Candidates applying for Category Manager roles take an average of 35 days to get hired, when considering 2 user submitted interviews for this role. To compare, the hiring process at Google overall takes an average of 38 days.
Common stages of the interview process at Google as a Category Manager according to 2 Glassdoor interviews include:
One on one interview: 100%
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Stone faced, cold interviewer who himself exhibits no “googliness” traits. He started the interview with “my name is on the screen. Walk me through your resume.” The interview questions were not crafted well to be conducive to using a framework approach to answer. The prep guide is very generic and not too helpful, as the interviews are lousy and drive a lot of bias. My interviewer didn’t like my background. He wasn’t my hiring manager, but rather a Sr. cat Mgr in the team. It was clear he was looking for something different and he spent 20mins showing disinterest in the interview. I followed up 6 days later only to hear they won’t be moving forward with me.
I expected better from Google. Very disappointed. Very disorganized.
I applied online. The process took 5 weeks. I interviewed at Google
Interview
It started off very well documented. They send you a large list of prep items that seems as though it has everything included. I studied the materials but knew Google is prone to asking off the wall questions so I wanted to remain flexible. The recruiter who assists you will urge you to set up a call with them to prep for your interview. Initially, I was thrilled as inside knowledge would be very helpful to prep. That soon turned to disappointment as the recruiter (the same one who just told me to schedule a call with her) had 0 availability in the two weeks prior to the interview. I followed up multiple times after the initial email to see if any availability could be provided and 0 reply was sent. The recruiter then called me at 7PM CT with 0 prior warning while I was out to dinner to “prep me for the call the next day”. The prep session essentially boiled down to her saying “ask as many questions as you can”. The actual interview was a video call with the Director overseeing my department. Stone faced interviewer which is fine but not welcoming. After his first question (as a reminder, all interview prep and the recruiter will tell you to ask questions to their questions) I asked a very simple question in which my interviewer had a visible reaction and said “I’m not going to answer any questions or it’ll give away the right answer”. Incredibly conflicting with all previous material provided saying “there are no right answers”. The rest of the interview was more technical related questions in which in the interviewer made comments based on his personal opinion of how you should have acted in that situation. Overall, a confusing and convoluted process that ultimately left me disappointed in Google. It might just be the Procurement team but the entire process felt disorganized and thrown together.