Ask HN: Got invited to work at Google(for 2nd time), what to expect?

17 points by nRike 11 years ago | 10 comments

Hi,

This is the second time a recruiter invites me to apply for a job at Google. The first time I rejected the offer because it was not part of my area of interest, but now this new recruiter told me I could apply either Developer Relations, Technical Solutions or also Software Engineering roles. EDIT: 2nd recruiter told me he was doing following up from the first one.

The questions I have for you Googlers/ex-Googlers are:

Why this new recruiter never knew about me, but to apply for a job anyway? How is life doing software engineering at Google? Did working at Google helped you to become a better entrepreneur?

Thanks.

hkmurakami 11 years ago |

I really wouldn't think about it too much. They'll easily reject you as quickly as they reached out to you. Recruiter performance evaluations are typically based in the raw number of placements rather than hit rate. It naturally skews them towards a shotgun approach.

Maybe you're a fantastic Dev but getting a call from them doesn't really mean much.

nRike 11 years ago | |

I think recruiters get paid by the number of positions they can fill, even if they get a "bad performance" for having few candidates.

I think this recruiter just was doing follow up after few months and trying to re-connect. Last year happened to me the same with a Pebble recruiter who later went to Greylock.

smileysteve 11 years ago |

Hi, I've never worked for Google, but to answer some of your questions.

A) You got a second recruiter contacting because sometimes the recruiters aren't checking any internal database before reaching out to you, bring the:

B) Be wary of the wide net (Developer Relations, Technical Solutions, and Software Engineering) suggest that this recruiter hasn't looked into you very deeply to suggest what they think is the role you have enjoyed.

C) Google may not make you a better entrepreneur. But it could. My experiences with Google software engineers is that they sometimes feel like impersonators when attending startup events.

smartician 11 years ago |

Recruiters scour websites like LinkedIn and email anyone who remotely seems to have relevant skills or experience. Don't read too much into it. In the interviewing process, you'll have the same odds of getting an offer as if you applied out of your own volition.

stevekemp 11 years ago | |

Agreed.

I've been reached out to about five times by Google in the space of two years. Every single time I say the same thing

"I'm based in Edinburgh, I do not wish to move, therefore I cannot work for you - regardless of how awesome you might be. Please don't contact me again."

It's a shame that their recruiters don't seem to use any consistent search-backend prior to mailing people ..

wikwocket 11 years ago | |

This is the correct answer.

Recruiters are generally desperate to fill roles, and doubly so for engineers in the current market. Some of them will carefully discern how to find the best candidates and contact them with discretion. Many of them will not.

If you want to work at Google, or anywhere else, then by all means pursue this. But treat being contacted by recruiters as an unrelated and independent event.

ywu 11 years ago |

Like many others, Google has the referral bonus so several of my friends sent my resume (without asking me though) to their HR contact. So I got calls from two or three HR specialists and one of them was really insisting. That was when I was a PhD student in Australia. I was once in the Google office in Sydney, and that office is probably the most comfortable one that I have ever seen. Great place, great view, no much keyboard tapping and mouse clicking even in the dev area. Later I found out that team developed Google maps.

I can't answer the questions because I have never been a Googler. But I can share why I rejected their invitations for interviews. Google pays good, and is generous on stock options. As my Google friends say, it's like already half retired. I just did not want to do that in my late 20s. Later after graduation I went back to China and started looking for things to build. I really do not think Google would help much in entrepreneurship, except you may get a lot of talented friends. But again, they do not want to leave Google to work with you on your project because Google pays too well.

nRike 11 years ago | |

>> As my Google friends say, it's like already half retired.

This is very interesting. Few employees I know at Google are very busy and working in several things at the same time.

>> I just did not want to do that in my late 20s.

I'm 26 and I think the same too. I have the need to build something where every line of code matters, making people's life easier instead of working in a big company.

alphagenerator 11 years ago |

I think many recruiters would e-mail goats and ask them to apply to Google if they could. I'm not sure they care or filter people very well in many cases.

This sort of thing is usually a sign that your recruiter is not a good recruiter. Break contact and move on to someone who actually tries to match you to real opportunities. Recruiters are supposed to provide value to the applicant as much as the employer.

gesman 11 years ago |

I usually reply to recruiter that I am not interested in their online monkey coding tests, but I'd be happy to consider position and talk to Google team in person if they're serious.