I applied online. The process took 5 days. I interviewed at Google in Aug 2017
Interview
Start with phone screening with recruiter. Then setup phone interview with "a product manager". If successful then invited to an onsite interview. Feedback from the interviewers is passed to committee for the review. Then your profile is shown to different teams hiring hiring managers. One of more hiring manager may have phone interview. Final feedback is reviewed by executive committee for level/offer. HR then calls to make an offer.
I had a phone screen with the recruiter, who was super nice. and upbeat. Great first impression of the company. She wanted me to interview for a job that was different than the one I applied for - that "the team" thought I would be an excellent fit for a more senior position. This lasted about 30 minutes. She explained that the interview process at Google takes a long time, often several months. Additionally, she asked me if I got another job offer to let her know.
About 3 weeks later I had a phone screen with someone on the team I would be working with - a peer. This woman had a miserable demeanor and seemed as if she would rather be doing anything else than be on this call. I was well prepared and based on the Q&A would say I did well. However, I was unable to get a positive feel from the interview so imagine my surprise when a month later, they wanted to schedule an in-person interview!
Even though I knew I would be going onsite to the Google campus, it took several weeks for them to schedule a date for my interview - logistics of getting the right team together, I was told. Once the date was set, they wanted to move ahead quickly. I was given information with their travel partner to book my flight and accommodations - of course which they pay for. The travel partner was very nice and super helpful. I booked my flight through them, car, and hotel that had a shuttle to campus. I was ticketed for the flight and received a confirmation through email.
That very same day, I received an "urgent" call from the recruiter. They were cancelling my interview. The reason I got was that the team discussed it and wanted to expand the scope of the role and wanted someone "more senior". This was ironic since the role I originally applied for was "less senior" and they thought I was qualified for something "more senior". At this point, communication broke down between the travel partner and Google as they were still sending me trip details after the interview was cancelled. On one hand I am glad they did not have me come in for a day of grueling interviews knowing they were not going to hire me. On the other hand, I cannot believe this happened. When I asked if I could interview for the original position I applied for, they told me it was filled. I was very disappointed that they dragged this out for months, only to cancel the interview hours after I booked my flight. I am so glad I did not tell people that I was interviewing in Mountain View because I would have been humiliated. As it is, I was depressed about this for weeks. I would never want to work for them after this.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Google (New York, NY) in Nov 2015
Interview
HORRIBLE experience. Totally changed my POV of Google. I have nearly 20 years experience and was interviewed by an arrogant 22 year old. he wouldn't let me get a word in edgewise and kept interrupting me. He loved the sound of his own voice and clearly thought the world of himself. He was 10 minutes late. He ended the interview early. He asked me NO questions except the math calculation question below. He answered every question I asked with "it depends on the project and the team". After the interview, Google sent me a link to give "feedback" on their recruiting process. The survey they sent to fill out took over an hour and was 10 pages long! What hubris. Before the interview, to prepare, they send Product folks a long list of books and other assets to read and research. This included a listing of Google products on the Google corp. website, many of which are defunct and no longer exist. From end to end, it was awful, insulting and extremely disrespectful. Off the list!
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Do basic math to calculate the storage needs for all videos on YouTube for current and future years