Interview vs Career Coaching

Q: You provide both interview prep and general PM career coaching. What is the difference between your coaching services? 

For PM Interview Coaching, there is a common approach. Mostly it revolves around helping candidates learn and master commonly used interview frameworks. But in the process, I also end up helping people become better PMs, mostly by improving their communication skills. 

For PM Career Coaching, it all depends on individual needs. I can coach PMs at all stages of their careers. I focus more on mid and senior-level PM leaders from ICs to CPOs and everything in between.

Timing Questions

Q: What is your coaching approach over an extended period of time?

I think there are two parts to this question: (1) frequency of sessions and (2) session composition. 

Frequency

For Interview Coaching, it depends on deadlines. I have had clients work with me every day for 10 to 14 days when there is a tight deadline. I have also seen people work with me once a week for months at a time and everything in between. I highly recommend clients leverage the free mock interview groups to practice with others in between working with me.  

For Career Coaching, I am very flexible. I find that most people want weekly access for a minimum of 3 months, after that it depends. There are many leaders who work with a coach weekly, if you can afford it, I believe it is worth the money. I have periods where I work closely with my own coach. 

Session Composition

For Interview Coaching, most sessions are mock interviews where I listen, provide feedback and occasionally provide direction on problem areas mid-mock. That said, some sessions are pure instruction or drilling in place of mocks to reinforce concepts a candidate is struggling with. Depending on the program, candidates have access to materials and recordings. 

For Career Coaching, there is a lot of listening on my part during these sessions. My style is that of a mentor-coach. Which means I help you think through your problems but in many cases I have experienced your struggles first hand and can give you advice or share experiences as illustrations. I also have a large number of tools I share to help you navigate complexities at work. 

Type of Help

Q: What aspects can you help me improve on? 

For Interview Coaching, I can help you improve on the following question types:

• Behavioral

• Product Design/Sense

• Product Craft/Execution/Analytics (think metrics, estimation and trade off questions)

• Hypothetical/Framework: Prioritization and other question types

For Career Coaching, I can help you improve on any aspect of being a product manager. Since 80% of what PMs do is communicate cross-functionally, a large part of what I do is help my clients improve their communication skills within product organizations of all sizes. But if you are struggling with skill sets such as product measurement or prioritization, I can also help with that as well. I have also helped a few people change roles from engineer or sales to product management by teaching practical skills. 

How Long Will It Take

Q: How long will it take? 

For Interview Coaching, it depends. Everyone is different. Some key factor that impact your speed of readiness include: 

• Working full-time or Studying full-time

• Previous experience

• Product Case Strengths (this is the core question type for most)

• Comfort with Metrics

• Communication Issues 

• Time Pressure

For behavioral only interviews it can take 2 to 6 weeks to prepare. For Meta & Google 3 to 6 months prep is very, very common. I prefer to think in terms of how many mocks you have done. If you are studying full-time for interviews you can do 80 mocks in 6 weeks and so it can talk 4 to 6 weeks, but if you are working full-time that is less realistic. 

For Career Coaching, it all depends on what your goals and struggles are. I can work with you for a few weeks, months or years. Many people are looking for weekly support for 3 or so months, then less frequent help after that. I personally think working with a coach every week or two is generally a great practice but it is not for everyone. Also your need for support ebbs and flows. I believe I can make you a better PM leader with weekly support, but length and cadence is up to you. If you want to set a goal and bound the help to accomplishing your goal, we can also work together that way. Everyone is different and I try to modify my programs to what each person needs.