The Dreaded: Weakness Question

For 99% of the product management roles, you will have to answer some question about your greatest weakness or your three top weaknesses for a product management interview.

Primary Goal: The interviewer wants to gauge your self-awareness.

Secondary Goal: They want to know if you can learn from mistakes/failure and have a plan for improvement.

To Prepare

First, put yourself in the interviewers shoes. If you asked someone that question, what would you want to know? Among my list of wants: are they self-aware, can they work with my team and are they truthful or just giving canned answers.

Second, writing out a list. If you need inspiration, think about all the times you have failed. (You may need this one two, but the weakness question is getting at the same root questions.) You will not have identified the weakness in yourself if you haven’t first failed at something.

Third, read yourself the list out loud. If you would think it sounds silly, cross it off your list. (Most folks I coach start with something trivial and as they say it out loud to me, they catch their own mistake.)

Preparing your answers

Do:

1. Pick something significant

2. Talk about how you have learned as you strive to adjust

3. Tell them how you are actively working to improve it

4. Have more than one example

Don’t:

1. Pick something superficial or trivial

2. Talk about not liking ambiguity or details (both are important for PMs)

3.  Tell them “I work too much” or “I’m bad at work-life balance.

Think about the key traits of a PM. What are justifiable areas to still be working to improve at your given career stage.

One of My Favorites

I have more than a few mentees who was struggled with public speaking. One went to Toastmasters and another went to an improve class. Both could say, as a product manager getting your story across to different stakeholders at different levels is crucial. In today’s world getting on stage, if only before a team meeting, can be nerve-racking. To get past it, I have started attending x class. Since starting the class, when speaking in public (1) my voice cracks less (2) I have slowed my pacing and (3) my written communications have gotten better because learning to get to the point on stage has helped me do the same in written form.

If you haven’t taken a class to improve in any way, think about something you are working on with your boss or your mentor. Look at your last round of feedback, there is something in that worth working on and being honest about.

If you are still struggling, try writing a user manual, the self-reflection will help you in more than just interviewing.

More reading:

1. From Product Management HQ

2. From Adam Grant (paywall) on admitting real faults upfront