AMA: You.com Director, Product Marketing, Ben Geller on Product Marketing Interviews

In this competitive market, I think focusing is helpful, which means doing the legwork to really have an idea of what you want out of the summer internship. There’s never an easier time to network than when you’re a student, take advantage of it! For example, if you’re passionate about AI, learn as much as you can about the space, take coursework to build expertise, go to relevant conferences, and carve out a niche. It’s typically much easier for a candidate to get noticed with a focused narrative vs spraying broadly. Another way to frame this exercise is being comfortable that your resume will NOT appeal to certain companies that are coming to campus because they fall outside your focus area. This does not mean you’re missing out—just the opposite, you’re not wasting your time chasing down the wrong thing.

The most common mistake I see is candidates not doing sufficient research about the company and the space. It’s quite common for hiring managers to throw out problems on their desk that they want an opinion on, and some basic grounding in the business can go a long way in facilitating a good conversation.

If it’s not abundantly clear what metric you are looking to solve and how that correlates to ROI, then there’s probably an opportunity to better define goals. Generally, when I’ve seen PMMs struggle with this question, it means their projects are drifting from business value, and they need to take a step back to better understand the “why” of what they are tackling, and reprioritize if that “why” isn’t immediately obvious.

If you’re not making it past the recruiter screen, this usually means you need to work on your storytelling and communication. Which, fortunately, can be vastly improved with some basic prep. Here’s a wonderful framework: https://www.lennysnewsletter.com/p/how-to-pass-any-first-round-interview Practice is also extremely helpful. Find a job search buddy, and do some mock interviews together focused on specific roles you’re considering. Doing a dry run will help you figure out your story, and identify blind spots before the stakes are high.

The biggest mistake I’ve seen on PMM resumes, is failing to directly address the problem/challenge the role is being hired to tackle. Usually, when I’m hiring there’s a very specific challenge I’m looking to address, and it’s clear in the job description what that challenge is. When I’m scanning a resume I’m looking for indicators that the candidate has related experience, so I know they can come in and contribute from day one. So, I’d recommend whenever possible help the hiring manager connect the dots, and lean into why you’re uniquely qualified for what the company needs to accomplish. A little bit of customization can really help nudge a candidate over the edge.