I applied through an employee referral. I interviewed at Google
Interview
Applied through a referral. Recruiter interview happened in 2 weeks. Phone interview with a PM happened 1 week after that. Got through to the final round, "virtual" onsite scheduled for end-Jan
Interview questions [2]
Question 1
Tell me about your favourite app. What would you change about it? (found this question online in 100x places so was quite well prepared, I picked a niche app to make my answer different)
Recruiter phone interview, then product phone interview, then onsite 5 interviews (4 product and one eng). The recruiter was amazing and provided feedback and help, was very present and kept me updated.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Tell me about an app you use often, what would you improve about it?
I applied through an employee referral. The process took 4 weeks. I interviewed at Google (Seattle, WA) in Dec 2021
Interview
The recruiter support and handoff throughout the process was solid and very organized. Had a couple of phone screens followed by a virtual on-site. The virtual on-site had 5 interviews: two analytical, one domain PM, two product design.
While three of the interviewers were quite warm and engaged, two interviewers looked quite miserable to be there. Also, both of them were late and didn't really bother with the niceties.
The first PM was quite aggressive and blunt, and I felt rattled enough during the interview. This felt like an Amazon bar raiser interview except the interviewer looked like he hated my presence even though this was my first time running into him. He poo-pooed my answer right off the bat and was quite expressive with his facial expressions. He wasn't wrong but it was a case of "not what you say, it's how you say it".
The second interviewer who I had a challenge with, was about 6 minutes late and looked completely checked out. My answers went over her head, and she had a good bit of challenge framing follow-up questions to keep the interview going. It didn't look like she wanted to be there either and complained about how stretched thin she is and how she needs more resources. She also ended the interview 2 minutes early which for a 45min interview was about 18% of the time
The other three interviewers were quite warm and pleasant to have a chat with. If nothing else, I'm going to be extra warm and nice towards people I interview from now on, thanks to this experience. I shared this feedback with my recruiter who was patient enough to listen to me. I didn't expect this experience from Google.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Usual questions around product design, improvement and estimation questions.