Shereen L.’s Post

You have 7 seconds to make an impact. Here's what actually matters👇 Whether it is an interview, presentation, or casual conversation, first impressions go deeper than appearance, they reflect presence and authenticity. Psychology confirms people form an impression of you within 7 seconds. But here's what fascinates me most: those few seconds shape long-term perception in ways we rarely realize. Our brains are wired for quick judgment; a process psychologists call thin-slicing. Without realizing it, we evaluate people almost instantly based on: 👉Facial expressions 👉Posture and body language 👉Eye contact 👉Tone of voice In professional spaces especially during interviews, presentations, or client interactions, those early moments set the tone for connection and trust. I have seen this play out countless times. First impressions are not about perfection. They are about authentic confidence. When we show up as ourselves; open, present, and attentive, people feel it. Authenticity speaks louder than any rehearsed line. While we can't control what others perceive, we can influence it through intentional awareness: how we speak, listen, and carry ourselves. "Your energy introduces you before your words ever do." What is one thing you consciously do when meeting someone for the first time? Whether online or in person, I'd love to hear what works for you. #PersonalGrowth #HumanBehaviour #FirstImpressions #CommunicationSkills #LeadershipDevelopment

I’ve been conducting lots of interviews recently; for service design and product design. It’s been enlightening. Here are my top tips for anyone preparing for a design portfolio interview. 1. Stick to the timing - so basic but it really matters. Help yourself by saying what you are going to do e.g “I will spend 15 mins on one project then 20 mins on the next as it’s slightly more complex”. 2. Remember the interview is about you, not the projects - pick out things that interested you, that you found hard, that shifted your thinking. It’s not a project pitch. It’s a YOU pitch. 3. Less is more - leave the interviewer wanting more. Dont go into too much detail. It’s ok to zoom in on a specific thing, but zoom back out again to put it in context. 4. Show your working and thinking - SHOW SOME SKETCHES. AI will eat up all your shiny outputs in due course anyway so make your thinking your best asset. Polish that. 5. Problem, action, outcome - frame all your chat through that loop. Make it really easy for the interviewer to walk away knowing what you did, why you did it and what happened as a result. 6. Disambiguate your role from others - design is a multifunctional team effort but your team is not applying for the job. Clarity on your specific role and activity is vital. This doesn’t always have to be a strict ‘design’ skill. Perhaps in a collaborative project you were the person that brought the energy, or the critical thinking. Say that. 7. Enjoy yourself - passion for the work you’ve done will make you stand out. Be proud of it. Say it. “I’m really excited to show you this work, I’m really proud of it”. Enthusiasm is infectious. Be infectious.

Being nervous in an interview is not the same as lacking confidence. You can be highly skilled, experienced, and clear on your value, and still feel your body go into panic mode during a high-stakes interview. That’s not a character flaw. It’s your nervous system doing what it does. Especially if you’re neurodivergent, the mismatch is real. Your mind can be focused while your hands are shaking. You know exactly what to say, but your voice flattens, or your memory scrambles under pressure. That’s not insecurity. It’s intensity. I’ve worked in high-volume, high-stakes environments for years. I’ve delivered clean UI, scalable design systems, fast prototyping and complex stakeholder wrangling under real-world pressure — not just when things are calm and easy. And yes, I still get nervous sometimes, because I care, because it matters and because I show up fully. If you’re looking for someone who can handle chaos, produce sharp work, and keep going even when it’s messy, that’s me. Calm isn’t the same as capable and confidence isn’t always polished.

I conducted 8 user interviews and got the exact same answers every time. I thought I had nailed product-market fit. Turns out, I had just nailed getting people to be polite. Here’s what happened: We’re building a 0-to-1 product, so I knew user interviews were non-negotiable. I prepared thoroughly—created a presentation deck, wrote out 10 questions, and scheduled calls with potential users. Interview 1: Great feedback. Interview 2: Similar responses. Interview 3-8: Nearly identical answers. I walked away confident. “I’ve validated everything. Users want exactly what I’m building.” Then I read “The Mom Test” by Rob Fitzpatrick. Page 1: I felt uncomfortable. Page 20: I felt embarrassed. Page 50: I wanted to redo every single interview. I had been asking all the wrong questions. ❌ “Would you use a product that does X?” ❌ “How much would you pay for this?” ❌ “Do you think this is a good idea?” These questions practically beg people to lie to you. And they will—not because they’re dishonest, but because they’re trying to be nice. Here’s what I changed: Instead of presenting my idea and asking for validation, I started asking about their actual behavior: ✅ “Walk me through the last time you dealt with [problem]” ✅ “What else have you tried?” ✅ “Talk me through your current workflow” ✅ “What are the implications of that?” No deck. No script. Just genuine curiosity about their world. The results were completely different. Users stopped being polite and started being honest. They showed me their messy workarounds. They complained about pain points I’d never considered. One person spent 20 minutes walking me through a manual process I didn’t even know existed. The insights I got from 3 interviews with this new approach were more valuable than the previous 8 combined. The lesson: When building 0-to-1, your job isn’t to validate your assumptions. It’s to discover what you’re blind to. Stop asking people if your solution is good. Start understanding their problem deeply. The Mom Test has a simple rule: Talk about their life, not your idea. It’s harder than it sounds. I’m still learning to catch myself when I slip into pitch mode. But it’s already making a difference—I’m building based on real insights, not polite feedback. If you’re doing user interviews, I can’t recommend The Mom Test enough. It’s a short read that’ll save you months of building the wrong thing. P.S. If you want to join a team that values continuous learning, where we build products that solve real problems (not just products that sound good in pitch decks), check out Alaan الآن careers page. We’re always looking for people who care more about user impact than feature lists. What’s been your biggest user interview mistake?

How to Crack a Design Interview? I’ve been through and reviewed quite a few design interviews lately, and one thing has become crystal clear: ➮ It’s not your Dribbble shots or Figma prototypes that make you stand out. It’s how you think, listen, and communicate your design decisions. When asked about your process, don’t just explain what you did. Explain why you did it that way. Walk them through your journey: Problem → Research → Insights → Ideas → Design Decisions → Impact. Talk about constraints, trade-offs, and user insights that shaped your final outcome. That’s where your maturity as a designer shines, not in the pixels, but in your reasoning. 💡 Pro tip: Treat every design interview like a collaborative design review. Be curious. Stay structured. Own your story. Interviews aren’t about perfection; they’re about clarity, honesty, and perspective. I’ll be sharing more thoughts and real-world advice to help designers present their best selves in interviews. ➮ Follow me for more design insights and career tips. #UIDesign #UXDesign #DesignInterview #ProductDesign #CareerTips #DesignThinking

Every day, you walk into meetings, interviews, or your LinkedIn feed and people form opinions before you say a single word. That’s not perception bias. That’s presentation psychology. Your brain is wired to judge fast - in 0.05 seconds so your presentation becomes your proxy for competence. ---Here’s how it works 👇 1️⃣ The Competence Signal: People don’t see your skill. They see your structure. A clear voice, composed tone, and calm posture make the brain tag you as capable, even before your ideas land. 2️⃣ The Visual Dominance Bias: The brain processes visuals 60,000x faster than words. So your slide layout, LinkedIn photo, or post design decides attention - long before your insight does. 3️⃣ The Energy Mirror: Humans sync energy unconsciously. When you speak (or write) with conviction and calm rhythm, people feel your confidence before they process your logic. So when someone says, They just have presence, what they really mean is: “Their signals aligned before their words did." That’s the power of presentation. Not vanity. Not faking. Just psychological framing done with intent.......... 👉 Because you’re not judged by who you are ~ but by how you’re perceived in the first 7 seconds. #MarketingPsychologyMindseries

How to structure interview answers so you stop rambling You get asked a question you’ve practiced. You know the answer. But two minutes in, you’re still in the middle of the backstory. You’re adding context, setting up the scene, trying to explain why it mattered — but you haven’t answered the question. You finish your story, unsure if it even made sense. And afterward, you replay it in your head, wondering if you sounded senior enough, clear enough, good enough. You don’t ramble because you’re unprepared — you ramble because you’re trying to be liked. Most people think they’re trying to be understood, but what they’re really doing is performing. They’re chasing approval in real time and hoping the interviewer sees how smart or capable they are. That’s what creates the “pick me” energy on your part, and that’s exactly what pulls your focus away from answering the question. One client had this exact problem — she practiced answers using STAR, but still left interviews feeling like she rambled. In our mock interviews, she learned how to anchor each story around a tangible outcome. After working on her stories, she got an offer for a 6-fig role in just 8 weeks. “But what if I still get lost mid-answer?” That happens. And that’s why in coaching, we also teach you how to recover. You’ll know exactly how to pause, self-correct, and return to the question without sounding scattered or memorizing lines. You’ll learn how to anchor your answers in value, not performance — and how to speak like the expert who already knows they belong in the room. You’ll learn how to evaluate what your interviewer actually needs to hear — and how to tell the right story with only the most relevant details. You’ll know when to pause, what to skip, and how to move your story forward in a way that makes you feel in control of the narrative. Book a sales call to sign up for 1:1 coaching and pass your next interview round like an expert. Link in my bio or DM 'coaching' to get started. #productmanager #productmanagement #careercoach #interviewcoach #productinterview #jobsearchcoach #careercoach #productcoach #jobsearchtips #resume

I did a product interview prep session at ISB recently( ~60–70 people joined). A few couldn’t make it due to short notice or schedule conflicts and asked for the content, so I’m sharing the key takeaways here for anyone prepping for PM interviews. 1) Tell me about yourself: Make this engaging and memorable. Connect the dots between your strengths (problem solving, design thinking, creativity, etc.) and a short story that shows impact. • Keep it ~2 minutes. • Don’t recite your resume. 2) Why Product Management / Why this company? Show you’ve thought it through and you’re not applying at random. Call out your top 2–3 strengths that make you a good PM and one specific way you will contribute here. Explain how the role/company fits your long-term story. • Avoid generic answers like “strong brand name”. 3) Situational questions These assess how you act as a day-to-day PM: prioritization, balancing long-term value vs short-term gains, thinking beyond revenue (CLV, retention, ratings), separating problems from suggestions, and acting with conviction — including when to question a direction. • Don’t start executing without challenging assumptions (e.g., don’t just double ads frequency to chase revenue without considering churn/UX/CLV/ratings/ long term impact). 4) Resume-based questions Treat each project like a mini case: discovery → solution → launch → monetization → metrics. Be ready to explain current impact, how you measure it, what’s not working, and the next 6-12 month roadmap. • Don’t jump to what you built before explaining why. 5) Product cases Interviewers focus on your structure and first-principles thinking more than the final answer. Treat the case as a conversation: outline your approach, get alignment, and let hints from the interviewer shape direction. Common pitfalls: Focusing only on one side (e.g., only customers), Using frameworks blindly Anchoring too early on a solution. 6) Brain teasers / out-of-the-box questions Used to test thinking under pressure. Pause, clarify, then answer — quality > speed. Take-home assignments — two quick rules Can someone understand your structure in 30–60 seconds? Could you present this for ~20 minutes in the next round? This framework covers ~90–95% of product interview questions. If you have specific questions, drop a comment, I will reply. #product #ISB #productinterviews #productmanagement #bitspilani

Practice Product Design Question for PM Interview "Design a Product for Elderly People." The question is intentionally vague. There’s no “right” answer. What the interviewer really wants to see is: - Can you handle ambiguity? - Do you ask the right clarifying questions? - Can you demonstrate user empathy? - Do you think strategically about prioritization? - Can you structure your thinking clearly? Use the CIRCLES framework to tackle this question: C - Comprehend the situation I - Identify the customer R - Report customer needs C - Cut through prioritization L - List solutions E - Evaluate trade-offs S - Summarize Recommendation ...𝑓𝑖𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑙𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑡𝑜 𝑓𝑢𝑙𝑙 𝑑𝑒𝑒𝑝-𝑑𝑖𝑣𝑒 𝑖𝑛 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑒𝑛𝑡s 𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑜𝑤 👇 --- 👉 Subscribe to crackpminterview.com - if you're prepping for next big PM interview. 🔄 Repost to help someone ace their next interview #ProductManagement #PMInterview #ProductDesign #ElderlyCare #InterviewPrep #ProductStrategy #TechCareers #ProductManager

7 𝐂𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐨𝐧 𝐈𝐧𝐭𝐞𝐫𝐯𝐢𝐞𝐰 𝐐𝐮𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐬 𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐒𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐀𝐥𝐰𝐚𝐲𝐬 𝐁𝐞 𝐑𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐲 𝐅𝐨𝐫 No matter how senior you are or how many interviews you’ve cleared before; these 7 questions keep showing up in one form or another. The trick isn’t to memorize answers. It’s to understand what the interviewer is really trying to find out. 𝘏𝘦𝘳𝘦’𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘭𝘪𝘴𝘵: 1️⃣Tell me about yourself. → They’re checking how you connect your career story to the role you’re applying for. Keep it crisp and relevant. 2️⃣Why do you want to work here? → They want to see if you’ve done your homework on the company — and if your values align with theirs. 3️⃣What are your strengths and weaknesses? → Avoid clichés. Share genuine traits, and show self-awareness by explaining how you’re improving your weaker areas. 4️⃣Describe a challenging situation and how you handled it. → This is a test of your problem-solving approach, not just the outcome. Focus on what you did. 5️⃣Where do you see yourself in 5 years? → They’re looking for ambition that matches the company’s growth path — not a rehearsed “manager” answer. 6️⃣Why should we hire you? → Your chance to pitch. Summarize your experience, achievements, and what unique value you bring. 7️⃣Do you have any questions for us? → Always say yes. Ask something thoughtful about the team, culture, or success metrics. Here’s the thing: Interviews aren’t about giving the “𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭” answer — they’re about showing clarity, confidence, and curiosity. If you’re preparing for interviews right now, pick two of these questions and write down your real answers. You’ll be surprised how much sharper your story becomes. What’s one interview question you always struggle with? Drop it below — let’s tackle it together.