“Today we are going to talk about two things,” said Sean McGaughran, Engineering and Technology Recruiter at Google. “One, we are going to talk about some common Google myths and busts them and two, we are going to talk about how Google actually hires.”

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Busting Google Hiring Myths

“Let’s get right into some myth busting,” says Rachel Bonds, Business Recruiter and Talent Guru. “The first myth is about only hiring people from Ivey League institutions. That’s not true. We hire people from all sorts of backgrounds, colleges and even people who haven’t attended college. We are really looking to hire a diverse set of candidates from all sorts of experiences and your GPA is only taken into consideration if you graduated recently from school.”

“The second big myth we hear a lot is about brain teasers,” she said. “We won’t be asking you crazy questions about how many golf balls fit into the Empire State Building. We really spend that time getting to know you and we try to limit it to about four interviews during the course of your process, not a multitude of conversations. So it’s not impossible to get hired at Google!”

The Google Hiring Process

“The first step in getting hired is really to get us your application,” notes Shadan Deleveaux, also a Business Recruiter at Google. “Our career site has some great tips on putting together a powerful and compelling resume. For example, your resume should be concise, generally less than two pages. Also, you really want to make sure that it has no errors or mistakes. Read it top to bottom, bottom to top. Have a friend take a look at it for you. Pay extra special attention to it. Finally, you want to make sure that your bullet points on your resume convey impact. Don’t just list the things you did at your current job, but really how you impacted that role. It’s one of the things that we care about a lot here at Google.”

“Perfect, because living, breathing human beings just like us actually look at your resume, thoughtful trained professionals who can help connect you with some great opportunities right here at Google,” added McGaughran.

“Once your resume is reviewed you may hear back from a recruiter,” added Bonds. “If you don’t after a couple of months you can assume that that role has likely been filled. But if you do the next step is a phone conversation with a recruiter like one of us. We’ll want to learn more about your experience, your background and your potential fit with the role. From there, you may have an additional phone interview with another relevant Googler for that team. On the technical side that may include a coding interview. On the business side it may include a conversation that’s more specific to the role.”

In-Person Interviews at Google

“Now comes the exciting and slightly nerve racking on-site interviews, where you get a chance to come on-site and interview with between 4-5 interviewers,” said McGaughran. “If you are interviewing for a technical role, typically those interviews will revolve around data structure, coding algorithms and if you are interviewing for a non-technical position there are often more structured interview questions. You will often have a couple more minutes to chat with the interviewer, get to know them a little bit, talk about the roll and also have an opportunity for some breaks in between to grab a water or snack. Sometimes you will have an opportunity to have a lunch with another member of the team or even a hiring manager.”

“If you make it past that point in the process your packet goes to our hiring committee, which is really just a team of Googlers that take a look at your packet,” added Deleveaux. “Your packet is nothing more than your interviews, your resume and any work samples you may have submitted to us. It the hiring committee signs off on it, it then goes to one of our senior level Googlers for a final round of approval for an extra set of objective eyes. If that senior level Googler signs off on it, that’s when you get a call from your recruiter saying… congratulations, here’s your offer!”