To succeed in your interviews, you must understand the specific competencies Henkel prioritizes. The evaluation is designed to test both your hard product skills and your ability to thrive in a complex corporate environment.
Product Strategy and Execution
Henkel needs product leaders who can translate high-level business goals into actionable product roadmaps. This area evaluates your ability to manage the end-to-end product lifecycle, prioritize features based on ROI, and make data-informed decisions in traditional and emerging markets. Strong performance here means demonstrating a clear, logical framework for how you approach product challenges, rather than relying on gut feeling.
Be ready to go over:
- Market and Competitor Analysis – How you assess the landscape to identify gaps and opportunities for your product portfolio.
- Roadmap Prioritization – The frameworks you use to balance short-term revenue goals with long-term strategic initiatives.
- Go-to-Market Strategy – How you coordinate with marketing, sales, and supply chain to ensure a successful product launch.
- Advanced concepts (less common) – Pricing elasticity models, sustainability-driven product innovation, and B2B vs. B2C lifecycle nuances.
Example questions or scenarios:
- "Walk me through a time you had to pivot your product strategy due to unexpected market shifts."
- "How do you prioritize competing feature requests from major B2B clients versus internal R&D?"
- "Describe a successful go-to-market strategy you led. What were the key metrics for success?"
Cross-Functional Collaboration and Peer Leadership
Because Product Managers at Henkel do not operate in silos, your ability to work with adjacent teams is heavily scrutinized. This area is often evaluated during the peer interview round. Interviewers want to see that you can build genuine rapport, communicate clearly, and drive consensus among stakeholders who may have conflicting priorities.
Be ready to go over:
- Stakeholder Management – Identifying key players in a project and keeping them aligned and informed.
- Conflict Resolution – Navigating disagreements between technical teams and business units professionally and constructively.
- Empathy and Rapport Building – Demonstrating active listening and a genuine interest in the perspectives of your colleagues.
- Advanced concepts (less common) – Managing remote, global teams across different time zones and cultural contexts.
Example questions or scenarios:
- "Tell me about a time you had to align a highly resistant stakeholder to your product vision."
- "How do you ensure clear communication between the technical R&D team and the commercial sales team?"
- "Describe a situation where you had to rely on a peer to meet a critical deadline."
Behavioral Fit and Adaptability
Henkel values resilience, long-term thinking, and a proactive mindset. The behavioral assessment and subsequent interviews will test how you handle ambiguity, delays, and complex organizational structures. A strong candidate will show that they are unfazed by shifting timelines and can maintain momentum even when the path forward is not entirely clear.
Be ready to go over:
- Resilience and Patience – How you maintain focus and drive when projects are delayed or scope changes.
- Self-Awareness – Your ability to reflect on past failures, extract lessons, and apply them to future endeavors.
- Initiative – Times when you stepped outside your core responsibilities to solve a problem for the business.
- Advanced concepts (less common) – Navigating corporate restructuring or integrating products post-merger.
Example questions or scenarios:
- "Describe a time when a project you were leading faced significant delays. How did you manage the situation and the stakeholders?"
- "Tell me about a failure in your career and what you learned from it."
- "How do you handle situations where you lack the necessary data to make a confident decision?"
