Be prepared for live prototyping rounds in senior AI PM interviews. Interviewers provide an IDE and expect you to build an idea. They evaluate your problem-solving process, how you collaborate with the AI, and your ability to navigate trade-offs, not just raw coding skill.

With LLMs making remote coding tests unreliable, the new standard is face-to-face interviews focused on practical problems. Instead of abstract algorithms, candidates are asked to fix failing tests or debug code, assessing their real-world problem-solving skills which are much harder to fake.

Move beyond take-home tests, which are easily gamed by AI. A live, two-to-three-hour pair programming session is the ultimate final interview step. It not only tests technical skills but also reveals a candidate's thought process, problem-solving style, and collaborative fit under pressure.

Ditch traditional coding interviews. To hire for the AI era, ask candidates to record a full-screen video of themselves using AI agents to build a feature. This reveals their true skill: how they prompt, manage, and debug AI, which is more valuable than their ability to write code from scratch.

To cut through the hype, ask candidates to screen share during an interview and walk through their personal AI workflows. This provides an immediate, unfiltered view of their actual proficiency and whether they operate beyond simple chatbot usage.

Traditional product sense questions are being replaced. AI PM candidates should expect to solve problems live using AI tools or design complex AI-native systems. This shift assesses a candidate's hands-on "builder" capabilities and deep understanding of modern AI architecture.

To assess a product manager's AI skills, integrate AI into your standard hiring process rather than just asking theoretical questions. Expect candidates to use AI tools in take-home case studies and analytical interviews to test for practical application and raise the quality bar.

Since AI assistants make it easy for candidates to complete take-home coding exercises, simply evaluating the final product is no longer an effective screening method. The new best practice is to require candidates to build with AI and then explain their thought process, revealing their true engineering and problem-solving skills.

Traditional hiring methods are becoming obsolete. To hire PMs, Mercor uses a single test for AI fluency, then immediately shifts to whiteboarding. This assesses fundamental skills like judgment, experimental design, and statistics—capabilities that cannot be outsourced to AI and reveal a candidate's core thinking.