Talent – Hiring is the most important thing you do. Chapter 3 of "How Google Works"

The most important thing you do is to hire talent – every sports coach knows this is more important than strategy. Scouting is like shaving – if you don’t do it every day it shows. Every leader in Google spends a lot of time with in the hiring process, not just for senior positions, at all levels.

Sergey Brin’s favorite interview question is: “Could you teach me something complicated I don’t know?” To be hired in Google it was not enough to be able to teach or simplify –you also had to be interesting. Explained dating instead of economic theory was one way of getting hired.

Hierarchical hiring does not work in Google. Despite intentions to hire people smarter than them self, managers most often surrender to human nature and hires people that will not threaten them. Google’s hiring practices originates from academia rather than corporate. As most academics rarely leave, the academic hiring process has to work and is elaborate. Peer based committee’s works better for ensuring high quality candidates enter Google – even if there is no specific job at the time. The right people will create their own jobs.

As Google grew and senior managers were not able to control what everybody did but they made a conscious decision about deciding to control whom they hired. As Google managers are expected to find the right people and not be “fighting for headcount”, the hiring manager is not the one making the final decision.

Hiring great people not only creates great work – it also attracts other great people like a herd. “You are brilliant, we are hiring” was the advert which attracted Marissa Meyer to Google. The objective is to create a hiring culture that can resist the siren song of compromise, a song that only grows louder amidst the whirlwind of chaotic hyper growth.

Google wants passionate people, but not people that wear passion on their sleeve – people that live it.  They are also looking for people able to learn – what they call having a growth mind-set. People that decide to set themselves learning goals rather than performance goals. Everybody is a recruiter, Google expects all employees to bring at least one great candidate. The most important skill for a leader is interviewing skills: Prepare, push the limits of the candidate

Google don’t hide that they are elitist – they want the best because they believe there is a big difference between good and great people. Equal hiring is not seen as only the right thing to do but also the most effective: Homogeneity in an organisation breeds failure. It is seen as important how the candidate treat other people in all situations. The interview process is long enough to judge and involves dinner and other activities. In the exponential internet world knowledge and specialisation deteriorate fast and learning becomes increasingly important – much more important than knowledge.

Apart from Passion, Intelligence and the ability to learn, Google is also looking for Googleyness. Integrated in to the word Googleyness are: Knowledge, leadership, ambition, drive, team orientation, service orientation, listening and communication skills, bias to action, effectiveness, interpersonal skills and integrity. You don’t need to like the people you hire, but they do have to be interesting.