What are Recruiters at Google Looking for?

Former Google recruiters have said that the "secret sauce" to getting an interview with a Google recruiter is to have your resume clolsey match the desired experience and skills in a job posting. But while some Google recruiters are seeking highly specific talent to fill a specific role, others are seeking generally promising candidates who show initiative. If a Google recruiter finds a promising candidates, they can often find a specific role that best fits their skill later. This means they can find an interviewer for most technical skillsets.

When hiring software engineers, Google recruiters do not usually have strong preferences for any one particular programming language. Google recruiters and hiring managers almost never turn away a candidate because they know the “wrong” language. Google recruiters have shared that software engineers who jump between languages do as well or even better than engineers who master a specific language like C or C#. Meaning that you won’t be penalized for being less familiar with a particular programming language.

When looking at new grads, Google recruiters value side projects such as an app you published to the app store. Not because it proves technical ability, mostly but because it shows initiative.

Be sure to apply before you contact recruiters, since they can’t push you forward in the process until you apply. This will also give them more critical information about you as a candidate. Google recruiters will also keep you in their data, meaning even if you’re not interviewed, they may contact you later about other positions that could be a better fit.

Google recruiters are also looking for prompt responses. With so many qualified candidates being considered, taking more than a day to respond could mean being passed over.

Is Google Hiring in 2024?

As of Spring of 2024, Google is still undergoing layoffs and moving some roles to countries outside the US. However, Google recruiters are still recruiting for select roles on select teams. On LinkedIn, Google lists 8,000+ open job postings every month. While not hiring many new roles, Amazon recruiters are still actively trying to fill these empty positions.

What are the Different Types of Recruiters at Google?

In general, Google recruiters you may consider reaching out to include:

• Recruiters
• Hiring managers
• Team members
• Leadership on the specific team you’re interested in joining

When do you meet with recruiters in the interview process?

The Google interview process for software engineers has four rounds:

• Round 1: Coding test
• Round 2: Technical interview via Google Hangout
• Round 3: Onsite interview
• Round 4: General HR discussion

Other roles have a similar interview process. Since open roles get so many applications, connecting with a recruiter is usually the best way to start the hiring process. While team members may not be actively searching for talent like recruiters, they can still refer you for a role, increasing your odds of getting an interview. Google usually gives referral bonuses if a recommended candidate is hired, giving current Googlers at least some incentive to refer you if you present yourself well. That makes connecting with team members a good place to start as well.

Which Recruiter at Google Should you Contact?

Sending a cold email to a Google recruiter can triple your response rate, based on our fellow’s data. This is especially helpful when applying to big companies like Google that can get thousands of applicants per job posting.

You may be tempted to search for Google recruiters and hiring managers directly on LinkedIn–but your odds of landing a job at Google are best if you reach out to a recruiter who is searching for candidates like you. Recruiters are often seeking very specific talent for very specific roles.

You can start by searching for jobs at Google on LinkedIn. The job posting will often include the recruiter who made the post. If there is no recruiter associated with the post, try reaching out to someone on the team or in a leadership position related to that team. For example, if your target role is on the Data Science and Solutions team in Cupertino, reach out to current members of that team. Google employees usually get a bonus if a candidate they refer gets hired–this means that employees are often willing to refer candidates, provided their introduction is thoughtful and personalized. However, their referral of a stranger might not hold much weight to recruiters. Since the teamate doesn't know much about you, it will be hard for them to advocate for you effectively, if they even bother. This makes cultivating genuine connection at Google especially important, ideally via drip messages for months or even years to establish rapport. Some successful Google hires networked with team members years before they asked for a referral.

If you can’t find any recruiters, team members, or hiring managers associated with Google job postings, then try downloading our free Chrome extension, Career Connect. Our app automatically finds recruiters’ contact information and generates cold emails. Double your interview rate while saving 2 hours weekly by:

Track or Bookmark Applications

Generate Outreach Email Messages

Personalized AI email based on your resume and job description

Re-Generate and Edit Message

Use different resumes for different roles

Auto-send outreach via your personal Gmail

Auto-track your email outreach via the pipeline

Track Linkedin outreach via the extension

How to Find Recruiter's Email Addresses from Google?

Once you’ve found a Google Recruiter that’s the best fit for your desired role (and applied to the job!), it’s time to reach out. Both email and LinkedIn messages work fine, but recruiters often limit who can contact them via LinkedIn. Your LinkedIn account likely limits how many private messages you can send as well. Cold email has no such restrictions. The Google recruiter probably receives far more cold messages via LinkedIn than email–a clear customized email can help you stand out. We’ve found that personalized emails to recruiters triple your response rate.

To find the Google recruiter's email from LinkedIn, you can use a Chrome extension like Career Connect. This tool finds the emails of recruiters connected to a job post you’re applying to, then generates an optimized outreach email using AI.

To use Career Connect, just find a job posting you're interested in, then click the extension–you should see several recruiters’ email addresses, as well as a highly personalized email based on the job posting and your resume, ready to be sent.

If Career Connect somehow fails to find any recruiters' emails, you can enter the email manually. The most common email format for Google employees is [first initial][last name]@Google.com–For example, Jane Doe would have the email JDoe@Google.com. Another common email formats include [First Name][Last Name]@Google.com like JaneDoe@Google.com. Sometimes, [first name][last initial]@Google.com formats are also used. If you can’t find a recruiter’s email from an extension like Apollo, you can try manually entering their names into these 3 email formats, then bcc the email to all the potential addresses. An extension like NeverBounce can confirm which email is valid.

What are Recruiters Looking for in Terms of Company Culture?

Google puts a heavy emphasis on aligning with their culture, or what they call displaying "Googleyness". When initially interacting with Google recruiters, this means showing a positive attitude and not taking forever to respond to messages.

If the recruiter pushes you through the hiring pricess, you'll eventually have a "Googleyness and leadership" interview focused on Google's values. Many if not most behavioral interview question responses will be at least somewhat be assessed based on their Googleyness. Letting recruiters know that you’re familiar and aligned with Google's values, or even the concept of Googleyness, can help improve your odds.

Google values (Googleyness):

• Focus on the user and all else will follow.
• It’s best to do one thing really, really well.
• Fast is better than slow.
• Democracy on the web works.
• You don’t need to be at your desk to need an answer.
• You can make money without doing evil.
• There’s always more information out there.
• The need for information crosses all borders.
• You can be serious without a suit.
• Great just isn’t good enough.

Once you’re familiar with Google, you can include a sentence or two about how you and your experiences might show your Googleyness. Don’t force it–you’ll have time to demonstrate your culture fit in the Googleyness interview. But if your experiences align with their values, you can show your recruiter that you did your research and could be a good fit for the culture.

To see Googleyness interview questions and a more in-depth guide to the interview processes, in our How to get to a job at Google guide.

How to Write Cold Emails to Recruiters at Google and What to Say

Connecting with recruiters at Google is not as easy as sending a generic networking email–effective cold emails should be highly personalized to the company and recruiter. For example, recruiters at Google often look for candidates who align with their values of accessibility and inclusion.

If you are not sure what to say, don’t worry. You can use Career Connect to write the perfect email using AI. The tool generates outreach emails tailored to your resume and the job description, then sends them to recruiters. Each sentence of the email is optimized to stand out to recruiters and get you an interview.

If you prefer to manually write the email, we’ve also made you a template customized for recruiters at Google. For other companies, you can check out this guide with our cold email template to help you.

When you reach out in your cold emails, you need to hit the right points for your role. Use these tips to ensure you are catching their eye so they move you forward.

• If you’re trying to get a software engineering job at Google, make sure you research the programming languages that they use and highlight your expertise in each one.
• To become a UX designer at Google, make sure your portfolio showcases all of your skills throughout the entire design process.
• When reaching out to get a data science job at Google, make sure you mention relevant projects that match the goals of the company.
• If you are aiming to become a digital marketer at Google, make sure you quantify the results in your background statements because it is more impressive.
• To become a product manager at Google, make sure you research their products heavily and talk about how your background connects to their current work.
• If you’re reaching out to find a sales development representative (SDR) at Google, make sure you focus on how you approach your funnels differently and why you are the right fit for this specific team.

Google Cold Email Template

You can use our template to send strong cold emails along with your applications.

Hi [recruiter name],

[Personal greeting and intro]. [Include reason for reaching out].

[Insert interest in company’s product/values/mission and a follow up statement tying in your background]. [insert any other relevant background information - tie it into the job description]. [Tie interest in company and background into a closing statement]. [End with an ask to connect or to move forward in the process].

Best, [Your name]

Here is the template filled out so you can get a sense of how to do it yourself:

Hi Jane Doe,

I recently applied for the Data Scientist role on LinkedIn–I noticed you’re a recruiter at Google seeking data talent. While I’m not sure if you are the right person to contact, I definitely have the experience and skills the team is seeking.

As a Math major, I’ve taken the time on the side to perfect my code to analyze data problems. I’ve worked on 10+ data projects focusing on data cleaning, visualization, and prediction models using machine learning, neural networks, and topic modeling.

My data cleaning as a Microsoft intern fixed 60+ of cross-set errors in under two months and helped the strategy team make an immediatley necessesary marketing pivot–I can see myself leveraging those experiences to scale the data mountain at Google. Working with data on tight deadlines taught me the Googleyness value that working fast is better than slow, which I think would help me fit in with the team culture.

I’m sure you’re very busy, but I would appreciate the opportunity to hop on a quick call to learn more about the role and team. Would you be free for a 15-minute call on Monday after 10am or any day after Wednesday?

Best, John Doe

With recruiter email addresses and cold email templates at your disposal, you should be on your way to more application responses and interview requests."

AI Generated Cold Email

Our extension can write the email for you. Using your resume and the job description, our extension generates a personalized email to the recruiter. Not only does our app save time, but every sentence of our email is written based on our hiring data to be as effective as possible. Each email is tailored to the role and recruiter.