I've been contacted several times by Google recruiters and the interactions have always left a bad taste in my mouth (and I've never even agreed to go forward with the interview process). They won't tell me what projects / products I'd be working on at Google if hired, which right off the bat is a non-starter for me. They want me to spend weeks studying puzzle coding problems for the interviews, which is also a non-starter. It seems like the entire process is centered around me proving to them that I am willing to go along with whatever they say. It's not a two way street at all.
As an experienced engineer who is happy in his current job, what is my motivation to jump ship? Google recruiters act like the chance of working at Google is by itself sufficient incentive. Google's entire process seems to geared towards selecting people who really want to work for Google and who will jump through whatever hoops Google sets up. Long-term, it is probably dangerous for Google to be so chock full of corporate confirmation bias.
I've had this exact same experience 3 times in the past year. I echo your thoughts entirely. I've told them multiple times what kind of position at google would ACTUALLY interest me and yet I still get matched to nothing even close. Each time I've turned them down I get the same feeling of "Ok! So -- wait you said no? What? Are you sure? ... but we're google!?"
I'm also an experienced engineer, happy in my current job.
As an experienced engineer who is happy in his current job, what is my motivation to jump ship? Google recruiters act like the chance of working at Google is by itself sufficient incentive. Google's entire process seems to geared towards selecting people who really want to work for Google and who will jump through whatever hoops Google sets up. Long-term, it is probably dangerous for Google to be so chock full of corporate confirmation bias.