Google PM Interview preparation tips
In my career coaching conversations, multiple people have asked about the Product Management (PM) recruiting experience. Hence, sharing the process and some tips based on my personal experience recruiting for Google.
- Apply through a referral
Most tech companies have an employee referral process. Apparently, the probability of getting a first round interview increases by 30% if your resume comes in through a referral. Hence, apply through a referral. What if you dont know someone at the company? Don’t be shy in reaching out to people. During my recruitment, I reached out to family, alums, friends or even friends of friends (..of friends) to ask if they would be willing to refer me at their respective companies. Starting early helped as I had time to find someone else if the first person denied my request for a referral.
2. Write down your answers to potential interview questions
Once you apply through a referral, you will receive a screening call from the recruiter. I prepared for the screening call by writing down 2-min long answers for questions as:
- Why Google?
- Why Product Management?
- Would you be okay to moving to the Bay Area? Why?
I think writing down my answers (I have a Google doc for every company I interviewed with!) and timing them to be 2 mins, pushed me to pick relevant content. I was asked questions that I hadn’t expected, but preparing for the common questions enabled me to very thoughtful about my responses.
3. Develop mental stamina for the multiple rounds of interviews
After the screening call, I had one round of interview with a Product Manager. Once I cleared this round, I was invited for the final round on-site. This round comprised of 7 interviews back-to-back (phew!). One of them is a non-evaluative lunch interview. This post touches on my preparation process.
Given that most PM positions involve 5+ interviews, get used to this by doing back to back mock interviews. Its important for the brain to be able to switch context every 40 mins and remain active for 7–8 hours straight.
4. Help the interviewer succeed
An interviewer takes out time from his already busy work to help you achieve your dream role. Help him succeed in that. How? Most companies require the interviewers to submit written feedback after the interview. When answering the questions, respond in bullet points. Each bullet should have a starting label. E.g., for the “Why Google” question, an answer could be:
- Culture: I think that…..
- People first focus: I believe that….
- Impact: I know that…
This will allow the interviewer to at least note clear bullet points: culture, people and impact as the gist of your response. Do not ramble without a structure. It makes the interviewer’s job harder as, not only does he have to take notes, he also has to identify gems of wisdom in what you said!
5. Once you get the offer, get ready for the product matching process
At Google, once you get job offer, PMs go through the Product Allocation process. Essentially, the HR reaches out with open positions whose hiring managers have expressed interest in talking with you. You can then shortlist the roles based on multiple factors such as passion for the product/problem, Consumer vs Enterprise product, co-located or remote teams, team culture etc. I also spoke with friends/alums in some teams to even understand what factors consider I use to make this decision.
Then, the HR connects you with the hiring managers of the teams you shortlisted for one-to-one conversations. After your conversations, you submit your top three choices and the hiring managers also submit their top three candidates. During my time, I took the initiative (at my own expense) to fly out to Mountain View and meet my top three teams in person, before submitting the final choices. Meeting my potential managers and engineering teams added a lot of color to the decision-making.
Overall, this was a lengthy process but I really enjoyed my Google interview experience and the amazing people I met in the process.
I hope this helps. Please feel free to comment below if I missed anything that you would like me to add.
