Why is the Google PM Interview So Hard?

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There are many reasons why open product manager positions at Google are coveted. From the pay to the products to the prestige, landing a PM job at this company is a dream come true for many professionals in this space. 

If it’s your goal to become a product manager at Google, two primary challenges are standing in your way:

• The Google PM interview is extremely difficult. 
• Competition for open PM jobs is intense.

Even though these two roadblocks are intimidating, there are things you can do to swing the odds in your favor. And that starts with knowing why the Google product manager interview is so challenging.

1. Google Wants the Best PMs in the World

When it comes to hiring, Google only wants the best of the best. And that definitely holds true regarding open product management roles. 

Product managers at Google work with many different people, have a lot of responsibility, and impact specific products — as well as the company as a whole — in various ways. This isn’t the type of job that “just anyone” can land. 

According to CSIMarket, a revenue increase of 32.39% in the fourth quarter of 2021 pushed Google’s revenue per employee to an all-time high of $1,989,598. 

This alone makes it easy to see why Google only hires the cream of the crop. 

2. Google Optimizes for Zero False Positives

Every company wants to hire top talent, but Google takes this to the next level by optimizing for zero false positives. In other words, they don’t want to make any mistakes by hiring the wrong people. Not even one. 

As noted above, Google’s revenue per employee is closing in on $2 million. This makes every employee extremely valuable to the company. And that doesn’t even take into consideration the cost of onboarding and training a new PM. 

From Google’s perspective, optimizing for zero false positives helps them hire the right person the first time around. But from your perspective — that of a PM candidate — it makes it all the more difficult to get a job offer. Google is okay with the idea of missing out on strong, highly-qualified candidates on the search for the perfect person. The demand is there and it’s not going away any time soon. 

3. Google Requires a Variety of Expertise

Google wants product managers who have a variety of expertise. They’re strictly interested in candidates with advanced expertise, experience, and knowledge of engineering, product design, product sense, business sense, and analytics. If you fall short in one or more of these areas, do whatever it takes to get up to speed in the days, weeks, and months leading up to your interview. 

This approach is in contrast to the majority of other companies that don’t require nearly as much expertise. These companies are also interested in hiring top PM talent, but they’re more lenient in this area. You don’t need to be an expert across the board. 

4. Supply and Demand

This is easy to understand. Almost every product manager dreams of one day working at Google. This is where the top talent in the PM space gathers. Combine that with the fact that PMs at Google don’t often leave the company, and the demand for this position is ultra-high.

On the flip side, opportunities (supply) are limited. This leaves you competing against thousands of other PM candidates for a small number of job openings. 

Since PM jobs at Google are so appealing, the company has no choice but to raise its bar. Doing so allows them to hire nothing less than the best. There’s no compromise. 

5. There’s No Easy Way to Prepare for a Google Product Manager Interview

To put it bluntly, there’s no easy way to prepare for a Google PM interview. Not only is it challenging and full of twists and turns, but as noted above, Google optimizes for zero false positives. There’s no room for error on your end.

Fortunately, PM Exercises has made it significantly easier to confidently prepare for the interview process. Here’s what you need to do:

• Review commonly asked PM interview questions: PM Exercises has more than 700 questions that are frequently asked in a Google product manager interview. These span categories such as metrics, estimation, problem solving, product strategy, product design, and product improvement among others. Our community shares its best answers to these questions. 
• Take a PM interview prep course: Our prep course includes 50+ video hours, thus allowing you to learn at your own pace and from anywhere you have internet access. 
• Sign up for mock interviews: There’s no replacement for the “real thing” and that’s why you should participate in as many Google mock PM interviews as possible. You can sign up here to connect with interview partners who currently or previously worked at Google. 
• Read our Google product manager interview guide: This guide gives you everything you need to ace your interview and position yourself to receive a job offer. From the interview process structure to question types, you’ll find everything you need here. 

Candidates who are not familiar with PM Exercises and how to prepare for an interview are almost guaranteed to fail. Proper preparation is the best way to improve your odds of success. 

Summary

Now that you know why the Google PM interview is so hard, you can begin to prepare accordingly. To reiterate, here’s where you should start:

• Find a way to stand out as one of the best PMs in the world.
• Gain as much knowledge and expertise in product management as possible. 
• Understand supply and demand and the impact it’ll have on the application and interview process. 
• Prepare, prepare, and prepare some more. Be rest assured that other PM candidates are practicing several hours per day. You need to do the same.

If you have any questions, comments, or feedback about Google product manager interviews, contact us at hello@blog.productmanagementexercises.com. We’d love to hear from you!