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Google Behavioral Interview Questions

Review this list of 174 Google Behavioral interview questions and answers verified by hiring managers and candidates.
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    +89

    "My approach to dealing with difficult stakeholders has always been: Engage - Directly engage with the stakeholder, meet or chat Listen - Listen to what they have to say, patiently. Understand - Understand their POV, even if it is impossible at some times Ask - Ask clarifying questions. Why? When? What? Engage again - Keep them in the loop until there is closure For example, we were in the final stages of a very important, strategic project for our organization. I was leading th"

    Jane D. - "My approach to dealing with difficult stakeholders has always been: Engage - Directly engage with the stakeholder, meet or chat Listen - Listen to what they have to say, patiently. Understand - Understand their POV, even if it is impossible at some times Ask - Ask clarifying questions. Why? When? What? Engage again - Keep them in the loop until there is closure For example, we were in the final stages of a very important, strategic project for our organization. I was leading th"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +8 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    +39

    "You shouldn't hire me if you're looking for someone to simply write code in large volumes without considering the bigger picture. I'm someone who thrives on solving root problems, building, cohesive systems, and ensuring stakeholder alignment. If the priority is speed over thoughtful analysis, I might not be the best fit. However, if you're looking for someone who can drive meaningful and scalable solutions, collaborate effectively, and contribute to long-term success, then I believe I'd bring s"

    Nicola R. - "You shouldn't hire me if you're looking for someone to simply write code in large volumes without considering the bigger picture. I'm someone who thrives on solving root problems, building, cohesive systems, and ensuring stakeholder alignment. If the priority is speed over thoughtful analysis, I might not be the best fit. However, if you're looking for someone who can drive meaningful and scalable solutions, collaborate effectively, and contribute to long-term success, then I believe I'd bring s"See full answer

    Software Engineer
    Behavioral
    +4 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    Video answer for 'Tell me about a time you made a mistake.'
    +94

    "Let me tell you about a time where a website I managed suddenly showed slow performance and the mistake on our side was it was unnoticed until a user reported the issue to management. As a PM for that project, I took full responsibility of the situation and worked with the engineering team to quickly resolve it. This mistake taught me the importance of focusing and monitoring non functional requirements as well in addition to new feature development /adoption where I was mostly spending my time"

    Sreenisha S. - "Let me tell you about a time where a website I managed suddenly showed slow performance and the mistake on our side was it was unnoticed until a user reported the issue to management. As a PM for that project, I took full responsibility of the situation and worked with the engineering team to quickly resolve it. This mistake taught me the importance of focusing and monitoring non functional requirements as well in addition to new feature development /adoption where I was mostly spending my time"See full answer

    Software Engineer
    Behavioral
    +8 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    +61

    "I most want to communicate a few principals of conflict resolution that I believe were integral in this situation, which are mutual respect, a results orientation, an unwavering focus on the user. To that end, here’s how I’d like to structure this answer: First, I’ll tell you about the project we were working on, to provide some background for you. Second, I’ll describe the disagreement. Third, I’ll describe how we arrived at a solution, and finally, I’ll discuss how those 3 conflict resolut"

    Ross B. - "I most want to communicate a few principals of conflict resolution that I believe were integral in this situation, which are mutual respect, a results orientation, an unwavering focus on the user. To that end, here’s how I’d like to structure this answer: First, I’ll tell you about the project we were working on, to provide some background for you. Second, I’ll describe the disagreement. Third, I’ll describe how we arrived at a solution, and finally, I’ll discuss how those 3 conflict resolut"See full answer

    Software Engineer
    Behavioral
    +7 more
  • +28

    "We had a huge launch on September 1st of this year where we completely redesigned our application from the grounds up and also migrated to a new platform (React.JS). This project took us 8 months and the launch was a huge deal for the team. Unfortunately the launch wasn't as smooth as we expected and despite doing multiple rounds of QA, some major issues cropped up in the core part of the app right after launch and our client was quite upset since it was disrupting their day-to-day workflow. "

    Aabid S. - "We had a huge launch on September 1st of this year where we completely redesigned our application from the grounds up and also migrated to a new platform (React.JS). This project took us 8 months and the launch was a huge deal for the team. Unfortunately the launch wasn't as smooth as we expected and despite doing multiple rounds of QA, some major issues cropped up in the core part of the app right after launch and our client was quite upset since it was disrupting their day-to-day workflow. "See full answer

    Technical Program Manager
    Behavioral
    +7 more
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  • +43

    "A clarifying question: Is this question asking about when I met a tight deadline in a project or how did I manage a project that had a tight deadline? The answer uploaded to this question is good, I would also add 'creating a critical path from overall project schedule and then making sure that none of the deliverables in the critical path are sacrificed in order to meet the tight deadline' as an action taken."

    Ushita S. - "A clarifying question: Is this question asking about when I met a tight deadline in a project or how did I manage a project that had a tight deadline? The answer uploaded to this question is good, I would also add 'creating a critical path from overall project schedule and then making sure that none of the deliverables in the critical path are sacrificed in order to meet the tight deadline' as an action taken."See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +5 more
  • +12

    "I work at a startup that makes software for Law Enforcement and the FBI. Our product analyzes calls being made by prison inmates and "listens" for predictors of violence and criminal behavior. Our clients are some of the top state prisons in the country. Recently one of the largest states in the country decided to evaluate our product for their prison system. I demo'd the product to the officers and they seemed to like everything. During the presentation they asked us if the product was ADA com"

    Aabid S. - "I work at a startup that makes software for Law Enforcement and the FBI. Our product analyzes calls being made by prison inmates and "listens" for predictors of violence and criminal behavior. Our clients are some of the top state prisons in the country. Recently one of the largest states in the country decided to evaluate our product for their prison system. I demo'd the product to the officers and they seemed to like everything. During the presentation they asked us if the product was ADA com"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +5 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    Video answer for 'Tell me about yourself.'
    +117

    "As you know, this is the most important question for any interview. Here is a structure I like to follow, Start with 'I'm currently a SDE/PM/TPM etc with XYZ company.... ' Mention how you got into PM/TPM/SDE field (explaining your journey) Mention 1 or 2 accomplishments Mention what you do outside work (blogging, volunteer etc) Share why are you looking for a new role Ask the interviewer if they have any questions or will like to dive deep into any of your experience"

    Bipin R. - "As you know, this is the most important question for any interview. Here is a structure I like to follow, Start with 'I'm currently a SDE/PM/TPM etc with XYZ company.... ' Mention how you got into PM/TPM/SDE field (explaining your journey) Mention 1 or 2 accomplishments Mention what you do outside work (blogging, volunteer etc) Share why are you looking for a new role Ask the interviewer if they have any questions or will like to dive deep into any of your experience"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +13 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    +15

    "Few clarifying questions here Is the competitor a service and does it have other offerings as well? Is it charging $5 for a service or only email? Is it for a specific platform here? Or does it include all platforms? Does the competitor have a huge market share/or is it a small company? Let's assume it's only for email's The structure I would want to layout for knowing what to do next for Gmail would be the following - Mission, Goals, Google's revenue model, Customer Profiles using Gm"

    Pratik M. - "Few clarifying questions here Is the competitor a service and does it have other offerings as well? Is it charging $5 for a service or only email? Is it for a specific platform here? Or does it include all platforms? Does the competitor have a huge market share/or is it a small company? Let's assume it's only for email's The structure I would want to layout for knowing what to do next for Gmail would be the following - Mission, Goals, Google's revenue model, Customer Profiles using Gm"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +1 more
  • +5

    "One of the most challenging situations was joining a new startup to realize that they did not figure out their core product and that customers were dissatisfied and leaving in droves. I worked together with the leaders to understand the core issue and the reasons that the customers were leaving. Then together with the team, we set out to map out those core issues and the gaps that we had in our product. We then worked towards designing a new solution to address those gaps and build an MVP. W"

    WaterBuffalo - "One of the most challenging situations was joining a new startup to realize that they did not figure out their core product and that customers were dissatisfied and leaving in droves. I worked together with the leaders to understand the core issue and the reasons that the customers were leaving. Then together with the team, we set out to map out those core issues and the gaps that we had in our product. We then worked towards designing a new solution to address those gaps and build an MVP. W"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +5 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    Product Manager
    Behavioral
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    +59

    "I follow a variation of the RICE framework when prioritizing how I ship product features. I start by looking at: Reach: Because the customer segmentation across our product portfolio is so similar, I tend to hold a lot of weight on product features that will maximize our customer reach with a minimal LOE. Impact: After establishing which customer segments will benefit from the product feature, I determine the urgency and estimated impact on each customer segment based on customer i"

    Ashley C. - "I follow a variation of the RICE framework when prioritizing how I ship product features. I start by looking at: Reach: Because the customer segmentation across our product portfolio is so similar, I tend to hold a lot of weight on product features that will maximize our customer reach with a minimal LOE. Impact: After establishing which customer segments will benefit from the product feature, I determine the urgency and estimated impact on each customer segment based on customer i"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +9 more
  • +18

    "I will use below 4 pillars to rate and prioritize those 5 projects: Analyze the impact of those 5 projects, to our team and to the whole company maybe Find out if those 5 projects have any dependency between each other Clarify the timeline of each project Identity the status of resources to work on those 5 projects and also the status of their dependencies"

    Dean Z. - "I will use below 4 pillars to rate and prioritize those 5 projects: Analyze the impact of those 5 projects, to our team and to the whole company maybe Find out if those 5 projects have any dependency between each other Clarify the timeline of each project Identity the status of resources to work on those 5 projects and also the status of their dependencies"See full answer

    Software Engineer
    Behavioral
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    +9

    "I was owning a very ambitious company-wide project of standardizing and modernizing the UI and UX of the platform. It was in development for a few years and eventually turned out to be a failure for the product. I term this as my biggest failure as a product manager. So I worked for a company which had a suite of products. Each product had a different UX and UI. This resulted in nonuniformity across the suite and caused usability issues for our suite users. The idea was to have a standard exper"

    Zafeer R. - "I was owning a very ambitious company-wide project of standardizing and modernizing the UI and UX of the platform. It was in development for a few years and eventually turned out to be a failure for the product. I term this as my biggest failure as a product manager. So I worked for a company which had a suite of products. Each product had a different UX and UI. This resulted in nonuniformity across the suite and caused usability issues for our suite users. The idea was to have a standard exper"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    Video answer for 'Tell me about a time when you improved a complex process.'
    +10

    "This is the answer I have prepared. Please let me know your comments and how I can improve the answer. I have worked on many process improvement initiatives and projects. I want to share an initiative that I led and delivered while at my previous employer. It had a great impact on over 60 programs and projects across teams in six different countries. Analysts and program managers used to generate a monthly program performance report that deals with all aspects, including schedule, risks, costs"

    Balaji G. - "This is the answer I have prepared. Please let me know your comments and how I can improve the answer. I have worked on many process improvement initiatives and projects. I want to share an initiative that I led and delivered while at my previous employer. It had a great impact on over 60 programs and projects across teams in six different countries. Analysts and program managers used to generate a monthly program performance report that deals with all aspects, including schedule, risks, costs"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +1 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    +13

    "I will divide my answer in 2 parts: Process I use for managing risks in any Project I will explain a real life situation where a Risk occurred and how I managed it Process for Risk Management can be broken down into 3 parts: Risk Identification: Risk identification is a team effort and is an ongoing process that happens throughout the Project. Technical Risks are usually identified during design/build/testing stage. I maintain a Risk register document to capture all the risks identified"

    Saket S. - "I will divide my answer in 2 parts: Process I use for managing risks in any Project I will explain a real life situation where a Risk occurred and how I managed it Process for Risk Management can be broken down into 3 parts: Risk Identification: Risk identification is a team effort and is an ongoing process that happens throughout the Project. Technical Risks are usually identified during design/build/testing stage. I maintain a Risk register document to capture all the risks identified"See full answer

    Technical Program Manager
    Behavioral
    +3 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    +3

    "In my role as a Product Owner, I was developing a platform for a logistics company. As a PO and that too of a digital agency, my work was mostly before-end-to-after-end, it would start from pitching, strategy, product management, launch, funding deck prep. In mid of the product management cycle, the client starts adding pressure to deliver way before the deadline, as they had found the PE firm that conceptually was ready to start funding discussion, since this was not scoped before the start,"

    Umang S. - "In my role as a Product Owner, I was developing a platform for a logistics company. As a PO and that too of a digital agency, my work was mostly before-end-to-after-end, it would start from pitching, strategy, product management, launch, funding deck prep. In mid of the product management cycle, the client starts adding pressure to deliver way before the deadline, as they had found the PE firm that conceptually was ready to start funding discussion, since this was not scoped before the start,"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +1 more
  • +5

    "How often do we get 15 min to answer a question? Wondering isn't the expectation to answer this in 3-5 min?"

    Anonymous Raven - "How often do we get 15 min to answer a question? Wondering isn't the expectation to answer this in 3-5 min?"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +1 more
  • Google logoAsked at Google 
    +6

    "I use a data driven approach by ensuring there is a deep-dive on all alternatives. My approach to tradeoffs is around how to achieve the customer experience needed. I ensure there is an immediate path to green for a solution and a follow-up solution addressing the problem rightly."

    Syed I. - "I use a data driven approach by ensuring there is a deep-dive on all alternatives. My approach to tradeoffs is around how to achieve the customer experience needed. I ensure there is an immediate path to green for a solution and a follow-up solution addressing the problem rightly."See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
  • +7

    "As a PM i received a feedback from my program manager on my style of verbal communication. It is about me speaking faster when i wanted to get away with a topic that i wasn't confident (may be not backed up with data, or still in process of getting detailed insight of a problem etc.). Whereas when I'm confident I tend to speak slowly or more assertively that made people to follow easily. I welcomed that feedback so from then on when I'm not confident in a topic I became more assertive to let pe"

    Rajesh V. - "As a PM i received a feedback from my program manager on my style of verbal communication. It is about me speaking faster when i wanted to get away with a topic that i wasn't confident (may be not backed up with data, or still in process of getting detailed insight of a problem etc.). Whereas when I'm confident I tend to speak slowly or more assertively that made people to follow easily. I welcomed that feedback so from then on when I'm not confident in a topic I became more assertive to let pe"See full answer

    Product Manager
    Behavioral
    +9 more
Showing 1-20 of 174