Product Hiring Beyond the Title

Welcome to Edition 2 of The Good Hire!

Most people in Product had a whole career before it. A teacher, a history major, or a former athlete can all end up leading a roadmap, and many do it well. This edition covers why strong Product hiring looks beyond job titles, and what to look for instead.

You’ll also get four interview strategies, including one that costs nothing but time.

---

The Hardest Part of Product Hiring Is Knowing What to Value

Ask five companies what a Product Manager does and you’ll get five different answers. One wants a Project Manager with a better title. One wants a founder’s right hand. One wants someone in Figma all day. Another wants someone who lives in Engineering stand-ups.

“Product” is not a university major. Most product people never studied it, and no single technical skill defines the role. Most people in Product have a career before Product.

When hiring for a Product role, of course most teams lean on what’s easy to check. A recognizable logo on the resume, a matching job title, five years of experience: all simple to verify. Titles, though, rarely tell the full story of a position. In a survey of 1,000 U.S. workers, 38% said they had held a title that sounded more advanced than the job, and 39% had been handed a more senior title without a raise (self-reported by employees). A Product Manager at Samsung doesn’t do the same work as a Product Manager at Spotify, because the products are so different.

So how do you know what makes a strong Product hire?

In my experience, the Product people who thrive are naturally curious, ask unusually good questions, and enjoy ideas that cross disciplines. Many are “people people”, too. In an interview, they light up fast and stay in the conversation. Those traits show up in unexpected places.

On one search I worked on, the team hired a former teacher into a Product Manager role. A teacher knows how to lead a team, how to talk about varied topics, and how to ensure that a curriculum is followed over a defined timeframe.

Picture the debrief after a first round with a candidate who is a former teacher, who is new to the field. One interviewer might say, “They’re great, but they have only owned one Product roadmap.” Another person on the interview panel asks how they unite a team to finish a project, and the room goes quiet because their answer beats any roadmap.

A history major, an art major, or a professional athlete can offer the same skills in different clothes. Product hiring asks you to look for the common threads, the transferable skills, and the curiosity. Ironically, the way to hire for such a technical role is not to implement more AI or automation to your process. Someone on the hiring team who can lead a good conversation will usually learn more than any screening tool can.

A strong Product hire still needs to understand the company’s product, its clients, and the technical side. They may have gained that experience in unexpected places. Asking the right questions closes the gap and shows both a candidate’s motivation and their ability to be effective in the role.

Here are some strategies to bring to a Product interview:

1. Ask the candidate what they’ve taught themselves lately. Try: “What did you get curious about this year, and what did you do about it?” Listen for specifics, plus questions they ask you back.
2. Name the thread out loud. When a background looks unrelated, ask: “What skills from that job do you still use, and what would you expect applies to our team?” Their answer shows how well they translate their experience to what your team does day to day.
3. Write down what your team values before the first interview. Pick three things in plain words, like “aligns on the why before the when.” Bring that list to the debrief, and you’ll have fuller conversations and data.
4. Book some extra time. Some of my favorite Product interviews went way over time, because we were riffing about Impressionist paintings, or rescue dogs, or the importance of patronizing small, independently owned music venues. That curiosity and connection is what makes a great Product hire.

A job with no standard definition produces candidates with no standard background. Deciding what you value before meeting anyone will do more for your search than any resume filter.

How Good Work Recruiting Can Help

If your team is still working out what a Product hire should look like, let’s talk it through. Before you meet any candidates, I learn what your role needs in practice, then share a range of candidate profiles early so we can see what resonates. Each candidate’s motivations matter as well, so both sides start with an honest conversation.

What’s the most unexpected background you’ve seen succeed in a career pivot?

Sources

• MyPerfectResume survey of 1,000 U.S. workers on job title inflation, as reported by CPA Practice Advisor, May 12, 2026.