I recently appeared for Google onsite. My telephonic interview was excellent, but in the onsite, I was rejected because I got 3 leaning no hire and 1 no hire. This was my first onsite attempt at Google. Though I am devastated, since I worked very very hard, and I even think all my interviews went well (except one in which I could solve the question only partially) wherein I was able to code up the solution very well and give proper algorithm with 1-2 hints along the way. I just don't understand, why do the interviewers at Google give hints in the first place if taking hints would move you to no hire category. Like, what's better is, you don't give any hints and the candidate is not able to solve the question. That's better since that way the candidate is clear he/she could not solve the question and therefore won't make it. Anyways, I just wanted to ask: 1. Since I didn't get good reviews, can I ever be considered for Google onsite, or no recruiter would touch my profile since I didn't get good reviews. If yes, is 1 year the minimum time to wait or can I be considered slightly early as well (~9/10 months). 2. Are there good number of people at Google who probably didn't do well in the first onsite but then succeeded in the subsequent onsites/rounds and made it? PS: I am not at Dell, but using this account. I am at some other place.
At Google we don't end interviews early. Each interviewer is obligated to stay with you the full 45 minutes. The interviewers genuinely want you to do well and it's do hard to sit and watch someone struggle so much so they give hints. Hints don't automatically move you to "no hire" it all depends on what kind of hints you need. I work with a bunch of people who got in after 2 or 3 tries so just spend the next year practicing LeetCode and studying algorithms and you'll be great.
I had failed a phone interview once in the past too. Is that considered a try as well, and like one has only 3 chances to make it, so the bad phone screen also deducts a chance?
Failed phone interviews don't count for the cool off period so you can try again in less than a year. I don't know of a hard rule that says you get three chances but at some point, if there's no improvement in your interviews you'll stop getting called back. That's why they recommend taking a year and really studying.
Which mock interview service you used ?
I personally always start my interviews easy and move from there. If I start with a hard problem and have to stay with you for 45 minutes, it’s going to really suck. So if you’re asked to reverse a string and do it in 40 minutes, you might feel like you nailed it but that’s a 10 minute warm up. I’ll be super blunt here. I’m assuming you got 3 LNH and 1 NH for coding since everyone passes the googleyness interview. So 100% of your future peers assessed you as not ready. You did not do well and we’re not ready. The chances of 4 interviewers all being wrong is nil at this point. You can try again in 6 months.
I agree. I am not criticizing the interviewers as much but just venting out my disappointment. Do you think recruiters won't give me any chance due to this bad performance? Or like have you seen people getting through in their 2/3 attempt when their first attempt was bad as well? Also, would you mind if I PM you?
Recruiters will give you another chance in 6 months to a year since you passed the phone screen.
How did you know your exact ratings for each interviewer? Were you told, or are you guessing? Google's two largest pools of successful candidates are referrals from current employees and those who previously had interviews but who were not successful. Most do not make it in on their first try.
Sure. Is phone interview considered a failed attempt too? Like, I applied and failed in phone interview three years back. Then, this time I aced the phone interview but failed onsite. So, does that remove 2/3 attempts or a single attempt only? Since I believe only 3 attempts are allowed.
AFAIK, there is no hard or fast rule on number of attempts allowed, though you'll need a cool off period of 6-12 months between attempts. I've seen candidates that have come through that interviewed 5, 7 or 10 years ago. IME phone screens don't count as a failed attempt.
Op. How come you only have 4 rounds ? I thought all engineering on-sites at google have five rounds ?
I have an onsite coming up with only 4 rounds, 2 codings,1 domain specific a the googliness one
Don’t worry, they’ll waste your time like this then offer you $150-180 which you can get at a lot of other places and without all the stress.
How do you know your exact ratings?
can i ask my recruiter for the exact split: H / LH / LNH / NH ?
Recruiters will reach you up to 3 times, so 2 more times I guess. After that recruiters won't reach you out but that doesn't mean you can't interview. Say if someone forwards your resume or you really request the recruiters to give you an interview. Not sure how long is the cool off. There are a lot of people who succeeded on the second/third attempt.