I applied online. The process took 3 months. I interviewed at Google (Milan) in Nov 2011
Interview
The HR called proposing the role based on a CV sent for a different position a couple of months before. First telephone interview 15 mins abour CV and previuos experiences and skills.
Invited to a face2face interview in Milan, only to discover that the meeting was cancelled.
Invited a second time for a face2face with the manager, one hour about CV and previous experiences and skills. No tricky "classic google" questions.
Received good feedback by HR a few days later, they proposed two calendar options for new interviews, and then called after 15 days to say that the position was cancelled.
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.