👀 Google APMM: Application to Offer – iykyk

Introduction

Hi, I'm Joseph! This is my guide for getting into the APMM program (Associate Product Marketing Manager) at Google. Hope it helps you :)

If you’ve applied to Google before and haven’t gotten an interview yet, this is your sign to give it another shot. I think I applied to a job at Google almost every recruiting season and I didn't even get a recruiter phone screen until my senior year of college. That led to the rest of the interview process, and got me the offer.

Ok, let’s get right into it!

My framework for applying to jobs

I see the application process as 2 parts: Getting the interview, and Doing the interviews.

1. Getting the interview

   1. Resume

   2. Referrals

2. The interviews

   1. Get insider advice

   2. Behavioral questions

   3. Case questions

   4. The vibes

Part 1: Getting the Interview

Section 1.1: Resume

First, the prerequisite to everything else: have relevant experiences that you can write about on your resume.

I didn’t get into any of the prestigious clubs in college so a lot of my experiences came from side projects I did on my own, a lot of times driven by curiosity and fun.

• Personal side projects I did in college:

  • Designed a streetwear brand with my friends

  • Experimented with a small e-commerce business

• Internships and part-time jobs I did in college:

  • Interned at Salesforce in Business Operations

  • Worked on ads for US Congressional campaigns

  • Interned at Forkast News in content strategy and production

When I wrote my resume for APMM, I wanted to showcase how each of my experiences related to a skill in product marketing. So I wrote my resume bullet points in a way that showcased those skills. For example:

• Leadership and initiative: “Ran all operations including go-to-market strategy, product research, website design, email automation, CRM, brand partnerships, direct-to-consumer advertising, copywriting (E-commerce business)

• Quantitative, analytical skills: “Created voter personas based on 200,000+ data points to target issue-based advertisements in 3 districts” (Congressional campaigns)

• Stakeholder management/persuasion: “Created social media strategy and pitched to CEO, implemented and resulted in 100% social growth” (Forkast News)

Section 1.2: Referrals

You should always apply with a referral! Personally, I used LinkedIn to reach out to 10+ current APMMs and PMMs at Google. After having virtual coffee chats with them I asked some for referrals. Here's a screenshot of what my personal CRM looked like:

Part 2: The Interviews

Interview structure

1. Phone screen with recruiter (15 minutes)

2. Take-home assignment

3. Three interviews (45 minutes each)

   1. Behavioral questions in each ("tell me about a time when...")

   2. Case questions in each (marketing role-related knowledge, hypothetical questions)

Section 2.1: Get insider advice

Before we get into the juicy part (interviews), I just want to point out that: Getting insider advice on your approach to interviews can be REALLY helpful. For all the people I coffee chatted with, I asked them how they think I could uniquely brand myself as a candidate based on my background, and for their take on my "why Google APMM" and "tell me about yourself" answers.

I ended up formulating the positioning of myself as "the politics guy" since I had experience in political organizing and ad campaigns. My elevator pitch was basically, "I believe that people from politics make the best marketers". Of course, this might not be you. Make sure you brand yourself according to your experiences!

Another piece of advice that was really helpful: Make sure you really know Google products. This serves 2 purposes: It's much easier to answer the "what's your favorite Google product" questions, and you'll be able to give more sophisticated answers to other marketing questions since you know more about the business. Here's a list I made of all (well, most of) the Google products:

Section 2.2: Behavioral questions

Not as much to say here– just practice, practice, practice. I also found it helpful to write down my answers to a few of these. Then when I actually had my interviews I just winged it but the answers came out more smoothly than if I hadn't written them down. Here are some common questions asked in interviews for all kinds of companies:

Section 2.3: Case questions

These are a mix of case questions, marketing-related hypothetical questions, market sizing, and business strategy questions. These are common questions asked at PMM interviews at many companies. Same advice as before– practice, practice, practice!

Section 2.4: The vibes

This part is more for people who might also struggle with awkwardness or social skills in interviews. I thought a lot about the general vibes of how I presented myself these interviews, because my natural tendency is to be "too professional" and make things sound forced. So I wrote some notes to internalize to myself before going into each interview:

These are pretty specific to me, so feel free to figure out which vibes work best for you.

Good luck!

Hope this guide was helpful– best of luck in your interviews!

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