I applied through an employee referral. The process took 3 months. I interviewed at Google (New York, NY)
Interview
I was aware of how long the process took, and was so interested in Google as an employer that I stuck with it. But if you are in need of employment ASAP it may be harder to wait through the process. It is not uncommon to have to wait many weeks/months to secure an offer.
Their process seems to be in stages, where you must pass each stage in order to proceed.
1)Recruiter interview and job explanation (phone)
2)Situational Interview with another ABP (phone)
3)Interview with the administrative team with support needs (in-person)
4)Interview with Executive/s you will be supporting (in-person)
5)Final hiring approval by committee w/offer
The timeline that I experienced is as follows:
-Recruiter contacts me through an internal referral to set up interview
-3 days later I had a phone interview with the Recruiter and was told immediately at the end she would set up round 2 of interview process
-10 days later I did the situational interview with a Google ABP, with no immediate feedback at the end. Was told 3 days later by the recruiter that I passed, and would be entered into their pool of candidates and would be contacted when an opening came up
-Was contacted 2 weeks later by a new recruiter about an opening on a team and was invited in for an in-person interview. Scheduled 5 days later. No immediate feedback was given after the interview. Feedback was given 3 days later that the team did not feel I was a match.
-Was contacted 1 week later by another recruiter about another opening on a different team and was invited in to interview with them. Heard back from the recruiter within a few hours after the interview was over that they wanted to move me to stage 4
-Went in for 4th round interview with Executives. No immediate feedback. Heard back from the recruiter 2 days later that they wanted to move forward with me, and that she needed to submit my candidacy for final approval.
-Received job offer 1 week later
So from the first contact with a recruiter to job offer was roughly 8 weeks. Had the 2nd team I interviewed with not thought I was a fit, I would have been put back into the pool for other opportunities.
I imagine many people are actively searching for employment and receive offers from other companies before Google has gone through their rigorous process and that's why most reviews show NO OFFER. If you stick it through and are not disheartened by rejection, you will probably find a good fit and a job offer.
Every single person that I spoke with, met, and worked with during the process was incredibly professional, respectful, encouraging, and overall a pleasure to deal with! By far the most pleasant interviewing experience I have ever had!
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 5 months. I interviewed at Google (Mountain View, CA)
Interview
This review is purely regarding the process, no comments on questions asked or themes. There are many helpful reviews on Glassdoor that did help me very much in preparing. Though the interviews were fun, super stimulating and exciting, I'm here to tell you about the emotional roller coaster that is Google's process.
My biggest take away from my five month journey was seeing how they're feeding a cycle of hiring a certain type of person. From a very particular socio-economic background. Google is hiring those that can afford to apply. Recent grads? I hope you can move back in with your parents.
Don't at any point believe this will be quick. Don't plan on being able to survive this unemployed without a large savings, financial assistance from a partner or family, or/and the strangers you might meet and share with them that you're interviewing at Google and then they will share with you a story they heard about their doctor's cousin's kid who spent seven months interviewing there. These stories will help but they won't make it any easier. I am one of those stories now. From first email contact with a recruiter to my last interview, which might not be my last interview, it look five months.
This will only be quick once you land the first screening and then the next two interviews. If you pass through these three and then they throw you in the pool of active candidates... good luck mate. Keep your head up and know you're worth it. This pool is what I've come to understand is a bit like online dating, except you don't have any power to swipe through. Teams have access to these candidates and if your profile looks like it'll be a good fit, then they can request an interview with you. I've gone through two of these already. Two half-blind dates with two different teams. And I'm still an active candidate, so who knows. Maybe Google will ghost me. Or maybe in two months someone will request another interview.
I personally don't believe this process is healthy or efficient in hiring on a more diverse set of employees. Good luck!
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Give an example of a time you had to make a difficult decision
I received an email from Google the day after I submitted my application online. I was asked to schedule a phone interview with an HR member at my convenience. The interviewer was super friendly and the questions were pretty basic in terms of an initial screening. She informed me of the interview process, that it consisted of 2 phone interviews and 2 in person interviews. The whole process could take 4-6 weeks. The second phone interview was conducted by someone else and the questions were related to problem solving.