Finally, a 6 long month interview process has come to an end. It was difficult to tell the result out-loud. This unexpected chapter of my life does not meet a good end as I was not able to make through the last round of the process. However, I believe that my story can help potential candidates excel in the interviews and avoid mistakes that I might have committed.
Through this blog, I would be sharing my interview experiences and things I learned during the internship process.
Being a self-taught designer and without any major degree in Computer/Interaction/Design, I had never expected that I would get a chance to sit for google interview. Well, life is unpredictable so I applied for Google UX Internship in early September with the hope that Companies value skills more than our degree. Next day, I got a reply from Google with a hope that they may consider my profile.
Months passed but I didn’t hear anything from my recruiting manager. My anxiety kept on increasing and I kept on mailing HR after every 2–3 weeks to know about the application status.
Here, I would like to thanks my Hiring manager for her kind and supportive nature in handling my all follow up emails, taking out time from her busy schedule and constantly updating me about my status.
4 Months passed and when I had totally left any hope for the internship at Google, A reply hit my inbox on 3 January informing that my profile was shortlisted for the internship and I need to complete the task before 9 January. I was so happy that Google truly values skills more than a degree.
Google has a unique hiring process that was totally different from what I had experienced earlier. It was a long process that took several weeks and constantly tested my patience. During the process, they strive to keep you updated but don’t hesitate to reach out to your recruiter if you have any questions.
After your interviews are done, independent hiring committees made up of Googlers at various levels of the company review your candidate packet, which includes your interview feedback and scores, your resume, references, and any work samples you submitted.
To know more visit: https://careers.google.com/how-we-hire/
My internship process was broken down into 3 stages-
For the task, I was asked to select one problem statement from the given 3 choices and submit the problem statement within one week. Given the confidentiality of the task, I cannot tell you the details of the problem statement. Here I have tried to compile some useful tips-
“A well documented submission is a key to a successful assignment submission.”
After a month of submission, I was informed that I got shortlisted for the first round of the interview. My hiring manager shared some resources to help prepare for the interview.
A day later I was informed about the dates and time of the interview. They also set up a test hangout session to check if the hangout link is working fine and I am comfortable with using Hangout.
I sat in my chair 15 minutes before the interview to make sure the internet, the video camera, and the microphone were all functioning correctly. Two designers(Design Lead and Interaction Designer) from the hiring team took my interview. The interview was of total 45 mins and it started with the Design lead explaining how the time would be distributed for the interview-
Here are the things I learned from this interview-
One thing I really appreciated about my interviewer during this interview was that he took the time to provide feedback on my design challenge. Design lead also appreciated and encouraged me to keep doing what I’m doing. He also mentioned that my story reminds him of his story as well.
Within a week of interview, I was informed about the result on a telephone call. I was equally excited and nervous as this was going to be the last round of the process and I wanted to give my 200% to this interview.
I started with researching about the Hiring team on LinkedIn. I was skeptical about the interview this time. I thought that this interview would majorly focus on how well I fit in the team as technical and portfolio overview was already done in the first round of interview. So, I started to pen down answers to some of the culture related questions in the notebook like what are the values I value the most, what was the good thing about my favourite intern, why I wanted to join Google, how do I see myself 5 years down the lane, why Google should select me, etc.
Contrary to my expectations, This interview took a different turn as this time the whole team wanted to ask more in-depth questions on the assignment that I did. They wanted to know how I arrived at a particular solution.
Similar to the first interview, This interview also started with one of the Designer from the team explaining how the time will be distributed for the interview-
As I was waiting eagerly for the result, I felt that the days got longer and I was unable to sleep. Every hour I kept on checking my inbox for the result. I was too nervous and anxious. Finally, the result arrived and I got rejected in the last round. Disheartened, I have asked for the feedback from my hiring manager. She would revert back to me within next week. I shall be updating the blog with the feedback.
As rightly said, Show must go on. I would continue my internship streak again with the hope that I will meet Google soon.
There’s the basic stuff on google.com:
Articles:
Some of my picked articles:
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