Long and slow interview. I wish Google moved faster, it was the slowest moving interview process I had. I was referred into google and it took about a week before I got contacted. Interview was scheduled by the recruiter a few days afterward. It was a very simple phone interview. Basic information about design at google and basic questions about my story. I got an email I'm moving onto the next step that day. I needed to provide 7 dates/times for the chat with a hiring manager that was interested in me. The hiring manager call asked me to walk through pieces in my portfolio and had very specific questions. It was very clear he went through my portfolio thoroughly. Which was great. He came off really robotic, however, and it was hard to get a sense of how I was doing on the call. It was also question after question and clear he had a very specific number he had to go through. This might be google's policy? To seem unbiased? However, designers at the onsite were a lot more human :) I passed this round and was asked to move onsite (feedback within 3 business days). Before scheduling onsite I was asked to talk to two other hiring managers who were interested in me. It seemed like the recruiter was waiting for a "yes" from the hiring manager before proceeding to the onsite. But these calls did delay the onsite by yet another week or so. I proceeded to onsite with the team that I was most interested in at their location. This was great to actually meet with people in the pillar. I had heard Google made you interview with randos so I was happily surprised and got a better sense of the team. Onsite had to be scheduled more than 7days after the "let's schedule onsite" email. This was so you had time to work on your design prompt. For the prompt, unlike in the past where they reviewed it before inviting you to the onsite. They gave it to me and I just had to present it live. No feedback prior. Because of other onsites I had, I could only spend 3 days (the weekend) working on the presentation/challenge. My challenge did have some basic user research, online research, wireframes, one user test, and one flow in hifidelity. I'm glad they invited me without the review prior. It would have been disheartening to work a long time on it and get rejected without presenting it to anyone. Throughout this the recruiters have been really helpful and caring. One even hopped on a prep call before the onsite to calm my nerves/help me get an understanding of what was supposed to happen. Since my timeline was compressed (had other offers) I didn't know who I was talking to until I got there in the morning. Recruiter was super nice. She even sent me a good luck email the day before! If I had more time, I'm sure she would have been happy to review my design challenge. At the onsite I had 45 minute presentation for the design challenge AND past works. It was difficult squeezing everything in. They care about time so be sure to practice. I made note cards since you needed to do a video call and share your screen (won't see your google slide notes!). Google Slides was SO ANNOYING since all my other presentations were created with keynote. But it's suggested you work on google slides & because you need to send you presentation to the recruiter & they can share with the hiring committee. Do it in google slides even though it stinks. Then I had three 45 minute conversations with UX designers (including a manager) and they all asked whiteboard questions. One even snuck in a brief app critique. I had 1 "technical" interview with another UX designer but this was mainly tools, how I work, working with developers, creating accessible designs. And finally one non design session with a UX writer. She asked a lot of behavioral questions how I gave feedback etc. After the onsite, the recruiter contacted me within a day or two and told me things were trending positive and she was moving it to hiring committee. She messaged me right after the hiring committee meeting (that DAY, she rocks as a recruiter) and let me know I passed. However, I was down leveled to entry level. Since I had other competing offers I declined to go any further. If I didn't she mentioned you can try and re-level by having more calls.

The interview process felt quite unprofessional. HR emailed me on the same day and asked me to choose an interview time that day, which felt very unreasonable and gave me almost no time to prepare. After the phone screen, I was supposed to interview with the hiring manager, but the coordination seemed to missing something. No interview was scheduled, and I only found out something was wrong when I followed up during the interview week. I then received a last-minute calendar invitation. After the interview, there was no follow-up at all. I finally received a rejection email about a month and a half later. Overall, the process showed a lack of respect for candidates.