For hiring managers
How to design a fair PMM take-home. A brief, a time cap, and a rubric.
Updated · 4 min read
What a take-home is for
A take-home shows how someone works alone with an ambiguous brief, which an interview can’t. It is worth the cost to both sides only if it produces evidence you can’t get otherwise. If a conversation would tell you the same thing, skip the exercise.
Design it around the decisions the role makes weekly. For most PMM roles that means choosing a segment, making a claim, and planning a launch.
Principles of a fair exercise
- A firm time cap. Say how long it should take, and mean it. Three to four hours is enough for most prompts.
- A fictional or public problem. Never use live business problems, since that takes free work from the person.
- A clear brief. State the goal, the audience, the constraints, and the format. Ambiguity should come from the problem, not the instructions.
- A shared rubric. Tell people how the work is scored so they can spend their time on what matters.
- A follow-up conversation. Give the person a chance to explain and defend the work.
- Feedback. Even a short note is a courtesy that people remember.
If you ask for more than a few hours, pay for the time. It also signals how the company values people’s work.
A sample brief
The scenario below is fictional. Adapt the product, segment, and constraints to your own.
“Northwind is a scheduling tool for small dental clinics. It reduces no-shows with automatic reminders and has about two hundred customers. Leadership wants to reach five hundred customers in the next year with a marketing budget of a fixed amount you can assume. You have three customer quotes and a list of two competitors attached. In no more than four hours, write a two-page recommendation covering which segment to target first, the single claim to lead with, the three moves you would make in the first ninety days, and how you would measure progress. Assume you can ask no questions and state any assumptions you make.”
The brief includes a goal, constraints, a format, and a time cap, and it invites stated assumptions instead of penalizing them.
Scoring the work
| Competency | Look for | Warning signs |
|---|---|---|
| Strategic thinking | A clear choice, with rejected options named | A list of options with no decision |
| Communication and storytelling | The recommendation on page one, plain language | Background before the answer |
| Analytical rigor | Evidence tied to the choice, with assumptions stated | Unsourced statistics or none at all |
| Market expertise | The buyer and the alternatives described accurately | Claims that fit any product |
| Cross-functional influence | Named partners and how they would be brought along | A plan that ignores product and sales |
Score on the same four levels as the interview, using the scorecard guide. Two reviewers scoring independently will catch more than one.
The follow-up conversation
Schedule thirty to forty-five minutes. Ask the person to summarize their recommendation in two minutes, then probe their riskiest assumption, the option they rejected, and what they would do if the first result disappoints. Watch how they respond to challenge, since the job involves it daily.
Candidates prepare for this call with the guides on the take-home and the presentation round, so a fair prompt lets them show their best thinking.
Mistakes to avoid
- No time cap. People will overwork, and the strongest work goes to whoever has the most free time.
- Using a real problem. It looks like free consulting and damages your reputation.
- Grading on polish. Slides that look good can hide weak thinking. Score the reasoning.
- Silence afterward. Send a decision, and if you can, one line of feedback.
Frequently asked questions
- How long should a PMM take-home be?
- Three to four hours of work for most roles. Longer exercises should be paid.
- Should I let people use AI?
- State the rule in the brief. If you allow it, use the follow-up call to check that the person can defend every claim.
- Do I need a take-home at all?
- Only if it gives you evidence you can’t get otherwise. For senior roles, a strategy conversation or a presentation of past work may serve better.
- How many people should review it?
- Two, scoring independently, then discussing. It reduces the influence of any one reviewer’s taste.
- Can I reuse the same exercise?
- Yes, and consistency helps with fairness. Refresh it when answers leak online.
Practice it
Let candidates rehearse the follow-up.
A Mokk interview lets people practice defending a recommendation out loud before they meet your team. A question costs 1 credit and their first credit is free.