Recruiters Are Your Advocate!
How to use recruiters to help prepare for interviews & show them why they should be an advocate.
Recruiters are one of the most under-utilized resources during the interview process. It’s easy to forget this but recruiters want to help candidates. Often, their key performance metric is the number of successful hires, and they do that by getting candidates to sign quickly.
The following sections aim to cover what to expect when speaking with recruiters and how to utilize them effectively, particularly for individual contributor product management interviews and SMB tech companies.
Be Genuinely Enthusiastic
We often underestimate the significance of sounding excited about a job. Simply having an impressive background is not enough to excite other people and show them why they should be an advocate.
This may sound obvious but as an interviewer and as interviewee, I hadn’t realized the importance of excitement and how it shows, for example, genuine interest in the opportunity. Or, how a candidate’s enthusiasm is contagious and can make an interviewer more excited about the candidate.
One separate but related note is I’ve found applying to jobs where I lack genuine interest, even for practice, isn’t valuable due to the importance of enthusiasm. I actually (even early on in your job hunt) recommend only pursuing opportunities that are genuinely exciting. I didn’t apply to my #1 job in the first couple weeks of applying but I always applied to jobs where I was excited about some of element of the role and could potentially seem myself there.
Understand the Evaluation Criteria
During the initial phone screen with a recruiter (as well as with a hiring manager later), I always try to get the rubric candidates will be graded against. This is both to evaluate whether I will like the position and to understand how to present myself effectively.
Here are some questions I ask to understand the evaluation criteria:
Among the numerous items listed on the job description, what is most important?
Beyond traditional PM skills, what qualities are you seeking?
Among those who have interviewed, why weren't candidates a good fit?
Why have PMs previously left the company?
Why is this role open?
Uncover Technical Expertise Requirements
Currently, many teams seek product specialists, partly due to these being necessary skills for product growth in this economy and partly because of the abundant talent, allowing hiring managers to be selective.
Given this state, I believe it's crucial during the initial recruiter call and initial hiring manager call to inquire about any specific technical expertise the company might require. These skills might range from technical abilities like API development to domain knowledge such as enterprise product management. Understanding both is crucial. The questions in the section above typically aid in identifying required domain skills. But I’ve found I usually need to pose additional questions to understand the technical bar.
A sample question might look like, “You mentioned the importance of `being technical.` Could you elaborate on what that entails? Are you looking for candidates with specific experience, for example in X and Y?” Even better, is when candidates can distill the job description themselves into the requirements and then ask if that sounds correct or if they are missing anything—this shows the candidate knows what they are talking about.
Use Recruiters to Prepare for a Particular Stage
Throughout the process, it's critical to ask about what to expect at each stage.
During the initial phone screen, I always ask about the interview process, timeline, and how to prepare for each step. Typically, I ask questions like, "Can you provide me with details about the interview process and timeline?" followed by more specific questions for the stage that follows the recruiter screen.
While I am being interviewed, at each stage, I’ll ask those same questions via email and usually ask if they have time to jump on a call before a full panel interview.
When asking about a particular stage, I’ll start by asking more general questions like “What should I expect” and “How can I prepare”. If I lack clarity or have particular concerns, I delve into more specific questions like, "Can you provide an example of a question I might be asked?". I find it helpful sometimes to record these calls, as it relieves the pressure of taking extensive notes and allows me to focus on asking insightful questions.
I like to conclude each conversation with a recruiter by asking, "Is there anything else you think I should know or any other advice you have?" This provides an excellent opportunity for them to share any unusual or surprising aspects of their process, patterns they have observed with previous candidates, or to subtly provide feedback. For the latter, for example, I’ve heard, "We highly value structured communication. Have you heard of the STAR approach? I recommend looking into it for your interviews." (This is a real situation that happened to me 😅).
When to Ask Uncomfortable Questions
It’s good to note any questions and concerns that arise during the interview process to avoid forgetting them. It is also beneficial for us to have them addressed before receiving a job offer, as it allows us to quickly act on how much we want the job. But if I feel uncomfortable asking about a specific subject due to how it may reflect on me, I save my question until I have a job offer. It’s important to remember that there is always the opportunity to ask them later on so never feel like “this” is the only opportunity.
Knowing the Recruiter’s Format
Recruiters usually follow a standard format.
On an initial phone screen, first, they ask say “tell me a little about yourself”. This is the opportunity to highlight career accomplishments, state why we are looking for something new and state what we are looking for in a role. Second, they may delve deeper into a past project or ask specific PM questions, such as "How do you approach building a roadmap?" (similar to what a hiring manager might ask). Thirdly, they’ll ask if we are interviewing at other places - sometimes they won’t ask this nowadays since they have such a high volume pipeline. For positions that require in-person attendance or a hybrid setup, recruiters often inquire about our flexibility. Lastly, they will discuss compensation and equity. Note that the base salary is typically mentioned in the job listing now due to transparency laws in California and a couple other states. If a recruiter takes up all the time with their questions, I just tell them I have questions that I’ll send over via email.
As we progress through the interview process, recruiters will likely check in to get impressions at each stage and understand where we are with other companies.
Finally, in many cases, they will negotiate compensation—in other cases, this will be the hiring manager.
While it is important to consider the recruiter's advice when preparing for an interview, it's crucial to keep in mind that they may not have complete information or control over the entire interview process. There have been instances where I've been caught off guard by a seemingly “easy” question from an interviewer because the recruiter did not mention that a question like that would be asked. Don’t be like me and be prepared for unexpected elements during the interview, especially at smaller companies.