Google's hiring process is beyond rigorous.
Laszlo Bock, Google's head of HR from 2006 to 2016, said that as of 2014, the tech giant had an acceptance rate of about 0.2%, or that it hired just 7,000 of the 3 million job applications it receives. Bock saw the company grow from 6,000 employees to 60,000 during his time at the company, and held a consulting position for Google recruiters after stepping down.
And the effects of the coronavirus pandemic aren't making hiring at Google any less selective as a process. In fact, CEO Sundar Pichai announced in April that the company would "significantly slow down the pace of hiring" this year.
But the company still hasn't engaged in a complete hiring freeze, and tech companies like Apple and Google have been less hard-hit by the recession than other industries, like hospitality or transportation, have. So if your goal is to work for the tech giant, it's still a possibility – but you'll probably want to become familiar with the hiring process.
To weed through an insane number of applicants, Bock told Business Insider in 2015 that the company would screen each candidate using a number of people including their potential boss, potential colleagues, a hiring committee, and the CEO. The candidate's resume also had to likely pass through an AI resume scanner, used by much of the Fortune 500, though Google has not publicly confirmed the use of this tech.
But before being screened by all these people, candidates must first make it past Google's hiring gatekeepers: the staffing team.
Looking through LinkedIn for a Google staffing contact can seem a little daunting at times, since there are so many employees with seemingly similar titles, so it's important to know the distinction between each role. Bob See, a principal recruiter for Google Engineering between 2005 and 2014, explained the role of each team member in a 2015 Quora post.
1. Recruiter
This is your primary contact person during the interview process and should update you on any developments. For example, your recruiter should touch base with you within 48 hours of any interviews, See said.
Recruiter responsibilities according to the LinkedIn profile of a Google recruiter based in Detroit include:
- Managing the hiring process from initial reach out to hiring
- Creatively sourcing new candidates through Linkedin Recruiter
- Facilitating hiring recommendations and negotiating offers
2. Sourcer
A sourcer at Google is an internal employee or contractor typically responsible for guiding you through Google's hiring process up to your onsite interviews, See said.
Beyond that, the sourcer isn't usually involved in moving you forward, but, because one performance metric is the number of candidates receiving offers, the sourcer has a stake in your success and might work with your recruiter to keep things moving.
The LinkedIn job summary for a technical sourcer at Google in the Bay Area includes:
- Utilized creative sourcing techniques to find high-quality, passive Software Engineers through strategic web searches (LinkedIn, Github, Hacker Rank, Google Scholar, Twitter, and Google X-ray search), internal applicant tracking system, and internal employee referral events
3. Coordinator
The primary role of a coordinator is to schedule interviews and handle logistics, See said.
Unlike your sourcer, they don't have any direct investment in you "other than that they all tend to be great human beings, really nice/caring people, and would want to help simply because it's the right thing to do," according to See's Quora post.
4. Candidate Host
An HR representative of sorts, the candidate host's role is to meet and greet candidates and set them up the day of their onsite interviews. "I don't believe they're involved anywhere else the rest of the process," See said.
The role, according to one coordinator in San Jose's LinkedIn profile, involves supporting the recruiting team in hosting all types of candidates to provide a memorable experience onsite.
While a sourcer brings candidates in to the hiring process, a coordinator helps schedule your interview, and a candidate host makes everything run more smoothly, typically the most contact you will have as a candidate is with the recruiter.
