> My guess is the vast majority of the talent Google has gotten through acquisitions would have failed miserably going through Google's traditional hiring proce

> My guess is the vast majority of the talent Google has gotten through acquisitions would have failed miserably going through Google's traditional hiring process. I don't believe that's the case. What I've seen with talent acquisitions (at Google and elsewhere) is that interviewing the team is actually prerequisite to making the acquisition. Of course, the interview doesn't have to be as rigorous: during the due-diligence process you can actually view the codebase and see the individuals' contributions. What I've also seen, specifically in the case of Google, is that individuals from acquisitions would be asked to stay a year, at the end of which they'd need to interview for other positions at Google: if they couldn't pass the interview, they'd be let go with a very generous severance package. That said, I am sure there are exceptions.