Product Management interviews come in 3 types: behavioural, product sense, and case studies (a.k.a. task assignments). We’re going to cover all of them.
Now, not every company will do all 3, but every company will do at least 1, and that’s always the behavioural interview.
Behavioural interviews are where you tell stories.
These are where great storytellers thrive, and unprepared storytellers fail.
Every client I’ve worked with who has been able to land a new job in less than 3 months was able to do so because they did the work to build one of their most important career assets.
No, it’s not a PM portfolio.
Those are a waste of time. And I’ll stand by that belief until I see evidence to the contrary.
That important career asset is a story library.
Here’s why it matters, how to build one, and how to use it.
Why a story library matters
Great interview performances don’t happen naturally.
Being ready with the right story, for the right question, and tailored to the right audience—that is how great interview performances happen.
A story library makes that easier.
While most candidates walk into interviews with a couple of high level examples, many never take the time to detail out what happened, at the right altitude, with clear and concise impact.
Imagine walking into an interview, and instead of scrambling to remember an example, you pull from a set of prebuilt stories you already know.
That few seconds of silence is spent selecting and calibrating.
Not improvising.
You’re retrieving.
This lowers cognitive load.
You can better prioritise communication, adapting information based on context.
Not struggling to remember details, making it up as you go.
A great story library also helps you prime interviewers for other stories you’re ready to go into depth about, steering towards other examples that show skills they care about.
That builds confidence and keeps the conversation flowing.
Another benefit: range.
A good story library holds multiple "hero stories" that cover different themes.
0→1 work, scaling, leadership, conflict, launches, ambiguity, strategic bets, metrics turnarounds.
So when an interviewer pivots, you can pivot with them.
You're never stuck.
You're never stretching an irrelevant example.
You always have the right story on hand.
And the more you use your story library, the better your stories become.
You refine them, tighten them, and strengthen how you communicate impact.
Think of it as your personal repository of career evidence.
It grows.
It evolves.
And it pays off every time you interview.
How to build one
Start by documenting your key professional experiences.
Think achievements, challenges, stakeholder conflicts, strategic decisions, launches, and pivots.
You don't need to write them all at once.
Start with 1. Then add a few others.
Keep a running list of story ideas—just a sentence or two—and come back to flesh them out later.
Make this list just a tap away from your home screen on your phone. You don’t want to lose that memory when it emerges, because it will happen when you don’t expect it to.
A common question I get:
How many stories do I need in my library, James?
I recommend 20.
Across a range of topics, weaving in evidence of discovery, strategy, delivery, working with your cross-functional partners, successes and failures.
If you’re not sure where to start, use interview prompts to jog your memory.
Questions like "Tell me about a time you disagreed with a stakeholder" or "Describe a product you launched from scratch" will help surface stories you've forgotten.
Or just start with the 5 biggest projects you’ve worked on in the last 5 years. You’ve no doubt encountered challenges across each of those.
DM a former colleague if you’re fuzzy on the details. They’ll remember things you don’t, and just talking about it with someone will help you recall even more.
Talk with AI, too. I created a prompt for doing just that. When you finish the conversation, it will return all the details in a STAR format so you can just have a conversation, and skip most of the writing bits. Reply if you want it.
The goal is coverage across themes, not perfection on day one. Because I’ll be honest with you, building a great story library takes work, and time.
Lastly, if you get asked a question in an interview you’re not prepared for, after it ends you need to turn it into a story to build on later.
How to use it
Before every interview, review your library.
Pick 3–5 stories that match the role's priorities.
Practise telling them out loud until they feel natural.
Convert narratives into bullets that you can quickly glance at.
During the interview, you're not improvising. You're selecting.
You hear a question, recognise the theme, and pull the right story.
If you're interviewing with multiple companies, track which stories you've told. This prevents you from repeating yourself in later rounds, and helps you rotate fresh examples.
After every interview, reflect.
Which stories landed? Which fell flat? Update your library with what you learn.
Over time, your stories get sharper, your delivery gets smoother, and your confidence grows.
Beyond the interview
Here's what most people miss: your story library doesn't stop working once you land the job.
It's not just an interview tool. It's a career asset that appreciates over time.
The more stories you write, the better you become at articulating your value and impact.
The more you practise delivering these stories, the sharper your communication becomes—and that skill carries directly into your day-to-day work.
This is where the work you do to land the job helps you become better at the job.
Think about it.
When you're in a strategy meeting and need to make a case for resourcing, you're pulling from the same skill set you built preparing for interviews.
When you're writing a performance review or building a promotion packet, you're not starting from scratch—you already have a curated library of achievements, written in clear language, with measurable impact.
When your manager asks what you've been working on or what you want to take on next, you're not scrambling to remember. You're retrieving from a system you've already built.
Your story library becomes your professional record.
It's input for performance reviews, promotion conversations, internal moves, and future job searches.
It grows with you.
It can even help you overcome impostor syndrome, build confidence, and remember the impact you’ve had in your career—because you’re awesome!
You don’t need Chat to tell you that.
Your story library is the proof.
Most people rely on memory. That's why they undersell themselves in reviews or struggle to make the case for a promotion.
You won't.
You'll have a structured collection of your best work, ready to deploy whenever you need it.
That will be your competitive advantage.
The story library tool I built for my clients
I’ve created and refined a story library resource that I give to my clients and use in our coaching sessions.
I've been thinking about packaging this up—the templates, structure, prompts, guidance, and workflow—and making it available for purchase.
If you'd be interested in that, let me know.
Next week I’ll share the final PM jobs report of 2025. I plan to do a deep dive on the big trends of 2025. Send me any questions you have and I’ll do my best to address them.
After that, I’ll share more about what makes a story great and keep this series going.
I’ve got even more to share to help more PMs land their next role and succeed in their careers.
Stay tuned.
Thank you for reading.