Product Marketing Interviews

GTM Leader | Marketing Author | Career Coach at • June 12

Usually, they're testing to see if you understand how to launch a product but you are right, different hiring managers look for different things. My recommendation is that rather than listing a long

176 Saves

Ranna Unthank

Head of Product Marketing at Robo • July 31

The way I have answered this question by being brief and yet covering the main components of the GTM is as follows: Creating a GTM plan is a collaborative effort of working with cross-functional (pro

134 Saves

Kavya Nath

Product Marketing, Reality Labs at Meta | Formerly Sprinklr, YuMe • March 25

This is a great question and something I’ve also used when interviewing candidates. I completely see how it can be daunting and spans varying levels of expectations. Personally, the thing I try to emp

94 Saves

Ryan Goldman

Global VP Marketing at Moloco • May 6

As a candidate, you're never expected by the interviewer to have all the context. So it's an impossible expectation to put on yourself (unless you're an internal candidate or have an insider hookup).

78 Saves

Sara Miteva

Product Marketer at Passion.io • February 9

For my last interview, I was asked to prepare a GTM plan for a big feature release. I had only the feature name and the market segmentation and had to "imagine" everything else myself. I created a No

6 Saves

What would you rec highlighting in prod mar portfolio and what would make a candidate stand out to you?

Writing samples? Case studies?

9 answers

Anthony Kennada

CEO at AudiencePlus • January 29

I think it depends on what sub-function of PMM you've excelled in (or are applying for). If more technically-oriented, I'd want to learn about a product launch that you've been a part of, walk through

86 Saves

Teresa Haun

Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications at Zendesk • February 5

I would try to highlight anything that shows you have the key skills to be an effective product marketer. That definitely includes strong writing samples and case studies like you suggested, but also:

125 Saves

2 Replies

GTM Leader | Marketing Author | Career Coach at • June 12

Case studies and writing samples signal to me that you can do the job you are asked to do but they rarely make a candidate stand out (unless the content is really bad!) I do think long-form writing sa

76 Saves

Ryan Goldman

Global VP Marketing at Moloco • May 6

The trifecta of short-form published writing, long-form writing, and enablement materials always does the trick for me. If I can see the candidate has written a great feature-related blog post or one-

44 Saves

Suyog Deshpande

Sr. Director | Head Of Product & Partner Marketing at Samsara • May 13

Please add the "why" behind why you chose to take on new initiatives. I often see marketer proposing solutions that are searching for a problem. So, always start with Why and how your work aligned wit

79 Saves

Head of Product Marketing at Klaviyo | Formerly Drift, Dropbox, Upwork • November 18

Absolutely writing samples! I always ask for those. (As you can tell from my other answers, communication is something I care deeply about!) Case studies, landing pages, pitch decks / other enablemen

31 Saves

Kevin Garcia

Head of Product Marketing at Retool • May 5

I've mentioned this framework in other answers, but I believe that great product marketers are great researchers, storytellers, and project managers. A standout product marketing portfolio would incl

35 Saves

Head of Product Marketing at LottieFiles | Formerly WeLoveNoCode (made $3.6M ARR), Abstract, Flawless App (sold) • August 18

The great candidate stands out at every stage of the interview process, highlighting her & his value prop 😊 PMM portfolio is one more channel to show how you can help the company. Some practical

22 Saves

Raman Sharma

Vice President, Product Marketing at DigitalOcean • February 7

I am a big fan of writing examples. Writing crisp customer-facing content (blog posts, data sheets, whitepapers, product pages, etc.) is essential for any Product Marketer. I must also add that the

6 Saves

What are your top 3 methods for conducting effective competitive research?

4 answers

Vanessa Thompson

Senior Director, Product Marketing at Twilio • December 3

The outcome you are targeting with your competitive research plays a role in the efficacy of your research method. So have the outcome in mind before you start, that way you will already be on the pat

21 Saves

Marina Ben-Zvi

Sr. Director, Product Marketing at Productboard • December 15

I’ve found the top 3 sources of competitive research to be: Peer review sites. G2 and other review sites are the best source of information because it comes straight from the users. Even though most

20 Saves

Sonia Moaiery

Vice President, Product Marketing at Clearbit | Formerly Glassdoor, Prophet, Kraft • May 6

It really depends on a few factors: time, resources and who the competitive research helps. I would answer these questions to help you gauge how deep you go. There are entire PMMs dedicated to competi

15 Saves

Jeffrey Vocell

VP of Product Marketing at | Formerly Narvar, Iterable, HubSpot, IBM • December 15

I've found a few of the top methods for conducting competitive research: Competitive Content - Starting with your key competitors and understanding how they're positioning themselves, what content th

4 Saves

How do you enable your teams to win when faced with other competitors in your space?

Which materials/key points/key themes you work on for them to know how to show your tool is better that the competitors'?

2 answers

Senior Vice President, Product Marketing at BetterUp | Formerly Klaviyo, Qualtrics, Microsoft, MckInsey • November 23

Differentiators Good messaging smartly incorporates differentiators. Yes messaging is about the outcomes and benefits, it is about the category and the disruptions , it is about value pillars but gre

7 Saves

Head of Product Marketing at LottieFiles | Formerly WeLoveNoCode (made $3.6M ARR), Abstract, Flawless App (sold) • December 5

One way to help your team win in a competitive space is to focus on building a strong culture within the organization. This can include fostering a sense of collaboration and teamwork, as well as prom

1 Save

As a hiring manager, what do the best product marketing candidates have in common?

12 answers

GTM Leader | Marketing Author | Career Coach at • June 12

The ‘product marketing skills’ question has been answered really well by a lot of others on Sharebird already so I will focus my answer specifically to the interview itself: I always look for candida

111 Saves

Sarah Din

VP of Product Marketing at Quickbase • January 20

I love this question because in my experience I have hired PMMs from a variety of backgrounds, including people that have had no direct PMM experience, but they all had the right aptitude for the role

58 Saves

Jack Wei

Head of Product Marketing at Sendbird | Formerly SmartRecruiters, Mixpanel, Deloitte • January 27

My answer spans the top hard + soft skills: Hard: Well-rounded across words and numbers. You often hear that PMMs have to be strong storytellers (framing, positioning, mesaging, writing), but the hig

52 Saves

Head of Product Marketing at Klaviyo | Formerly Drift, Dropbox, Upwork • November 18

I think the best product marketing candidates — and product marketers — have one thing in common: empathy. Empathy helps you understand where others are coming from, and that is the foundation of grea

29 Saves

Tiffany Tooley

Head Of Product Marketing at HubSpot | Formerly Salesforce, IBM, Silverpop, Blackboard • March 9

I've done a lot of interviews and hiring over the years and I'm constantly impressed by how smart and driven Product Marketers are! It's one of the things that makes interviewing so much fun - you get

48 Saves

Christine Sotelo-Dag

Director of Product Marketing & Customer Marketing at Mode Analytics • March 18

From my hiring experience there are typically there are a few key characteristics and examples I look out for Has to be a great storyteller - go beyond writing copy, and able to craft narratives Abil

20 Saves

Jason Garoutte

Growth at (sabbatical) | Formerly Salesforce, Twilio, Blue Martini • March 30

I have some data here. For years, I used "candidate fit tests" (offered by Pittari.io). It's like Myers-Briggs but focused on workplace style & drivers. For successful PMMs, I noticed a pattern. W

19 Saves

Rekha Srivatsan

Vice President Product Marketing at Salesforce • April 20

I don't care about the candidate's background when interviewing for my team. I've hired folks from engineering, solution engineering, sales, and customer success teams and they've become successful PM

52 Saves

Kevin Garcia

Head of Product Marketing at Retool • May 5

In my mind, the best performing product marketers exhibit three must-have skills: Research Storytelling Project management To expand on each: The instinct and ability to research, talk to customers

23 Saves

Andrew Stinger

Head Of Marketing at Universe • June 2

I’m always wary of painting with too broad a brushstroke when it comes to hiring. Your job as a hiring manager is to spend time understand the super powers of the people you meet as part of your inter

19 Saves

Senior Vice President, Product Marketing at BetterUp | Formerly Klaviyo, Qualtrics, Microsoft, MckInsey • November 23

I think the best product marketing candidates have three things in common They are strong on the core requirements for the role. In most cases, it involves a degree of comfort with developing or acti

13 Saves

Head of Product Marketing at LottieFiles | Formerly WeLoveNoCode (made $3.6M ARR), Abstract, Flawless App (sold) • December 4

The best product marketing candidates have: Excellent communication skills that come to "fitting" them to the role I'm hiring. Proven experience in product marketing with measurable results. The best

3 Saves

For PMM interviews, what are helpful resources you'd recommend and types of questions to prepare for from both hiring managers and cross-functional partners?

5 answers

Mary (Shirley) Sheehan

Head of Lightroom Product Marketing at Adobe • October 18

I wrote a blog post on this - linked below! Here are some questions that help me find the "A" players - Do you have a product marketing philosophy?What’s the biggest project you’ve led? What worke

115 Saves

GTM Leader | Marketing Author | Career Coach at • June 12

Product marketers are bound to get the “describe a successful product launch you’ve done” question (or some other iteration of it). Be prepared to answer with outcomes rather than going through a chec

172 Saves

Head of Product Marketing at Klaviyo | Formerly Drift, Dropbox, Upwork • November 18

I'd recommend having on hand: Your story. Be prepared to give a brief walkthrough of your background and experience. I always like to see when someone has a strong narrative about their career — why

86 Saves

Kevin Garcia

Head of Product Marketing at Retool • May 5

One way that I like to prepare for an interview is to go in with the mindset that you are an investor (which you are, with your time!). As an investor, you want to learn everything you can about the c

36 Saves

Head of Product Marketing at LottieFiles | Formerly WeLoveNoCode (made $3.6M ARR), Abstract, Flawless App (sold) • December 4

Great question! Before going to your PMM interview absorb all available information on the role & company & product, run several mock-up interviews with PMM peers and draft your portfolio. L

18 Saves

Do you ask candidates to do case studies / homework as part of the application process? What are you looking for and what tips would you share with candidates?

1 answer

Do you generally recommend that candidates go 'above and beyond' in preparing for interviews by, for example, putting together 30-60-90 day plans or a report on the company/product and strengths/weaknesses/opportunities to give the interviewer a glimpse into how they think? In which situations do you recommend this approach or not?

6 answers

GTM Leader | Marketing Author | Career Coach at • June 11

Personally, I don't consider those two examples as being "above and beyond" - I consider them as a baseline for any marketing candidate. Ironically, I recently spoke with a former colleague about this

129 Saves

3 Replies

MELANIE KARUNARATNE

VP Marketing - Product Marketing at IVANTI (former employer) • April 19

These days, most Product Marketing interviews will have a task element outlined in the first or second interview. These may include a 30-60-90 day plan, a SWOT, a presentation, a launch plan, or other

40 Saves

Mike Berger

Vice President Product Marketing at ClickUp | Formerly Momentive, Gainsight, Marketo • November 11

Short answer, yes. If it's a job you really want, go above and beyond. Now, if a company says they want you to prepare a 5 slide presentation on something, I wouldn't simply decide that 10 slides is f

44 Saves

Jo Ann Sanders

VP Marketing at Honeycomb.io • December 23

It is really hard to get these types of big deliverables right, as you won’t really have enough information as an interviewee to nail them. Unless I specifically ask for this type of deliverable, it c

38 Saves

Rekha Srivatsan

Vice President Product Marketing at Salesforce • April 20

I love when candidates go above and beyond! I always do when I interview for my next role. A 30-60-90 is extremely helpful for the hiring manager to know how you prioritize and candidly, will also hel

57 Saves

Senior Vice President, Product Marketing at BetterUp | Formerly Klaviyo, Qualtrics, Microsoft, MckInsey • November 23

As a hiring manager, I often ask candidates for these exercises if I feel like I need to better understand their thought process. This comes in the form of question prompts where I may ask them to dev

11 Saves

What is your favorite product marketing interview question and the best answer you've heard?

19 answers

Carrie Zhang

Product Lead at Square • June 30

Any interviews with me will involve a case - real world, but sanitized case questions like "you are the PMM for xyz product and your subscriber growth has slowed down [insert whatever metrics, scenari

250 Saves

Emily Rugaber

VP of Marketing (previously Head of Product Marketing) at Thanx • July 6

Here are a few of the questions that I like to ask: - Tell me about a time that you influenced the product direction. - How do you define the role of product marketing? - What is the one thing that w

139 Saves

Max A.

Director of Product Marketing at PandaDoc • July 12

Here are some of my favorites: Open-ended / ice-breaker: "Can you tell me about yourself / your experience?" Motivation / Research: "Why are you interested in the company and this position?" If the a

138 Saves

RJ Gazarek

Principal Product Marketing Manager at Refactored Marketing, LLC | Formerly Veracode, Atlassian, Amplitude • January 17

Let me give you the one interview question, out of every interview I've ever been to, that literally stumped me. "Give me a time that you were the most creative". It stumped me at the time becaus

184 Saves

Teresa Haun

Senior Director, Technology Marketing and Communications at Zendesk • February 5

I often like to ask, “What accomplishment are you most proud of?” as well as, “In your last performance review, what were your opportunities to improve and how have you worked to address them?” I like

241 Saves

Tim Johnson

Director, Product Marketing at CloudBees • February 6

I have product marketing candidates give me the Who Cares and Why Is That Important pitch for their current product. Walk me through the positioning and messaging development, what resonates and why,

108 Saves

Susan "Spark" Park

Head of Product Marketing, VR Work Experiences, Oculus at Meta • May 27

I have started to ask "What is the biggest trade-off decision you had to make?" Most people go straight to themselves and a trade-off that they've had to make about a job or career path, not a compa

198 Saves

2 Replies

GTM Leader | Marketing Author | Career Coach at • June 12

I am going to provide a highly opinionated answer. Please forgive the strong tone, but I hope it will be more helpful for you than a generic response: For any question I ask, I want a short, succinct

183 Saves

Hila Segal

VP Product & Customer Marketing at Observe.AI | Formerly Clari, Vendavo, Amdocs • January 28

What is the role of product marketing, and why do you want to do the job. I care about not just what the answer is but also how candidates deliver it. Are they giving me a textbook answer or telling m

136 Saves

Kavya Nath

Product Marketing, Reality Labs at Meta | Formerly Sprinklr, YuMe • March 25

What is your superpower?! This one is great because it gives you insight into how a candidate perceives themselves. There's a self-awareness that comes through with the responses that allows for you

96 Saves

Ryan Goldman

Global VP Marketing at Moloco • May 6

My favorite question to ask is something along the lines of "Here's a big initiative we're planning to roll out, and whoever gets this job will own at least part of the planning and execution. How wou

118 Saves

Leandro Margulis

Head of Product at Prove • September 8

Well, the question of "What is Product Marketing" Could mean different things at different companies, but my answer is that we provide the voice of the market and the voice of the customer internally

108 Saves

Ryan Van Wagoner

Senior Director, Head of Marketing at Forethought • September 16

I'd have to go with this classic: "Describe your process for launching a new product." Why? A product launch is the quintessential act of product marketing. It places the product marketer as the orche

75 Saves

Head of Product Marketing at Klaviyo | Formerly Drift, Dropbox, Upwork • November 17

My favorite question is "What would be your positioning statement for yourself as a product marketer?" I love that question because it shows me how comfortable they are with the basics of positioning

135 Saves

Vidya Drego

VP of Product and Solutions Marketing at HubSpot • January 20

I like to ask PMM candidates to deliver their company's pitch. I'm not grading their pitch but rather the empathy and insight they display for and about their customers' challenges, the way they deliv

87 Saves

Kristen Brophy

VP, Direct to Consumer Marketing at National Basketball Association | Formerly Uber, Square, 1stdibs • March 25

It's hard to pick a favorite because most of my interviews look different from candidate to candidate. Often, my questions are focused on deeply understanding their past experience and asking for rele

42 Saves

Meghan Keaney Anderson

VP of Marketing at Jasper | Formerly HubSpot • April 12

Walk me through a product launch of yours that went really well and one that may not have done as well. What were the differences in retrospect? Now that you've had a chance to review our website an

38 Saves

John Brezinsky

VP Global Product Marketing at Searchmetrics • September 2

I like using: "Product marketing covers a wide range of skills and tasks. Nobody on my team is an expert at everything. We're all growing some aspect of the job. Where do you really shine, and what ar

22 Saves

Senior Vice President, Product Marketing at BetterUp | Formerly Klaviyo, Qualtrics, Microsoft, MckInsey • November 23

My favorite question is very simple I ask them “Can you pitch me your product?” (if they come from any marketing role) It allows me to understand their storytelling skills. It helps me understand if

12 Saves

How do you showcase or describe to interviewers your work in messaging and positioning, without actually showing documented work?

Also, how to actually show its success, as this is something that may take awhile before seeing a growth trend and can you directly actually attribute a particular success metric on messaging?

8 answers

Jeffrey Vocell

VP of Product Marketing at | Formerly Narvar, Iterable, HubSpot, IBM • December 11

I think it’s hard to showcase messaging in an interview unless you’re specifically bringing up documented work. At HubSpot, we like to give candidates an exercise before an interview that typically ti

70 Saves

GTM Leader | Marketing Author | Career Coach at • June 12

Love this question! Obviously, always protect your employer’s confidential information. However, if you have done your work correctly, your messaging will inform all of the material and content you’v

127 Saves

Ajit Ghuman

Director of Product Management - Pricing & Packaging, CXP at Twilio | Formerly Narvar, Medallia, Helpshift, Feedzai, Reputation.com • November 13

The success is positioning is about proving that your work made your employer known for something in the market. One of the most common ways PMMs do this is by showing how they get the company a top

49 Saves

Alissa Lydon

Head of Marketing at LEVEE | Formerly Mezmo, Sauce Labs • April 28

When I am looking for messaging and positioning validation from outside the org, I find that people engage more with a story than with a static framework. And as far as stories go, everyone much prefe

28 Saves

Jiong Liu

Senior Director of Product Marketing at Wiz • August 4

There is a process to messaging and I think many folks are overly focused on the last step which is the final translation to words. I actually think this piece is the simplest of all the steps so I do

38 Saves

Head of Product Marketing at Klaviyo | Formerly Drift, Dropbox, Upwork • November 18

Make sure you talk about the process! That includes: What was the existing state when you started (i.e. messaging didn't exist, it did exist but it was falling flat / was outdated, etc.)? How did y

21 Saves

Grant Shirk

Head of Product Marketing, Cisco Meraki at Cisco Meraki | Formerly Tellme Networks, Microsoft, Box, Vera, Scout RFP, and Sisu Data, to name a few. • April 13

This is a great one! It's also something few people do well in an interview setting. It's a bit challenging to do verbally, but if you think it through in advance, you can be prepared when the opportu

21 Saves