5 ms·

I worked for Google for a few years, and did a lot of phone screens. Most of the people who I interviewed probably felt the same way as this lady. The process m

by dlevine 17y ago

I worked for Google for a few years, and did a lot of phone screens. Most of the people who I interviewed probably felt the same way as this lady. The process may seem brutal, but it is impossible to invite everyone in for an on-site interview, and the phone screen does a pretty good job of filtering out the definite nos (although I'm sure that some good candidates are rejected). I could count the number of people who passed one of my phone screens on one hand (and I considered myself a fairly easy interviewer).

ironsam 17y ago
How many phone interviews did you do that only <= 5 passed?
deleted 17y ago
[deleted]
dangrover 17y ago
I can't stand talking to people from companies like Google, they're always so smug and judgmental like that. Part of my decision to drop out of the job market and focus full-time on my company (to pretty reasonable success this year) is because I like being paid based on a judgement of my work/products, rather than some half-assed assessment of me as a person made in an interview.
- blinks 17y ago
  > rather than some half-assed assessment of me as a person > made in an interview. Any judgement made in a 45-minute (or less!) interview is going to be half-assed. That's the unfortunate way of the world. How do you think people should interview? (Genuinely curious; I do interviews, and I think I do pretty well, but it's difficult to honestly examine one's own methods without feedback.)
  - cookiecaper 17y ago
    If I may interject, I think in most cases it's much, much better to use a network of connections rather than random walk-ins. You're much more likely to get someone that not only performs well, but also fits in well with your company's personalities. If you have to interview strangers, I think it's good to inquire into their technical background until you have ample confidence in their technical abilities, and take the rest of the time to discuss career and company goals, personalities, hobbies, etc., in a lax and non-rushed manner. I'd invite the candidate back for a follow-up interview and talk more and then invite him to work out of your office for a few days (with pay, of course). I think it's much better to have a relaxed and friendly decorum and perform a series of informal "interviews" because you'll learn a lot more about the candidate if he feels confident and open than if he's rushed to answer a bunch of silly logic puzzles and give diatribes on his five-year life plan.
    - azanar 17y ago
      If I may interject, I think in most cases it's much, much better to use a network of connections rather than random walk-ins. You're much more likely to get someone that not only performs well, but also fits in well with your company's personalities. It is possible that this person is being interviewed by Google as a result of a referral by another employee within the Google, or even a referral from the hiring manager themselves. Unless what you mean is that a hiring manager only consider people whom he and every other potential interviewer already know before the interview process even begins. The odds of ending up with such an arrangement at a place the size of Google, or even a place 1/100th the size of Google, seem insanely remote. Someone on an interview loop at a large organization is bound to not know you from every other candidate who walks in the door. Even with phone interviews, odds are they call people based on factors entirely other than "do they know this person?" The best he may know about you is that some other person in the organization referred you, but it is not obvious whether they'll appreciate knowing this or be pissed off that their objectivity is now screwed. Some interviewers really prize trying to be as objective as possible in interviews, because interviews have a habit of being horribly imprecise anyway. But then, so do referral from J. Random Employee ("I have this cousin who's really good with computers; he helped me setup Outlook and everything. We should hire him a as software engineer.") But then, maybe that is your point. If a company ends up at a size where they can't rely on connections, they're too big already.
- BigDamnDeal 17y ago
  I bet the commenter above would prefer to be judged on his accomplishments as an interviewer, rather than some half-assed assessment of him as a person made in a comment.
  - dangrover 17y ago
    It wasn't any assessment of the commenter, but rather the cumulation of my experiences doing interviews and talking to folks from these companies. Still prejudiced, but you make me sound like a total dick. :)
    - BigDamnDeal 17y ago
      Ha, touché!
anigbrowl 17y ago
Out of curiosity (I have no plans to apply to Google), what kind of criteria are used to identify prospective candidates? For example, does Google only look at the top 10% of academic performers and winnow from there, or sample across the board and then start filtering for critical thinking? I'm just thinking about the fact that many industry luminaries didn't bother to finish college, but rather stayed long enough to pick up some new intellectual tools and then started selling their ideas as soon as they had decided which way the wind was blowing.
- crucini 17y ago
  How many industries luminaries would be good contributors at Google? Wozniak, who prided himself on building circuits with fewer chips than anyone thought possible? Would he be happy programming in Java?

by dlevine 17y ago

ironsam 17y ago

How many phone interviews did you do that only <= 5 passed?

deleted 17y ago

[deleted]

dangrover 17y ago

I can't stand talking to people from companies like Google, they're always so smug and judgmental like that. Part of my decision to drop out of the job market and focus full-time on my company (to pretty reasonable success this year) is because I like being paid based on a judgement of my work/products, rather than some half-assed assessment of me as a person made in an interview.

blinks 17y ago
> rather than some half-assed assessment of me as a person > made in an interview. Any judgement made in a 45-minute (or less!) interview is going to be half-assed. That's the unfortunate way of the world. How do you think people should interview? (Genuinely curious; I do interviews, and I think I do pretty well, but it's difficult to honestly examine one's own methods without feedback.)
- cookiecaper 17y ago
  If I may interject, I think in most cases it's much, much better to use a network of connections rather than random walk-ins. You're much more likely to get someone that not only performs well, but also fits in well with your company's personalities. If you have to interview strangers, I think it's good to inquire into their technical background until you have ample confidence in their technical abilities, and take the rest of the time to discuss career and company goals, personalities, hobbies, etc., in a lax and non-rushed manner. I'd invite the candidate back for a follow-up interview and talk more and then invite him to work out of your office for a few days (with pay, of course). I think it's much better to have a relaxed and friendly decorum and perform a series of informal "interviews" because you'll learn a lot more about the candidate if he feels confident and open than if he's rushed to answer a bunch of silly logic puzzles and give diatribes on his five-year life plan.
  - azanar 17y ago
    If I may interject, I think in most cases it's much, much better to use a network of connections rather than random walk-ins. You're much more likely to get someone that not only performs well, but also fits in well with your company's personalities. It is possible that this person is being interviewed by Google as a result of a referral by another employee within the Google, or even a referral from the hiring manager themselves. Unless what you mean is that a hiring manager only consider people whom he and every other potential interviewer already know before the interview process even begins. The odds of ending up with such an arrangement at a place the size of Google, or even a place 1/100th the size of Google, seem insanely remote. Someone on an interview loop at a large organization is bound to not know you from every other candidate who walks in the door. Even with phone interviews, odds are they call people based on factors entirely other than "do they know this person?" The best he may know about you is that some other person in the organization referred you, but it is not obvious whether they'll appreciate knowing this or be pissed off that their objectivity is now screwed. Some interviewers really prize trying to be as objective as possible in interviews, because interviews have a habit of being horribly imprecise anyway. But then, so do referral from J. Random Employee ("I have this cousin who's really good with computers; he helped me setup Outlook and everything. We should hire him a as software engineer.") But then, maybe that is your point. If a company ends up at a size where they can't rely on connections, they're too big already.
BigDamnDeal 17y ago
I bet the commenter above would prefer to be judged on his accomplishments as an interviewer, rather than some half-assed assessment of him as a person made in a comment.
- dangrover 17y ago
  It wasn't any assessment of the commenter, but rather the cumulation of my experiences doing interviews and talking to folks from these companies. Still prejudiced, but you make me sound like a total dick. :)
  - BigDamnDeal 17y ago
    Ha, touché!

anigbrowl 17y ago

Out of curiosity (I have no plans to apply to Google), what kind of criteria are used to identify prospective candidates? For example, does Google only look at the top 10% of academic performers and winnow from there, or sample across the board and then start filtering for critical thinking? I'm just thinking about the fact that many industry luminaries didn't bother to finish college, but rather stayed long enough to pick up some new intellectual tools and then started selling their ideas as soon as they had decided which way the wind was blowing.

crucini 17y ago
How many industries luminaries would be good contributors at Google? Wozniak, who prided himself on building circuits with fewer chips than anyone thought possible? Would he be happy programming in Java?