What Does It Take To Get A Job At Google

Image by Aray Chen via Flickr
For many people looking for a job in the tech industry, working for one of the large tech companies like Apple or Google is the holy grail. It's not hard to understand why. The people who work in the Googleplex or the Manhattan office always look so happy.

And why wouldn't they? Google offers some amazing perks to their employees, including free meals, on-site fitness, laundry and even a salon.

Each year, Google receives over a million applications from all over the world. In spite of having so many people expressing an interest in their job openings, Google has always been a bit tight-lipped about what it actually takes to become an employee there - aside from a whole lot of luck.

If you have been thinking about putting your talent to use for the search engine, here is a great infographic that breaks things down for you:


As you can see, the competition for a job opening is fierce. It works well for them, ensuring that they only hire the best and the brightest. Once you submit your resume, it is screened to see if it meets the technical requirements, education and experience needed.

Next, if you made the cut that is, a recruiter will give you a call and explain the process. After that, you will be asked to come in for a small group interview. Most likely, you will be interviewing alongside 4 or 5 other applicants. Typically, you'll be asked some bizzare questions in order to see how much you know.

Assuming that you impressed them during the interview, the recruiter will contact any employees that may have worked with you in the past or went to school with you. They will ask for a reccomendation and then it's on to the hiring comittee.

The committee is made up of senior manager and experienced employees. The group reviews all of the information and makes a decision to move forward or not. After that, a senior level manager reviews any possible offer and passses everything on to the compensation committee. They then figure out the salary offer and send the information along to the top executives to review.

Finally, they will issue the job offer.

I know it sounds complicated, but in reality, it's actually more complicated. In fact most employees have gone through at least 4 interviews before the job offer and some have even gone through a whopping 29 interviews.

It looks daunting, and it is, but this year Google plans to add more than 6,200 employees to their rosters. If you've been dreaming of your shot, this might be the perfect time.

Would you like to work for Google? Why or why not? Please share your thoughts in the comments.

By Melissa Kennedy- Melissa is a 9 year blog veteran and a freelance writer for TechCareersBlog and Nexxt. Along with helping others find the job of their dreams, she enjoys computer geekery, raising a teenager, supporting her local library, writing about herself in the third person and working on her next novel.