I was contacted by a Google recruiter on LinkedIn. He got me in touch with another recruiter who was more suited to my level of experience. The recruiter explained everything to me. The only part I can attest to is the technical interview though.
I had a phone interview with a Software Engineer from Google. We were both on the same Google Doc where he pasted a problem. I was allowed to answer it in any language I was comfortable with (the Software Engineer assigned to interview me knew all the languages I had claimed to be experienced with).
It was my first interview of this kind ever. I cracked under pressure. I gave a correct answer, but it took time and it was definitely not the best answer. The recruiter called me a week later and told me to keep working on my skills and knowledge and try again in a year or two.