Sometimes job requirements get oddly specific - ‘x years working with a payments product’, or ‘strong understanding of Machine Learning’, etc. These optionals are a result of the team looking to fill the PM gap ASAP. They need someone who can hit the ground running with minimal handholding. In such cases it’s best to demonstrate your extent of knowledge in the area and make a convincing case for why you might be a good fit for the role.
Remember that getting hired is a combination of years of grooming your skills and being in the right place at the right time. Sometimes a rejection can come your way just because you don’t fit what’s needed at this moment. In such times, it’s best to keep looking until an opportunity that suits you comes along.
I’m thinking of making hiring/interviews a semi regular feature of my newsletters. I’ll write the next one on getting into Product Management I think.
Hi Pranav !!
Great read as always, but in my experience apart from the companies that are okay training PM's, what "may" be a requirement is always the first thing that PM interviewers try to shortlist out of.
I have always wondered how stand out in jobs like those.
Especially, for someone like me who is in the B2B space, moving into a B2C space has proved almost impossible even with 5 years of PM experience.
Hi Pranav,
I am an AI/ML engineer with expertise in computer vision for 5 years now. I do identify with the qualities you have mentioned on the list, however- from what I have seen online- most of the PM jobs require at least "x" years of PM experience. It's very rare (or almost impossible) to find a job that is for entry-level PMs. Hence, I find making the transition into that role very difficult. I know the best bet is to get a parallel transition into the PM track at my company itself but sadly there are no vacancies here. Moreover considering my company is heavily B2B, I would also be psyched if I get this opportunity at a B2C company. Curious to know what are your thoughts on having entry-level PM jobs and what a person like me could do in order to make the transition.
Cheers,
Vedika