General pre-interview tips

● Resume: I had a short version (1-pager) that I typically used, and a longer version
(2-pager) that I used for a few select roles. If you are interested in checking out my
resume, reach out to me.
● Update your LinkedIn profile thoroughly, add skills and all relevant experience and
include keywords that best describe your experience. For recruiters searching for you,
keywords matter. I was able to build a great pipeline of companies mostly through
recruiters reaching out to me vs. me reaching out to them (I updated my setting to be
open to a new role - visible only to recruiters)
● Whether you have a lot of PM experience or not, network with people in the kinds of
jobs/companies/industries you are interested in
● Be active on LinkedIn, engaging with posts, companies etc. I believe recruiters can
typically see your engagement with a company’s products and services and that might
be a reason that they decide to reach out to you too
● To get into an “interview mindset” in a low-stakes environment, I did a few lunchclub
sessions (also great for general networking). I had interviews where I felt I was just
networking with someone on lunchclub vs. giving an interview, which really helped have
great conversations

Books
● The product manager interview (Lewis C. Lin) - I went through cases and found the
book helpful for general frameworks and example cases as I started my prep
● I've read Decode and Conquer, also by Lewis C. Lin previously, but didn't review this
time
● Same with Cracking the PM Interview by Gayle McDowell, I’d leafed through it years
ago but not this time
● Not related to interviews, but the Lean Product Playbook by Dan Olsen is a great book
I recommend in general. I re-read it during interviews and found it helpful to frame some
of my behavioral responses in simple, concise, and easy-to-understand language

Videos (mock interviews)

● My favorites were Exponent & Rocketblocks videos on YouTube.
● Once you watch a few YouTube will show you more recommendations from more
channels, but generally, these two are the good ones especially for FAANG & similar
companies

Coaching/websites
● Igotanoffer: I did a couple of paid sessions for Facebook through this website. My
coach gave me great feedback and advice on how to approach common PM questions.
Their posts on the interview process for companies like Facebook, Google etc are really
helpful as well.
● Product management exercises: This website has a great bank of questions from
different tech companies. I looked through cases previously asked and would do them
 on my own, and then look at answers people had added. Sometimes if a case seemed
simple enough, I would just read peoples’ answers
● Lewin C Lin's slack community is a great community for finding mock partners, even
jobs etc. I did 6-7 mocks - half of them were with the same person as we established a
good rapport. I came across people who had done upwards of 100+ mocks, while I think
this could be helpful, I simply did not have the time and energy to put in

Go-to frameworks
I generally had a go-to for product design/sense and execution/metrics questions, the others I
would improvise a little.

● Product design: I used the CIRCLES method. Especially when thinking through user
personas, I used the MECE framework.
● Product metrics: I used the GAME method. AARM is good for laying out user
actions/journey as part of defining overall metrics
● Behavior: STAR stories all the way! I realized early on that I wasn’t framing my answers
well enough. I wrote down several stories related to projects, interpersonal relationships
etc in the STAR format, and would often repeat them in my head while doing other things
like chores. It would be very useful to practice your stories with partners and I
recommend it, but I personally did not do that this time
● Rule of 3: I found this rule to be an extremely effective way to answer many types of
questions - providing a summary and then 3 supporting points. Break up each point by
words like “First”, “Second”, and “Lastly”. It not only helps deliver an effective story, it
keeps the interviewer engaged as people generally start paying attention even if they’ve
drifted off as soon as you assertively say a word like “Second”