Hilab

Role: APM (Associate Product Manager)

College: IIT BHU Varanasi

Interview Date: Campus Placements (2021-2022), Shortlist on Nov 30, 2022 (Interviews followed)

Interview Type: On-Campus, Full-Time

Result: Selected

Difficulty: Medium

Rounds: 3 rounds (excluding resume shortlisting and deck submission)

Topics Asked: Product Management, Data Science, Data Analysis, NLP, Deep Learning, Go-to-Market (GTM) Strategy, Product Design, Data Protection, Encryption

Experience:

The candidate applied for the APM role during campus placements in the 2021-22 session. The process started with resume shortlisting, where a background in Product and Data Analysis/Science with a CGPA ≥ 7.5 was generally sufficient.

The next stage was **Deck Submission**. A company-specific problem statement was given, requiring candidates to create a product on a use case related to the company's 5 products, which were based on NLP or Deep Learning models in healthcare. The candidate had 7 days for this. The selection criteria for the deck focused on problem identification, understanding of the PS and company products, and how the solution and product design satisfied stakeholders.

Interview Round 1: Data Science

This round was taken by a Data Scientist. It started with a "Tell me about yourself" question. The interviewer then delved into a product case related to Instagram's user engagement drop. The candidate approached it using first principles, asking clarifying questions and breaking down metrics. The interviewer was impressed with the analytical questions and the suggested solutions.

Interview Round 2: RCA (Root Cause Analysis)

This round was also a product case, focusing on RCA. The candidate again used a first-principles approach, asking initial clarifying questions and identifying factors after breaking down the metric. The interviewer complimented the candidate's approach.

Interview Round 3: Product Design

This was the longest round, taken by the Director of Product & Delivery. It started with a discussion about the candidate's previous interview experience. The main question was a Product Design case: "Flipkart wants to add floral commerce on its platform. Tell us about the GTM, Product Design, and set up a value chain for delivery of the product." The candidate discussed the user journey, GTM strategy, and integration with the existing Flipkart app.

The interviewers were described as helpful, expecting clarity in thoughts, structured thinking, data skills, and product sense. The candidate was eventually selected and is currently an APM at HiLabs.