As one of the largest tech companies in the world, Google – which in 2005 became a subsidiary of Alphabet Inc. – understands that its success derives primarily from its exceptionally talented employees. So how does Google attract and select the best human resources? Receiving millions of job applications each year, the company has had to develop a simple and yet effective strategy to speed up the recruitment process. As Google’s former Vice President of People Operations Laszlo Bock (2005) explains in his book “Work Rules”, the company’s staffing strategy revolves around four fundamental principles, namely 1) setting high standards, 2) avoiding recruitment firms as much as possible, 3) evaluating candidates in an objective and unbiased manner, and 4) encouraging candidates to join the company (Feloni, 2018).
As far as the first principle goes, Google encourages its recruiters to look for candidates who are better than them; should the search take longer than expected, they should wait until the right person comes along instead of compromising on their high standards. In most cases, Google relies on its own portal, as well as Google+, LinkedIn and alumni portals to find candidates; this way, the company gets to stay in control of the entire process and ensures that job applicants are truly interested in joining the company – whereas users on employment websites tend to apply for multiple positions at once without even reading the job requirements (Feloni, 2018).
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To keep the hiring process as objective and professional as possible, Google requires its interviewers to take notes and consult with an unbiased group of colleagues when assessing each candidate (Umoh, 2018). As a company whose services and inventions have had a tremendously positive impact on the lives of millions of people across the world, it is not that hard for Google to attract new talent. Nevertheless, when dealing with suitable candidates, recruiters tend to emphasize the reasons why the company’s work matters while casually mentioning some of the outstanding people with whom they would get to work (Feloni, 2018).
- Bock, L. (2015). Work Rules!: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead. London, UK: Hachette UK.
- Feloni, R. (2018). Google’s former HR boss shared the company’s 4 rules for hiring the best employees. Retrieved from https://www.businessinsider.com/how-google-hires-exceptional-employees-2016-2
- Umoh, R. (2018). Top Google recruiter: Google uses this ‘shocking’ strategy to hire the best employees. Retrieved from https://www.cnbc.com/2018/01/10/google-uses-this-shocking-strategy-to-hire-the-best-employees.html
