Have you received an email from Google's technical recruiter? If so, did you respond?
Re:Every 3 months on average
Mr. Muskrat on 2007-04-01T05:40:11
That's interesting. I had been contacted once before but by an external recruiter. I was wondering if I should take this one seriously since he's an in-house recruiter.
I was initially going to post something along the lines of "Should I be flattered or insulted?"
It's one thing if he contacted me because he thought that I would be a good fit. If he's contacting everyone he could find then that's a totally different thing.
Re:Every 3 months on average
Aristotle on 2007-04-01T11:19:48
See also Tim Bray’s Twenty-First Century Recruiting post.
Re:Every 3 months on average
Mr. Muskrat on 2007-04-01T18:22:45
I hadn't see that one. Thanks!Re:Every 3 months on average
link on 2007-04-01T17:39:53
I applied for a job once and have been contacted by Google recruiters twice since then. The second time I wasn't interested enough to go through a half dozen 45 minute calls (which is what the second interview process was) so I replied saying I would only be interested if I could skip the phone interviews. Their reply included
"If you are successful in your application a telephone interview would be conducted in the evening time."
which left me feeling insulted. If they are going to contact me I think I should be guaranteed at least a phone interview. Otherwise they are just cv fishing.
I went along with it, just to see what would happen. It was for a position much less fun than my current work (though living in California would be much less fun for me than many other things).
Re:Answers
barbie on 2007-04-01T09:50:58
Likewise on both accounts, even though Ireland isn't that far away for me. I was quite flattered, as at least they've taken the trouble to find people who might be appropriate. Having previously recruited for technical positions, it can be extremely difficult to encourage candidates to get in touch with you. The fact they seemed to have tried to contact technically capable and potentially suitable candidates, is quite nice to hear.
I got two about a week apart early this year. One to by email address obtained from my blog, the second from to my CPAN address. I asked around and several people I know have had them too, but they weren't willing to move to Dublin or Zurich. In both cases they had done some basic research (easily automated if you are Google) and the job on offer was appropriate and interesting.
One the one hand you could say it's a sign of desperation, on the other hand you could say that enlightened pro-active recruitment is more efficient than waiting for people to apply. I don't know.
Not a knock on Google, indeed its a bit flattering (I once got a cold call from MSFT too - on the phone, no less -, which was also flattering, but of no interest).
I suppose if I had the ability to tolerate the urban desolation of SillyCon Valley, I might be interested. Rumors of a major installation going up near The Dalles has, however, piqued my curiousity.
My highly subjective sense is Google has tapped out the Phd crowd, and/or internal productivity is declining as early employees' attention is diverted by bloated options. They may have also discovered that many Phd's can't code their way out of wet paper bags, so people that actually deliver real code may be of more value than earlier thought.
I don't know how other people have responded, but I know how you should:
"I live in the Dallas-Fort Worth metroplex and wouldn't leave the state of Texas, so unless this is a telecommuting position, I regret to inform you that I'm not interested."
Re:I know how you should respond
stu42j on 2007-04-02T18:08:00
Google does have an office here in Dallas (or Las Colinas, it seems). No programmer positions though.Re:I know how you should respond
Mr. Muskrat on 2007-04-02T19:03:25
That's a good answer for several reasons. It points out my love of Texas and keeps me from telling the recruiter what I really think of his recruitment tactics.
