I applied through a recruiter. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Google in May 2012
Interview
recruiter contacted me based on linked in profile, emailed me to ask if i was interested. I said yes and got an interview scheduled in the following week.
Very self-driven, first of multiple rounds, where I had to take the initiative to arrive at the problem, constraints, approach, solutions, tradeoffs and reasoning behind it in a matter of 30 minutes.
You would have to do a hiring assessment first, then a recruiter screening follows. First round interview with the hiring manager. Majorly product sense and product improvement. The questions were not direct though.
Overall a lot of steps to the interview process. Talked to different people and had opportunities to ask questions. Many different stages which made it a lengthy process overall. Wasn't too bad.