My company is hiring. Maybe yours is, too. Or at least trying to. If you work in the Silicon Valley, then you are probably aware of how difficult it is to find quality staff for just about any position–Dev, QA, Product Management, Marketing, you name it.
If you aren’t familiar with the challenges of hiring in Silicon Valley, it’s a lot like buying a used car. There are plenty to choose from, but finding one that has all of the features that you want, in the color you like, with low miles, well, that’s where it gets tricky.
The first few steps are easy. Get the job posted on your website. Send it to a few targeted job boards. Enlist your current staff to get the word out to their friends and former coworkers. Once the job is posted, the resumes arrive in droves. Now the first problem arises: wading through the noise.
NOTE: from here on out, I am going to refer specifically to hiring Product Management staff. Much of this applies to other types of positions, too, but your mileage may vary.
Decide what you need the Product Manager to do. Are they going to focus on outbound or inbound Product Management or both? Will they be expected to manage ENGR resources or will they be working with a Program Manager? Check out the Product Management Triad from Pragmatic Marketing for details on all of the areas of responsibilities for Product Management.
At a big company, the Product Manager is likely to be highly specialized. They will be part of a Product Management team and will likely only have responsibility for 1 product (or possibly even part of 1 product). There will also be other staff to help with the product functions so that the Product Manager can focus on their core responsibilities.
With smaller organizations, the Product Manager has to wear many hats. They will be responsible for a wide range of responsibilities, including Sales training, project and program management, product marketing. At smaller companies, Product Managers may even report directly to the CEO.
After you determine how the Product Manager is going to be utilized, you’ll want to start evaluating the candidate pool for the skills and experience you need. Here are some of the characteristics you will want to look for (NOTE: this is neither an exhaustive nor specific list; you’ll need to tailor it to your particular needs)–
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Experience working with the Sales organization
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Familiarity with the Software Development Life Cycle (SDLC)
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Ability to lead cross-functional teams
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Ability to communicate effectively with executive team
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Possess excellent communication skills (speaking and writing)
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Ability to lead others through “influence”
Now that you have a short list of top candidates, start contacting them to find out if they fit what you are looking for. The initial 20 minute phone conversation or “freak screen” can help you save time by not wasting everyone’s effort doing on-site interviews. The freak screen lets you get a sense of the candidate’s communication skills, as well as verify what they presented in their resume. Individuals who look good on paper sometimes show glaring deficiencies when you actually talk to them.
When you are satisfied that the candidate looks and sounds good, bring them on-site ASAP. Good candidates often have multiple interviews going on and if you want to stay competitive, you will need to make sure that you continue to move the process forward. That keeps the candidate engaged and keeps you from losing the candidate because they don’t perceive the process as being serious.
For on-site interviews, it’s extremely important to get the right people in the room with the candidate. You should include at least one of each of the following teams–
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Engineering
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QA
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Marketing
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Sales/Sales Engineering
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Technical Support
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Executive
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Professional Services
Have each interviewer focus on different aspects of the Product Management process so that you limit the overlap in questions and maximize the information gleaned from the interview. You should also prep your interview team to make sure that they know how to get the necessary information.
It’s easy for interviewers to ask only hypothetical questions. These types of questions allow the candidate to address how they would handle a variety of situations, but it’s also important to hear how they have ACTUALLY handled situations related to the position. Have the interview team ask questions like
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“How have you dealt with conflict between yourself and the Engineering team with regard to scheduling or features?”
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“In the past, what have you done to keep your product aligned with the needs of current customers and future customers?”
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“Explain how your experience in previous positions will benefit you as a Product Manager at Company X?”
After you are satisfied that you have found a good fit for your organization, make the offer. Offers vary widely based on experience, size of the company and responsibilities, but make sure yours matches both the expectations of the candidate and the scope of the position. Your new Product Manager will be short-lived if the position and the compensation don’t match.
Finally, a note about hiring in general. Where possible, always hire someone who is smarter than you. Some hiring managers are intimidated by hiring people who know more than they do. They need to be the smartest person in the room or they fear that their new hires will outshine them and ultimately replace them. That is a recipe for mediocrity or worse!
Smart hiring managers surround themselves with smart staff. Not only does this make them look good as the manager, but as your smart hires shine and are promoted or take positions outside of your organization or company, your sphere of influence increases. And that is what makes managers look smart.
Now go and be a smart hiring manager and land yourself a great Product Manager.
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[...] a post I wrote back in March [Hiring for Success], I discussed the importance of finding and hiring great Product Managers. But in the same way that [...]
[...] Q: What Product Management tool(s) would you consider most effective and why? A: Trac, Excel/Google Docs, Survey Monkey and Wikis. Trac is free and has most of the functionality needed. Using spreadsheets, particularly Google Docs, is great for providing company wide summaries of key priorities and sorting and weighting priorities. Survey Monkey is great for collecting customer input and priorities. Wikis are great for document product features and collecting input. Q: Where is the best place for the Product Management function in an organization and why? A: It depends on the organization, its industry, the skills of the managers and the stage of the company. When a company is pre-revenue, the company needs to be nimble and innovative, thus product management may better fall under engineering or the CTO. However, it depends on the skills of the leaders of that group. If the VP of Engineering or the CTO is not good at communicating with customers, then that may not be the best approach. In a more mature company, product management may better fall into marketing where product releases need to be better coordinated with Product Marketing, Sales and Customer Service, and also need to more heavily weight the feedback from those groups. Q: How has your experience as a Product Manager influenced you as a CEO or founder? A: It has has given me a better understanding of the challenges a Product Manager faces and how truly hard it is to build great products. I place a lot of importance of the role of Product Management, even in pre-revenue companies and have made sure than even in a small start-up, that role is clearly defined and staffed. Q: If someone told you that they wanted to transition from a Product Manager role to CEO (or founder), what would you tell them? A: A founder does not need to be CEO. I think the skills to be a good CEO are very different from those necessary to be a good Product Manager. I think Product Managers should aspire to be entrepreneurs and founders, but not necessarily CEOs. CEOs need to be good at fundraising, sales, hiring, start-up finance, managing outside vendors and setting high level vision. None of those skills are absolutely necessary to be a good Product Manager. [...]