I’ve analysed literally 100s of Google job Interviews and candidate feedback assessments over the last few years. Here’s the top points which are critical to remember when applying, or at the interview stage at Google:

What Google Looks for In New Employees

By most account, Google receives between 2.5 and 3.5 million job applications a year, and receives as many as 50,000 applications a week. Yet the company only hires about 4,000 people a year across its 40 offices – roughly about 330 people a month. However, knowing the following can boost your chances of success and give you the edge. The top 4 attributes Google look for are:

1. Smartness (Cognitive Ability/Technical Skills)

This can be divided into ‘Cognitive Ability’ and ‘Technical Skills’. Google famously does not consider your GPA or University grades as important nor your IQ. What is key here is your ability to pull differing parts of information together to form a unique solution. The ability to come up with a contrarian perspective from analysing information and deciphering different meanings from it. This will certainly be tested in the Phone Interview sometimes via a Google Document where you are required to show your workings to the scenario put across. The In-person interview will also require this to be demonstrated sometimes via a whiteboard. These questions will mainly be requiring analytical answers rather than descriptive. One of the most commonly asked questions is: ‘What is your favorite Google product and how would you improve it?’.

At least 100 more questions and answers have been collated here: http://www.googleycareers.com/

If you are applying for a technical role, then most of the phone/in-person interview will involve math, computing and coding skills. A recent example of a technical question asked of a software development engineer candidate was: ‘A string consists of ‘0’, ‘1’ and ‘?’. The question mark can be either ‘0’ or ‘1’. Find all possible combinations for a string.’

2) Creativity

This an extension of the first criterion but usually requires you to demonstrate your knowledge or experience but in a unique setting. This is testing not just your previous knowledge, but also the experience you would cited on your resume or the online Google application form.

A good example of a question that Google interviewers have used in recent years to test creativity is: ‘How would you explain the importance of HTML 5 to Larry Page and then to my grandma?’ In both cases, you will be dealing with the same set of information – that is, HTML 5 – but it will require some creativity to convincingly express that information in two different ways.

3) Drive for Excellence / Leadership Qualities

This is based on tenacity. One of the most common feedback points is that candidates find they are pushed to come up with a variety of alternative solutions to problem questions and live challenges. For example, if you think one answer is the best solution, then be prepared to rationalise why it is a better option that the alternatives. Be prepared for the interviewer to tweak and change the variables to test your limits here. The secret is that they are looking for ‘tenacity’ - demonstration that you will keep on questioning and reasoning for the optimal solution.

Leadership qualities are not based on traditional leadership qualities at Google. They are interested in “Emergent Leadership” instead. This includes a focus on willingness to solve problems, a strong sense of intellectual humility when working in a team, and a strong sense of ownership of projects. The “emergent leadership” qualities they look for have been deciphered in more detail in Chapter 4 of “How to Get a Job at Google”: www.googleycareers.com

4) Alignment with Google Culture / Googleyness

Having Googleyness is the mysterious sauce to impressing the interviewer. While it’s difficult to describe, we have cracked the code as far as possible. The main reason for the confusion is that there are too many attributes given to the phrase ‘being Googley’ and no one definition. Current and former Google employees have listed the following attributes as part of being Googley:

• Valuing users and colleagues Rewarding great performance • Being humble, and letting go of the ego • Being transparent, honest, and fair

Also remember that personality is something that can be gauged by how you answer any question, not just those relating to Googleyness. Keen and friendly listening, concise answers, good poise and a confident, friendly demeanor will all help you project Googleyness. A chapter has been dedicated to “achieving Googleyness” here: http://www.googleycareers.com/

Recruitment Process

Worth noting that there is an internal and external interview process and it is crucial to navigate this process in the right way: The external process is:

Application Form Recruiter Screen (initial sift through applications) Phone Interview(s) On Site Interview(s)

Internally the decision goes through: Hiring Committee Executive Review Compensation Committee Offer!

i havent gotten anything yet, applied a week after apps opened

Pretty sure you have to be in college to be a BOLD intern?

So far, we've only received candidate forms. I haven't seen any rejections or interviews yet.

Here's the thread.

Have they opened applications already and are you diversity?

honestly man, with all the layoffs going on, i doubt many of us will hear anything

People who applied sept 30 got the questionnaire on the 8th.

I think it’s not automatic. They’ll review your application and if they want to move forward with you they send the questionnaire

It may also be in batches. Give it another week before you panic

It means they ghosted you man, keep applying to other internships man