I was initially sourced by a Google recruiter via LinkedIn. However, since I knew Google places a lot more importance on employee referral, I got my resume referred a college senior working at the same team. I was immediately contacted by another recruiter after submission of resume and was asked for convenient time slots. First interview was telephonic with the HR and lasted about 25 mins. Within a few hours, I received an invitation for another round of telephonic interview with someone from Product Quality Operations team. This interview (~35-40 mins) was more detailed and included discussions about my current role, projects and quite a lot about my knowledge of various Google products and scenario based questions. It followed by two more back to back video conference interviews via Google+ Hangout, each of which lasted for around an hour. These rounds were also similar but went more into detail. Quite a few questions were common across interviews. Worth noting is I was never asked about my coding skills since the job role does not require any hardcore coding. The formats of all the interviews were very conversation-like and people with passion for the job would really enjoy it like I did. Final round was the Director of the team in India and it was short and brief. It hardly lasted for about 20 mins. I suppose this round was more about just verification or final overview of the candidate. I was told by my recruiter that each interviewer gives a rating along with their detailed opinion of the candidate. In the end, all interviewers take a final collective decision. I was informed within 2 days of my final interview that Google India wants to extend an offer to me, pending confirmation from their US office. From what I gathered from my personal research, each job offer is reviewed by one of their top executives before making a final offer. Once that decision is made, the compensation committee decides the compensation. This waiting period was really long for me at it took nearly 4 weeks for them to make the final offer after India office had made their decision.

I have been contacted by a recruiter by mail. Two days later, I had a first phone interview with the recruiter discussing my studies and experience. After a week, a phone screening interview with an analyst of the product quality team has been scheduled. A week later, I had three onsite interviews. The interview questions are mostly hypothetical situations testing analytical skills and good knowledge of google products (search, AdWords, Youtube,..).