How to get a job at Google
Today getting a good job is not easy and getting a good job at the top company is very competitive. Trying to distinguish yourself in a group of applicants to get a job at top companies is a big challenge. Last week, Senior Vice president Laszlo Bock, who responsible for hiring all people at Google explained to the New York Times about what Google and other top companies are looking for when hiring people.
Mr. Bock said that Google does NOT look at Grade Point Average (GPA) anymore as it "does not predict anything." This reflects a common view among many top companies that universities have “Inflate” grades to give students certain advantages. There are graduates with excellent GPA but cannot do anything because they only “memorize” a lot of things to pass tests but cannot apply their knowledge to do anything. Instead of develop “skills” they only develop “memory”.
Mr. Bock continued by saying that Google does not look for degree as a condition for hiring anymore. He emphasized that while a college education is preferred, the number of people getting jobs at Google without a college degree has also grown over time. This also reflects the trend among top companies that a degree is no longer the key for employment. The problem is many universities are issuing degree without quality training, especially “for profit universities” who only care about enrolling more students to make money but provide nothing in trainings so it is difficult to hire people based on degree alone.
Mr. Bock explained "If it is a technical job, we assess the applicant's coding ability, and more than half of the jobs in Google are technical jobs.” That is why all applicants must pass through several interviews with Google's technical people to demonstrate their ability to write code, solve problems etc. But having technical skills is NOT enough. He added: “For every job, the No. 1 thing that Google look for is “continuous learning ability.” It is the ability to learn things quickly and keep on learning for life. It is the ability to organize all information to broaden the knowledge. He said: “At Google, we are using structured behavioral interviews that we validate to make sure they’re predictive." This is where many graduates are confused about this kind of interview questions. Last year, a hiring manager told me: “When I ask applicants about the “Flat world”, they thought that I try to trick them so they correct me by saying “The world is round, not flat.” When I told them that I refer to the book “The world is flat” by Thomas Friedman, they told me: “Never heard about it.” as they do not know what it is. The hiring manager said: “If they do not read more, if they do not know what is happening in the world around them, how can they function in this connected world? We do not want to hire graduates who only learn what the school teaches them. Today they must read more and have a broader knowledge about this fast changing world.”
Mr. Bock added: “The second important thing that Google is looking for is leadership, in particular “emergent leadership” as opposed to traditional leadership. Traditional leadership is like a student participates in school activities and became the president of the student club. Or they play sport and become very active in certain sport activities. Etc. He said: “Basically we do not care. What we care about is, when faced with a problem and you are a member of a team, do you, at the appropriate time, step in and lead the team? And just as critically, when do you step back and stop leading, do you let someone else to do that? Because what is critical to be an effective leader in this environment is you have to be willing to accept responsibility when needed and relinquish the power at appropriate time."
Today most technology works are done in team where team members work together toward a common goal. There is urgent need for some members to step up, assume the responsibility to lead the team to overcome obstacles and when the problems are solved, return back to the assigned role and become a team member so you do not deal with people who want to be “leader by title” or cling to a position. We are living in a world of change and the most successful people are people who can change with it, they will perform the necessary task when call for, and willing to do whatever required for the common goal of the team.
Today a degree is no longer guarantee for a job but knowledge and skills are the key factors that open the employment door for you to build a career. To get a good job is only the beginning but to maintain and advance in your career is the ultimate goal and in order to do that, students must continue to read more, learn more and continue to develop the necessary skills as things are changing fast. This lifelong learning is the essential ingredient that every student must have to succeed in this technology driven world.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
