got a recruiter screen scheduled for a product role (they have a small product org under digital/tech). doing my prep now and I'd love to hear from anyone who's been through their loop in the last 6 months or so.
specifically curious about: how behavioral-heavy is it vs. case or analytical how much does Genentech-specific knowledge matter (like do they expect you to know their pipeline) any tips on what their interviewers respond to vs. what falls flat
drop your experience below, really appreciate it
4 replies
intl_isla
went through a PM loop there about 4 months ago. behavioral is very heavy. they use a structured framework and every interviewer has a rubric they're filling out. it's more formal than most tech companies I've interviewed at.
Genentech-specific knowledge: know what they make (cancer immunotherapy, MS treatments) but you don't need to understand the science deeply. what they care about is whether you understand why the mission matters to patients and whether that's genuine. vague stuff gets filtered fast.
growth_gabe
appreciate this. the 'is it genuine' filter is interesting because it means the prep has to be actual conviction, not just reading their about page. did you find one particular thing that worked well in conveying that?
intl_isla
for me it was having a specific product in their portfolio I'd looked into and a real question I had about how it got developed. not performed curiosity, actual curiosity. the interviewer visibly relaxed when the conversation shifted to something real.
brand_ben
I interviewed for a design-adjacent role there last year. not exactly product but similar process. one thing I noticed: they ask a lot of 'tell me about a time you had to work with someone who had a very different background.' be really specific. the more you can describe what you actually learned from that person the better.