Google Administrative Assistant Interview Questions & Reviews
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Updated Apr 8, 2012 – Interview questions and reviews posted anonymously by interview candidates.
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Difficulty Rating [?] Based on 13 ratings 
“Average” Interview
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Interview Experience [?] Based on 13 ratings
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| 1–10 of 13 Google Interviews | Sort by |
Administrative Assistant at Google
Posted Apr 8, 2012
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1.0
Very Easy Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Oct 2010 in San Francisco, CA (took 2 weeks)
A very pleasant contract recruiter contacted me for a phone interview. During the conversation, we went through basic interview questions, asking why I wanted to work for Google, and "tell me about yourself." The recruiter mentioned that the position largely involved event planning.
I was later invited in for an IQ test at either the SF office or Mountain View. I went to the SF office, where a bored-looking girl dressed in a child's frog suit (it was Halloween) directed me to an archaic machine where I was to type my name and my interviewer's name. It printed out a black & white sticker nametag.
My "interviewer" guided me to a small room with a computer, where I was to take my IQ test. The questions were along the lines of "John, Steve, Mary, Magda, and Sam are waiting for T-Shirts. Steve is behind Mary, who is in front of someone who is in behind John..." And so on. I was also asked to plan an event for engineers and their families.
My overall feeling is that I was taking that test out of obligation, and that Google had long decided to hire someone else.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of an IQ/Intelligence Test and a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Administrative Assistant at Google
Posted Feb 15, 2012
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Feb 2012 in New York, NY (took 3 weeks)
I have 3 friends who work at Google so they warned me ahead of time that the recruitment process is incredibly slow and sometimes unreliable.
I applied for the Administrative Assistant position and within a few days received an email asking to schedule a preliminary phone interview.
The preliminary phone interview asked pretty standard interview questions- why do you want to work at google, what google products do you use, etc. Nothing tricky.
The next day I received an email saying I passed to the next step. The next step was also on the phone, and involved a problem-solving test. A recruiter called me and the call lasted about 30 minutes. He asked me a bunch of questions about how I would go about solving problems in hypothetical job situations at Google. He also asked me one question about my past experiences, something like "tell me about a time when you went above and beyond your assigned duties."
One week later I received a call saying that I did very well on the problem solving test and that they'd be in touch soon with next steps. I was super excited because this problem solving test was supposedly the hardest part in the whole recruitment process.
Another week went by and the recruiter called to say she didn't have any information regarding next steps yet but would be in touch again soon. I eagerly waited for more info.
A few days later she called saying that the team had "revamped" the profile they were looking for in a candidate and that I was no longer a match for the position. She said that since I did so well on the problem solving test, that was proof that I was a solid candidate to work for Google and that she'd keep my application on the active roster and would let me know next time a position opened up that I'd be qualified for. YEAH RIGHT.
Thanks for wasting my time and getting me anxious and excited over nothing, you fools.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through an Employee Referral and the interview consisted of a Skills Test and a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Administrative Assistant at Google
Posted Jan 1, 2012
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Dec 2011 (took 1+ week)
First phone interview was specific questions on what you do at work. Second phone interview was job situational
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Administrative Assistant at Google
Posted Sep 3, 2011
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Jul 2011 in New York, NY (took 2 days)
I spoke with the non-technical recruiter for Google. She asked me some questions about my resume and school, basically prompting me to explain my recent experiences. She also asked Google-related questions such as: Why do you want to work at Google? What have you heard about the company? Why do you think you'd fit in there? What Google products do you use? Since this was a very informal interview, I wasn't asked any of the mind teasers people always seem to get.
The interviewer told me that I wasn't fully qualified to fill the position, but that she thought I was a Google-type person, and I should keep looking for job openings on the site. She also offered to keep in touch with me to explore future possibilities. this may have been due to my recommendation/referral by a highly respected professor from my university. However, she was generally very nice.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Administrative Assistant at Google
Posted Mar 28, 2011
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Feb 2011 (took 3 weeks)
A recruiter called me and did a 10 minute phone screening. It mainly focused on my accomplishments and club involvement in university and my relevant skills pertaining to the position. I passed the screening and the recruiter invited me to set up a time to take the 2-part administrative skills test at Google HQ.
A week later I went to Google to take the skills test. It consisted of 2 logic games (I used an LSAT logic games prep book to study), and then one essay question asking to plan an offsite to reward 100 outstanding Google employees with a budget of $50K. This consisted of showing the budget and trip itinerary you would create and composing an email inviting the employees on the offsite.
That same day my recruiter called me back to say that I had passed the test, and that she would send my resume to teams looking to interview. 5 days later I got a call from a team looking to interview, and three days later I had an on-site interview for two separate positions within the same team. The interview was pretty standard, mostly questions about what I like/don't like about administrative tasks, "what if" questions pertaining to the job, such as "what if you were planning a holiday party for 700 employees, and a week before the party another team cancels their party and now you're in charge of hosting 1400 employees, how would you handle it"? The interviewers were fairly relaxed and we had a good time. There was plenty of laughing going on :)
3 more days later my recruiter called to say the interview went really well and that she would let me know when to schedule my final round interview since there were more candidates.
A week later after me following up with her twice, she informed me that they wanted someone with more experience, but that my resume would stay in circulation at Google and that the team I interviewed with thought highly of me.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview and a Skills Test.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Administrative Assistant at Google
Posted Mar 21, 2011
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Negative Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Jul 2009 in New York, NY (took 3 months)
I started talking to the recruiter and she said she had several positions for me, one of which was on the other coast, but I agreed to also consider it. I had to send my college transcripts and also go into their office to take a long skills test which is a shorter version of an LSAT test. It took several hours. I did very well on the test and then they didn't get back to me about the interview for months, because the position they were considering me for was not quite ready. It was a new branch within the company. Finally, after 2 months of waiting the recruiter got back to me, apologized for the delay and scheduled an interview at their NY office. It was not the position or the department we initially discussed. I was not thrilled about this change and it also felt like she just squeezed me in at the end of the interviewing process for that particular position. I had two interviews in person which seemed lukewarm. It appeared to me that they had already made their decision about someone but were forced to interview me. I blame the recruiter who, after putting me through all kinds of testing and other paper work, sent me to an interview which simply wasn't the best fit. It was a big waste of time.
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through an Employee Referral and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview, a Group/Panel Interview, an IQ/Intelligence Test, a Skills Test and a Background Check.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Administrative Assistant at Google
Posted Feb 21, 2011 — 8 of 8 people found this helpful
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Received and Accepted Offer
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Interviewed Dec 2010 in Mountain View, CA (took 3 months)
I applied online and a recruiter contacted me about a week later to schedule a phone interview. Though the phone interview was seemingly "standard," it was a little more in-depth than most, so be prepared to answer somewhat penetrating and specific questions about your resume. Be ready to defend or explain in very clear examples anything you've put on your resume, all the way back to college (no matter how far removed you are from college).
Phone interview went well so at the end the recruiter said I'd be hearing from a coordinator to schedule a time to go in and take a logic exam. Logic exam was by no means easy, but wasn't insanely hard either. But it did involve common sense and, gasp, logical reasoning. I liked this because it showed that even though this is "just" for an admin position, Google still wants incredibly smart and talented people working in every corner of the company. Being an admin may not be rocket science, but you'd be surprised how many people can screw it up. Clearly Google wants to avoid those people.
Logic exam contained questions like you'd find on an LSAT/GRE. 2 reasoning problem sets and a 3rd open ended "essay" (I use the term essay loosely).
After that, recruiter called to schedule 1:1 interview for me. Under normal circumstances I think they would have flown me out to Mountain View, but since I was living in NYC, they had me go into NYC office and interview over videoconference with person in Mountain View. The next day I found out that position went to an internal candidate, but they still flew me out to Mountain View 2weeks later for a day of three 1:1 back to back interviews for 2 (same) open positions.
Interviews were 30 mins each with little to no time in between. Largely experiential and personality-based, asking me to give concrete examples of various work experiences I've had before. Though not intimidating or "tough," they don't let fluff answers just slide by and will certainly ask you a question again if they felt like you didn't give a substantive answer.
Negotiation Details
Getting an offer from Google is kind of like shopping for a car at Carmax: no negotiation. I'd imagine if you're a rockstar software engineer or applying for a super-senior position, there's likely some wiggle room, but for "regular" positions, I think it's kind of a "take it or leave it" situation. They have a compensation committee that approves all offers to make sure they are fair and competitive with both peers internally and externally.
Having done my research on Google offers, I had a "reasonable" offer in mind, and a lofty expectation offer in mind. The offer they gave me considerably exceeded my loftiest expectation and was a no-brainer. I would have been a fool to try to negotiate more.
Other Details
I Applied Online and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview, an IQ/Intelligence Test and a Background Check.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Administrative Assistant at Google
Posted Jan 25, 2011
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3.0
Average Interview
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Overall Positive Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Oct 2010 (took 3+ weeks)
Initially contacted by a recruiter after being referred from a current employee. She seemed very friendly, helpful, & interested in my possibilities. We scheduled an informational phone interview, during which she highlighted my strengths & the things about me that Google "would love" - more involving my diverse experiences & cultured background than my actual work history. Followed by an Administrative exam on-site in my city, & two 1-on-1 video conference interviews with the office that was hiring.
Interview Questions
Other Details
The interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview and a Skills Test.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Administrative Assistant at Google
Posted Sep 6, 2010
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Aug 2010 (took 1+ week)
They seemed to be very stats oriented. Lots of questions about college, even though I graduated four years ago. Curious about professional organizations, and then drilled on knowledge of Google products. If you don't have experience in the position that you are interviewing for, it may be tricky to move on as they are less likely to want to train new hires.
It's nearly impossible to get an interview if you don't know someone so get referred!
Interview Questions
Other Details
I got the interview through an Employee Referral and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
Administrative Assistant at Google
Posted Jul 20, 2010
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4.0
Difficult Interview
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Overall Neutral Experience
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Interviewed and No Offer
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Interviewed Aug 2008 in Mountain View, CA (took 6 months)
I went through 6 months of series of phone, written test, individual and group interviews before I heard that someone else was hired for the job. It was a great experience going through the interview process, but it wasn't the right company for me.
Other Details
I got the interview through an Employee Referral and the interview consisted of a Phone Interview, a 1:1 Interview, a Group/Panel Interview, an IQ/Intelligence Test, a Skills Test and a Background Check.
Helpful Interview?
Yes |
No
Inappropriate?
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