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October 09, 2006
ComputerWorld takes on Google's HR Department
ComputerWorld takes on Google's HR department in two stories today and gets some anonymous sources to pitch their bitches. Our take: Most people would want a gig at Google, but sure the HR department has room to improve.
Sunny Gettinger, a Google spokeswoman, said the company continues to get "a great rate of offer acceptances" from job candidates "at all levels of their careers." But she added that Google is trying to streamline its procedures. According to Gettinger, since the beginning of the year, the average number of job interviews per candidate "has gone down to just over five," and the company has decreased the amount of time it takes to make job offers.
But ComputerWorld found others that disagree:
Hassle
A sys admin says he and others at his firm were recruited by Google. "He said they were friendly but declined to answer basic questions about the position, the technology he would work on or even the amount of hours he would likely work. "I've interviewed for jobs with defense contractors doing classified work who were more open than Google," said the systems administrator, who ended up taking a new job outside of California at a Wall Street financial services firm. He added that none of his former colleagues joined Google, either. "We were all a little spooked out," he said.
"Even for temporary positions, applicants generally have had to interview with committees of 6 to 10 Google employees, ranging from senior managers to recent college graduates, said a woman who worked as a recruiter for Google until earlier this year."
"A female executive who interviewed for a managerial job at Google earlier this year said the lengthy interview process eventually led her to pull herself out of consideration. "I had to tell them, 'Look, I can't keep taking full days off to spend with you guys.'"
Competiton
Phil Carpenter, vice president of marketing at Simply Hired, said that Google is being affected by the revitalized job market for developers and other IT workers. "Demand is strong, and applicants are in the driver's seat," he said. "Google continues to be an employer that is interesting to many people, but there are lots of other choices to be had."
Stock Options
"Taking a job at search engine vendor Google is no longer seen as a quick path to wealth for most new employees. Prize hires are still granted high salaries and large grants of restricted stock known as Google Stock Units (GSU). But most applicants get salary offers that are below the prevailing market levels, said David Goodenough, a Seattle-based executive coach. high cost of living in Silicon Valley, where the vast majority of Google's job openings are located, also reduces the company's attractiveness, especially to out-of-state workers. GSUs do have an advantage over more traditional stock options, which can become worthless if a company's stock falls. But their value is still pegged to Google's stock price, which has been moribund so far this year. It closed on Friday at $420.50, a hair under its price at the beginning of 2006, after doubled last year."
"Grants of GSUs have also been reduced. For instance, earlier this year, new college graduates were only being given 25 GSUs vesting over a four-year period, according to a former Google recruiter. That is essentially six shares of Google stock per year. "When I first heard that, I thought there was a zero missing," she said. "It was nothing compared to what they were giving away a year before."
Read - Google Catches Flak for Its Hiring Procedures; Lengthy process turns off some IT pros, developers (Computerworld)
Read - Google job offers don't include fast financial windfall instead of stock options, new hires get 'Google Stock Units' (Computerworld)
Posted by BT at October 9, 2006 10:03 PM
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