CareerZ Cast Guide to Job Interviews at Google and Big Tech

Google (and similar large tech), remains attractive workplaces for people working in technology, offering opportunity to work with smart colleagues, in supportive environments, and compensation often exceeding market averages. A strong emphasis on technical knowledge and cultural fit means that not everyone will thrive in this environment.

This post does not share any privileged information, it is just a compilation of publicly available knowledge organized to answer to the question “how do I get a job at Google”?

Understanding Google jobs and levels

Google job titles and descriptions can be cryptic. Before applying to specific jobs, focus on whether the company is a good fit for you.

VP, Senior/Managing Director, Director, Senior Manager (or “Head of…”), Manager, etc. are common seniority titles that map into internal levels that you see in crowdsourced comparison sites. A Director is L8-L9, a team manager is typically L6-L7.

Generally, Google titles rank one level above titles in other tech companies. A Google Director title might be equivalent to C-level in a small company, a VP in the average technology company.

Common functional titles in product development and operations organizations include Software Engineer, Web Solutions Engineer, Data Engineer, Data Analyst, Product Manager, Program Manager, Technical Program Manager, Solution Consultant, Technical Solution Consultant, Business Solution Architect.

Referrals

Referrals from current Google employees can expedite your application review. Your referrer can also help you assess fit and identify suitable roles. After the referral, you’ll receive an email with a personalized link to apply for up to three roles. Note that referrals speed up the process but don’t influence selection criteria.

Google Interview Process

Google hiring decisions are made by committee. The hiring manager has limited influence on the selection process after the job description is defined. Google uses in-house recruiters that will be your main point of contact during the process. A hiring process typically takes weeks to a couple of months, with a few informal chats with recruiter, hiring manager, followed by a formal “on-site” (currently mostly done through video-conference) interview panel (3-5 interviews of 45 min each).

Embrace the concept that interview panels are objective. Trust the method, be yourself, and believe the process is good identifying a good match. If you take that attitude, preparing for an interview becomes a lot easier and more natural.

Google’s culture (a.k.a. “Googleyness”) values honesty, transparency, humility, curiosity, positivity, challenging the status quo, inclusivity, adaptability, and the ability to influence without authority.

Google will test for problem understanding/solving (a.k.a. “cognitive ability”). It will also look for functional experience (“role-related knowledge”). Interviews for any technical position will test for computer science knowledge (including coding for most technical positions).

The best approach is to be open, vulnerable, transparent. Demonstrate your thought process, even if you don’t have the “right” answer.

So, other than clearing your mind and refocusing on core values and skills, the only preparation measure I recommend is to have a small collection of real anecdotes from your career you can leverage to answer “STAR” (situation-task-action-results) behavioral questions.

Example of behavioral question and answer

A behavioral question usually takes one of two forms, both following a STAR pattern:

• Past Experience: “Tell me about an occasion in your career where you faced <Situation> while trying to accomplish a <Task>. What <Actions> did you take and what were the <Results>”?
• Hypothetical: “Imagine a <Situation> while trying to accomplish <Task>. How would you handle that, which <Actions> would take and what <Results> would you expect”?

Example: “Imagine that, to reach a certain goal, you needed to collaborate with a partner in a different organization. They say they cannot prioritize the task which yours depend on. How would you handle that situation?”

This question deals with influence and collaboration and allows the candidate to showcase their cultural attributes, organizational skills, functional knowledge.

I would reply along these lines, and recommend you use this as a template to formulate your own authentic answer…

• Confirm and demonstrate that you understand the question before jumping into answering (you might paraphrase the question, you might ask clarifying questions, you can state your assumptions).
• Express attitude/cultural preferences – “My experience is that collaboration is the best way to achieve meaningful results in a complex organization. Accountability systems are useful structured tools to collaboration, but I ultimately believe humans make a difference. I always take the view of what is right from a company perspective. As I establish that personal brand, I become more capable of promoting alignment and efficient execution cross-organizationally.”
• Demonstrate experience/knowledge – “So, in the situation described, my first step would be to make sure the partner and I share perspectives and understand context. In my experience, communicating clearly solve most cross-organizational alignment challenges. If necessary, I would refer to roles and responsibility and organizational objectives as tools to align and prioritize. As a last resource, I would escalate the question and request that our managers solve the impasse so we can move forward together.”
• Make it real – “For example, I recently faced this situation in which I had to…”

Recommendations and Resources

Practice for behavioral interviews – Even with the best of intentions, job interviews measure your ability to talk about the job, not your ability to do it. It is your responsibility as a candidate to make sure your interview performance represents and expresses your experience and skills. Prompt your favorite LLM AI with “What are good interview questions to test for leadership in a technical director role?”. The LLM will provide a list of questions that is surprising similar to the banks of questions interviewers pick their questions from. Practice your STAR anecdotes to the point your can tell them front and backwards.

Practice for technical interviews – Any technical role at Google (including Software Engineer, Web Solution Engineer, Product Manager, Technical Program Manager, Technical Solution Consultant, etc.) might include a technical interview (Computer Science, System Design, Coding). There are several online “guides” to preparing for technical interview

• Resources
  • General Big Tech Interview Practice. There are several YouTube channels dedicated to the subject. One example is: Jeff Sipe’s (I am not associated with Jeff).
  • Technical interviews. Technical interviews for Director roles might probe knowledge in high-level system design/architecture. Technical interview for technical management roles might go deeper that that. For hands-on software development, the interviews are likely to include coding sessions. There are many guides online,  The booklet published by Dinesh Vayani is an example (I am not associated with Dinesh).
  • Google’s own “interview warmup”

Follow-up Action

Don’t skip steps. Spend some time browsing available roles so you understand them. Get a referral if you know an insider, it does make a difference. Prepare for interviews the same way you prepare for anything important in your career. “Winging it” will reduce your change for success and might negatively affect your record in the recruiting platform.

If you found this useful to you, please take the time to share this post with a couple of friends who might be considering applying for jobs at Google or Big Tech as well.

About the author

Marcio first met Google when it was a 5-person startup, as a technology/system supplier for almost 2 decades, and a was a FTE Googler for 4 years to July 2024, as a senior director for the organizations responsible for the technology, systems and platforms used in consumer support/operations and management of the extended workforce. Marcio provides career coaching, including preparations for interviewing or setting up for success in a Google role.