41 of the trickiest questions Google will ask you in a job interview
Career website Glassdoor provides a glimpse of the types of brain-stumping puzzles the tech giant has asked in the past
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Google has a reputation for asking difficult brainteaser questions that challenge how you act under pressure.
Most of them require you to think quantitatively and broadly, and test the way you tackle problems on the spot.
Google probably switches up its questions over time, but career website Glassdoor provides a glimpse of the types of brain-stumping puzzles Google has asked in the past.
Not all of Google's tricky questions are necessarily meant to be brainteasers — some of them sound simple, but turn out to be difficult to answer in a concise way:
What is your favorite Google product, and how would you improve it? — Associate Product Manager, January 2016
If you wanted to bring your dog to work but one of your team members was allergic to dogs what would you do? — Associate Account Strategist, December 2014
If ads were removed from YouTube, how would you monetize it? — Associate Account Strategist, January 2016
What do you know about Google? — Administrative Business Partner Interview, February 2015
Design an evacuation plan for the building. — Business Analyst Interview, November 2014
Which do you think has more advertising potential in Boston, a flower shop or funeral home? — Account Strategist, October 2015
A coin was flipped 1000 times and there were 560 heads. Do you think the coin is biased? — Quantitative Analyst, September 2015
What does "being Googley" mean to you? — Product Specialist, December 2015
Name a prank you would pull on x manager if you were hired. — Google Applications Support Engineer, June 2014
What is your opinion on whether or not individuals should be required to use their official name when opening a gmail or Google + account? — Administrative Assistant Interview, April 2014
What would you want to do if you didn't have to work? — Interaction Designer, September 2014
What scares you? — Business Analyst Interview, September 2014
How many ways can you think of to find a needle in a haystack? — Business Associate, May 2014
Estimate the number of tennis balls that can fit into a plane. — Intern, December 2015
If you could be remembered for one sentence, what would it be? — Associate Account Strategist Interview, March 2014
If you could only choose one song to play every time you walked into a room for the rest of your life, what would it be? — Associate Account Strategist Interview, March 2014
How do you think the digital advertising world will change in the next 3 years? — Creative Director, January 2016
What three things would you change at your university/work place if you were CEO today? — Account Strategist Interview, April 2014
Describe AdWords to a seven-year-old. — Associate Account Strategist Interview, December 2014
You have a grocery delivery service (similar to Amazon Fresh) which delivers food within 24 hours. Estimate how many trucks you need to operate this service. — Product Manager, November 2015
How would you explain cloud computing to a 6 year old? — Product Manager, November 2015
Tell me what you think about Google charging users $1/month to use GMail. — BOLD Candidate, October 2015
How many haircuts do you think happen in America every year? — Business Associate, May 2014
List six things that make you nervous. — Android Support Level III, July 2014
Tell me something about you that isn't on your resume. — Associate Account Strategist Interview, March 2014
What is the market for driverless cars in the year 2020? — Product Manager, November 2015
Model raindrops falling on a sidewalk (sidewalk is 1m and raindrops are 1cm). How could we know when the sidewalk is completely wet? — Software Engineer, January 2016
How would I explain the importance of HTML 5 to Larry Page and then to my grandma. — Creative Specialist, January 2016
Tell me a joke. — Executive Assistant Interview, March 2014
The best question in my opinion was, they asked me at this stage whether you prefer earning or learning. — Software Engineer, January 2016
If I gave you 10 million dollars right now, what would you do? — Associate Account Strategist, May 2014
Define a service that would allow you to travel to the future. — Interaction Designer, December 2015
Would you remove the link to an extremist piece of writing? — Legal Assistant, December 2015
How could you solve humankind's biggest crisis given one billion dollars and a spacecraft? — Database Administrator, December 2015
You have a colony on Mars that you want to communicate with. How do you build a system to communicate with them? — Associate Product Manager, November 2014
How many cars travel across a bridge each day? — Advertising Interview, September 2014
If you had access to a bank's database, how would you use that information to design an ATM for elderly people? — Associate Product Manager, February 2015
How would you improve a shoe factory? — Field Operations Specialist, November 2014
Design a mobile social app for a chain of local orthodontist offices. — Product Manager, November 2015
What are the number of new book titles published in the US each year? — Product Manager, November 2015
How would you solve homelessness in downtown San Francisco? — Product Manager, November 2015
Lisa Eadicicco contributed to an earlier version of this story.
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