AMA: Square Global Product Marketing Lead, Add On Products, Kevin Zentmeyer on Product Marketing Interviews

The best product marketers have the following traits in common: 1) They are type A. All of them. 2) They have a growth mindset. There is no finished product, product marketer. This role requires constant learning to succeed day-to-day and only people who enjoy the treadmill of non-stop skill building will last. 3) They are sharp. If the candidate isn't incredibly sharp, I won't trust them, and this cannot be micromanaged. 4) They are "tactfully pushy" which is my term for people who can convince ...Read More

To showcase your work without actually showing your work, you can instead show your process. Any messaging work will have a before and after, even if the prior state was an unlaunched product. Describe what you were given. What was the new product/feature or existing messaging? What was your process for determining the new messaging? Were there any disagreements or misalignments about your new messaging? How did you get alignment to launch your new messaging through sales and marketing assets? W ...Read More

One tactical way to get better at interviews is practice using the following method: 1) Search Glassdoor for product marketing interview questions. 2) Google "product marketing interview questions.” 3) Copy paste all of them into one document. 4) Scan the document for any questions that you could answer in your sleep and delete them. 5) De-duplicated the remaining questions. 6) Write answers for each of those questions. 7) For repetitions, you can either re-read your answers to these questions o ...Read More

Mock GTM plans are typically done two ways in PMM interviews. One is a live question in the interview and the other is a project typically in the form of a PowerPoint. If it is a project, you should recognize this as an opportunity. If you want this role, and you should if you are applying, then this is a high leverage moment to achieve or obtain what you want at the next stage your career. You should go get it. Consider whatever the recruiter or hiring manager indicates is the amount of time th ...Read More

I think landing your first interview and subsequently your first job as a PMM is made easier if you target some level of specialization either within the role or the company. Many PMM roles, especially more junior ones, are specialized or weighted towards particular areas like sales enablement or pricing for example. For someone with a sales or finance background in those cases, that can be a way in. Practically everyone in product marketing started their career in something else because there a ...Read More