Applied via the reference of a longtime employee at Google. This was extremely useful because he could be a squeaky wheel to bother recruiting coordinators (of which there were exactly four!).

• Phone screen. Great conversation – we just talked about my resume. Couldn't ask any questions about the position, work, team, etc., because it was Google X.

• Waiting/scheduling game. They asked for three weeks (!) of availability. I did the best I could, but ended up having to fly home early because they chose the very first day (where I had hoped they would choose sometime in the middle of my date range).

• Handed off from recruiter to coordinator to coordinator. Filled out the full paper application.

• Full day of interviews on-site! I was interviewed by exactly nine people, because they had a lot of 'shadow' interviews for new employees. Of the nine, I would say four were a joy to talk to, three were quiet/boring/had poor English language skills, and one guy was an utter jerk. Maybe he was having a bad day, but he kept on asking very general questions, then interrupting as soon as I began to answer to tell me that he didn't understand or that my answer was too general. Questions were generally open-ended and related to the position and my past experience. Some personality questions, too, but the interviewers seemed generally confused about what the role would entail – the scope of what they assumed I would be doing spanned about five very different jobs, only about two of which I have the experience for and interest in doing.

• Staffing coordinator begins to fail. Says he'll get back conclusively by a certain date. Fails to do so, but says it doesn't sound likely and that I'm not a perfect fit. I check in a couple weeks later; he says that I should take other offers if I have them, but he will get back to me soon for a final decision. I check in again after a couple weeks…he says the exact same thing. Still waiting, double-digit weeks later. Bleh.

Would you be okay with working in Asia for a year straight? This is very important for our work right now.