I was first contact by one of Google's internal reviewers. As I'm always open to opportunities, I pointed him to my website and resume. He quickly responded to schedule a phone interview with on of the engineers. The phone interview covered a little background and then two programming (very basic) problems via a shared Google Doc. After the interview, the recruiter emailed me back to schedule a in person interview. This is one of their famous all day interviews of five back-to-back one-on-one whiteboard interviews. The problems covered several basic algorithms, toy problems, internet/browser architecture, and algorithm performance evaluation. A couple of the interviewers allowed the discussion to go deviate from the assigned questions (yes, assigned) to explore issues. All the interviewers were very friendly, and I though the interview went well. It scope of the questions was easier than I had heard from the suggested reading material and various online horror stories. Nonetheless, the did not offer me a position, nor did they explain the reasons or suggest areas of improvement. Regardless, they suggested I apply again next year. :-/

The standard interview process involves five key stages: an initial phone screening, a formal interview with the hiring manager, technical or skills assessments, team-based or panel interviews, and a final culture-fit conversation with senior leadership.