The recruitment process at Google BY maximum 1. Introduction Google has gained an excellent reputation as an employer by the unique organizational culture the company has created and by the way It treats their employees. Google has become one of the most sought after employers: last year the company was receiving about 75,000 applications a week at peak times (Waters, 2011). In order to keep and further develop their unique culture and to hire the appropriate candidates for it, Google emphasizes on developing a recruitment culture within the organization.
However, the question raised here Is how to establish recruitment culture In a company and how to deal effectively with such an enormous number of applications? And furthermore, how to figure out the right candidates that will suit to the company s culture and further contribute to its growth? This term paper first will show how the recruitment process at Google has developed and than illustrate important characteristics of it. Secondly, the theoretical background will be demonstrated and a conclusion on the topics highlighted before will be drawn. . The recruitment process at Google 2. 1 Development of the recruitment process To change the way the company recruits was considered first In 2005, when Google had to readjust Its high bars for hiring employees due to Its rapidly growing business. Co-founder Sergey Bin was recognizing long recruitment processes were holding back expansion and in March 2006, a new head of human resources, Laszlo Bock, was introduced. Before Bock came in charge applicants had to pass more than 6 interviews on average and often even exceeded 10.
Also did Google “turn its nose at engineers who had less than a 3. 7 average” (Hansel, 2007) and was known for a long- assisting recruitment process in which applicants where involved up to several month. A lot has developed since that. Bock recognized that the Interface with new potential employees had to be changed and started to restructure the recruiting process step by step. Already in June 2007 average interviews job applicants had to pass went down to 5 and the number of new employees hired went up from 13 to 16 a day.
Overall recruiting was streamlined, before Bock came into office candidates who came from elite schools with a high grade-point average were favored, whereas now read-point average Is no formal requirement anymore. Thereby, candidates who do not have college degrees but do provide “solid professional track records”(Hansel, 2007) have the chance to get employed, as well. 2. 2 Characteristics of the recruitment process What differs Google from most other highly valued companies Is that they pay huge attention on tenet recruitment process as well as spending large amounts AT money on it.
The company has “fund recruiting to the point where the function is in a league by itself” (Sullivan, 2005) and has gone exceptional steps to change the way employees work at Google in order to create a unique working culture. To find the right people to match to the “chaotic and competitive culture” (Delaney, 2006) at Google the company also crosses boarders and attempts to discover new ways more “traditional” companies would probably deem as not appropriate in terms of recruiting.
Google started to analyze the personality of their current employees in order to derive traits that may not seem visible at first sight, but may also contribute to success in the company to at least some degree. Already in summer 2006 employees ho worked at least 5 month at Google were asked to fill out a 300-question survey. Nowadays every applicant is asked to fill out a comparable survey. Google thereby tries to analyze every little piece of personality and life experience that could make a prospective employee a meaningful enrichment to the company.
Questions to employees may include what pets they own, what magazines they subscribe to, how many patents they have or when they first used a computer. A number of formulas created to evaluate the survey than calculates a score ranging from 0-100 in order to establish a measurable corporate fit for the unique corporate culture at Google. The key driver to run such an inconvenient questionnaire is that applicants should create an “organizational citizenship”, which is also in part tested on in the questionnaire.
Google seeks to hire innovative and entrepreneurial talent, rather than strictly focusing on intelligence as selection criteria. The designer of the survey and today’s director of staffing, Todd Carlisle, states that Google thereby tries to figure out “things you do that arena ‘t technically part of your Job but make Google a better place to work” (Hansel, 2007). By that, Google tries to manage to find the right people to fit into their culture and further contribute to it.
Furthermore, Google maintains a very large, flexible, and motivated recruiting force. The company does not reveal exact numbers, but it is estimated that it keeps up to 70% of its recruiters as contractors, providing them with only 6 to 12 months contracts. Thereby it is guaranteed that the recruiting force is kept motivated and Google stays very flexible regarding its staffing need: As needs of hiring new employees rise up, new contractors can quickly be signed, as well as being quickly red when the need for recruiting is diminishing.
However, in general it can be stated that Google keeps a very high recruiter-to-employee ratio: Conservative estimates state that that Google has 1 recruiter for every 64 employees; a very high number compared too 577-to-l ratio for most large companies. 3. Theoretical background Several researches suggest that test of general mental adaptability (GAMMA) and cognitive ability tests are considered to be effective predictors of later Job performances, such as Google conducts them.
GAMMA is defined to be valid in case the assure “Includes a variety AT Items measuring spectacle ODL t II less” or “Tanat condones two, three, or more specific aptitudes” (Slogan, 2003). Since Google is testing their applicant’s GAMMA on a large scale one can conclude that the company’s questionnaire produces satisfactory and informative results. Additionally, personality measures seem to be an increasing trend among organizations as part of their personnel selection practices.
When surveys taken in 2002 still revealed “pessimism about the use of personality testing”, already in 2004 the use of integrity tests has been growing y 20% a year and more than 40% of Fortune 100 companies reported using personality tests (Rottenest, Goofing, 2006). Google therefore does not only follows a trend but actively brings forward developments in international staffing. 4. Conclusion One reason why Google does create such an innovative hiring process is that are concerned to miss out some of the best candidates, as the company is enormously fast growing. Google has doubled the number of employees in each year from 2004 to 2007.
Furthermore, in nowadays business environment a strategic focus on nagging people is essential to become a highly innovative company. A company cannot be capable of maximizing innovation if it is not capable of recruiting and retaining innovators. Google has succeeded in not only recruiting, but also retaining these innovators and top performers by changing the way their employees work. One aspect that makes Google such an attractive employer is that the work itself becomes an essential attraction and recruiting force, and thus a driver of innovation and motivation.
