Sure Product Manager Interview Questions
& Process

Sure reached out to me via LinkedIn and email. What caught my attention was the witty subject line…I knew I had to read more. I set up a time to chat with the recruiter who was so sweet and approachable over the phone. After that, I had an interview with the hiring manager, CTO and a panel with two other PMs + hiring manager. The first two interviews were 30 minutes but we spent the whole time having great conversations. The panel interview was about an hour and consisted of intros, a product sense exercise, and debrief. What was great about the whole process is I didn’t have to wait very long to hear about next steps. It was a quick and fun interview process.

It was a pretty extensive process for a smaller company. I withdrew my application early on, but I did enjoy speaking with the team. They seem like great people and the concept is interesting. They really want to make sure you understand the standard product management process. This is something that becomes second nature over time, you just do it without thinking. So, try not to be like me. Instead, practice that and I'd suggest writing down your process and being prepared to explain it thoroughly. It's a bit confusing because, from what I understood during the interview, the PM is responsible for a version of the platform created for a specific company. They don't actually own a product or the platform itself, it was all somewhat unclear. Do your research, ask your questions, and if it seems like a good fit, definitely brush up on your process before the interview. The CTO mentioned he doesn't really care about insurance; he joined because the CEO is his friend.

So I had 4 interviews with the recruiter, a PM, the CPO, and the CTO. Then I got a vague rejection. The recruiter wouldn't give me any details, saying it was to stop candidates from having an advantage. The company didn't have a set process and kept changing it. It was supposed to be 2 interviews before an assignment and the virtual on-site, but the recruiter kept contradicting herself in emails. She clearly didn't know what she was doing. The interviewers were good, but I wish I'd gotten concrete feedback to know how to improve.