The product manager role is a much coveted one. Once you finally get considered for the job, you would want to take advantage of the opportunity and get hired, wouldn’t you? Your potential employer will expect you to do a lot of research, more so if they have a lot of information on their website or if their product is something that is easily accessible for you to use yourself.
Conducting your research prior to your job interview not only helps you answer company and product specific questions during your meeting, but it also gives a great impression to your future employer that you are truly interested in their company.
Here are four things you need to research before your upcoming job interview for the product manager role:
Tip #1: Read About the Company
Check out their website and read what the company has written about its history, culture, values, target customers, and unique selling points. In the process, you get a better grasp of the company and determine if it is a good fit for you, as well as tailor your answers to your interviewer’s questions so they see that you are a good fit for them, too.
If the company’s website or blog quotes from a book or mentions their philosophy, familiarize yourself with it so you are able to understand their mindset.
Tip #2: Know Their Customers
If you are seeking a career in product management, one of the skills you will need to have is being user-focused, knowing what the customers need, and using this information in making product decisions. Do your research about the company’s target customers.
Read through blogs, articles, social media posts, and websites and get a better understanding of the needs of their customers. At the same time, you also need to understand how you are different from their customer. There are customers who may not be as tech savvy, and you also need to know how they use the product, what challenges they are experiencing, and what they wish the product has for them to more effectively use it.
Tip #3: Use the Product
You are applying for a role that involves building a product and making improvements to one so your interviewer will definitely be asking you about their product and your insights about it. Every reputable product management training instructor would tell you that it is a good idea to use the product yourself so you know exactly what to say if asked about it during your job interview.
When using the product, take a look at it from the customer’s point of view and also from a product manager’s perspective and try to think of features that you think might be needed to make it more effective.
Tip #4: Study the Competition
Aside from learning more about your potential employer, its product, and its customers, you will also need to research the competition.
Compare the company’s product versus the competition’s and try to hypothesize what made these two companies choose the features that they did. If there are any uncertainties, take note of these and ask them during the interview if given the chance.
Summary
In summary before going into the interview, you have to know their company, their customers, their products, and their competition. With these 4 key information, you are more ready than 90% of the other interviewees. Most interviewees don’t do the proper research they need before going into the interview. You’re not one of them.
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