One thing to do to help an interview for a product position go well.
Try out the product.
One of the most important responsibilities I have on the team at AWeber is building that team. I get to meet, interview, and hire the product managers, UX designers, and UI designers that work to define and design our product. As I reflect on the common characteristics of interviews with folks who have made the greatest impact on the team, one thing starkly stands out.
Those people took the time to try out the product prior to the interview.
Before diving into why this is such an important contributer to a positive interview, I want to make one thing clear:
I’m not suggesting that job-seekers jump through a crazy series of hoops to impress future employers.
I just believe that, for someone interviewing for a product role, not only is the using the product you hope to work on good preparation, it’s also good due dilligence to help ensure you go into the interview with your eyes as open as possible.
There are also situations where actually using the product isn’t feasible. For example, if it’s an expensive enterprise product or a product without a trial(1). AWeber has a free trial, so the barrier to trying it out is relatively low.
Why does using the product make such an impact on the interview process?
Whether you’re in UX, UI design, or product management, one of the core things you offer is an interest in understanding motivations, experiences, and the stories that lie behind the obvious. When someone I’m interviewing has tried out the product, I find that they often come to the interview with questions that give insight into how they think about problems. What assumptions do they make and why? What do they focus in on and talk about when discussing what their interactions with the product say about our users, design philosophy, and approach to the market.
This makes for some really fascinating and helpful conversation beyond the general “who are you and what do you do” questions of an interview.
The other positive aspect of these interviews is the people I get to talk to often come with pointed feedback about the product. As noted above, this gives amazing insight into how they think about the technology, people, and how the two interact.
As a job-seeker, going to an interview with this type of feedback also gives you an opportunity to look out for something important. When you share critical feedback about a product, how does the interview team react? A healthy product organization should be open to feedback and opportunities to improve, regardless of the context. How a product team reacts when you share feedback about improving their product could offer insight into how they treat feedback in their actual development process.
To summarize, using the product prior to an interview for a product position not only prepares you to offer relevant questions and insights, it also equips you with tools to help you better understand the organization you’re looking to join.
As always, I’d love to hear your feedback. Think I’m completely off base? Let me know.
(1) If the product doesn’t have a trial. You could get similar helpful insight by checking out technology review communities like Captera or G2 Crowd.
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