Some excerpts:
To accomplish its current pace of hiring about 10 new employees a day, Google has assembled a formidable hiring machine. Its recruitment department includes as many as 300 freelance recruiters who are helping it to identify who's who in software engineering, according to three people involved in the
effort.
Google's typical hiring process is regarded as one of the industry's most grueling and extensive. Candidates are often subjected to weeks of interviews, with hiring decisions often made by large committees of executives.
To compete against its larger rivals, Google beefed up its recruiting effort, retaining veterans like Shally Steckerl (Shally is now with Microsoft ;-)- Gautam), a contract recruiter who runs a consulting firm called JobMachine, and Eric Jaquith, a freelance recruiter who runs Recruiting Choices. Both began working as in-house consultants for Google in September 2004, when the company had more than 80 full-time and contract recruiters in-house, says Jaquith.
Jim Stroud, a contract recruiter involved in the effort between December 2004 and June, says he unearthed several hundred names of female engineers. He estimates that fewer than 10 of those were hired during his tenure. Google's job-interview process is "like a Senate committee hearing," says Stroud. "You
have to get approved by 14 people at least before you get hired."
Allan Brown, Google's director of recognition and human-resources systems, disputes that the company is bidding too aggressively for talent. He estimates that Google wins only about half of its hiring showdowns with Yahoo. He says
Yahoo also engages in bidding wars, and that Google would consider doubling a restricted stock offer only if there was a strong argument for doing so. Eustace adds that Google sometimes offers compensation of up to about 15 percent more
than other tech companies, but generally stays within the same range as its rivals.
I do know that Google is trying to replicate the same process in India also. It's salaries are abnormally higher by the standards of the cities where it operates. An applicant at the entry level goes through 6/7 rounds of interviews whereas a mid-level manager might go through 12/13 rounds of interviews over a time frame of 2 months ! These kinds of time-lines are unheard of in India and it would be interesting to see if they can maintain that momentum.
wow! 12-13 interviews! I love that. THAT"S EXACTLY HOW IT SHOULD BE IN MY OPINION. GET THE RIGHT PEOPLE. DO WHATEVER IT TAKES TO GET THE RIGHT PEOPLE. IN THE LONG RUN, IT IS GONNA PAY OFF EVEN IF YOU'VE SPENT ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF TIME, MONEY AND EFFORT IN THE PROCESS. FIND THE PEOPLE WHO FIT IN IN EVERY WHICH WAY. JOB, VALUES, ATTITUDE, AMBITIONS, MISSION ET AL. :)
ReplyDelete2 months is an understatement. 4-5 months is more like it!
ReplyDeletegoogle takes a along time to hire,, i know that,, thats not news,,
ReplyDeletei and my friends have trodden the forbidden path,,
after waiting for 2 months and going through several rounds,, came my final interview,,
at 9 am i got a call to be there by 12 pm on the same day,,
waited for 2 hrs and was told managers flight is dealayed,,,
was called another day,, to be at google in 2 hrs,, did the same,,!!sigh!! was out,,, i care less,,
all i wanted was a feed back,, have send many mails,, asking for a feedback.. they make us fill 3 sheets of feedback form,, why the #### cant they give at least a monosyllablic feedback at least,,,!!
my colleague.. was told she is hired and was asked to come for afinal hr round and of coorse finally rejected,,,
all other companies do as much as to give a decent feedback,,
guess google is toooo hifi for such unimportant things!!
I think every big company will not give there feedback upfront which ideally they should!! however what ever be on the ground,,,,who doesnt want to be in google's bandwagon??
ReplyDeleteThe kinda recruitment they have for getting hold of the right google..man is appreciable!! It doesnt matter whether we are in or out,,,,but for sure it would be enlightning,,,,,to get grilled:)