📥 Google APM's 2021 full-time applications are now open
Plus resume tips and interview-prep resources; apply by Wed., Sep. 22
Hi all,
Today’s the big day: applications for Google’s full-time Associate Product Manager (APM) program are now open! This year’s application window is incredibly short: you’ll have to apply by this Wednesday, September 22nd — though, to avoid timezone mixups, I’d recommend you apply by tomorrow, the 21st. (I’ve heard so many horror stories of people trying to apply for APM on the last day, only to find that the application had already closed since it was using a different timezone.)
I covered eligibility criteria and what documents you’ll need last week, so read on to learn about techniques for optimizing your resume, plus resources (including free ones) for acing the Google interview… then fill out the Google APM application!
Optimizing your resume for Google’s criteria
If you’re coming straight out of university, you’ll want to:
Emphasize the computer science classes you’ve taken (name-drop key terms like ML, AI, AR/VR, etc.)
Highlight any software engineering or PM internships you’ve done
List the coding languages and frameworks (e.g. React) you know
Talk about your experiences founding, launching, or creating things (startups, clubs, newsletters, nonprofits, apps, etc.)
The last two points also apply to industry hires, although you’ll want to talk more about things you’ve built and the impact you’ve had in your past jobs, whether they’re PM or not.
Speaking of impact, Google PM recruiters want to see you quantify your business and user impact. And since they’ll be skimming your resume for just a few seconds, you’ll want to add numbers, which pop out to the scanning eye. As a result, the format you should try to follow for almost every line on your Google PM resume is some variation of:
Led a team of X people to create Y thing, which had Z impact.
This lets you show off your leadership experience, show that you can build great products and organizations, and quantify your impact, all in one compact package. “Z” can be a dollar amount (ideally), a number of users impacted, a percent change in some metric, etc.
I wrote some more resume and networking tips for APM a few years ago, so feel free to read those too.
Interview timeline and prep resources (including free ones)
Once you’ve submitted your application, if all goes well you’ll get invited to one or more phone screens, followed by the famous homework assignment and several final-round interviews over Google Meet. These may take weeks or months; it’s quite variable at Google. If you have a competing offer in hand from another big tech company, Google PM recruiters will often hyper-expedite the process for you, sometimes even scheduling final-rounds for you in the very same week!
If you’ve followed me for a while, you’ll know that I recorded a free, 32-minute Google PM interview lesson for Product Alliance, where I step through techniques for answering Google’s difficult product strategy questions. Just scroll down on the Google course page and sign up when the popup box appears.
There are several more free videos on that page, too — I recorded a product design lesson (Lyft) and a pricing lesson (Spotify), and there are also lessons on corporate strategy, brainstorming, explainers, and other popular question types at Google. You can even watch a teardown of Google Search’s product strategy and roadmap for free. By the way, I’ve found that Google is asking an increasing number of strategic questions to APM candidates, so that strategy video will be quite helpful.
You can also buy lifetime access to the whole course to get all the strategy videos, interview lessons, past questions, etc. My coupon code will get you $25 off the 7-course bundle, which also includes courses on Facebook, Amazon, and Microsoft — plus a course with resume tips and networking advice — and is currently 75% off.
Once you’re ready, apply
Once you’ve gotten your transcript and resume ready, submit the Google APM application by tomorrow night, September 21st (again, leaving some buffer time to be safe).
Once you’ve done that, congrats! You’re on your way to the interviews, and (if all goes well) to becoming a Google APM!
I’m a former Google APM, but everything I’ve written here is based on public information and my own opinions, and in no way reflect official Google information, policies, or views. Ask a Google recruiter for the official line!
To get more resources for advancing your product management career: