Most companies hiring #productmanagers have realized this by now,
But it is hard to figure out during the interviews.
You need someone with strong research, communication, problem-solving and prioritization skills,
Domain knowledge and tech can be taught faster than some of these above, arguably.
Ability to empathise with users is another important one.
Haven’t found a test for that yet. Ideas?
But how do you test for these skills in a short interview process?
Here is something we have used with good success ratio.
It’s not perfect, but we found some very capable junior hires with this
- Ask for a written assignment – could be your favorite product, or review of a product they use (not a clinical teardown)
- Do a video call (or in person) to understand their ability communicate and present themselves
- Give problem solving exercises – simple and hard ones:
– simple ones show whether people can take the solution to completion without errors
– hard ones shows the way people react when faced with tough tasks
- Situation problems
– give a situation that is tough or unsolvable
– see how people navigate that
– find shortcuts, ask questions, get creative
Here is one of my situation favorites
– You have 4 assignments to complete
– Each assignment takes 15 hours to complete
– You have 48 hours to do the work
– You can’t cheat, copy, get an extension
– Additional info is available, but you must ask questions
How do you test for #productmanagement skills in new or junior PM hires?