I applied online. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Google (Mountain View, CA) in Aug 2015
Interview
Had one video interview with the hiring manager – mostly behavioral questions followed by a second interview with a team member that was more technical. Focus on the 2nd interview was again on challenging behavioral type scenarios
Note, they no longer ask their famous Google questions like number of manhole covers and piano tuners so dont waste time on those.
Was then invited to Mountain View for a face to face. Their face to face interviews are typically with 4 people (their analysis has shown four to be the right number) and last half a day.
I interviewed with the hiring manager, a business partner and they also always interview with an individual outside the function you are applying for. I was told a week later by the recruiter that my candidacy would not be considered further. Was unfortunately, never routed to the hiring Committee for decioning which is the last step of the process.
From the get-go the recruiter explains that their hiring process is very fact-based and scientific. However at the end, the reasons for passing on me were very vague and ambiguous. I pressed for details but none came. For a scientific process, it sure felt like the final decision was very subjective (basically told my experience was in old economy type companies not new age Internet companies which is what they were looking for)
Final point – you must nail every interview, don’t assume one interview is more important or significant then another; the hiring manager can love you but if one other individual doesn’t agree you are the right person, that person can stop the process dead in its tracks.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
- Difficult colleague – how did you deal with it?
- What’s your strategy in meeting objectives within a project with extremely tight deadlines?
- Favorite Google product – how would you improve it?
- Many questions from the CV (know your CV inside out)
The process was straightforward and moved quickly. After applying online, a recruiter reached out within a few days for a brief phone screen. That was followed by two video interviews, one with the hiring manager and one with a panel of team members focused on project planning and stakeholder communication. The whole thing wrapped up in about two weeks, and the team was responsive and clear about next steps throughout.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
I walked through a specific project where a key vendor delivery slipped. I explained how I flagged the risk early in our weekly status review, reset expectations with stakeholders, re-sequenced dependent tasks, and brought the timeline back within an acceptable range by negotiating a partial early delivery.
standard 1st round digital interview, they are asking about your experience, background, some behavioural questions and technical questions. and they also share a bit more about the role, culture and expectation
Very self-driven, first of multiple rounds, where I had to take the initiative to arrive at the problem, constraints, approach, solutions, tradeoffs and reasoning behind it in a matter of 30 minutes.