How To Get A Job with Google

It is a VERY long and winded process for job seekers longing to work at Google, the world renowned company. They make it so. Your reward, if you are successful, is a job with a variety of great perks not found anywhere else and its down-home culture where everyone is a friend. Of course, Agilent, HP and many others have this similar culture, but Google offers more.

Google has stated that they will be hiring for 6000 positions worldwide. The key word here is "worldwide". The 6000 jobs are not all in San Jose, Ca., where its home base is. Of those 6000, perhaps as many as 1000, might be for the SJ site.

The economy is an employers dream, unlike it was 3-5 yrs. ago when it was the opposite. What are your odds of getting the Google job? Well, consider that last week alone, 75,000 applied for the jobs, The bulk of this went to the jobs at the SJ site with maybe 1000 jobs. Just getting an interview is almost like a needle in a haystack. Assuming you achieve that, kudos! I have known many well skilled IT people and engineers with years of experience and the skills requested by Google. They apply, wait weeks, get an interview. The interview is laid back and friendly, a brief tour ensues. The applicant is thinking, "I will do anything to work here". Of course, Google HR knows this thinking quite well and plays on it during the tour. You then may or may not meet a key member. Maybe even another member. The interview(s) may take hours. Maybe you will be treated to a free lunch. This process is typical at many companies, Genetech, HP, Agilent, Cisco etc.

With Google, the road is long. After you complete it the drill and gauntlet, it's over and your on your way home. Many travel hours back, all the time thinking that the interview was a shoe-in, everything went well. Good vibes. Good responses.  Unlike others, who make a fairly quick decision, Google drags it out ad nauseum like some Hitchcock thriller driving the applicant nuts.  If you are lucky, Google wants you back for another similar type of interview, weeks later. Your hopes skyrocket-"this is it"! Once again, you drag yourself through the same process with different people or the same ones, some of the questions are eerily the same, some not. You think, "this is redundant, what do they want?". 

Cutting to the chase. At Google, it is more common than not that the applicant will go through many interviews. The good sign is that they are interested. The bad news is that it becomes a hassle and frustrating at their indecision. Some engineers have told me that over a course of a  month or more, they have gone to 4-8 interviews, each one taking several hours. Each one increasing the anxiety in the applicant. Then, after a month or more, they find out-they were NOT selected! To those applicants, they are angry. Angry at the amount of time they took to go through the gauntlet, especially, if they are currently working.

I have not met anyone who was hired after only one interview. So, yes, if you are interested in working at Google, be prepared that it is not a quick process and multiple interviews are likely. But, with odds like 75000 for 1000 jobs at SJ alone, continue to apply for other jobs.