Google business interview preparation

October 2, 2007 6:38 PM

What to expect from a Google business related job interview

I'm interviewing for Associate Product Marketing Manager (straight out of college). They said to expect some technical questions, business model and revenue, and competitor questions. What do you think I should expect? I'm not super skilled in finance, so what do you think I should read? You think they'll give me those famous brain teasers?

posted by names are hard to work & money (5 comments total)

I would expect questions that are, well, about marketing and the web. "How would you market product X?" "What are the main competitors of Google product Y and how would you market Y to differentiate it from the competition?" "Who is the primary audience of website Z?" That kind of thing. Maybe an estimation question or some back of the envelope profit calculations or a couple of questions to make sure you understand Google's business model and overall marketing strategy. Brain teasers are for engineers.
posted by phoenixy at 6:48 PM on October 2, 2007

I would be pretty shocked if they asked you brainteasers. Most engineering interviews at Google don't even involve brainteasers, in my experience. They ask hard questions, but they're about actual technical or theoretical problems.
posted by crinklebat at 7:04 PM on October 2, 2007

You need to know the Adwords system, inside and out. You should understand roughly how HTTP headers work, and what role they play in the system. You should be able to explain the advantages of Adwords compared with traditional marketing systems.

This is a sales job, you will be selling to established companies with deep pockets that either don't yet, or minimally use the Google Adwords system. You need to understand the technology and the business in order to make a case for the product.

You don't need to know the deep technical details of things like PageRank or the google filesystem.
posted by b1tr0t at 7:06 PM on October 2, 2007

I haven't interviewed for that particular position, but I've gone through several rounds for something similar myself. And since I'm still in the running and I've signed an NDA, I don't think I can say much. I'll just agree with b1tr0t, and note that none of the people I interviewed with seemed out to trick me with brain teasers or anything like that. It's been pretty much like any other job interview so far (with the exception of a take-home worksheet).
posted by web-goddess at 12:10 AM on October 3, 2007

I have not interviewed with Google, but a lot of the advice below is pretty standard regardless, and is alluded to in their comments to you. This all depends on how much time you have, but ideally, you'd be armed with info and able to answer any question. A lot of people want to work there, so you have to show you're the best, the brightest, and the most interested through your preparation. Overall though, this applies to any marketing/business-related job interview for the most part.

Research the business model and how it affects their financial performance. They're a publicly owned company, so all that info is readily accessible. Read the annual reports for insights into accomplishments and strategies moving forward. Know the company mission and vision. Know last year's revenues and the percentage change from the year before. Know the major competitors and their business models. The competitors are also public, so get their revenues and compare to Google. I don't think you'll be asked to calculate anything while you're there, but it sounds like they want you to know where they stand financially, and how that compares to competitors.

Research the average amounts people spend monthly on AdWords, Yahoo! search ads, etc. Research the percentage of marketing budgets spent on internet advertising (if you can break down banner and search, to focus on search, even better). I think a lot of the "trend" information is available on ClickZ, though the site seems to be having issues right now. Keep in mind that "competitor" goes beyond other search marketing vendors, it includes all the other ways marketers spend their budgets. So maybe a little general research on spending trends might be useful.

Re-read parts of your marketing textbooks to brush up on your knowledge (I had a marketing interview once where I was asked the 4P's, for example). If the position is for a particular vertical (automotive, finance, etc), do some research on that market as well. If you know the names of the people you'll be working for/with, check them out. Get caught up on the latest Google news, it looks really good in an interview when you know exactly what's going on.

IIRC, you'll probably be marketing to agencies in a lot of cases or supporting those doing so (I looked into a few of those Google Product Marketing Manager-type positions recently) so if that's the case, check out Adweek for some up-to-date industry info (know the big players, agency structure, etc.).

A great resource is your college library's databases. I was constantly looking up Hoovers profiles, industry trends/reports/research, and company news through mine.

Good luck!
posted by ml98tu at 8:12 AM on October 3, 2007