#7 Answering Behavioural questions in PM Interviews
Hello ProductHope community members, Welcome back to our interview preparation series! This is the last email of our series, in which we will cover the most commonly asked questions in the behavioural round of PM interviews.
These questions help interviewers assess how you have handled various situations in the past, providing insights into your problem-solving skills, leadership qualities, and cultural fit within the company.
Hope you liked the series so far, in case you haven’t looked at previous emails then please do check the link here -
#6 Mastering Technical Questions in PM Interviews
#5 How to approach product design questions in PM interviews?
#4 Root Cause Analysis
#3 Defining Success Metrics: A Core Competency for Product Managers
#2 Understanding Estimation or Guestimates Questions
#1 Interview preparation for aspiring Product Managers [Email Series]
Behavioural questions are designed to:
Evaluate past behaviour: Interviewers do believe that your past behaviour is the best predictor of future performance.
Assess skills and competencies: These questions help identify key competencies such as teamwork, leadership, problem-solving, and adaptability.
Understand cultural fit: Companies want to ensure that candidates align with their core values and culture. It’s a good practice to understand the cultural values of the company you are interviewing for.
Types of Behavioral Questions
Behavioural questions typically start with phrases like "Tell me about a time when...", "Describe a situation where...", or "Give an example of...". They often focus on specific skills or attributes relevant to the role. Few examples include -
Describe a situation where you had to collaborate with cross-functional teams (e.g., engineering, marketing, design) to launch a product. How did you manage the different priorities and perspectives?
Tell me about a time when you faced a significant problem or obstacle in a project. How did you identify the issue, and what steps did you take to resolve it?
“Typically these questions are framed differently for APM roles as you don’t have prior PM experience”
Answering Behavioral Questions: Using STAR Method
Typically STAR method is a structured approach to answering behavioral interview questions. It ensures that your responses are concise, relevant, and well-organized. Here's a breakdown of the STAR method:
Situation – Describe the context within which you performed a task or faced a challenge. Be specific about when and where this situation occurred. Your interviewer might not have domain understanding of your previous role so please make sure you explain the situation clearly while keeping a check on time as well. Being concise and on-point is the key
Task – Explain the actual task you were responsible for in that situation. What was your role and what were you required to achieve? Since you have given the context, explaining task should be quick and easy.
Action – Detail the actions you took to address the situation or complete the task. It’s important to focus on what you did, not what the team or other individuals did.
Result – Share the outcomes of your actions in terms of key metrics or data to quantify your success if possible. Highlight
Common Behavioral Questions
Here are some commonly asked behavioural questions:
Customer Obsession:
"Tell me about a time you've solved pain points for customers."
"Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a very difficult customer."
Ownership:
"Describe a situation where you took complete ownership of a project and drove it to success."
"Tell me about a tough decision you made during a project. "
Invent and Simplify:
"Tell me about a time when you simplified a complex process or system."
"How do you handle roadblocks or obstacles?"
Dive Deep:
"Give an example of a time when you used data to solve a problem."
"Tell me about the most complex project you've worked on."
Sometimes, these questions seem vague, and it can be difficult to quickly remember your situation and frame your answer in such a short time span. That’s why it’s always recommended to prepare a few of these stories and practice a few cases. Let’s quickly look at how to go about answering these questions.
"Tell me about a time when you had to deal with a very difficult customer"
Situation: In my previous role as a Product Manager at a B2B startup, we had a longstanding but difficult customer who had been a valuable contributor to our product roadmaps in the past. Despite not being a high-revenue customer, their feedback had often helped us fine-tune and expand our offerings. There was a time when, they raised multiple issues about our product, which they claimed did not meet their unique needs. Their requirements were highly specific and deviated from the mainstream user base, making it challenging to allocate tech resources to address them immediately.
Task: My task was to address this customer's concerns, considering their past contributions, and find a way to accommodate their unique requirements without disrupting our overall development priorities. It was important to manage their expectations and maintain a positive relationship.
Action:
Initial contact and listening: I spoke to the customer to fully understand their specific issues. I acknowledged their frustration and assured them that their feedback was valuable to us, allowing them to explain in detail the unique challenges they were facing with the new product update.
Internal discussions: I convened a meeting with my team, including engineering, customer support, and design, to discuss the feasibility of addressing the customer's unique requirements. We performed a quick assessment to determine which of their requests could be integrated into our development pipeline without causing major disruptions to long-term product roadmap.
Setting realistic expectations: I communicated transparently with the customer about which of their requests could be addressed in the short term and which ones would require longer-term planning. I explained our current tech bandwidth limitations and reassured them that their needs were being taken seriously.
Prioritizing quick wins: To demonstrate our commitment, we identified a few minor adjustments that could be implemented quickly. These changes were designed to alleviate some of the immediate pain points they were experiencing. I informed the customer of the planned updates and provided a tentative timeline.
Long-term Roadmap Integration: For the more complex and unique requirements, I spent some time to evaluate which of those features could help other customers as well and prioritized accordingly.
Continued Engagement: To ensure ongoing satisfaction, I scheduled regular check-ins with the customer to review the progress of the implemented changes, understand how it’s being used and gather continuous feedback. I also provided them with direct access to our support team for any critical issues.
Result: The customer appreciated the proactive approach and the transparency with which we communicated our constraints and plans. They were particularly pleased with the immediate fixes, which improved their experience significantly. This approach not only retained a valuable source of feedback but also helped us to upsell some of these features to our existing customer base.
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I hope this has given some direction. Overall, behavioural questions need a lot more practice. We will share a few more resources in the coming weeks.
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