How to prep for a final-round panel-style interview for an entry-level PM (internship) position
By: Wenpei Zhang
Tags: Product Management, Internships, Interview

created by Nguyen Nhut

I was freaking out about an upcoming interview so I decided asked this question in a private PM Facebook group at 4:23 AM in the morning before I went to bed:

Technically, I had an upcoming interview for a PM internship

When I woke up in the morning, I was surprised by how much support and love I get. Among those comments, some are really long and informative. Therefore, I want to pay it forward and summarize the advice I got from this Facebook group and share it with you. The advice provided is for this specific type of interview, which is a rather short cross-disciplinary panel-style (30 min) interview.

*Note that if the interview is a long one(1 hr) or if it is not cross-disciplinary (no engineer or designer), the questions asked in the interview might be different. However, the questions summarized below could also apply to a different type of PM interview!

About me

Hi there! For those who don’t know me, I am Wenpei (Peggy) Zhang, currently a second-year master’s student at the University of Washington. I had a bachelor’s degree in CS (AI specialization) but I found my passion for combining technology with creative thinking through my past internships. I’d like to think that I am good at communicating with people and I enjoy my interaction with different people. Therefore, at the moment, I am determined to pursue a career in product/program management. In my free time, I like to do my own side projects that are related to design and music. I am currently seeking full-time PM roles to start after I graduate from UW in June 2021.

I interned at tech companies while in college, and now I get to know the media industry by being an intern at HBO while in my master’s program. Like many soon-to-be graduates, I thought about what kind of industry I would be interested in. For now, I would say I am most excited about the intersection of technology and media. Specifically, I am interested in technology products in the media industry. I love working in an environment where creativity is encouraged and I can work on products I actually like.

Background

At that point, I had already passed a pre-recorded video interview and another 30-min 1:1 interview with the hiring manager. The final-round interview is a 30-min interview with the hiring manager, an engineering lead, and a designer on the team. The interviews were actually for a PM summer internship rather than a full-time PM position.

My guess

I thought about what questions they would ask in this kind of “panel-like” interview. Since it’s only 30 minutes, I doubt that they would ask me a product design question, as answering that type of question would normally take up 15+ minutes. I think the interview would be more casual and would be an opportunity for the engineer and the designer to get to know me and see if I am someone they are able to collaborate well with. My guess is that there is probably going to be a lot of behavioral questions and questions about my past experience.

Therefore, I started to prepare for those questions. I also made sure I had a basic understanding of some of the most common technical and design concepts as this would reflect how well I am able to communicate with engineers and designers using their languages.

Valuable advice I Got from the group

Behavioral/Work Style questions

This type of question also ties into your past experience. They are not just asking about “your opinion”. Rather, they want to see how you actually managed to solve those problems in your past experience. A scenario that you encountered in your experience is a good proof of your ability to solve the problems.

One of the basic things that they would be gauging is how you would work with them — as in, with engineers, designers, and other PMs. When you will be working with them, how do you approach various day-to-day things that a PM is supposed to tackle?

Where do you collaborate with your engineering or design manager and where can you go on independently? Tell me a time when you handled a conflict between coworkers Tell me a time when you and your stakeholders have different ideas and you have to go back to the drawing board (redesign) Tell me a challenge that you encountered in the X project you did and how you solved it

General Product Questions

Product Design/Design thinking

e.g. Design Spotify for the blind (This Medium article provides a fresh perspective for this type of product design questions and I enjoyed reading it)

2. What is a good product idea that has a bad business model and what is a bad product idea that has a good business model?

3. What is your favorite app on the market and why? What about a product that you don’t like and why?

4. (The following content in this section is provided by Sina Meraji, a member of the PM group)

One of these 2 possible scenarios:

(1) They wanna know if you have the minimum viable knowledge of the job to come in, perform the basic functions of the job (asking questions, defining problems, scoping your thoughts, seeking feedback, documentation, project management, etc.).

And/or

(2) They don’t care much about what you know since it’s an entry role but they wanna see if you’re good at learning stuff on the job.

Some tips:

1. If you ever use the phrases “I’ve never done that before” or “I don’t know”, make sure you immediately say “but I’m curious to know how that’d work. Thinking out loud, here’s how’d I go about it” and start thinking out loud so they can see how you connect the dots. Don’t worry about being right or wrong, just show them the way you think.

2. Do your research about their product line, have some questions to ask. If they have competitors, you can ask about that too.

Target Product Questions (Questions related to the company’s product)

(The following content in this section is provided by Abhigyan Kaustubh, a member of the PM group)

The thing that is looked for is a candidate who is genuinely interested in the value proposition and can calmly come up with a clear approach to solving problems that rely on good communication and getting to good/ acceptable results.

eg. They can give you an open-ended scenario — like they have an existing product and how would you go about improving it. Then they will see how you go about:

a) narrowing/ validating the problem,

b) how you communicate with others to do so (eng, design, SPMs, marketing + other resources that you’d leverage like feedback, research, etc.)

c) your solving approach (NOT the solution — that comes later)

The bulk of the time should be spent at (c), given (a) and (b) have been covered to give adequate sharpness to the problem statement.

Here’s how you can prep for this:

1. aside from the general stuff that you’d have done/ are doing (prep for the general product questions),

2. make sure you have a broad overview of all their products/ offerings + 1 or 2 product/features that you know deeply (this is your “what is your favorite product/feature of our company, and how will you improve it” question.)

Make sure you understand the company’s vision and mission/ goals so that your recommendations sound sane. Most times, sanity is preferred over passion. (Wenpei: This quote is so informative and it gave me a lot to think about.)

3. Then write — don’t just imagine, how would you go about solving that question.

(Have one out-there idea up your sleeve also. If the interviewers are in that kind of mood, you can share this idea too. Though make sure you can flesh this further if they dig deeper, and you do this after they know that you can be relied on to come up with sane, useful, things when they work with you).

4. Schedule an appointment with an SPM or PM you know or on LinkedIn. Request for their guidance on how they go about such problems in a real work environment (+ any general guidance).

Given this is your 1st PM role, that will give you a sharp distinction of the arenas you hadn’t considered even with your above effort. Such context and knowledge is humbling and makes you a better observer and listener, rather than being the kind who thinks just because they came up with something that is logically coherent in their head, it must work exactly so in the real world.

Interviewers love a good learner (especially in a role like PM where you interact with people from different disciplines and temperaments — and hence many possible friction points), and that comes only with being a good observer/ listener, while confidently taking the next steps.

5. Ask for their feedback on how you would approach. If possible, do a mock interview with them or with your friends.

6. Repeat points 2–5 two times with different product/ features.

Or,

Your interviewers might not do any of the above, and simply have a chill chat about your education or work background or your aspirations, all the while silently judging you if you cross your arms or slouch.

Do not worry.

Your interviewers know that this is your 1st PM role, so don’t feel inundated/ anxious when you are done talking to your PM folks (or reading stuff here) and find there are more things to being a PM than what one reads in books while prepping. There are, and you are just becoming a more aware and a better candidate because of your preparations.

Just prep well and, this is most important, show up bright and relaxed. Well dressed, firm handshakes, friendly and professional, extra copies of your resume, …you know the drill.

You’ll do well. If you are in the final round, they already like you enough.

Possible Cross-disciplinary questions

Since there will be an engineer and a designer, they will be curious about how you go from product discovery to launch, post-launch, etc. Make sure to also prepare around situational questions like dealing with stakeholders, how and what methods would you use to communicate with engineers, designers, include things like how would you start, build up, give feedback, etc. (Jyoti Pannu)

“There may be tech/design questions, but don’t be afraid to say if you don’t know the answer. Providing it comes across that you’re curious and motivated to find the answer, you’ll be ok. Try to remember that nobody’s there to trip you up, they’re mostly trying to understand how you think so that they can get a feel for how you’d do in their particular environment.” — Mike Allen (a member of the PM Facebook group)

Engineering

Depending on the product you will be working on and the team you are interviewing with, interviewers might ask you to explain some technical terms, such as Big data, Cloud, etc. See the behavioral questions section. They want to see how you collaborate with engineers and if you can communicate well with them.

Design

Similar to the engineering aspect, questions vary depending on company and product. Interviewers might ask you about some design terms, such as “UX vs. UI”, persona, customer journey map See the behavioral questions section. They want to see how you collaborate with designers and if you can communicate well with them.

Apart from product-related skills, some key qualities that are looked for in candidates

A good/quick learner

Curiosity

Empathy (your way of resolving problems and communication)

(your way of resolving problems and communication) Be humble and open-minded

Culture fit: Would they like to work with you? Would you vibe with the team? Have the right mindset for the environment and expectations, etc.

Questions to ask in an interview

Don’t ask questions you already know the answer to. Sometimes people do this in interviews to make themselves look smart with a great follow-up but an answer you truly couldn’t know means it is a much better question. Which product line you will be working on The top 2 customer needs What you will be asked to do first What’s on their roadmap How their team works together How they describe their culture Read their blog (and esp their engineering blog if they have one), look at their press releases, etc — you can take a list of questions with if it helps

Other supportive comments

There may be tech/design questions, but don’t be afraid to say if you don’t know the answer. Providing it comes across that you’re curious and motivated to find the answer, you’ll be ok. Try to remember that nobody’s there to trip you up, they’re mostly trying to understand how you think so that they can get a feel for how you’d do in their particular environment. Good luck! (Mike Allen) If the format is going to be casual, then that could very well be it — a final sanity check and getting to know each other better session. Indeed, the number one factor, IMHO, in team success is communication effectiveness. So having an assessment on whether as a group you are communicating on the same level is crucial — for the hiring team as well as for the candidate. (Derek Wong) Each will look at PM from their perspective, to see how well aligned you are with their worldview. Discuss how engineering and design are important elements that dovetail with the overall product vision. (Bob Roitblat) A group interview might feel like a quasi-technical interview to the candidate, but at that point, the main goal is circling back to culture. If they’re pulling in this many people I would say your chances are good and that you’ve already convinced them you could do this job (good job!). Now they’re looking to make a consensus on culture fit, ie would they like working with you? Would you vibe with the team? Have the right mindset for the environment and expectations, etc. (Brittany) As a PM a good culture fit looks like someone who is confident and collaborative, who knows when to ask very good questions, when to push back, and not just when to say no but *how* to say no. Someone who can bring optimism, momentum, and motivation to the team. Someone who truly cares about customers. If you don’t say the word customer several times in this interview, it would be a red flag. (Brittany) I would say good luck, but it’s not luck you need here. Just be yourself. You’re here asking good questions which means you’ll already have a big advantage. Hopefully, this will be the start of a long and happy career in PM! 👏🏻😊 (Brittany) Relax and have a bit of casual chat with them, too. Make small talk and treat them like people you’re trying to get to know. (Tim Motz)

Result

Literally, within 2 hours after the final-round interview, my recruiter called me and told me that I got the internship!!🌟

What’s next

I am finishing up my last two quarters at UW, and like many other students in their last year of college/grad school, I am actively seeking full-time PM employment to start after graduating from UW in June 2021.

I know I still have a lot to prep for future interviews and this is what I plan on doing between now and the start of my Spring 2021 internship. I will also be summarizing the interview resources I have throughout the process.

I am excited to start my spring 2021 internship in another team at HBO and can’t wait to see what I can learn and accomplish in 12 weeks! 🌟

Acknowledgment

Thanks to everyone in the group that showed me love and support! I have to give credit to the people who provided me valuable advice: Andy Lau, Mike Allen, Abhigyan Kaustubh, Sina Meraji, Derek Wong, Brittany Anna Marie Fuller, Hassan Kamara, Bob Roitblat, Bill Barr, Jyoti Pannu, and Tim Motz.

I also want to thank my manager Brad LeRoss in my summer 2020 & fall 2020 internship at HBO for providing me the valuable opportunity to learn, grow, and contribute to projects that have a great business value. In retrospect, I learned the most while in my internship at HBO and it was definitely a life-changer for me. I am forever grateful for having a supporting manager that not only guided me every step of the way but has always been a strong advocate for me throughout the process.

I still remember what he said to me right before my presentation for my intern demo on Dec. 4, 2020:

“Envision yourself nailing it, cuz that’s exactly what’s gonna happen.”

Stay tuned for more!

Hope you are enjoying this article so far! I am considering making writing articles a habit of mine and documenting my journey along the way. In the future, I might write articles about my internships, interviews, other career stuff, hobbies, and life. Stay tuned!✨