I was a very inexperienced personnel at the time so I always knew it was a long shot. But I decided to apply anyway. Needless to say I only made it to the initial phone stage after submitting my CV/Cover letter online. But I was happy I got the chance to have a try. As expected the recruiter was very pleasant and easy to talk to. A lot of the interview was based around Adwords and my understanding of it. She asked me to explain Adwords to a child, which I felt I did alright in. A big portion was also based around my general background and what I am doing in my current position. Fairly standard for an initial phone screening I'd imagine. She also explained in detail how the interview process works, which I was impressed with seeing as she probably has to do that over 100 times a week. The dynamic of the actual position itself was also explained to me, and she told me how each person is issued accounts etc. You can have a small set of large accounts, or a large amount of small accounts. Other questions included: Why do you want to work for Google? What do you admire about Google? What is your proudest achievement? Are you applying for other positions at the moment? She also asked the standard "do you have any questions for me". I asked her about charity involvement of Google and she had much to talk about that. She said being at Google is like college in the way that there are lots of societies and you can join any one of them and really get immersed. Sounds pretty sweet to me! I will probably interview again with them at some stage as they told me I didn't have enough experience, and they were right. She also encouraged me to apply again at a later stage which was nice. I would recommend anyone applying to really be themselves, but also to be informed and have an opinion. Obviously you've probably heard of this "Googlyness" thing and I think they do value that alright. I knew two people already working there and this was something they consistently mentioned to me when I was preparing. I know it's a lot easier said than done, but try to be yourself! They're only people at the other end and they just want to see are you a right fit for the company. If you have the opinions/knowledge/expertise that will show through, just don't hinder your chances by trying to be too formal/someone you're not! Personality is vital. Good luck!