I applied through a recruiter. The process took 2 months. I interviewed at Google (Mountain View, CA) in Nov 2012
Interview
First line recruiter is very helpful and candid about the process. He also followed up with me closely. The best recruiter I've ever met. However, the recruiter who took over the on-campus interview process was typical. Slow, non-responsive, but was courteous when we met in person on the interview day.
Interview questions [1]
Question 1
Asked me how I monetized a mobile app which I had supervised. Kept digging on this issue even though I've plainly stated that I couldn't figure out an effective way to monetize a socialization-based mobile app. The flow of the interview got to a snail's pace.
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.