I applied through a recruiter. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Google in Nov 2015
Interview
I had a phone screen for a Product Manager position in no particular part of Google. This was on the heels of two other phone screens and a full day of on-site interviews for a Technical Program Manager role. (That experience was a boondoggle of its own. After flying me to CA the recruiter went MIA mid-process - emails even bounced back - and there was no follow-up. They ultimately told me they lost headcount for the position.)
A generally combative man interviewed me for the Product Manager. He made virtually zero attempt to understand my skills and 20-years of industry experience. Instead, he chose to berate me with two questions for virtually the entire call.
Overall, I felt my interviewer’s demeanor was consistent with the 10 or so “Googlers” I’ve met so far, which is to say generally arrogant and challenging. He was not the type of person I’d want to work with, and I’m grateful I did not advance in the interview process.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
There were just two questions the entire hour. How would you solve homelessness in downtown San Francisco? What is the market for driverless cars in the year 2020?
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.