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My Nightmare Interviews With Google

businessinsider.com

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Re: My Nightmare Interviews With Google

#71

Post by diN0bot »

ashishbharthi wrote: post #48
tomsaffell wrote: post #40

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Totally agree that she was not right for the job, but the process was a bit nightmare-ish : “That’s all. Good luck with your job search.” The phone clicked-- I was stunned. In my previous job I conducted a lot of interviews of an analytical style. Some people bombed so badly that is was clear well before the end that they wouldn't make the next round. In those cases, I used the remaining time to either talk to them a…

Googlers are not that bad at ending interviews either. I think this was just one perticular person (Anna) thing.

i agree. i interviewed at Google and thought the whole process was lots of fun. i didn't have any complaints about the people. (i might be biased because i was offered a job; however, i didn't take it, preferring to work at a startup instead.)

Re: My Nightmare Interviews With Google

#72

Post by ephermata »

zachware wrote: post #43

This wasn't an interview, it was a test. I had a similar experience with a startup. I was interviewing for a Marketing Communications Manager position. Essentially PR. One of the unofficial interviewers (at 24 year old MIT engineer working as an email marketer) challenged me with the question "How many barbers are in San Francisco?" We proceeded to map it out the analytical process on the whiteboard. He wanted to see…

The "how many X are in Y" is also known as a "case study question." From what I understand it's a standard practice in interviews for consulting companies, such as Bain or McKinsey. I've never seen one in an interview, but friends of mine who took that route obsessed over them.

As your interviewer said, these questions are asked just to see how you will come up with an answer. The actual number hardly matters, so long as you can sell it to the interviewer. Pushing you is part of the process, as well, to see how you hold up "under pressure."

If you want to be uncharitable, this is much like what a management consultant does -- come in, get some problem from a troubled company ("How can we improve sales by 20% in six months?"), develop a strategy, and then convince the client that they should do it. The interview technique makes sense for that context because it selects for people who can pull this off.

Actually, for a PR role I don't think this question is such a bad fit. You will have to think quickly on your feet, answer hostile people, and come up with diplomatic, plausible answers to crazy questions ("why does your product not work with Slackware?"). The precise answer is of course important, since if you're wrong you will be caught, but how you react is more important.

Re: My Nightmare Interviews With Google

#73

Post by actionjackson »

scscsc wrote: post #51

' “Say an advertiser makes $0.10 every time someone clicks on their ad. Only 20% of people who visit the site click on their ad. How many people need to visit the site for the advertiser to make $20?” I froze. The problem sounded easy but I didn’t want to cause an awkward silence trying to solve it. ' The problem only sounded easy? Isn't this what you learn in 3rd grade? When you can't do this stuff you shouldn't be…

In America, most people will not know the answer to that question.

Re: My Nightmare Interviews With Google

#74

Post by anigbrowl »

harpastum wrote: post #28
jonknee wrote: post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sounds like that's what she was doing... "Associate Product Marketing Manager"

I realize that she was under some pretty severe stress, but a marketing manager that thinks gmail earns ~$70,000 a day? Or that each user will click on seven ads a day? “Google places four ads per e-mail opened in Gmail. Advertisers get to pick their click-through rates, which can be as little as $0.05...Say each G-mail user opens seven new e-mails a day. They would see 28 ads. If they click on ¼ of those ads, then o…

What surprises me is the reasoning path she took (ie estimating customer behavior). I'd have tried to guess how many servers they need for that (uuuuh...100,000?) and how much they cost a year ($1000 each, $100m?) and what's an acceptable profit margin (20%? So about $300,000/day in earnings).

Then again you could figure Google makes about $5 billion a year in profit, say a tenth of that comes from gmail, and the profit margin is 10%, suggesting ~$15m a day in earnings (not profits) which is off by a factor of 500 from the above. That sounds a lot more likely.

Re: My Nightmare Interviews With Google

#75

Post by zackattack »

jonknee wrote: post #24
zackattack wrote: post #14

That wasn't a nightmare interview; she is clearly unqualified for an analytical role. She should get a job in advertising instead.

Sounds like that's what she was doing... "Associate Product Marketing Manager"

Um, a marketing manager is an analytical role. When I said a "a role in advertising" I was referring to making ads, or ad copy.

Re: My Nightmare Interviews With Google

#76

Post by anigbrowl »

dlevine wrote: post #35

I worked for Google for a few years, and did a lot of phone screens. Most of the people who I interviewed probably felt the same way as this lady. The process may seem brutal, but it is impossible to invite everyone in for an on-site interview, and the phone screen does a pretty good job of filtering out the definite nos (although I'm sure that some good candidates are rejected). I could count the number of people wh…

Out of curiosity (I have no plans to apply to Google), what kind of criteria are used to identify prospective candidates? For example, does Google only look at the top 10% of academic performers and winnow from there, or sample across the board and then start filtering for critical thinking? I'm just thinking about the fact that many industry luminaries didn't bother to finish college, but rather stayed long enough to pick up some new intellectual tools and then started selling their ideas as soon as they had decided which way the wind was blowing.

Re: My Nightmare Interviews With Google

#77

Post by boredguy8 »

I liked the "quiz" question someone posted on the linked "Business Insider" article:

You work for a digital age media company who has already achieved superior market dominance in an industry rife with failure and turnover. Your company's stock, though depressed, still sells for multiples above its competition and the option pool is pretty full and limited.

The company's single main product continues to grow its revenues nicely but has failed at virtually all attempts to broaden its product line so it remains reliant on its single huge product which may come under government anti-trust action at some point in the future to say nothing of two leading competitors aiming to unseat it. It's only other breakthrough products are given away free or at nominal charge with no discernable profitable business model.

Is it a good career choice to join or stay with this firm even though they pride themselves on asking stupid quiz questions to gauge your intelligence and make you feel very special if you are offered a position?

Re: My Nightmare Interviews With Google

#78

Post by jrockway »

boredguy8 wrote: post #77

I liked the "quiz" question someone posted on the linked "Business Insider" article: You work for a digital age media company who has already achieved superior market dominance in an industry rife with failure and turnover. Your company's stock, though depressed, still sells for multiples above its competition and the option pool is pretty full and limited. The company's single main product continues to grow its reve…

Speculation is for investors. As long as you get your paycheck, who cares? (And "when" they stop giving paychecks, Google will look pretty good on your resume'.)

Why are people so upset about the "quiz questions"? Is it unreasonable for an employer to expect you to think? (Is the "right answer" ever the goal of these questions?)

Re: My Nightmare Interviews With Google

#79

Post by dsplittgerber »

biznerd wrote: post #63
yummyfajitas wrote: post #32

Earlier quoted context omitted.

She also bombed a middle school level math problem. One question (paraphrased): $0.10 cpc, with a 20% of visits resulting in a click. How many visits needed to make $20? After five painful minutes the annoyed interviewer gave me the answer...She made it sound so easy; I felt like a moron. She is innumerate. If I were illiterate, I'd probably describe an interview at McGraw Hill as nightmarish. "After five painful min…

Or she was just very nervous. Your cognitive abilities decline if you're put on the spot. Have you ever said something stupid while speaking in front of a group? The girl goes to Syracuse, which is a somewhat selective University. She would not have gotten in if she couldn't do the math (her SAT scores simply wouldn't be high enough.) This question would have been easy for me and actually would have probably boosted…

Who cares about her SAT score (which someone can spend months preparing for) if she can not perform under pressure? It's not Google's job to make sure she can withstand the pressure of a stressful job (interview).

Re: My Nightmare Interviews With Google

#80

Post by dsplittgerber »

Shana wrote: post #52

I'm her age. This is essentially a case question straight out of a consulting book. I'm out of practice for it. Way out of practice. Meanwhile, I'm scared stiff of applying for jobs because my entire class has gone crazy about how to behave, what to say, what is the right answer to questions like this. I know I'm not perfect already. I know I have work to do to get better. and the bAck of the evenvelop question is on…

You sound like you're going to break down any minute. Seriously, please relax! If a company seriously cares about the exact wording of your answers, you obviously would not want to work there. Management consultancy is a load of stuff any intelligent and hard-working human can do, they just want to test your basic intelligence and reasoning and check to see if you seem like a sufficiently nice human. Don't sweat it that much, your live doesn't depend on what McKinsey thinks of you.
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