I applied through a recruiter. I interviewed at Google (New York, NY) in Oct 2014
Interview
Actual questions asked on the interview:
1) Hypothetical: how would you ensure all candidates have a great customer service experience at Google?
2) Hypothetical: what are Google’s top challenges in hiring?
3) What are key points in an applicant tracking system
4) How would you find a director of engineering in Kenya
5) Company lays off 10% of workforce, how do you find the top 2%
6) You are given 2 recruiters, how long would it take to source X amount of candidates?
7) How do you go about sourcing
8) You are trying to recruiter a passive candidate who has offers from Facebook and Twitter, how do you do it?
as much as this company prides itself on their screening process they are just as clueless as anyone when it comes to hiring. It's not a science. They hired 3 of the worst recruiters in our NYC office and passed on the #1 and #2 recruiter. The interview tests how well you can answer their questions. Oh and they never give a reason why they pass on you either. And it will take weeks and they will re-schedule on your more than once. Nice work Google, you nailed it.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
You are trying to recruiter a passive candidate who has offers from Facebook and Twitter, how do you do it?
Detailed interviews (both on the phone and in person) that took ages to get through. Grilled on background and metrics. My POC recruiter didn't really seem too committed to candidate experience but just metrics, I'm used to making a great experience and hitting my metrics.
I applied online. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Google
Interview
Contacted by email initially, then had a phone interview with a recruiter. They did not advance me to the next step in the process, however, when I asked the recruiter why she was very honest. She said I did not the specific technical experience they were looking for.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
There were no difficult questions. The recruiter just asked about my experience chronology and had specific questions about my resume