What are some of the best questions that you have received from an interviewee as a hiring manager/ stakeholder while conducting the interview? What questions showed intent/ the candidate's excitement about the organization/ team and role?
1 Answer
Toast Director, Product Marketing - Core product & SMB Segments | Formerly Zendesk • August 29
I would challenge candidates not just to think about what questions to ask, but how best to position / ask the questions.
- Get specific: The more specific you can be with regards to questions about the role itself, the better you showcase your understanding of what the role entails.
- Answers-first; Demonstrate that you have a POV: This may seem counterintuitive but personally, I'm most impressed when candidates ground their questions with an answers-first approach. It shows they've done due diligence researching the role / company itself and are looking to understand how their POV aligns (or doesn't) with the hiring manager's expectations and/or realities of how the company's inner workings. At the earlier stages of your career, it isn't so much about showing you have the "right" way of thinking, but more that you are able to formulate a data/insight-backed POV to help navigate the world of PMM, which can be ambiguous.
As examples:
- As a twist on the "What are your expectations of performance in this role within the first 30/60/90 days", I recommend sharing your own proposal of how/what you plan to do in that timeframe, and asking how that jives with what the hiring manager envisions. This approach shows serious intent and an understanding of the top priorities of the role.
- Similarly, instead of simply asking "How is success measured in this role?", consider sharing your perspective along the lines of "Based on what I've gathered, XYZ metrics seem like important measures of success in this role. Are those the right metrics to prioritize and/or are there other important components to keep in mind?"
Taking the extra 5-10 mins to read up on and ask questions about recent press releases or earnings, demonstrate specific interest in the company/role. Ultimately, being prepared with lots of questions in itself is a good start to signaling excitement.
1043 Views
Top Product Marketing Mentors
Mary Sheehan
Adobe Head of Lightroom Product Marketing
Axel Kirstetter
Guidewire Software VP Product Marketing
Leah Brite
Gusto Head of Product Marketing, Employers
Jon Rooney
Unity Vice President Product Marketing
Katie Gerard
Workhuman Head of Product Marketing
Sahil Sethi
Freshworks Vice President - Global Product Marketing
Madeline Ng
Google Global Head of Marketing, Google Maps Platform
Julien Sauvage
Clari VP, Brand, Content and Product Marketing
Kevin Garcia
Anthropic Product Marketing Leader
Amanda Groves
Enable VP of Product Marketing
Related Questions
What are you top reasons for recommending people to NOT be a PMM?In your role working as Product Manager & Go-To-Market or working with PE/VC/pricing consulting firms on company valuation & market assessment, whats your go-to resource with frameworks & examples to conduct B2B pricing power assessment for a product?What might a 30-60-90 day plan look like for a Jr. PMM as they're being introduced to product marketing and coming up to speed on the company itself? We are growing our product marketing team, and I'm wondering how to structure the roles and work for a team of three.Is it possible to continue to grow to an executive role as a product marketer? Are there some industries that are better suited than some others? What about growing into a marketing leadership role?What non PMM skills set someone up to be a good PMM?