I applied in-person. The process took 1 day. I interviewed at Xyratex (Havant, England) in Apr 2010
Interview
I was taken from the reception by a group lead (one of the interviewers) and shown around with explanations what the job is about. Then we went to the head of the department office and I we went through my CV explaining what I have done in the past.
After this I was asked technical question for different functionality in C and C++ e.g. what is the scope static variable, what is (pure) virtual function. I was also asked to do a mini quiz which was based around virtual functions stuff.
I applied through a recruiter. The process took 5 days. I interviewed at Xyratex in Dec 2009
Interview
Initially there was a phone interview with a hiring manager, quickly followed by the invitation for an on-site interview. The interview was well organized and professional. I talked to several engineers one-on-one. Afterwards there was a panel interview which was fairly intense. I was asked questions about prior experience, system design decisions that I made in the past with diagrams being drawn on the white board. Overall, there were few technical software questions, the interviewers focused mostly on trying to understand what I have done in the past and how it related to their objectives.
The company was extremely quick in getting the information from my references and making a decision (it took just 2 or 3 days).
Overall, I had a very positive experience: efficient, quick, direct and fair.