I applied online. The process took 8+ months. I interviewed at Google (Mountain View, CA) in Jun 2014
Interview
Google has a system of recruitment where recruiters are specifically tasked to recruit for a specific position. Furthermore, Google's positions are very specifically defined. When I worked for Bell Laboratories, I was hired in as member of the technical staff. I had a set of specific skills that had me working on human factors related projects, however, I could work in a variety of different positions and many people did.
I applied online. The process took 2 weeks. I interviewed at Google (Ann Arbor, MI) in Apr 2014
Interview
I first applied online, it took a month to hear from them. Two recruiters helped to schedule my interview. And I was interviewed by a Google UX researcher. I heard back from the recruiter a week later.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
I did not expect the phone interview would have exercise questions
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 2+ months. I interviewed at Google in Jan 2014
Interview
After being contacted by a recruiter, I submitted my resume. Next, I was called for a phone interview. The questions seemed very scripted and it felt like more of a phone screen, with a mix of questions about my background as well as technical questions (research technical q's - not programming). The interviewer was a little brusque, which was a bit off-putting. A week later I had second phone interview, which was quite pleasant: The interviewer asked about my areas of interest and research background, and shared their thoughts on what working at Google is like. I think it was at least a week after the second phone interview that I was invited onsite. The onsite consisted of a presentation followed by 4 1-1 interviews. (I had one week to prepare the presentation.) Everyone was very friendly and asked good, tough questions. I felt like there was more focus on how I answered and approached questions rather than a "right" answer. It was quite a few weeks until I heard back from the recruiter that I passed the hiring committee. After that, I had a follow up interview with the person who would later become my manager. One week after that, I had an offer which seemed very competitive. Overall the process took 2.5 months.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Here are a few questions I was asked:
- How do you know if you are asking the right research questions for a project?
- How do you know when a project is "done"?
- How would you design an engagement metric for a job website?
- Define p value