SMART questions to ask at the end of an interview!
18,841
Published 2021-04-19
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@00:00 - Intro
@2:25 - Questions about THEM
@03:45 - Questions about the CULTURE on the team and company
@05:17 - Questions about Product Strategy
@06:36 - Questions to close the interview and Gauge the offer
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π» About me π»
I'm a Senior Product Manager by day and content creator whenever I have a few minutes in the morning, day or night to spare! I have experience working in Product Management at Microsoft in AI & Machine Learning, as well as Cisco in Wireless Technologies. I'm originally from Mexico City and I moved to the U.S. in 2015 to study my MBA at Duke University. I discovered Product Management when I started Business School and since then, it has been my mission and my passion to help others break into this role!
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β Disclosure β
This video is not sponsored; all opinions shared are my own.
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In fact, in some interviews, there won't be any questions for you - your interviewer will simply tell you: what questions do you have for me?
While this is not an exhaustive list, here are 4 simple categories of questions to get you started:
1. Questions about THEM
β’ What has been your favorite project to work on?
β’ What do you like the most about your work?
β’ What do you find challenging about working here?
β’ After all these years that you have worked here, what are your favorite things about the company?
β’ Was has kept you all these years at the company?
β’ In some cases, you will be interviewing for a company in a different city, state or a different country - you can always ask about the location or even things that interest you as well. For example:
β I've been only a few times in this city, do you have any recommendations on places to visit? What are your favorite spots?
β I really like hiking and I've heard great things about places near the city, any suggestions?
2. Team culture
This second category of questions will give you more insights on the team culture. These can help you signal your interest in the team as well as help you notice any red flags, if any, about the team you intend to join. Ask these questions in a respectful way and try to provide an example so that it's clear what you want to know.
β’ What is your favorite thing about the team?
β’ How does the team celebrate successes when you launch a new feature or even a new product?
Additionally, you can also ask questions that reflect something you want to improve in this potential new team from previous experiences:
β’ As part of the team dynamics, is there a channel you use to share or receive feedback from others? What happens when you want to share feedback about someone in the team?
β’ When it's time to make a decision about a feature, or a product, or even the timeline to deliver the project - who makes that decision? Do you have a say in in the process?
3. Strategy
To create these questions, you have to do some research on the product and the team you will interview with. This includes reading news, recent releases, forums, reviews and anything else you can find about the product and its competitors. For many B2B products you can even find the roadmap available out there and are typically called Release Notes:
β’ I had a question about the product, after looking at your most recent release, it is interesting to see how there seems to be a big push on features related to Machine Learning data processing, but competitors such as X & Y have not moved in this direction. As competitors start to adopt similar features in their next release, do you think this will give enough competitive advantage to your product? Or do you see the product going in another direction to stay ahead of the competition?
4. Closing, gauging an offer
Pay a lot of attention to the responses from your interviewer, especially if you have multiple rounds back to back - the first interviewer can give you tips for the next interview. Here are some examples of these questions:
β’ How can someone new to the team ramp up faster?
β’ In your opinion, what would make someone an ideal candidate for this position?
β’ Is there anything about my profile that you think I should improve on to be a better fit for the role or the t
All Comments (14)
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Gracias! Eres lo maximo.
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Thanks for good tips! I will have 3 rounds of interviews in the next few days! This will make me feeling confident instead of nervous.
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You are amazing- god bless ππ»
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Absolutely LOVE the questions about team culture!
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These questions seem to be game changing. Asking questions about them will definitely help in getting them to like us. Moreover, the closing questions will help me get some idea on what they think about me as a candidate and will give me hint on what I need to improve on.
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awesome video!
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How about... what is the PM to SWE ratio for your company. And why does that ratio work for you?
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Needed this... specially when placements are on the way!π
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Anyway-I do love this video Diego! I am a finance gal and I have taken notes. I have 3 interviews tomorrow and 1 of them is with a big box store. I am going to start using your teachings here starting tomorrow!!! I will let you know how it goes!!!
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Sorry my comment was so long. Please tell me what you think Diego! It sounds. like it takes up a lot of time when I say it verbally but it doesn't! Then I usually go into something I really want in my next role! That is to learn from my teammates and mentorship from my manager and other leaders (doesn't have to be a formal relationship but maybe the chance to work on projects with other business units and they are managed by sr leaders!) In my previous roles I have been the one managing a team and I have interfaced with leaders on only a few things! I really want to learn new things by being exposed to other leaders and employees. This is not brown nosing it's 100% a non negotiable for me. HM's LOVE THIS!--This also doesn't take long to say but it does take long to type lol :)
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ππ
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Howdy?
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Amazing videos, cut the intro.
