I applied online. The process took 1 week. I interviewed at Google (Dublin, Dublin) in Mar 2014
Interview
Applied for the position through the google jobs website. A few days later I got an email from a recruiter asking if I was available for a phone interview. I arranged one for the following week.
In between I was in contact with the recruiter over email. She gave me a few topics to know well for the interview as well as some competencies (where I failed, how I have shown leadership, etc.)
So the interview day came along. I was initially supposed to have an interview with one staff member but at the last minute, it was swapped to a different one. They only mailed me about it an hour before the interview. So luckily, I saw the mail in time.
The interview went differently to what I was told to expect. All the topics I had covered and was told to expect didn't come up. Some competency questions came up about my previous experiences with failing, leadership, difficult employees. Then they asked about my SQL and statistics experience which I had a feeling would come up but wasn't sure what topics. Then the big one came along... The cognitive interview question that Google is famous for.
I got a bit flustered as I didn't think this would come up as they seem to have done away with them. They really dissect everything you say for this question so practice the ones available online
All in all, it was a tough enough phone interview. My main grievance was that I was told to know the product inside out but they never asked a single thing about it which annoyed me as I spend so much time researching it and learning about it.
Overall, neutral experience. Got an email a day later to say I didn't get it. Recruiter was lovely. Really nice. Interviewer, not so good.
I applied through other source. The process took 6 months. I interviewed at Google (San Francisco, CA) in Feb 2014
Interview
Google contacted me on LinkedIn. The first step in the process was a screening phone call with an HR person. That led to me filling out some paperwork and sending over a current resume. After this is black hole number one. I heard nothing from Google for months. Then I was contacted saying they wanted to move forward with a technical phone screen. This took 2 months to schedule. There were multiple attempts at this interview since there were scheduling issues where the interviewer was not available. When it finally did get the interview the interviewer was 15 minutes late.
Then the process started moving a little quicker. Within two days I received feedback they wanted to move forward as soon as next week. So I said I was available and then a whole week went by with no communication. Just me waiting to know if Google wanted to fly me across the country for an interview on a days notice. Finally, I get a response saying they needed more time the interviewers were too busy so I had to pass along more dates. This time the turnaround was a bit quicker I had a date scheduled a few weeks in advance. The process for scheduling travel was smooth and easy. They do one more call with you to prepare you for the onsite interview.
Unfortunately I was being considered for multiple positions and the HR team had misprepared me for my interview. I was told to expect a technically challenging interview. I had 5 hours of project management questions. Not at all what was in the job description. There seemed to be a large gap between what HR and I expected and what the team was looking for. The nightmare recruitment process finally ended with a voicemail saying they did not want to move forward. I requested more feedback as to why apparently that is against company policy.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 1+ week. I interviewed at Google in Jan 2014
Interview
I was contacted by a recruiter asking I am interested in the position. After a screening interview w/ recruiter (typical resume-checking, followed by a couple probability questions), heard back in 2-3 days and had a one-hour interview w/ hiring manager through a video conference 1 week later. Another 3-4 days later, heard they decided not to move forward.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
how would you advise the management in terms of improving current product offerings? on what basis? be specific.