Essay: Did google’s traditional hiring practices create business problems?

Did Google’s traditional hiring practices create business problems?

(Answer) Yes, the traditional hiring practises created business problems for Google. The fact of the matter was that its work force was doubling itself every year and this was prompting Google to re examine its hiring techniques. Another factor was that the traditional hiring techniques required the employees to have good academic performance throughout. Almost all of the prospective candidates had perfect SAT scores, but it was seen that by one’s perfect academic record or perfect interviews were not the only criteria for predicting an employee’s job performance. There was not a perfect correlation between an employee’s job performance and his academic record.

Is Google’s quantitative approach to hiring a good solution to its employee recruiting problems? Why or why not?

Answer) Yes, this method of qualitative approach greatly helped Google in its mission to condense the hiring process. This was because this new process was focussed on the potential employee and his personality and not his academic record. It was seen that an employee’s qualitative analysis had more correlation to his potential success as an employee in the future. It was seen that this process was effective in some cases but the company was cautioned against relying too heavily on unimportant factors and traits of the employee. This technique had more success rate in choosing potential employees as it evaluated an applicant based on his personality, skill and Intelligence Quotient (IQ) and not solely on his academic performance in the past. (Sullivan, 2005)

What role does culture play in Google’s hiring preferences?

(Answer) The main aim of Google while hiring employees always remains the same. It is to maintain its competitive culture. The culture at Google’s workspace is both competitive and relaxed. The employees are pampered but they are never allowed to slack off. The very important consideration that an employee will generate a positive atmosphere at the work place is considered very important. The objective of Google has always been to maintain a small company feel in spite of the fact that it has become a corporate giant. It can always be seen at Google offices that there are employees from various backgrounds and ethnicities. (Google, 2010)

What kind of system or systems described in this chapter are discussed in this case? What are the inputs, processes, and outputs?

Answer) Two kinds of systems have been discussed in this case. The first system is where traditional hiring practises are considered and the second one is where qualitative analysis of each employee is done. In the first system one’s pact achievements are processed, in this case only the academic record of the potential employee, a list is formed in decreasing order of academic performance, and the output generated is a list of employees with best past academic credentials. In the qualitative analysis the input is several answers given by the employee related to certain facts in his life, his abilities, his interests and hobbies, his past life and background, the data is then analyzed and the output that we get is a score out of hundred for each employee where this score is an estimate of the applicant’s future job performance and to what extent he would prove an asset to the company.

Create a list of ten questions that you think might be appropriate for Google’s job survey. Justify each question with a short explanation of why the answer would be useful.

(Answer)

1. What are your areas of interest? This answer would be useful in determining where the employee might fit in at the workplace.
2. What is your experience in the field of computer science? This would give an estimate of the applicant’s technical expertise.
3. What languages do you know? A comprehensive knowledge of computer languages is always required by an employee.
4. Do you have any entrepreneurial experience? This would give an extent of the applicant’s leadership qualities.
5. What do you want to do in your life? This gives an estimate of the applicant’s ambitions.
6. What is the most important thing for you in life? This gives an idea of the employee’s nature.
7. What was your first childhood dream? This again points to areas of interest.
8. Have you ever done anything for the environment?
9. What are your passions? This question can tell a lot about a person.
10. What do you prefer, money or job satisfaction? This gives an idea of employee’s expectations from the company.

If you were applying for a job at Google, how would you want to be evaluated? Which evaluation techniques do you think favor your strengths? Which techniques might expose your weaknesses?

(Answer)

If I were there, I would like to be judged on the base of qualitative analysis rather than academic achievements. The technique of qualitative analysis would highlight my strengths whereas the traditional methods of interviewing would expose my weakness.