I applied through a recruiter. The process took 6 weeks. I interviewed at Google in Oct 2016
Interview
Process started with a phone call with the recruiter, followed by phone interview and then onsite. Onsite interview had 5 interviews: 3 Product Design, 1 Technical and 1 Strategy. There was a lunch discussion but it was not part of the formal interview process. Overall, the interview process was good with the exception of one interview. Interview process at Google is quite standard but there is no room for error. It's not enough for you to be just good, you must be extraordinary in the interview process to get an offer.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Interview 1
Tell me about an app that you like? How would you improve it?
Estimate the number of bicycles required to start a bike sharing operation in a big city.
Interview 2
Pick a Google Product and explain how could you improve it?
Interview 3
How would you assess the opportunity for showing "You may also like" block along with the existing Ads block on Google Shopping
How would you estimate the bandwidth for Gmail for community in Mars?
Interview 4
If I were the CEO of Xerox printing company, how would I think of growth and providing shareholder value since the printing industry is dying. This was a phone interview, and due to some technical difficulties, it started late. Interviewer did not seem too interested in understanding my response, was fixated on what he thought was the right answer.
Interview 5
Designing camera that always uploads
How would I estimate the cost for such service?
Would this device upload at all times or less frequently?
How would I reduce the cost for such a service?
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.
You would have to do a hiring assessment first, then a recruiter screening follows. First round interview with the hiring manager. Majorly product sense and product improvement. The questions were not direct though.
Overall a lot of steps to the interview process. Talked to different people and had opportunities to ask questions. Many different stages which made it a lengthy process overall. Wasn't too bad.