Hiring Strategies of Tech Giants

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You might have heard of Google’s incredible focus on hiring talented intelligent people, or if you watched the Facebook movie you would have seen the coding competitions where elite coders would compete against each other while chugging alcohol.

I wanted to see what we can really learn from these tech giants.

Thorough testing of applicants

The top tech companies are systematic when testing candidates, and their evaluation process includes not just verbal interviews but also skill-based tests.

How long are the interviews?The answer really is “Long” and very thorough. Candidates need to endure multiple interviews and tests.

Average salary of a software engineer

IBM tends to focus on hiring graduates and then internal development, so their average salary level is lower. Google and Facebook are renowned for searching for superstar coders.

Great pay and benefits so amazing you never want to leave the office. The benefits you can get at Google are amazing and include:

• Free haircuts• Gourmet food• On-site doctors• A Gym• Massage• Generous maternity benefits• A free shuttle bus to work• Death benefits for their spouse• Health insurance

Contests and other unique approaches to hiring

Google has the “Google Code Jam” which attracts over 7,500 people each year and the 25 finalists compete for $50k in prizes and the chance to work at Google. In fact most of these tech giants have contests as a way of attracting talent including Intel, Amazon and Facebook.Google is well know for asking brain teasers in Interviews with questions such as “How many golf balls fit inside a school bus?”

Acqui-hires

Google and Facebook have both purchased a number of companies purely for their talent. Google and Facebook competed to purchase Milk (Google won), which was pretty much a pure talent acquisition and netted the founders $15 million. In March 2013 Yahoo purchased the company Summly for $30 million from 17 year old Nick D’Aloisio in March 2013 and then promptly shut it down. IBM has a different approach with their philosophy of hiring young people, usually right out of college and then promoting them after a rigorous internal development process.

What are the lessons to learn?

Should you replicate the way Google & Facebook do things? Probably not. They are multi-billion dollar companies with billions in funding, billions in revenue and it’s difficult for a small or medium size company to emulate their strategies. Google can afford expensive engineers and benefits because they’re at the top of their industry and their core franchise is so strong. Most companies need to be a whole lot more frugal.

However I think there are some lessons that every company can draw from these giants:

• Evaluate candidates based on tests that directly correlate to the work they are doing on the job.

• Create an inspiring vision that attracts candidates to your company.

• Treat your employees well.

• Be very selective and put a lot of time and attention into your recruitment process.

This article originally appeared on the Staff.com blog