I received a message from a recruiter back in July about an opportunity at Google. I responded positively, asking what positions were available. The recruiter then inquired about my areas of interest, and I specified Engineering Manager. Subsequently, he connected me with a colleague specializing in hiring leadership, and we scheduled a call for July 29th.

I waited on Hangouts for the call, but no one joined. I sent an email, which went unanswered. After three more days of silence, I sent a final email stating that the lack of professionalism meant I was no longer interested in continuing the process.

A few hours later, I received a lengthy apology email with extensive information about available positions.

I accepted the apology and continued the process. The recruiter asked if I knew anyone working at Google, and I provided a list of about a dozen individuals. He later asked for this list again, which made me feel he wasn't reading my previous communications.

We then scheduled the Technical Product Interview (TPI), which I passed. Following that, he requested dates for the full in-person (F2F) interviews. I provided my availability, and he indicated he would call the next day, which did not happen. I sent a reminder about this.

He was also supposed to call me again prior to the F2F interviews for additional preparation, but this also did not occur. I completed my F2F interviews and returned home.

A few days later, he called and informed me that some of my interview feedback was mixed. While coding, management, and fit were positive, system design and leadership received mixed reviews. He suggested we could still proceed to the hiring committee with the current feedback, but it would be beneficial to have a couple more remote interviews focused on leadership and system design.

I again provided availability for these new interviews, and it took a considerable amount of time to schedule them.

Before these remote interviews, I emailed the recruiter to see if we could discuss preparation, but I never received a response.

When the interviews took place, to my surprise, one was entirely focused on coding (problem-solving), and the other was approximately 80% coding with only 20% on leadership – about 3-4 questions, which I had already been asked twice during the F2F loop and the TPI.

I was confused about where the leadership and system design components, which were supposed to be re-evaluated, had gone.

At this point, I was quite frustrated and sent an email stating that the interviews were not relevant to the feedback I had previously received.

He seemed displeased with my email (partly because I did not address him by name) and stated that the feedback from the two additional interviews was positive and that he would proceed with my application to the hiring committee. When I questioned the absence of leadership and system design evaluation, his response was, "We still have some indications for that from the F2F interview!!"

I was taken aback, wondering why I had needed to complete those additional interviews then.

The last call was on October 11th, a Friday. I mentioned I was waiting for an offer from another company that could arrive at any moment. He informed me that the hiring committee would decide on my application the following Thursday, October 17th, and that he would call me immediately afterward with the results.

He stated he would send a summary email of our phone conversation (he did not), information on currently open positions he thought I might be suitable for (he did not), and that he would discuss my application with different hiring managers (I have no way of knowing if he did, but I suspect not).

October 17th arrived, and I received no communication. I waited through Friday, October 18th, still with nothing. I sent him an email and waited until Tuesday, but still, no response.

I sent another email explaining that I had received the other offer and was delaying their decision but needed to know at least a timeframe. Again, no response.

Today, October 24th, I have had ZERO communication from him since October 11th. I emailed the initial recruiter about the situation, and just an hour later, he responded, stating my main recruiter had been in and out of the office for the past few weeks and that he would try to reach him to ascertain my application's status.

As of this moment, I still have no idea about my application status. However, I have decided that I will not accept the offer if it comes through, nor will I ever apply to Google again, regardless of the outcome.

This has been the worst interview experience I have ever had.

Just really simple questions about management, a couple of system design questions, and one coding question.