I applied through a recruiter. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Google in Sep 2009
Interview
I received an email scheduling a phone call interview. On the phone the interviewer asked very generic and easy questions about Google (what is Google's primary source of revenue?) and soon it was over. I thought it was just a screening interview and I checked that I had nailed all the answers. I got an email later ending the process. I'm still confused about the experience as it lost mine and their time.
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.