Facebook Leadership And Drive Interview

What Are Three Interview Questions You Ask In A Product Management Interview

1. Leadership and DriveWho is the hardest person you ever worked with? What made the relationship difficult? How did you address that situation? If I called them up today, what would they say about your time together?

2. Product SenseFor example, how would you build commerce into Facebook?

• “Focus on the people problem first. Why would consumers buy and sell things on Facebook? Then they focus on why it is a good fit for our company given our mission and strategy. The most common mistakes are when people are too focused on the market size, and not the people problem and why our company can bring something unique to the table.
• Good answers usually look at what people are trying to do on the platform today and how we can extend that to a broader audience. This problem is also one that encourages whiteboarding and designing a solution.”

3. ExecutionLet’s say your biggest partner calls you upset that there is a 2 percent drop in their daily traffic. How would you go about figuring out what happened?

First Lets Define Product Sense

I like how defines product sense in How to develop product sense:

Product sense is the skill of consistently being able to craft products that have the intended impact on their users.

This is an important PM skill that helps you make strategic choices and steer the product in the right direction. Some PMs choose to become specialists by developing deep product sense in one domain such as platforms, data, or fintech.

Define A Meaningful Prompt

A successful presentation interview begins with a meaningful prompt that enables candidates to demonstrate the skills you are looking for. The prompt can be related to a companys products or independent .

There are differing philosophies about whether the prompt should or shouldnt be based on a problem specific to your company. The advantage of basing the prompt on the companys products is that you will get a deep insight into how the candidate thinks about your domain, but the downside is that everyone in the room will know a lot more than the candidate, which can put candidates at a disadvantage.

In addition to the prompt, provide some questions to the candidate to help them structure their presentation. For example, if the prompt is Define a social feature for a product that you love and use often., the questions could be:

• Briefly describe the product you selected and why you selected it.
• What problem are you solving for?
• Why do you believe that problem is meaningful to users?
• What does the user interface look like for your solution?
• How would you go about building and testing the feature?
• What metrics would you use to evaluate the success of the feature?

I like to send the prompt to candidates one week in advance so that all candidates have the same amount of time to prepare. This also sets the expectation that the candidate shouldnt spend too much time on the presentation the goal is to see how candidates think, not create a masterpiece.

Also Check: What Kind Of Questions Should You Ask During An Interview

Optimize Debriefs To Make Effective Group Decisions

After the First Round, your team will need to decide whether to pass the candidate on to the next round. A couple of rules will help you make crisp group decisions more quickly:

• Schedule a 30 minute video call to debrief and make the decision on the next steps. Require all interviewers to attend.
• You should designate two roles for the debrief: the moderator and the decider .
• Require all interviewers to send written feedback and their decision to the moderator 24 hours before the debrief.
• Require all interviewers to make either a Hire or No Hire decision. No equivocation allowed.
• Have each interviewer rate the confidence in their decision on a three-tier scale: 1) Im highly confident in my decision and will defend it, 2) I’m confident in my decision, or 3) Im not confident in my decision.
• Before the debrief, have the moderator send out all the feedback and ask the group to read the feedback prior to the meeting.
• At the debrief, ask each person to discuss their decision briefly. The decider should ask questions, make a final call, and discuss it with the group.

Build A Process Then Trust It

The single most important thing you can do to improve remote hiring decisions is to formalize the hiring process and then trust in that process.

Hiring is inherently subjective. Youll make better decisions if you clearly define the process upfront and stick to it from candidate to candidate.

A well-designed process needs to strike a balance it must be deep enough to truly get to know a candidate while being mindful of your companys time and the candidates time.

Over the years, Ive refined to a process which has helped me strike this balance and now adapted it for remote hiring:

• Initial Review. Should we invest time in getting to know this candidate?
• Screening. Is it worth spending more time with this candidate? Screening interview
• First Round. How well does the candidate stack up against what we are looking for in product hires? Product Execution interview Customer Insight interview Product Strategy interview Influencing People interview
• Second Round. How well does the candidate fit into the particular PM role and team? 2-3 Stakeholder interviews Group presentation interview
• Final Match. Is this candidate the right fit for us, and are we the right fit for them? Company Tour Reference Checking
• Offer & Negotiation.
• Onboarding. How do we ensure the candidates first 1-2 weeks on the job sets them up for long-term success?
• 3-6 Month Performance Check-in. Did both the company and the candidate make the right decision?

Read Also: How To Prepare For Amazon Product Manager Interview

Make It A Conversation

The presentation shouldnt be one-way lecture. Instead, you and the candidate will get the most out of the exercise if its a two-way conversation. To that end, I typically tell candidates to prepare 20-30 minutes of material and plan for 15-20 minutes of discussion.

Most presentations last about 45 minutes, but I suggest having attendees set aside 60 minutes, so there is a little bit of buffer. The extra time often gets used up if there are technical difficulties at the outset or if the discussion really gets going .

If Im Looking To Transition Into A Product Manager Role From A Different Job What Skills Should I Focus On Making Transferable What Skills Are Most Valuable In A Great Product Manager

• “Product Managers are often asked to wear many hats in order to do their jobs well. Companies look for PMs with problem-solving skills balanced with strategic thinking and the ability to collaborate well with others. Showing you have experience solving real-world problems while building and leading a cross-functional team will help you smoothly transition into a PM role.
• Consider participating in hackathons or helping out a team that has an idea they want to bring to life.
• Many people cite networking as an important part of transitioning to new roles or companies, but I find building relationships to be more effective. Networking is something done in passing, but building a relationship can last well beyond the initial contact. Join an organization like Women in Product, which has an active Facebook group and hosts local events and meet-ups. It’s a great way to get to know people in the PM field while also learning something new.
• Consider an Associate Product Manager role or apply to a Rotational Product Manager program. to help open doors to people with or without a technical degree prior PM experience is not required. Candidates get hands-on experience working on projects across different product areas, and they’re part of a strong internal PM community to learn how to build impactful products.”

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Work Together Before You Work Together

Imagine its the year 1501. Youre sitting across from a young sculptor with a growing reputation. Youre considering commissioning him for a work depicting the biblical figure David. You ask the sculptor, How do you approach sculpting?. Michelangelo famously responds , Well, I just remove the marble that I dont want.

Its a perfectly accurate answer and entirely useless in evaluating his skills. Certainly, you can ask more probing questions but there is no substitute for seeing someone work.

The group presentation interview is an opportunity to see how someone works before you make an offer. In addition, the format gives candidates a chance to meet more people on the team, see how they interact with each other, and get a feel for how your team thinks through product decisions.

For that reason, Ive found the group presentation interview to be the most insightful part of the hiring process.

Facebook Behavioral Questions: Leadership

In addition to employees with a collaborative nature, Facebook is looking for employees who are able to motivate their team, resolve conflicts, drive alignment, and build relationships. This is because most roles will involve not only working in teams, but also leading them when appropriate.

This would be a good time to show that youve got drive and empathy, particularly if you’re interviewing for a manager role. Some of the leadership skills that Facebook is looking for in these questions include how you earn trust and take ownership, process and grow from past experiences, support the people around you, and overcome difficult situations.

Example behavioral questions asked at Facebook: Leadership

• Tell me about a time you lead a team
• Tell me about a time you had to step up and take responsibility for others
• Tell me about your worst boss and why they were bad
• How would you advocate for a commitment to a priority, when that priority is not high on someone else’s list?
• How would you manage timelines in a highly matrixed environment, where there is no top down authority?

Also Check: Interview With The Vampire Netflix

Your Execution Interviewer Is Looking To See:

• If you are able to measure what matters and then use your analytics into data driven decisions
• If you can effectively callout and weigh different trade-offs to make informed product decisions
• If you can effectively prioritize your limit time and resources to drive maximum impact

Rick Ochs got the job at

Pedro got the job at

Rick Ochs

Product Manager

With Product Alliance, I was able to ace multiple FAANG interview loops and land offers at Amazon as a Principal PM Manager and Google as a L6 PM on GCP. Thank you Product Alliance!

With Product Alliance, I was able to ace multiple FAANG interview loops and land offers at Amazon as a Principal PM Manager and Google as a L6 PM on GCP. Thank you Product Alliance!

Latha Srinivasan got the job at

Pedro got the job at

Latha Srinivasan

Pedro Bobrow got the job at

Pedro got the job at

Pedro Bobrow

Product Manager

Product Alliance blows competitors out of the water in terms of quality, quantity, and depth of content.

Blows competitors out of the water in terms of quality, quantity, and depth.

Michael Xu got the job at

Pedro got the job at

Michael Xu

Logan Hutchinson previously taught at

Logan got the job at

Former Lead Instructor

I’ve taught product courses before and taken several others for research. This is the best course on the market for product veterans preparing for senior PM interviews.

Peter Tan got the job at

Peter got the job at

Peter Tan

Program Management Intern

Ishita Ganotra got the job at

Ishita Ganotra

Peter Tan

Tips To Impress Your Interviewer

Finally, before we move on to some interview preparation resources, we’d like to give you five helpful tips to keep in mind.

Tip #1: Get used to setting up the situation in 30 seconds or less

Use a timer while you practice to ensure you provide only necessary information. Spending too much time on the Situation step is one of the most common mistakes candidates make.

Tip #2: Stay focused on essential details

Interviewers hear a lot of behavioral stories a day. If you go into unnecessary details you are likely to lose their attention. Share your stories with a few different people before your interview and ask them what details they would suggest cutting.

Tip #3: Be proud and talk about YOU

This is not the time to be shy about your accomplishments. Concentrate on your impact, not what the team did. Not talking about YOU enough is another common mistake we see with a lot of candidates.

Tip #4: Adapt to follow up questions

Dont be alarmed if your interviewer asks follow up questions this is perfectly normal. Listen carefully to the way your interviewer is asking these questions, as there will often be a subtle clue about the specific skills theyre looking to assess from the next part of your answer.

Tip #5: Explain how failure made you better

When talking about failure, dont try to hide your mistakes or frame a weakness as a strength. Instead, show what you learned and how you grew from the failure.

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Facebook Behavioral Questions: General

First up are the general behavioral questions that may come up for any role. Here your interviewer is looking for an overall view of your past experiences and how you will perform as an employee at Facebook. Youll see that regardless of the role, Facebook is curious about your resume, your motivations, how you handle difficult situations, and why you want to work for them specifically.

These are good questions for you to demonstrate your alignment with Facebooks core values. Show your willingness to take risks, lessons learned from past mistakes, a bias for action, and other qualities that Facebook is looking for in a candidate.

Practice demonstrating those values using the questions below.

Example behavioral questions asked at Facebook: General

• Tell me about yourself / your past experience
• Tell me about a past challenge or conflict you handled
• Tell me about your skills and interests
• Tell me about the greatest accomplishment of your career
• Tell me about a time you failed and what you learned from it
• Tell me what others would say about you
• Tell me about your biggest accomplishment
• Tell me about the area where you have the most to learn
• Tell me about what do you want to do in the future
• What are your strengths and weaknesses?
• Walk me through your resume
• Why are you transitioning from your current position?
• What makes a good / bad ?

What Is A Behavioral Interview At Facebook

Facebook uses behavioral interviews to assess job candidates based on their past experiences. These questions typically start with Tell me about a time you and focus on soft skills such as: leadership, communication, teamwork, problem solving, etc.

To round out your preparation, we’ve also included some resume, HR, and hypothetical questions such as “what are your strengths and weaknesses?” or “how would you…?” in this article. As these are real questions that have been reported by past candidates, we want to make sure you’re ready for anything.

These questions will appear at every step of the interview process, from the initial recruiter phone screen, through the hiring manager, and all the way through to the onsite interviews. They may even appear as icebreaker or transition questions during system design or coding interviews. The frequency and type of behavioral questions will vary, but be prepared for many, especially if you’re applying for a leadership role.

For more information on the process for a specific role, consult one of our comprehensive interview guides below:

Now, what will your interviewers be looking out for?

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So How Do Product Sense Interviews Test For Product Sense

The interview starts with a broad user problem, and your goal is to guide the conversation to build a great product that addresses it, by asking questions and making choices. The interviewer will be testing the boundaries of your thinking, your ability to prioritize, get in your users shoes, and be creative, all while building a compelling narrative. Simply put, can you build products that people will love?

The 4 most common prompts for a product sense interview are:

• What is your favorite product and how will you improve it
• Build product X for user Y
• Company X wants to solve problem Y
• Improve product X

Heres The Simple Framework That I Use

• Clarify: understand the prompt and the status quo experience. Check your assumptions by asking the interviewer.
• Product Mission & Goal: state the goal of the product and how it furthers the companys mission. For favorite product, why do you like the product and what makes it better than others. For improve product, what job does the product solve and for whom
• User Segmentation: start with listing the broad user segments before prioritizing one segment to focus on. For example, Yelps services product has 2 primary users: businesses and customers. Businesses can further be segmented into independent single-person operations, large services company employees, and part-timers.
• User Needs & Pain Points: do a comprehensive exploration of user needs, prioritize one, and discuss the pain points in the users journey.
• Solutions: brainstorm multiple product solutions for the prioritized problem and user segment, then prioritize one.

Recommended Reading: How To Interview A New Employee

Use The First Round To Evaluate Product Skills

The First Round is a significant time investment. At this point, its critical to identify whether a candidate meets the bar for your product team. To do that, you have to know what the bar is.

I recommend using the Product Manager Competencies as a framework. Each interviewer should focus on one of the four competency areas: Product Execution, Customer Insight, Product Strategy, and Influencing People. Collectively, the interviewers will develop a comprehensive perspective on the candidate. Facebook follows a similar approach. They calibrate interviewers to assess three areas: Product Sense, Execution, and Leadership & Drive.

Ideally, you should designate one interviewer for each competency area and establish a fixed set of questions for that area. The goal here is to both increase consistency across candidates and build up interviewer reps. As a result, youll not only hire the right candidate youll improve your hiring capability for the next search.

If you’d like to use the Product Manager Competencies to evaluate candidates, I recommend downloading the free Product Competency Toolkit, which contains evaluation worksheets and a detailed description of every competency.