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Google Gets 1,000,000 Applicants a Year, Denies 99.5%

leedodd.com — In 2006 they hired approximately 5,000 new employees, a small percentage out of a total 1,000,000 applicants. Here is a portion from the CNN Alina Cho story. Must be nice to be able to pick the best and brightest from 1,000,000 applicants each year.

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  • Sphonix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+14That's still 5000 people employed per year (nearly 17 people per day). If you are pro in your league, I'm sure you could be part of that 5,000.
    • G-RaZoR, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5Yeah, exactly. The people who got denied were most likely not qualified for the job anyway.
    • ozziegt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3I doubt many of the 5000 apply through their website. Most people probably get interviews through connections.
    • skyshock21, on 10/12/2007, -1/+2"I doubt many of the 5000 apply through their website. Most people probably get interviews through connections."

      Actually, I applied through their website, and I got a face-to-face interview. So the recruiters actually DO pull resumes from online submissions.
    • skyshock21, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1And moreover, I don't think their numbers are correct at all. Google doesn't have THAT many employees -

      http://www.google.com/corporate/facts.html
    • phlux, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@ozzieget

      As I understand it Google has a system specifically designed to prevent people from getting jobs simply through connections. Their interview process consists of several rounds of face-to-face meetings but also they have the collected data from those meetings reviewed by several committees.

      While one might be able to get a face-to-face through a connection - they certainly cannot get the actual job just through a connection.

      *edit* I see you said "interview" Thanks.
  • dblondon, on 10/12/2007, -1/+12blogspam link to article here http://news.search.yahoo.com/news/search?p=life+at+google&c=av
  • hijinks, on 10/12/2007, -2/+12wow.. almost a year ago I went through the 12 stage interview process and they offered me a job and I turned them down. It was for a Sr Linux Sys Admin and they just filled the spot in NYC so they wanted me in Mountain View but I didn't want to move out west.
    • Grimdotdotdot, on 10/12/2007, -2/+5You *nutter*.
    • brstilson, on 10/12/2007, -1/+28That is like turning down a free Wii
    • hijinks, on 10/12/2007, -3/+32one of the main reasons I didn't want to work there was one of the last interviews where I was getting slammed with hardcore tech questions and if I didn't get one just the way they wanted to hear it they tried to make me seem like I was 5 and explain why they thought I was wrong and almost act smarter then I was. I didn't want to work in a group where people seemed like they were trying to prove how smart they were
    • notcarsondaly, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15Ah you experienced THE Google Arrogance too, eh?
    • TonyCubed, on 10/12/2007, -4/+1Maybe so, but maybe it's that competition to get to the top what makes Google the number #1 search engine?
    • Ichibanit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5@hijinks
      Good for you :o)
    • Ichibanit, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2@TonyCubed

      I don't think so. If you want to be number one you have to try new things. If you try new things you make mistakes. So holding on to one absolute truth such as "We do things this way" is a often a very bad sign. Take digg they tryed a fresh idea, that slashdot rejected, and look at them now.
    • loof, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1@hijinks

      Maybe they were just trying to see how you responded to being wrong? I know I wouldn't want someone to work for me if they acted like an ass when they got something wrong and had it explained to them.
    • ozziegt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I know exactly what you mean. I managed to get an on-site interview in NYC and it was like taking a CS exam. They were asking me all these 'academic' CS questions which i haven't even thought about in 4 or 5 years. I am not sure they were interested in how smart I was; rather I think they wanted to see how stupid they could make me look. I have heard they are revising their interview process.
    • skyshock21, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Not to mention the exhorbitant cost of living out in Mountainview.
    • BullTaco, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0If I was one of the few hired I would definitely acquire an attitude of privilege, thus affecting my motivation to produce.

      The real innovators at Google will be similar to the ones at MS; the individuals with the confidence, audacity and initiative to succeed in their own endeavors and are eventually bought out by Google.
    • Elranzer, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Audacity isn't hard to get...

      http://audacity.sf.net
    • quux, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1@hijinks et al.:

      That attitude of proving you're smarter than others and asking irrelevant academic questions is probably because they hire a bunch of academic types, like PhDs.

      I've heard similar stories about their interview process for a while now. It's kept me from bothering to apply there. It kept me from applying at Microsoft, too.

      Give me a small entrepreneurial company any day of the week.
  • unruled, on 10/12/2007, -4/+14my dream is still to eventually work at google. Il work my ass off, and make sure I get there :)
    • marnaq, on 10/12/2007, -10/+20you're the definition of fanboy.
    • cbbspike, on 10/12/2007, -4/+15@marnaq I believe he/she is the definition of a person with an objective in life, and someone who is willing to work very hard to reach that objective.

      In my humble opinion one of the best moves you can do (in your career) is work for a company that you are the least intelligent person around, because you might learn something from your coworkers. You can also get fired for been the least intelligent, but getting fired would be a true way to know that you tried something on the edge of you comfort zone, which means you are progressing, it could also mean you are a lazy bastard that needs to work harder.

      Please disregard this comment if it does not apply to you.
    • marnaq, on 10/12/2007, -3/+6What I'm saying is, the good things of Google aren't unique for Google. I'm sure there are many, many companies that offer equal or better work experience.
    • ozziegt, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Google does have a lot of great perks but a lot of them are designed to keep you at work or thinking about work.
    • Elranzer, on 10/12/2007, -2/+2You just want to work for Google so you can tell others you work for Google. In reality, they're really no different from any other big software/computer firm.
  • psbpv3o, on 10/12/2007, -13/+2"wow.. almost a year ago I went through the 12 stage interview process and they offered me a job and I turned them down. It was for a Sr Linux Sys Admin and they just filled the spot in NYC so they wanted me in Mountain View but I didn't want to move out west."

    You suck.
  • adidos, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2You know they give you 3 free meals a day at an *amazing* cafeteria?
    I'm most likely co-opping there this summer :)
    • VintageMud, on 10/12/2007, -2/+4you mean, you'd 'like' to co-op there... the reason they give you 3 meals a day free is because that is all you will do. there is no life outside of work, you might as well just set up a cot in your cube...



      although it would be nice to be making >$100k a year...
    • adidos, on 10/12/2007, -7/+2No I don't mean I'd "like" to co-op there. I will most likely end up taking the offer. Sounds like someone is a bit *jealous*.
    • ozziegt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Sounds like someone likes to *brag*.
    • adidos, on 10/12/2007, -3/+2If someone's going to call BS on me, then I deserve the right to brag :)
    • bbqplate, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4nothing is free. google just deducts it from what your real salary of what it 'could' be. heck, id rather bring pb and j and bananas for en extra 15k tagged onto my salary.
    • Luuvitonen, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4We don't like those who brag. Consider your offer canceled. Besides we found a better candidate for the position. Have a good one.
  • Seth024, on 10/12/2007, -5/+2I don't even live in the USA and I want to work for Google.

    I'll probably send my resume twice a day to increase my chance of getting a job there.
    • LaTechTech, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5ROFL

      Google the sweepstakes! Good luck with that!

      Don't forget that, purchase is not necessary!
    • mhummel, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Kinda takes the fun out of it then, doesn't it Lazlo?
    • mindvise3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Getting a job at Google is kind of like the Lotto - just like if you submit 180 lotto tickets with the same numbers you don't increase your chances of winning, you don't increase your chances of getting a job the more resumes you submit.
    • Bean945, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2You know google isn't just in the USA?
    • semifamous, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1"I'll probably send my resume twice a day to increase my chance of getting a job there."

      And there you see the reason for 1,000,000 resumes. There are a lot of people who don't apply for a specific open position. They just send their resume on principle, and send it often.

      If what I know of large corporate HR departments obtains at Google, those resumes are scanned into an applicant database, indexed on keywords, and searched when open positions come up. Basically for each open position, HR composes a query based on the job description. The query is run on the resumes, and those that have a certain score or higher are then pulled for further review.

      After that review, the best handful of those are actually passed on to the manager in charge of hiring for the position, and he/she decides which of those people to call.

      Most of the resumes never get read, just indexed and scored by automated processes.

      AFAIK, there are a few sites that tell you how to pack your resume with the right buzzwords for specific positions so you rise to the top of the query pools and actually get your resume read.
  • kirstyjayne, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1What I don't get is why other businesses aren't jumping on these benefits that Google has "thought of". It doesn't take a genius to see that better benefits = less employee turnover. Wouldn't businesses actually save some money if they just offered perks to employees?? I'm not suggesting going to whole way like Google apparently does, but it really doesn't take much to improve morale.
    • phlux, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1ya except less employee turn over can be a bad thing when you have mediocre employees.

      Google has paired employee retention with great employees (or so one is to believe)

  • aserer511, on 10/12/2007, -3/+1....why're they so selective?
  • smojo12, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1I was one of the 99.5%.
    • xtrememotion, on 10/12/2007, -1/+32I was one of the 6,524,170,264 that never applied
  • jeylux, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I wonder how many other people in the united states have this problem...

    i agree with kirstyjanye... maybe some other companys could learn from this. Give employees what they want, get the best people in the world, and be super profitable... huh.
  • onehrcleaner, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4You all are just looking for the wrong jobs at Google, I'm sure every one of you would qualify to be fantastic custodial engineers...
    • smojo12, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1I'll apply for that job next...Do you think they would believe me if I put on my resume that I have a degree from MIT in custodial engineering?
  • daxsymbiont, on 10/12/2007, -7/+1good morning. it's 2007 and google nowadays a corporation that spams half the internet with its google ads. the frequency of those "i love google" messages is very suspicious. are some of those workers' job to spam sites such as this for google?
    • smojo12, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5No I don't think so...I just think that there are a lot of people who love Google. Me being one of those people.
  • uberdesigner, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I don't see the attraction. It's not like newcomers will get rich working at Google. They might as well buy their shares off the street.
  • spudnic, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1I wonder if they had to hire those 5 000 to handle all the applications they get
  • geekchic, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9Exactly one million applications?

    Being Google, I would have expected the total to be at least some mathematical derivative of Pi.
  • javabeta, on 10/12/2007, -6/+1what does they exactly want?
    • tweak50, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Proper English maybe.
    • skyshock21, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Hm, not you apparently.
    • bbqplate, on 10/12/2007, -1/+0im sure there are plenty of non-americans who cant speak english properly that work for google.
  • jabberwock1977, on 10/12/2007, -5/+1All the perks in the world can't change the fact that you're working A) In an office (most likely) and B) For an IT company. I mean is that what anyone dreamt of doing when they were growing up. Obviously it's better than other related jobs but it's hardly living the dream, is it?
    • geekchic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+5For a geek, working for a sucessfull IT firm is "exactly" what they want.

      Not everyone grows up wanting to drive steam trains.
    • marnaq, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I wanted to be a construction worker (operating large cranes and stuff), but I changed my mind when my parents bought a computer.
    • jabberwock1977, on 10/12/2007, -1/+1Well I never.... fair enough.
  • halik, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Never applied, I heard horror stories about their review process and the type of people they hire. There are plenty of employers (IT and otherwise) with similar benefits and pay. Plus all advertising firms are heavily affected by the business cycle, so it's not the safest field to be in to begin with.
  • codethis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1i just applied for an internship yesterday - this article gives me more hope than i thought!
  • gus2074, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3I don't want to work for Google or anyone like them. I never applied and never will. I'd rather choose among the other billion or so companies out there that consider it a privilege to have an employee spend his/her time working for them rather than the other way around.

  • ChipMonkStyle, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0i refuse to believe they read 99.5% of those applications and resumes. time to read 1 million resumes? ill get right on that.
  • DutchMaster, on 10/12/2007, -2/+1I would love to work for google, im still going to try
  • Verbal, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0A few employees live in my apartment complex in Palo Alto. They're not the most social neighbors.
  • Duncan3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0That's 1/200 which is typical of most any decent paying job you're going for. Google just does it a lot faster since it takes a lot of engineers to find out every detail about everyones life.

    It's still all about who you know, even at Google.
  • pickypg, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I used to read these articles and be mystified and impressed by Google's hiring standards.

    That is, until I met a real Google employee and realized that these articles are all buzz pieces made to impress those not in the know, and hopefully get some generated interest from truly skilled people.
  • reubix, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Once they found my resume through monster and contacted me for a position in their new lab at Zurich. I did not reply back because its I just find their hiring practices arrogant and I suck at Sudoku. I have also seen a lot of their Google Tech Talks and I find their developers that ask dumbass questions annoying and arrogant. I really don't understand our fascination in working at Google. I am sure that they are like any other big corp that sucks the life out of you.
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