I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Verizon (Reston, VA) in Jun 2011
Interview
I was initially approached by a recruiter who had trawled my details from linkedIn. He setup a phone screen with the hiring manager, who didn't ask any technical questions, just biographical. I was invited for a in person interview, was interviewed by the hiring manager, and one technical member of staff who didn't know enough about my field to ask any challenging questions.
The hiring manager called the next day to offer me the position.
The background/references/drug test took SIX weeks to perform.