identifying future Googlers

The way Google reaches out to candidates and conveys its employer brand reflects this desire to find people who can thrive within the Google environment, both at a personal level and as part of a team. The careers website allows Googlers to explain what the business expects, and what life within the company is really like. The people featured include Reto Strobl, who is an engineering manager, based in Zurich. Mr Strobl talks about the great people he works with and the impact they can have – it’s “fun to see bloggers writing about a technology you’ve worked on,” he says. But he’s also frank about the challenges, which for him include having to work across time zones and sometimes having to travel abroad when you have a family.

Despite the thousands of applications received every day, Google is keen to ensure that it engages with candidates on a personal level. “Each application is reviewed by a recruiter to make sure we let no great candidate pass through unnoticed. We also make the best use of our referral system to make sure that suitable candidates in our employees’ networks are able to apply and be considered,” says Ms Lhuillier.

The interview process is subject to the same emphasis on personal interaction. “The process is actually pretty basic,” says Ms Lhuillier. “The path to getting hired usually involves an initial conversation with a recruiter, a phone interview and a day of onsite interviews at one of our offices. Some interviews might also take place over videoconference.

“To give candidates a sense of what working at Google is really like, some of the interviewers could be potential teammates, but candidates may also speak to people working in other teams. This helps us see how the candidates might collaborate and fit in at Google overall. Independent committees of Googlers play a crucial role as they help to ensure we’re hiring for the long-term. This includes reviewing feedback from all of the interviewers to make sure our hiring process is fair and that we’re holding true to our ‘good for Google’ standards,” Ms Lhuillier continues. “We’ve spent a lot of time making our hiring process as efficient as possible – reducing time-to-hire and increasing our communications to candidates. While involving Googlers in our process does take longer, we believe it’s worth it. Our early Googlers identified these principles more than ten years ago, and it is what allows us to hold true to who we are as we grow.”

structured approach

One of the distinguishing features of the interview process is how highly structured it is. “We ensure that our interviewers are well trained, calibrated and use structured interviewing techniques. For us, structured interviewing means using the same interview questions, grading candidate responses on the same scale, and making hiring decisions based on consistent, predetermined qualifications,” says Ms Lhuillier.

So why is the process so structured? Google believes that structure allows interview teams to get to know the real candidate and ensure assessments are objective. “Research shows that during first encounters human beings tend to make snap, unconscious judgments, which are heavily influenced by unconscious biases and beliefs. This can result in the interviewer shifting from assessing the candidate’s competencies to hunting for evidence that confirms their initial impressions without realizing it. Research also shows that structured interviews are more objective than unstructured interviews, even for jobs that are themselves unstructured and this is why we use them at Google.”

applying engineering principles

So what can other businesses learn from Google? Great cars handle easily and perform well because of great engineering. And that engineering comes together through a continuous process of idea generation, trial, error and refinement. Google applies the same engineering principles to its products. And after a lot of trial and error they’ve opted for a highly standardized and systematic approach to recruitment. This might seem counterintuitive when trying to pick out people with creative and problem-solving minds. Crucially, however. Google believes that this approach is the best indicator of how people will behave when they come up against ambiguity, are asked to lead or are confronted by challenges they’ve never experience before.

employer branding at Google Switzerland

Google is the company people in Switzerland would most would like to work for, as rated in theRandstad Award 2016 research. It was rated one number one for good training, interesting job content, career progression opportunities and pleasant work atmosphere.

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