Getting hired by the likes of Google is a phenomenal task.
If you think you are smart, there are 10,000 people just as smart - or smarter - than you are. (10,000 are the number of people Google has on its payroll around the world.)
Here is how to get a foot in the door:
- Get a graduate from a brand-name university such as Stanford and Harvard. The company places a strong prominence on skill, and having gone through these schools shows you have some.
- Make sure you keep a grade point average of 4.0 or even higher. Anything less than an A could count against you.
- Be a team player. You will not be doing much solo work or getting your own workspace here, so start learning to play ball with others.
- Get recommended. A good word from a current Google employee is a leg-up. Google believes that good people recognize other good people. So if your resume is passed on through someone already working there, your probability of getting in is increased.
- Acquire diverse interests. It is a bonus if you like mountain climbing and charity work, but make sure you have actually scaled the Himalayas or volunteered with Unicef, because Google likes people who just do it.
- Do not be evil. This is Google's motto and it should be yours too. This means that whenever you have a chance, you should show through your interview that you are principled, honest and good. Google engineers, for instance, have to weigh the financial pluses of implementing certain features into their products against how much good or bad it does for the user, and they swear they always take the path of least evil.
