MY IDEAL 6 WEEK PM INTERVIEW PREP STUDY PLAN FOLLOWED BY 2 WEEKS OF

INTERVIEW PREP

Week 1 (Resource Gathering and Strategizing)

1. I would spend this week gathering the resources and materials for
interview preparation.
2. Next I would create an exhaustive list of companies that I am interested in
and want to apply in.
3. I would talk to people (APM’s, PM’s, Senior PM’s) in these companies that I
am interested in to understand the PM interview process in these
companies, what kind of work does the PM do here, PM culture etc etc.
This is the best real time feedback which will give you a lot of insight and
knowledge regarding the company
4. Getting yourself familiarized regarding the General PM Interview Process
5. Understanding the different types of rounds in a typical PM interview and
creating an exhaustive list of the different types of questions that can be
expected in each of these rounds.
6. Preparing your resume, linkedin profile and cover letter for PM interviews

By the end of this week you will be having a thorough understanding of the PM
interview process, Resources and materials that you should/would be using, Type
of Rounds and typical questions asked in each of these rounds.

Week 2 and 3: Actual Preparation Begins- Resume Based and Behavioral

Questions
 1. I always start with Resume Based Questions.

What you need to do here is this. Basically take your resume and all the projects
that you have worked on (Be it Personal projects, Academic projects or Work
related projects) you make an exhaustive list of it.

Create an excel sheet and for all these projects that are there answer the
following questions.

A. What was the project?

B. What was your role in the project?
C. What was the impact of this project?
D. If given a chance again how would you change the way you worked on this
project

Basically answer all the project related questions in STAR format. This will give
you a thorough understanding of your resume and the projects that you have
worked and mentioned in your resume.

Before any interview you can just go through this exhaustive list and prepare for
the interview.

Since Resume Based Questions/Resume rounds are generally the initial rounds of
any PM interview that's why I start my Interview Preparation with these sorts of
questions.
2. Behavioral/Situation Based Questions.

How can you prepare for a behavioral interview? Follow these tips to prepare
effectively for behavioral interviews.

● Create a list of your past experiences based on the Job Description: Make

a list of your past experiences that highlight the list of competencies, skills,

and attributes in the JD

● Coming up with Stories. Come up with good stories/situations supporting

each of those skills and competencies, is the most important step. With

that said, you want to keep your answers focused and to-the-point.

Preferably within 1-2 minute long.

● Focus on the good and the not-so-good. Don't forget to come up with some

examples or scenarios that were challenging, yet you pulled through

successfully. Such examples showcase your problem-solving skills and

ability to handle challenges professionally. You might also be asked how

you might handle such situations differently, so be prepared to discuss your

areas for improvement, as well.

● Use the STAR method. When coming up with examples, write down the

Situation or Task you had to resolve, the Action(s) you took, and the Results

of the situation. Use specifics, such as people, places, scale, and scope, and
 quantify as much as possible. Provide details that can be verified by

references in case the employers decide to check

With these kinds of questions, interviewers are usually trying to learn three
things: First, they want to know how you behaved in a real-world situation.
Second, they want to understand the measurable value you added to that
situation. Finally, they are trying to learn how you define something like “pressure
at work”—a concept different people might interpret differently.

Success in a behavioral interview is all about preparation. There aren’t necessarily

wrong answers. These questions are aimed at getting to know the real you. The
important thing is to be honest and to practice structuring your responses in a
way that communicates what you have to offer.

Use the STAR method in a behavioral interview

You can use the STAR interview method to prepare for behavioral interviews—a
technique that helps you structure your response to behavioral interview
questions. Using this method, you create a deliberate story arc that your
interviewer can easily follow. Here’s how it works:

Situation

What is the context of your story? In setting the situation, you are telling your
listener when or where this event took place. For example, “We were working on
a six-month contract for a high-value client when our agency merged with
another, larger firm…”

Task

What was your role in this situation? For example, “It was my role to lead the
transition for my group while also communicating with our client to keep the
project on track.”

Action

What did you do? For example, “I set up weekly check-ins with the client to
update them on the progress of the merger. This cemented an important level of
trust between us. I also had regular one-on-ones with each person on the team,
both to assess how they were handling the change and to make sure we would
meet our deadlines.”

Result
What did your actions lead to? For example, “We ended up completing the
project on time, meeting all of their specifications. It was incredibly rewarding to
navigate a lot of change and succeed under pressure.

Week 4: Product Design

The best way to prepare for this round is through the following manner.

1. Go through the Cracking the PM Interview Book, go through the chapter

dedicated to Product Design
2. After going through the chapter, please solve the questions at the end of
the chapter.
3. Next, focus on the 3 different type of Questions asked in a typical Product
Design Round
A. Favorite/Least Favorite Product
B. Product Improvement Questions
C. Design a product Question Type.

4. What I would do here is focus on creating a template for each of these

question types. So that you have the framework ready to go to answer any of
these questions.
To get these readymade templates please go to PMExercises.com

5. One more best practice that i would like to talk about here is this:

To Improve Product Sense and How to answer product design questions. Daily
spend 30 minutes on a product and ask and then answer these questions related
to the product

A. What do you like about this particular product

B. What do you not like about this product
C. What can you do to improve the product

6. Also practice is key, practice at least 6-7 questions of each of the question types
to gain mastery. You can get these questions easily on PMExercises.com Question
Bank

Week 5: Metrics and Analytics Based Questions

One of my favorite types of PM interview questions.

The best way to prepare for this round is through the following manner.
 1. Go through the Cracking the PM Interview Book, go through the chapter
dedicated to Metrics
2. After going through the chapter, please solve the questions at the end of
the chapter.
4. Next, focus on the 3 different type of Questions asked in a typical
Metrics/Analytics Round.

The 3 Main Types of Metrics Based Questions are as follows:

A. North-star metric/Most important metric being tracked for a company and

feature and how would you define and track
B. Analyze a change in metric and what was the reason for/behind it.
C. How would you measure the success of a product/feature

4. What I would do here is focus on creating a template for each of these

question types. So that you have the framework ready to go to answer any of
these questions.

To get these readymade templates please go to PMExercises.com

5. Also practice is key, practice at least 6-7 questions of each of the question types
to gain mastery. You can get these questions easily on PMExercises.com Question
Bank

Week 6: Estimations Based Questions

 1. Let’s focus on Estimation Based Questions First

Estimation questions are common in product manager interviews at companies

like Google, Facebook, and Amazon.

Here are a few examples of PM estimation interview questions:

● What is the market size for driverless cars in 2025?

● What is the storage space required to host all images on Google Street

View?
● What is the required Internet bandwidth for an average college campus?

● How many kindergarten teachers are there in the US?

● What is the weight of a school bus

Now let’s understand how to prepare for these questions and how to answer such
questions

1. A good starting point is going through the Cracking the PM Interview Book,
go through the chapter dedicated to Metrics
2. After going through the chapter, please solve the questions at the end of
the chapter.
3. Next if you still haven’t gotten clarity please check the template below to
understand how to frame your answer for such type of questions
How to answer product manager estimation questions ↑

We recommend using a four-step approach to answer product estimation

questions. Let's discuss each step one by one.

1. Ask clarification questions

2. Map out your calculations

3. Round numbers and calculate

4. Sense-check your results

Step one: Ask clarification questions

The first thing you should do is ask a few clarification questions to make sure that
you know exactly what number you need to calculate.

For instance, let's imagine your interviewer asks: "How much money is spent on
gas in the US every year?" Here are a few important clarification questions you
would need to ask:

● Should we focus on gas consumption from road transportation only? Or

also include home heating, air transportation, etc.?

● Should we focus on personal cars only? Or include consumption from

commercial vehicles, too?

These questions are useful to make sure that you calculate exactly what your
interviewer wants. In addition, they are also a great way to buy yourself some
time. While your conscious brain asks these questions, your subconscious brain
can start working on step two of the approach.

Step two: Map out your calculations

Once you know exactly what number you want to calculate, you then need to
map the calculation steps to get to that number. Let's imagine we want to
calculate the quantity of gas consumed by personal cars in the US.

Here is a step-by-step approach that you could use to get to that number:

1. Calculate the number of personal cars in the US

2. Calculate the consumption of an average personal car

3. Calculate the total consumption in gallons and then dollars

Both approaches are equally acceptable. But in both cases you should VALIDATE
your approach with your interviewer by telling them the different calculation
steps you are going to take BEFORE starting to calculate numbers (step three).
This is important because it gives your interviewer a chance to rectify your course
of action if they had another plan in mind.

Skipping this validation step is extremely risky because your interviewer might
realize too late in the exercise that you are approaching the problem in a different
way to what they wanted. In our experience it's almost impossible to recover
from that situation.

Step three: Round numbers and calculate

Once you've agreed on an approach, it's time to start calculating. You will need
various data points (e.g. number of miles driven by an average US driver each
year) to get to your final estimate. In most cases your interviewer will ask you to
make your own assumptions to get to the final number. But in some other cases
they might share data with you.

When making assumptions it is vital that you pick simple numbers. For instance,
you should use 350 days in a year instead of 365. You should assume that the
average cost per gallon of gas is $3.00 instead of $2.50. Etc. Rounding numbers
will make your calculations easier and decrease your likelihood of making a
mistake.

In addition, you should talk out loud when doing calculations so that your
interviewer can follow your thought process. Your interviewer is interested in
what's going on in your head - not the final result.

Step four: Sense-check your results

Most candidates stop talking at the end of step three. They look up and expect
their interviewer to tell them if they got to the right result or not. This is a
mistake. The best candidates sense-check their results and try to spot their own
mistakes before telling their interviewer they are done.
Mental calculation errors happen frequently. If your interviewer spots a mistake
in your calculations this will definitely play against you. But if you spot your own
mistake you still have a chance.

Now that you know what technique to use to answer product estimation
questions let's apply it to an example.

4. Finally practice is key, practice at least 6-7 questions of each of the question
types to gain mastery. You can get these questions easily on PMExercises.com
Question Bank

Week 7-9 : Mock Interviews.

1. Do at least 4-5 mock interviews on a weekly basis to reach the golden

number 10
2. Please ensure you do mock interviews with people who have/are more
experienced in you and give good feedback. Feedback is the most integral
part of any interview and it’s what makes you learn and grow
3. Doing mock interviews is a great way to assess, learn from your mistakes,
grow, gain confidence and basically practice in a simulation close to what
the actual interview will be.
4. Doing a lot of mock interviews helps take the nervousness away and makes
you feel at ease come interview day.
 5. There are a lot of free resources and platforms like Lewis Lin Slack Channel,
Pramp, Even i am gonna be starting one soon so you can avail that as well.
There are a couple of paid ones as well, but free ones work amazing as well.
I have only used the Lewis Lin Slack Channel, Mock interview sub-channel
and i can’t recommend it enough

THANK YOU FOR READING TILL THE END.