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Google Product Marketing Manager (PMM) Interview Guide

Learn how to prepare for the Google Product Marketing Manager interview and get a job at Google with this in-depth guide.

From Search to YouTube to Ads to Android, Google product marketing managers (PMMs) work on some of the most used and important technology products in the world. Google Product marketing managers are responsible for bringing the knowing the user, knowing the product magic and connecting the two. Google PMMs pride themselves as being the voice of the user and understanding consumer’s needs and user journeys. However, the role is very verstalise at Google and you may work across a wide set of problem areas and products.

We examine some of the most frequently asked questions and dispel any preconceived notions that candidates might have about interviewing for a product marketing role at Google: what educational and professional background is required? How exactly will the interviewer grade you?

Product marketing at Google is very competitive and can set you up for a very successful career. The Google product marketing interview can often be case-based so make sure you’re ready to tackle an interesting question.

Interview Process

Typically, there are 3 rounds of interviews for Google PMM roles: recruiter, phone, and onsite.

There is sometimes a homework assignment for Associate Product Marketing Managers (APMMs) where they may have to write a press release or a blog post for an imaginary Google product launch.

On average, candidates will hear back from phone interviews within a week or two. Similarly, after the on-site interview, Google may take up to two weeks to return the results to you. Once you pass the on-site interview, expect the process to actually sign and negotiate the offer to be even longer as you get the paperwork all completed. Regional and local offices have varying timelines so please take these as rough guidance.

Recruiter

A recruiter will first call you to understand your motivations behind the role. Why do you want to work at Google? What’s your experience as a PMM? Be prepared to talk about your past experiences and through your resumé. Make sure you’ve read up on Google. This call will be used to ensure you're good at communicating. The recruiter will also be looking for signs that you're a decent person to work with.

Phone

If you get through the recruiter screener round, the next step is to have a phone interview with a current (A)PMM at Google. They’re likely to chat with you for 30 minutes and take you through a case and a behavioral question. And you will get a couple of minutes to ask questions at the end. It’s important to note that all interviews, including the phone interview, are included in your final hiring packet.

Onsite

Following the phone interview, you'll participate in the on-site interview round. A typical on-site consists of four interviews of 45 minutes. Each interviewer will be given specific attributes to gauge: Role Related Knowledge, General Cognitive Ability, Leadership, and Googleyness.

Each interview will take roughly 45-50 minutes with 5-10 minutes in the end to answer any questions you may have. You will be allotted time to use the restroom or get water if needed.

Role Related Knowledge questions are to ensure that candidates have the relevant experience, background, and skills that will set them up for success in the specific role at Google. These are likely to consist of marketing case questions like go-to-market or product positioning questions.

General Cognitive Ability questions are to gauge whether a candidate can learn and adapt to new situations. They test your understanding of how candidates solve challenging problems and how they learn. These interviews will consist of more analytical-type questions such as market sizing and metrics.

Leadership questions aren't about formal designations at Google. Different team members, no matter how junior they are, will need to step into roles with leadership requirements. Whether that’s running point as part of a cross-functional team or stepping back if the need is for a specific skill. These interviews will consist of behavioral and hypothetical questions - whether they can understand how the candidate might react in a challenging work environment.

Googleyness is the way to measure whether a candidate can thrive at Google. Interviewers are assessing whether the candidate can deal with ambiguity, have a bias to action and be collaborative. Again these will often consist of hypothetical and behavioral questions too, and are deeply intertwined with Google's values.

Homework Assignment (APMM)

For the APMM program, you’re likely to be asked to do a homework assignment if the onsite interviews go well. The assignment usually is to write a blog post or a press release for a new imaginary Google product. What they’re looking for is clear communication, creativity, and an understanding of how you would position the product to a specific audience.

Sample Interview Questions

You will encounter 5 types of questions at Google: Behavioral/Situational, Analytical, Go-to-market, and Leadership/Cultural fit.

Most interviews for junior product manager roles will only ask generic questions. Expect interviews for higher-level jobs (L5 and above) to ask more domain and role-specific questions.

More details on these interview types are included in Exponent's PMM Interview Prep Course.

Behavioral & Situational

Google wants to know if you have "Googleyness", a value the company uses to describe those who fit in well with the culture. Though the term has various definitions, including being able to work in ambiguity, working well in a team and having a bias to action, the general takeaway is to not come off as a jerk. You should also focus on communicating well.

Get our full list of PMM interview questions to practice them in our PMM interview question database.

Analytical

Analytical questions test the candidate’s ability to understand the company’s strategy and data. It’s important to think through metrics and understand how to change them. Be methodical and show how you go to the final answer. With estimation-type questions, interviewers really care about the logic behind your answer and how you might be able to work backwards. Asking clarifying questions can really help and breaking down problems while listing assumptions is important too.

Get our full list of PMM interview questions to practice them in our PMM interview question database.

Go-to-market

To help gauge candidates’ role-related knowledge, interviewers often ask go-to-market questions about a specific product. It’s important that candidates provide a structured approach such as walking through the research, planning, and execution stage and discussing the key components of each such as competitive research, user insights, positioning, distribution channels, etc.

Get our full list of PMM interview questions to practice them in our PMM interview question database.

Leadership and Cultural Fit

Culture fit at Google is really important and they calibrate this as part of your Googleyness score. Be ready to cite examples from your previous experience on when you have worked in ambiguity and as part of a team. Make sure you’re prepared with a diverse set of examples from previous jobs or internships and try to engage your interviewer with interesting stories.

Featured lessons on Leadership and Cultural FitBehavioral PMM Mock Interview: Why PMM?
Behavioral PMM Mock Interview: Why PMM?Video Answer

Hiring Decision

At Google, candidates are evaluated by:

  • Role Related Knowledge
  • General Cognitive Ability
  • Leadership
  • Googleyness (Culture fit)

At the end, each interviewer will make one of 6 recommendations:

  • No hire - I would not recommend we hire this person.
  • Leaning no hire - I would slightly prefer if we didn’t hire this person.
  • Leaning hire - I would slightly prefer if we did hire this person.
  • Hire - We should hire this person.
  • Strong hire - If we don’t hire this person, we’re making a mistake. They’re awesome!

Undoubtedly, you want to do your best and aim for "strong hire" marks in every interview. At this time, it is not clear which combination of recommendations will result in a hire. However, seniority of the interviewer does play a factor.

It’s impossible to say what ratings will get you hired, but it’s important to note that being at the okay level for all the interviews is not okay. Someone will have to be excited to hire you. If you have a strong hire or two, but the rest are in the weaker hire buckets, that should be enough.

Learn everything you need to ace your Product Marketing Manager interviews.

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