Google’s hiring process is an important part of our culture. Googlers care deeply about their teams and the people who make them up. We also care about building a more representative and inclusive workplace, and that begins with hiring. In order to truly build for everyone, we know that we need a diversity of perspectives and experiences, and a fair hiring process is the first step in getting there.
Self-reflection
While we’re sure you’re ready to dive into the depths of the job search, we recommend starting with an often-overlooked first step: focus on you.
- What is something you learned that made everything that came after easier?
- Have more of your achievements come as a result of solitary effort or teamwork?
- What do you enjoy more, solving problems or pushing the discussion forward?
- What is the most rewarding job you've ever had? Why?
- Describe the best team you ever worked with. What made that experience stand out?
Job searching
Once you’ve taken some time to focus on what you’re looking for, you can get a better idea of who we are, what we’re about, and what it’s like to work at Google.
Check out our company and our teams sites. View our YouTube channel and our locations. Read our blog and how we care for Googlers. The goal here is the job or jobs you land on should exist at the intersection of who you are and who we are. So go, click around for a bit. We’ll meet you back here.
Your resume
It’s tempting to take your last resume and update it, tweaking it a bit here and there to include your latest work. But we’d like to suggest that you go a little deeper — we think you’ll feel much better about your hiring process if you do.
- Align your skills and experience with the job description. Tie your work directly to the role qualifications (and don’t forget to include data).
- Be specific about projects you’ve worked on or managed. What was the outcome? How did you measure success? When in doubt, lean on the formula, “accomplished [X] as measured by [Y], by doing [Z].”
- If you've had a leadership role, tell us about it. How big was the team? What was the scope of your work?
- If you're a recent university graduate or have limited work experience, include school-related projects or coursework that demonstrate relevant skills and knowledge.
- Keep it short. We don’t have a length requirement, but concision and precision are key — so think twice before letting your resume move onto multiple pages, and take careful aim with your information.
Apply online
We want you to focus on the jobs that delight you and that you match as opposed to submitting dozens of applications (it’s tempting, but it doesn’t work well — trust us). Quality, not quantity, is the way to go.
Using the careers search tool, tell us who you are, what you do, where you’d like to be, etc. — then start looking at some of the listings that match. As you’re browsing, keep in mind that you can apply for up to three jobs every 30 days.
Interviews
If a Staffing team member believes you might be a match for a job you’ve applied for, you’ll enter our hiring process.
Online assessments: You may be asked to do a brief online assessment, like a coding quiz, after you’ve submitted your resume.
Short virtual chats: Before diving into more in-depth interviews, you’ll typically have one or two shorter conversations over phone or video. These will usually be with a recruiter and then with either the hiring manager or peer on the team, and are designed to assess key skills you’ll need for the role.
Project work: We sometimes ask candidates to complete a small project prior to their in-depth interviews. This could range from prepping a case study to providing writing or code samples (don’t stress, they’re not that scary and we won’t spring this on you without warning), and helps us understand how you think and approach problems. We’ll let you know about any additional materials we’ll need early on.
In-depth interviews: We get excited about interviewing and take it seriously because, at the risk of sounding cliché, Google is what Googlers make it. Our process can be rigorous (typically 3-4 interviews in one day, either over video or in person), but it’s also meant to be friendly, warm, and gives you the opportunity to get to know us better too
Decision and offer
After your interviews are done, we’ll bring everything together from your application and interviews and review it.
Once you’ve accepted the offer, the Google onboarding team will walk you through compensation, benefits, badging, insurance and so on, after which you are on your way to becoming a Noogler! Put on your hat and get your Noogliness on — we’re thrilled to have you.
