Q:How do I hire great product managers?

The sources point to structured, skill-based hiring with clear criteria and consistent interviewers. Lenny Rachitsky advises planning for a large funnel, since you may need to talk to roughly 23 PM candidates to hire one strong one¹⁰. Teresa Torres and Petra Wille argue that hiring should borrow from product discovery: define the role and success criteria first⁷.

01Build a structured funnel

• Expect a long funnel: only about 13% of inbound applicants reach the first screen, so fill it with sourced candidates and referrals¹⁰.
• Test six core IC PM skills: communication, collaboration, execution, strategy, impact, and product sense¹⁰.
• Pair each question with a rubric describing a good answer, and split coverage across several interviewers².

02Avoid groupthink and vague criteria

• Assign each interviewer specific criteria rather than letting everyone form the same vague impression⁷.
• Avoid giving every interviewer veto power, which tends to produce no hire at all⁷.
• Treat "culture fit" with caution; define observable collaboration behaviors instead⁷.

03Assess the right product signals

• Ask candidates to describe their mental model of product management first, since a mismatch makes the rest moot⁴.
• For product sense, check that each dimension is a must-pass; strength in one area cannot offset weakness in another⁸.