Product Management: What hiring manager looks for

The other day I had a chance to sit down with someone who was looking to get into product management role.  He shared his experience of applying for product management positions, and I shared with him how I got into product management role.  I told him that I began my career as coder, then professional service guy, back to engineering as development manager, and only after that the opportunity landed on my lap to try out product management role.

Then the topic turned to what I look for from product managers that I hire.  I thought that might be help him get some perspective on what hiring managers look for and what areas that he should invest his time to land a  product management position.

After sharing my perspective with him, I thought my blog readers might be interested in what criteria that I measure PM candidates.

There are three areas that I look for from PM applicants.  Note that I consider all three areas to be equally important.

Product Management: Job interview checklist

I have been scanning dozens of resumes and doing initial phone screening interviews with candidates.  I have seen a very wide range of interview preparedness from many candidates, and I thought sharing a few tips for job seekers from hiring manager's perspective might be helpful for some job seekers in the market.  I'm hoping that you can be more successful in landing the in-person interview by following these tips.

Job market is changing

In case you have not heard, the job market is changing.  And it's changing in a way that further separates those with relevant experiences and drive from those without.

Job market where students go to college, get a diploma, interview and find a decent paying job is the one that we have known.  Many still get entry jobs this way after competitive interviewing process just to get a career started.  Sometimes graduates are not as lucky to find even opening, and have to resort to applying for any job that pays the bill.

But on the other side of fence, I see a new breed of workers.  They are highly entrepreneurial.  They start their own project, find a work that they find meaning, and pursue them for their passion.  They are highly connected, thanks to social media sites.  Because of that they also tend to be highly mobile and sought after by multiple employers.

When I take a look at Hacker News site, I see many people of this new breed.  Then I wonder why there are so many of these new breed that I can see.

I can think of a few reasons:

Product Management: Hiring

One of the most important things that you must do as a leader is to hire the right person.  When expanding the team, you need someone who can be trusted and be another life jacket instead of a boat anchor.  It's especially true when you are hiring a product manager.  Product management role is where marketing, designing, engineering, shipping, selling and supporting all come together.  If you have a misfire in product management, chance of product success rapidly falls to nil.

Source: http://pinterest.com/pin/47850814760946680/

I wanted to share three links that I found interesting on this topic.

Interview for soft skill and communication

I found an interesting interview question posted by Kevin Morrill.  He shares that the most revealing question that he has been using with candidates is to give open-ended question on how to tackle a simple problem with time constraint.  An example that he gives is describing a hobby of interviewee that interviewer does not have any background info within 5 minutes.  He allows interviewee to prepare before beginning and observe how the candidate tackles the problem.

He describes there are two types of people.  There are ones who jump right into describing the hobby and ad-lib their way through the explanation and others who takes time to think about how to best explain within a limited amount of time.  He makes it even more interesting by interrupting the candidates and see if they lose track of the objective of helping the interviewer understand about their hobby.

My lessons on hiring

To grow company, you have to hire fast and hire right people.  You cannot look for the perfect candidate to come around to make an offer.  Yet you cannot hire someone who is not a right fit for the job and your company culture.  How can you strike the balance?  How can you hire right people fast while maintaining the culture?

List three qualities that you are looking for from a perfect match.  

Now drop one, and you'll find your candidates.

That was an advice that someone gave me about finding a perfect soul mate.  I think it equally applies to finding a perfect match for your job opening.  You will never get all the qualities that you'll look for.  In other words, you'll have to prioritize what is really important to you as hiring manager.

As hiring managers I look for three qualities from all applicants:

0. Personal integrity (trustworthiness)
1. Intelligence (problem solving skills)
2. Motivation
3. Relevant experience (past achievements)

(I know I've listed 4.  I consider the very first one as table stake.)

Out of these three, guess which one I am willing to go easy.  It's the experience.

I wouldn't think this is how Ikea screens its candidates.
I guess putting together Ikea chair can measure
some intelligence and motivation.