Project Manager applicants have rated the interview process at Google with 3 out of 5 (where 5 is the highest level of difficulty) and assessed their interview experience as 100% positive. To compare, the company-average is 71% positive. This is according to Glassdoor user ratings.
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Google (Mountain View, CA) in Jan 2011
Interview
I applied to a Product Manager position at Google online. About 2/3 weeks later, the HR contacted me via email I was selected as a candidate. The HR sent a list of information for me to prepare for the interview, including the job description, tips on things to know, and type of interview questions expected. I was also asked to answer some questions briefly such as what's my favorite google product, preferred location etc. It was right before the Christmas holiday so the interview was scheduled about a week after the new year. I had the luxury of the entire two weeks to prepare for it.
It was a 45 minute phone interview with one of the product manager. I found it a bit hard to interact with somebody over the phone especially when answering about product design questions, because I cannot observe the reaction of the other end.
It was a good experience overall. The last question was about algorithm and run time. It was actually quite simple when I thought about it afterward, but at the time, I wasn't being very smart about it. I had a computer engineering degree, but have not done programming in years. Also, this was the first interview I had in couple of years. So I felt a bit rusty, especially answering the technical question.
To prepare, I read a lot of technical interview examples and followed the Google product news and user feedback for a while to get familiar.
assuming you are the owner of a user review website, such as Yelp. How do you design a button that returns a list of recommended restaurants that you like.
you are on a biz trip and travelling from one city to another. you have a stack of unsorted flight boarding passes. only departure city and destination city are on the boarding pass. how do you find the first departure city and your final destination city
The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Google (Pittsburgh, PA) in May 2010
Interview
I applied and was contacted by a recruiter via email about 4 weeks later. I had two phone interviews, both consisted of problem solving questions. Don't prepare for the whole "Tell me about yourself" question because they don't bother to ask. Both times the interviewer jumped right into the questions. I actually thought that my second interview went very well - much better than my first, but I didn't get past this round. I'll get them next time.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Estimate how much it would cost to put wifi in San Fran.