Agoda Product Manager Interview Guide
The role of an Agoda Product Manager
Product Management means working on product development and promotion with the primary objective of raising revenue, earnings and profit margins. A PM is responsible for evaluating market trends, overseeing product growth, and deciding the features of their product. The interviews are challenging due to the amount of decision-making involved in the process and the inclusion of a broad range of topics with a variety of questions.
Agoda's Product team innovates at both the micro and macro levels, discovering and designing the goods, features, and functions that fuel consumer travel and Agoda's bottom line. The product team collaborates closely with other departments to make their ideas a reality. PMs are in charge of all of Agoda's online, app, and payment services, ensuring that they operate smoothly and directly add to the company's world-class credibility. For more insights, check out the Google Associate Product Manager and Apple Product Manager guides.
The following interview guide will take you through the steps of interviewing for a Product Manager role at Agoda, with guidelines and sample questions to assist you through the process.
Agoda Product Manager Interview Guide
The procedure starts similar to any other standard online application or referral. There is no question that your resume is essential in the evaluation of your application, but it is not the only factor. There are several stages in the interview process:
- Online application with several tests followed by an email from a recruiter
- Phone-screen interview with an HR or a hiring manager
- On-site interviews
The procedure generally takes 2-3 weeks but in some cases, it can take up to 4 to 5 weeks.
Application and Assessment
Following the online application, the majority of applicants are subjected to assessments that include numerical, verbal, inductive reasoning, programming aptitude, SQL, and a variety of other topics. These tests can be challenging for some, but they have little to do with the work profile. They are like a checkbox that you must tick in order for them to see whether you are eligible for the job. The tests can take up to 6 hours.
After attempting the assessments, you will receive an email within 24 hours indicating whether or not you succeeded in the evaluation stage. If you did, you will be contacted by a recruiter, most likely by email, to discuss the next steps in the process.
Please note, it is not necessary that you get the tests as your first stage. This assessment can also occur after your HR interview or even as the last stage of the interview.
Round 1
Overview
Following completion of the recruiter's instructions, the next stage is a phone screen interview with an HR representative. The interview will be conversational, with a focus on your current job and previous experiences. You will be given enough time to ask any questions you might have about the work profile and the interview process. The interview will be about 30-45 mins long.
What the interviewer will assess
- Your past experiences
- Your current job
- Your expectations from the job you have applied for
- your ability to adapt to the workplace setting
Tips
- Your interview will almost always begin with a discussion of your resume, so make sure you understand every detail in and around it.
- Check to see if you can explain what you wrote on your resume with examples and descriptions. Failure to do so will cause the interviewer to be skeptical. Try addressing situational questions with real-life examples.
Interview Questions
- What are your main responsibilities, and where do you work?
- What do you want to get from your career and coworkers?
- What gives you the impression you'd be a good candidate for the job of a product manager?
Round 2
Overview
The initial phone screen is followed by another phone screen interview, preferably using the Blue-jeans app, as per many applicants. This test will be with a hiring manager and will concentrate more on your experience set and whether you meet the criteria for a final on-site interview. Some points to keep in mind are:
- You can expect a bunch of situational and behavioral questions.
- The interview will be about 45-60 mins long.
- Some technical and analytical questions can also be expected.
What the interviewer will assess
- Your potential to come up with ideas in a short period of time. More on this can be found in the Amazon Product Manager guide.
- Your capacity to reason clearly and logically when analyzing results.
- Your core PM competencies (product ideation, brainstorming, prioritization, MVP thinking, execution, metrics and iteration skills), as well as your experience in the field.
Tips
- Even if Agoda advertises for the same job title as another organization, they can be looking for different applicant qualifications. You must read over the job description and focus on the specific qualifications they are searching for.
- There's a fair possibility the interviewer may inquire about any of Agoda's or its competitors' most recent products, and you'll be asked for your opinions. As a result, conducting some preliminary research and preparing a few points ahead of time, right before the interview, should prove to be helpful.
Interview Questions
- How do you keep biases in balance when developing your analysis?
- What has been the most significant career accomplishment for you to date?
- How do you decide whether or not to implement a suggested enhancement feature?
- Can you define Atomic and Non-atomic in layman's and professional terms?
- How do you prioritize product backlog?
- Tell me how adding a new product line will damage our core company in a pandemic situation.
Round 3
Overview
The next stage is an in-person interview with the department head, recruiters and currently working product managers. Depending on the interviewers, you might expect this round to last anywhere from 30-75 mins. Throughout the interview, you will be asked hypothetical questions, as well as be tested on your technical skills and previous job experiences. You'll be tested on PM fundamentals like product knowledge, analytical skills, and strategy questions, as well as a slew of technical questions.
What the interviewer will assess
- Your comprehension of the organization.
- Your track record and levels of success.
- Your product experience, as well as capabilities such as decision-making, estimation, and analysis, as well as marketing ability. Further details are available in the Microsoft Product Marketing Manager guide.
Tips
- This interview would try to elicit your personality as well as how you would blend into the organization and the job. So, keep your ideas ahead and continue to be conversational. Participate in answering questions and expressing your opinions.
- Interviewers like to hear more about you than your expertise and experience. So, you will have to go through several rounds of interviews. In addition, when you go on-site for interviews, you will have the opportunity to talk with the stakeholders. That is one method for doing a more in-depth assessment of cultural fit.
Interview Questions
- Why do you believe it is time for you to leave your present job?
- Describe a time when you had to persuade a difficult client to make a decision and how you treated it.
- Talk to me about your product design process and experience?
- What are the drawbacks of relying too heavily on hard data in product design?
- How do you get the tech team's respect?
- What is the competitive landscape like, and what is the sales model? What is the value chain?
- Can the company place itself for growth, and what implications would this have for the product?
- What are the company verticals in which we work?
- Throughout your PM experience, which product development project are you most proud of?
- How do you handle change?
- How do you know when it's okay to cut corners in order to push a product out the door?
- What is the distinction between product and project management, in your opinion?
- How do you decide what product to build and what not to?
- What was the most horrific product misstep you ever took or witnessed somebody else taking?
- What steps will you take to create a website for blind people?
- How can you reposition a company's products in the face of a competitive threat?
- What types of people do you prefer to collaborate with?
- What drives marketing?
- Describe a moment when you fell behind. Why do you believe it did not work out? What would you do if you had the ability?
- Have you ever been into a confrontation with a teammate? What was the eventual outcome?
- How much market testing do you do, and what kind of research do you do?
The Hiring and Decision Process
Within a week, the hiring managers and other policy-makers will have reached a decision and will contact you. They will then introduce you to the package with which they can recruit you.