I never read Product Manager job descriptions.
They are often “basic,” describing the most tactical and mundane aspects of Product Management as if they were looking for somebody who hasn’t done Product Management but somehow has at least seven years of experience…
Don’t believe me? Here are some common requirements stated in job descriptions:
Determines customers’ needs and desires by specifying the research needed to obtain market information.
Maintains and organizes the backlog based on priorities and strategy
Launching product features, beta programs, and marketing programs
Meeting customers and presenting the product roadmap
These “responsibilities” make the job sound far more robotic and laborious then it is! To combat this, I often find myself using way more than my “10 mins to ask questions” during interviews and scheduling additional interviewers to understand who they need, as interviewers are not always aligned on who they need.
(Here are some of the questions I ask when interviewing, and some particularly for startups)
The wrong PM hire can be detrimental: causing the company not only the person’s salary, recruiter fees, but a bad PM hire can even cause loss of market share.