I applied through a recruiter. The process took 1+ week. I interviewed at Google (Mountain View, CA) in Dec 2013
Interview
Recruiter contacted me via LinkedIn. After a quick phone chat, she setup a phone interview with a Product Manager. I work at a direct competitor with solid experience - so I wasn't too worried. I thought the phone interview went great, but was disappointed to hear that they are not moving forward with the process. As per Google policy, no feedback was provided.
I was surprised by the result of the interview since I thought it went great. It was casual, low key. We discussed my resume with details on instances at my job where I had demonstrated specific skills. We also discussed my favorite google product and two features that I would add to it if I were the Product Manager.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
None. Everything was straightforward and non technical.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Google (Mountain View, CA) in Aug 2013
Interview
A recruiter reached out to me for the Product Manager role. The interview process includes a HR phone interview, 1st round phone interview with a current Product Manager, and final round includes an onsite 5/6 back-to-back interviews with a combination of Product Managers and Directors. The onsite interview also includes a free lunch at Google offices, where you can ask informal questions to a current Product Manager.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
The questions are used to test your thinking. I don't remember the exact questions, but be prepared to justify your logic very thoroughly. The questions are actually fun and stretch your brain and can steer your conversation with the interviewer.
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 3 weeks. I interviewed at Google (London, England) in Mar 2013
Interview
In March 2013 I applied for a Product Manager role in Europe.
I had a preliminary screening call with one of their recruiters, which was really useful. In fact, I found the recruiters to be really helpful throughout - sending through cheat sheets for the interview, etc.
I then had a call with a London-based Product Manager who had been in the role for 4.5 years. It was supposed to be a 45 min call but he rang late, so the whole thing felt really rushed. He didn't really refer to my CV at all, but seemed to be following a script. All throughout it felt like a game of fish - I obviously wasn't giving him the answers he was after. It was a frustrating experience.
I got rang the next week and told that I didn't have the product management experience needed at Google's scale. That was a frustrating answer, I thought they were interested in me precisely because I didn't fit the standard profile (I was the CEO of a UX firm).
Interview questions [3]
Question 1
* Imagine you were creating a search engine for events, how would you go about it?