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Get Hired as a Product Manager | Applying & Interviewing

Name: Get Hired as a Product Manager | Applying & Interviewing
Rating: 4.8 (927 reviews)

Complete guide to applying, researching, & interviewing for a Product Management job. + Mock interviews & insider tips

Created byCole Mercer, Evan Kimbrell

Last updated 12/2025

English

What you'll learn

How to answer interview questions like a Product Manager
How to find & apply to the right Product Management positions
How to write an effective Cover Letter for a Product Management position
How to organize and optimize your resume or CV for Product Management applications
How to research a company and a Product Manager position prior to your interview
What questions to expect and prepare for prior to a Product Manager interview
How to correctly tackle Product Management behavioral interview questions
How to use the PAR / CAR framework to better answer "tell me about a time when" questions
How to correctly tackle Product Management product creation interview questions
How to correctly tackle Product Management estimation interview questions
How to correctly tackle Product Management instructional interview questions
How to reverse interview your interviewers and ask the right questions
How to spot red flags in companies and interview processes before you apply
How to make yourself stand out in a Product Management interview & application
How to adapt to any question you get in an interview by thinking like a Product Manager
How to make a great impression when interviewing virtually
How to tackle take-home case studies commonly included in Product Management applications
How to highlight your accomplishments in a way that Product Management hiring managers like
How to do effective side projects to increase your chance of being hired
How to effectively brand yourself online before applying for Product Management roles
How to get started with your first Product Management job and hit the ground running

Course content

13 sections • 47 lectures • 9h 18m total length

Introduction4:01
Welcome to the course!
Let's take a second and set you up for success.
In this quick introduction video, we'll go over:
Why we decided to take a holistic approach to our course coverage
Why there are other courses out there on Product Management interviewing and make us ?
A really boring story about Cole's struggle with authority during childhood that you can completely skip (save yourself)
How Mrs. Gardner scarred Cole for life by not providing enough supporting documentation for Cole's queries
How we selectively incorporate good feedback into our courses while wholly ignoring negative feedback (PM-style ? )
How "focusing on the why" is what's going to really help us transform you into a PM interview machine
The Thing Most People Get Wrong About Product Management2:38
In this lecture, we'll go over the number one mistake people get wrong about Product Management.
Can you guess what it is?
Is it that people think you have to be a rockstar coding ninja to succeed in PM (you don't)
Is it that people accidentally confuse Project Management with Product Management and have been accidentally spending the last half decade of their life (whoops) in the wrong field because they refuse to admit their mistake?
No, it's much simpler.
It's the belief that you can find shortcuts and excel with "templates" and "done-for-you" guides.
That's not the point of Product Management and if anyone tells you they have a "template for x,y,z" then you're simply doing you a disservice.
In this video, we'll explain why that is and why you're better off learning how to "think like a PM" instead. If you can use critical reasoning to navigate any situation correctly, then you can adapt in any situation and don't need a crutch like a template.
Expect a firm "talking to" from Cole and the unshakeable feeling that, much like your least favorite parent, he is disappointed in you. He will not be coming to your baseball game.
Free Resources, Goodies, How This Course Is Structured, and Why It Matters1:58
In this quick lecture, we'll cover how the course is laid out and why we decided to do it that way. Consider this your roadmap to tackling the rest of the course and being on your merry way to getting a job in Product Management.
You'll also get a link to Cole's private webserver where he claims there are free resources (this is true), and his professional headshots for distribution to anyone "in the industry" (ok, I made that part up).
Join our community on Slack!
Lecture summaries, all in one PDF0:01

Know Your Enemy to Win the Battle - How the PM Interview Process Actually Works4:55
Let's get into the nitty-gritty on how getting hired into Product Management even works.
Let's say you DO get that job interview you've been dreaming about.
WHO are you most likely going to talk to?
Turns out, it's almost always one of 5 groups.
Covered in this lecture:
Who are recruiters, what do they want, and what are they trying to get out of you? (also how do do they get unlimited LinkedIn InMail credits for spamming you...)
Why high value prospects might talk to another Product Manager first, and why they're referred to as a "hiring manager"
What pre-vetting interviews will primarily be looking for
Why you might interview with a team engineer and what they're looking for
Why you might interview first with a team designer and what they specifically want to hear (besides "I love your Dribbble")
What are the edge cases for people you might have to interview with, and what they all have in common
How to hide the fact that you think "Microsoft Edge is misunderstood" (get it together, jeez)
Why PM Interviews Are So Challenging4:26
What do astronauts and Product Managers have in common? (besides being the two things Cole dreams about every day)
They both have long, multi-step interview processes full of hard questions and hands-on exercises.
Why is it that Product Management interviews are so notoriously difficult?
Well, that's what we're going to cover in this lecture.
Thinking Like a Product Manager2:56
Real World Practice for Thinking Like a Product Manager2:22
Branding Yourself3:07
Research You Need to Do Before Your First Interview4:25
Making the Perfect Resume3:32
Writing Effective Cover Letters14:55
A Secret Weapon - Understanding Yourself3:40
My Personal Interview Experiences and Failures - Expect the Unexpected3:23

Let’s Make Sure You’re Answering Questions the Correct Way2:48
Brain Teasers and the Most Common Types of Questions5:04
Product Estimation Questions4:44
Product Creation Questions4:53
OPTIONAL: Product Creation Practice Question (part 1)26:00
OPTIONAL: Product Creation Practice Question (part 2)24:17
Instructional Questions3:32
Behavioral and Personality Questions2:34
Answering Behavioral Questions with PAR/CAR14:28
Answering Case Studies and Take Home Work3:19

How to Improve Your Presence on Zoom for $010:03
It's inevitable that in this post-pandemic / never-ending-pandemic world that you get asked to interview virtually at some point. Most employers were shifting at least part of their interview process to remote calls already, but the "work from home" pandemic boom really kicked this trend into high gear.
Going forward expect at least the initial stages of your interview process to be online, if not the entire thing.
If you were going to an interview in person, you would want to set the best impression possible. When you interview virtually, it's the exact same.
In person, you'd wear something nice, brush your teeth, and make sure you don't look homeless. On a virtual call though... how do you improve the impression you give to the interviewer?
In this lecture, let's go over some quick and easy, high ROI fixes to improve your "Zoom presence".
Covered in this lecture:
Picking the best room to interview in
Testing and improving the acoustics in your space
Balancing light in the right way
Deciding between phone cameras and laptop cameras
Tracking your eye-line and adjusting your camera accordingly
Quick on the fly "set dec" as a final touch
How to Impress on Zoom with Extra Equipment21:44
Do you plan on being on virtual calls often going forward? (hint: you probably are)
If so, then you should consider upgrading your virtual office look before you hop on your first set of interviews.
If you're willing to put in some dough to upgrade your space, then really the sky is the limit.
We'll go over our top recommendations for improving your audio, video, and the overall comfort of your Zoom setup in this lecture
Covered in this lecture:
Options for upgrading your video image quality
Options for upgrading your audio quality
How to dramatically improve your room acoustics for < $50
How to setup your call so your eyes look directly at the camera without it being awkward
How to use artificial lighting to improve your look and achieve image consistency.
Easy extras that can go a long way

Q&A: Answering Common Questions29:02
Question list:
00:21 - What do you do if you're applying for a PM position in an industry that you want to get into but don't have any experience in?
03:18 - How do you know if the job is dependent on your experience in that specific industry?
07:16 - Is taking a product internship role worth it?
10:27 - I don't work in product but I want to become a PM. Does it make more sense to try to become a PM internally at my company or to apply externally to another company?
13:55 - Should I negotiate my salary?
18:52 - Should I apply through job posts or should I only try to network and get introductions to open positions through friends?
21:48 - A recruiter reached out to me about transitioning to PM. Is that a viable option?
23:50 - Some employers might give you take home work, which is often considered a red flag. Should you try it anyway?
25:47 - I'm not a PM yet. Is there anything I should do to my resume to present myself in the best way?

Interview with Mikael Solomon, Group PM at Affirm52:12
Question list:
00:39 - Tell us about yourself, your background, and what you do now
02:35 - How did you become aware of product management and get into it?
03:24 - How did you come to know about what product management is?
06:25 - As a group PM, what do you do day to day?
09:57 - How do you approach managing other PMs?
11:22 - How did you land your first product management job?
13:23 - Influencing without authority: did you learn that at your first job or was it later on?
14:52 - What would you say the most difficult part of getting a PM job is?
16:30 - Consumer PM roles are more difficult for new PMs. From your experience, do you find that to be true?
21:06 - When hiring PMs, what are you looking for in a resume?
25:58 - What were some of the most interesting or odd questions you've been asked in a PM interview?
32:00 - What are the top things you're looking for when you're interviewing someone for a PM role?
38:14 - What is the biggest red flag for a company you'd be interviewing at?
43:44 - Do you have any go-to questions you ask candidates?
46:41 - What are your tips for people who want to become a PM?
Interview with Daniel Su, Product Manager at Spotify33:20
Question list:
00:32 - Tell us about yourself and your career history
04:11 - How did you get your first product management job?
07:25 - What do you think the most difficult part of the PM interview is?
09:37 - Are you currently in a position where you're hiring other PMs?
10:38 - What are you looking for in a resume?
12:14 - What are the most interesting questions you've been asked in an interview?
13:59 - Have you ever gotten any of the classic brain teaser questions?
16:40 - As a hiring manager, what is one of the biggest red flags in a candidate?
19:14 - As a candidate, what are some red flags in a company you're interviewing at?
22:09 - What are some of your favorite questions to ask a candidate?
27:53 - What are your tips for people who want to become a PM?

Requirements

No previous experience needed. Can be taken by someone in any role with any level of experience.

Description

The role of "Product Manager" is currently one of the fastest growing, most in demand, and best paid positions in the entire tech industry.

Fastest growing: Companies are expected to hire an additional 2,000 Product Managers this year, and this rate of hiring is expected to grow +20% for every year afterwards (Glassdoor currently ranks Product Manager as the #4 hottest hiring position in the US).

In Demand: There are currently over 3,000 open Product Management positions in companies all over the world

Best Paid: Product Managers get paid on average $112,000 a year, with some companies paying closer to $192,000 a year even for junior level positions. This is on par with software engineers (!) despite the role being entirely non-technical.

Do you want to become a Product Manager?

If so, you'll have to navigate the notoriously difficult application and interview process.

Take home case studies, brain teasers, and multiple rounds of interviews are typical if you want to get hired for any Product position.

How you tackle these hiring challenges makes all the difference, and we're here to guide you through the entire process step-by-step.

A successful Product Management application doesn't just consist of knowing the right answers and what questions to expect.

To truly maximize your chances of landing the role, we took a holistic approach to the entire process: finding suitable roles, building your brand prior to applying, submitting applications, getting the interview, researching companies pre-interview, acing the interview, completing take-home work, and then deciding on the best offer.

What's included in the course?

We'll take you through the entire process for finding, applying to, and acing the interview for a Product Management position.

We'll cover:

How to think like and get inside the mindset of a Product Manager before you even start the process
How to find the right companies & positions to apply for
How to optimize your resume / C.V., and cover letter for getting Product Manager interviews
How to research and prepare for each Product Manager interview
How to complete case studies and take-home work, if needed
How to tackle the big 5 types of Product Manager interview question types: behavioral, product creation, estimation, analytical, & instructional.
How to impress your interviewers by reverse interviewing them and ask good questions
How to follow-up post interview and spot any red flags that might change your mind about the role
How to hit the ground running when you do get a job offer and start your Product Manager role

Included as bonuses:

• A full mock interview (Apple) with walkthrough instruction from beginning to end

• 2 interviews with students that recently were hired as a Product Manager where they share insider tips

• A full interview with a Product team lead in charge of hiring for all Product Roles

• A full walkthrough of Product Creation / Design question (1 hour long)

This course is perfect for those applying to their first Product Manager role, as well as anyone interested in transitioning internally to Product AND existing Product Managers who want to apply for a new Product role either internally or externally.

Why learn from us?

We've successfully helped over 148,000 students learn about Product Management, and over 1,000 students get hired or transition into a Product Management role at companies like Airbnb, Google, Facebook, Spotify, Oracle, IBM, and Amazon.

Our courses on Product Management are the largest in the world, with a community of over 100,000 prospective and current Product Managers enrolled.

Your primary instructor, Cole Mercer, has been a Senior Product Manager at companies like Soundcloud, Bonobos, and Mass Relevance. He's interviewed 40+ times for Product Management roles for companies like Google, Facebook, Palantir, Netflix, and even Udemy.

Your instructors

Cole Mercer has been a Senior Product Manager at Soundcloud, Bonobos, Mass Relevance, and has taught the Product Management course at General Assembly in Manhattan, NYC. He is now a full-time Product Management and Strategy consultant.

Evan Kimbrell is a top rated Udemy instructor with numerous courses focused on Entrepreneurship. His courses have over 630,000 enrolled students and more than 32,000 five star reviews. For the past few years, he has also been running a digital agency that has produced over 100 web and mobile products for Fortune 500 companies and startups.

Who this course is for:

Anyone interested in applying for a role in Product Management
Anyone interested in transitioning from their current role to a role in Product Management
Current Product Managers looking to improve their interview skills

Get Hired as a Product Manager | Applying & Interviewing

What you'll learn

Explore related topics

Course content

Introduction (Don't Skip This!)5 lectures • 9min

Preparation Is Key: How to Prepare Yourself for PM Interviews10 lectures • 48min

The Most Common Questions in a PM Interview and How to Answer Them10 lectures • 1hr 32min

The Other Side of a PM Interview3 lectures • 17min

Improving Your Presence in Remote Interviews2 lectures • 32min

Tips and Strategies2 lectures • 6min

Insider Tip for Maximizing Success and Standing Out2 lectures • 1hr 19min

Q&A with Cole & Evan1 lecture • 29min

Mock PM Interview (Apple)6 lectures • 1hr 54min

Interviews With Product Managers2 lectures • 1hr 26min

Requirements

Description

Who this course is for: