Product Manager applicants have rated the interview process at Google with 3.4 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 52% positive. To compare, the company-average is 61.5% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
Candidates applying for Product Manager roles take an average of 38 days to get hired, when considering 643 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Google overall takes an average of 38 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Google as a Product Manager according to 643 Glassdoor interviews include:
Phone interview: 39%
One on one interview: 24%
Skills test: 10%
Presentation: 6%
Group panel interview: 5%
Background check: 5%
Personality test: 4%
IQ intelligence test: 3%
Other: 2%
Drug test: 1%
Here are the most commonly searched roles for interview reports -
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Google in Feb 2021
Interview
The process is exactly how it's described in the materials the recruiter sends to you:
- phone screen with a product manager
- if you make it past the screen, virtual interviews via Google Meet with 4 product managers and 1 engineer
- interview feedback sent to hiring committee
- find a team
- SVP approval
- "negotiate" comp
- hopefully an offer
People write lots of things on how to "master" the Google Product Manager interview. If you have product management experience, can think outside the box and are "quick on your feet", you will do fine.
With each interviewer, it's a guided conversation. While the conversation is initiated by the interviewer, you need to guide the conversation and showcase the way you think.
I rated the interview as "difficult" because I can see why many people will not make it through their first time.
I also think over preparing is a bad thing. You will try to be someone you are not, and that will definitely show through based on the way the interviews are structured.
Overall, I enjoyed the process. My recruiter was great and everyone made an effort to accelerate the process as I had other offers which were going to expire.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Looking at posts after my interview, the types of questions can be found all over the internet.
I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Google (Mountain View, CA)
Interview
Very standard to start with - recruiter call, then a phone screen with PM covering product design and a quick market estimation discussion. the virtual onsite is 5 rounds: product design, product strategy, analytical, technical, and googleyness and leadership. product design is easily the biggest hurdle. they want you to take a massive problem space, narrow in on a specific user, and map out pain points before even touching solutions. strategy was all about business trade offs and scale. the analytical round focused heavily on execution (with a lot of metrics) technical round does not require coding, but you have to explain system architecture and trade offs under the hood. googleyness is their behavioral round where they mostly check how you handle conflict and team coordination.once you pass, you go into team matching which can take a few more weeks. my best advice is to stop memorizing rigid frameworks. i had a mock on prepfully with a google pm and it really exposed how hard they push back on your initial assumptions (get a mutual friend or a professional coach who you don't know much, turns out to be a surprisingly good reality check). process is a marathon ngl, you’re bound to get tired but very rewarding too
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
How would you improve Google Maps for advertisers?
The process was straightforward and moved quickly. After applying online, a recruiter reached out within a few days for a brief phone screen. That was followed by two video interviews, one with the hiring manager and one with a panel of team members focused on project planning and stakeholder communication. The whole thing wrapped up in about two weeks, and the team was responsive and clear about next steps throughout.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
I walked through a specific project where a key vendor delivery slipped. I explained how I flagged the risk early in our weekly status review, reset expectations with stakeholders, re-sequenced dependent tasks, and brought the timeline back within an acceptable range by negotiating a partial early delivery.
standard 1st round digital interview, they are asking about your experience, background, some behavioural questions and technical questions. and they also share a bit more about the role, culture and expectation