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Why I Don’t Talk to Google Recruiters

yegor256.com

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Re: Why I Don’t Talk to Google Recruiters

#21

Post by untog »

ng12 wrote: post #6

Yeah it kind of sucks, but from Google's perspective it's absolutely necessary. So many people talk the talk, run a blog, have a neat looking resume/website/GitHub and just cannot perform. Unless you're an undisputed rockstar in a specific area and they're hiring exactly for your expertise you can't expect anything else. It's a huge waste of time to custom tailor to each candidate when 90% won't receive an offer. > T…

> Take an afternoon and skim Cracking the Coding Interview before applying. There's no reason a competent engineer shouldn't be able to solve questions like that. You know exactly what's expected of you, show some initiative.

I think the core issue here is whether the prospective employee should have to show some initiative. My initial reaction is that of course they should, but when you're fielding job offers from numerous companies, some of which don't require you to go out of your way to pick up new knowledge specifically and only so that you can pass an interview, why not just dump Google and go somewhere else? A few years ago Google was probably the most desirable place anyone could work, I really don't think that's true any more.

Overall, it sounds like the system is working. Developers that don't much care for Google's methods won't go and work at Google. Those that are very passionate about working at Google for the sake of working at Google will jump through those hoops.

Re: Why I Don’t Talk to Google Recruiters

#22

Post by stuckagain »

johannes1234321 wrote: post #18
stuckagain wrote: post #8

> There is no point in giving me binary-tree-traversing questions; I don't know those answers and will never be interested in learning them. Interview process: complete success.

For a complete success they would have a way to filter out people without algorithm knowledge early on. A day of interviews already costs them some money, especially on the scale they are doing this.

Yeah maybe you are right on that point. At Google at least the filtering by stage seems to be: Recruiter phone interview: do you speak English? Technical phone interview: have you ever programmed a computer before? Technical on-site interview: do you know a few things about data structures and algorithms?

Re: Why I Don’t Talk to Google Recruiters

#23

Post by fernandopj »

stuckagain wrote: post #8

> There is no point in giving me binary-tree-traversing questions; I don't know those answers and will never be interested in learning them. Interview process: complete success.

> If she would have started her email with "We're looking for an algorithm expert," we would never have gotten any further and would not have wasted our time. Clearly, I'm not an expert in algorithms.

This phrase precedes the one you mentioned. He's saying the process he has been through completely ignored his background and field.

Re: Why I Don’t Talk to Google Recruiters

#24

Post by johannes1234321 »

untog wrote: post #16
stuckagain wrote: post #8

> There is no point in giving me binary-tree-traversing questions; I don't know those answers and will never be interested in learning them. Interview process: complete success.

Depends what the job description is, surely. And if the developer isn't interested in working on these things, surely it's failure on Google's part to effectively target who they are approaching?

The job description is "Software Engineer at Google" They hire some special roles from time to time, but then they approach people differently (i.e. on a personal level) otherwise they hire people they ideally can move easily from project to project.

Re: Why I Don’t Talk to Google Recruiters

#25

Post by jorgemf »

preinheimer wrote: post #13

This also solves another problem. Many orgs have their recruiters slot a candidate into a particular role really early on in the process (possibly even before the first phone screen). So you're not applying for a job at FooCorp, you're applying to be a Level 2 Engineer on the WidgetSearch team. By the time the third interview finishes, it turns out you're a bad fit, and the process stops. This doesn't mean there's no…

They should ask you whether you want just to join the company in any role or you want to be working in a specific role.

Re: Why I Don’t Talk to Google Recruiters

#26

Post by 40acres »

There is no standard way to interview a software engineer. Whenever one of these threads come up we see multiple posters explaining their process, and while each process has it's upsides and downsides, no two are exactly the same.

For a company the size of Google, with the amount of applicants they receive, I would assume that an interview standard is absolutely necessary. It's not perfect, but for 95% of developers out there you know EXACTLY what you're going to get when you interview Google. I think there is something to be said about that. Google recruiters tell you what the interview will be like, they give you study materials, and are pretty gracious with scheduling. If you don't like the process, that's fine, but I think Google in particular has done a good job of standardizing their process. It may not work for individual cases, but I would assume it works well for the company.

Re: Why I Don’t Talk to Google Recruiters

#27

Post by forgotpwtomain »

xt00 wrote: post #10

Places like google give you a guide on how to prepare. So it consists of stuff like algorithms and data structures. I do wonder sometimes how much it is tailored to getting people who are fresh out of college rather than more experienced. My take is that you basically have to spend time preparing and studying so as to get past those types of questions then finally you talk one on one with the people you likely would…

Why should skilled developers with extensive track-records in their field be forced to use their free time to cram for college-style exams? Other professions dealing with exact-sciences / engineering don't seem to have this problem..

Re: Why I Don’t Talk to Google Recruiters

#29

Post by tetraodonpuffer »

I think when a company reaches a certain size it is hard to expect that there is such a thing as "a manager looked at my github/qualifications and decided they need me so they will tailor the interview to my skillset".

At this point it feels the interview process is becoming more of a combo between a hazing ritual and a lottery than something actually useful to ascertain if the person interviewed would be a good match for the position or not.

The longer the interview is, also, the more likely one will be discarded because one of the many interviewers is having a bad day, or because after several hours of whiteboarding one can understandably draw a blank on a simple question they would've waltzed through 4 hours prior and be failed because of that. How long before interviews also contain an anti-doping panel to weed out candidates trying to improve their odds?

It is strange though that in a country where there is at-will employment one is basically told that hiring the "wrong person" could destroy the company or something and so the interviewer has to make really really really really sure that the candidate is absolutely ok.

I personally think the risk of hiring somebody and they can't cut it after three months and you have to let them go, is worth not passing the candidate that doesn't do well at whiteboarding but will instead prove to be great when tasked with real business problems that take more than a few minutes to solve.

Re: Why I Don’t Talk to Google Recruiters

#30

Post by iainmerrick »

stuckagain wrote: post #8

> There is no point in giving me binary-tree-traversing questions; I don't know those answers and will never be interested in learning them. Interview process: complete success.

I'd be interested in hearing from people who work at Google, and get to figure out a cool algorithm for solving an interesting puzzle-problem more an about once a year. I bet there aren't very many.

In my experience, the stuff you do in this kind of interview has very little relation with the stuff you do in the actual job. (I wish it did! I love those algorithmic puzzles.)

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