Google is a renowned global search engine designed to enable quick access to relevant data and information from the internet. The company ranks among the best employers in the world and is also known to be driven by a superior workforce that ensures innovation which is the most important factor in modern-day competitiveness. The company applies efficient recruitment and selection strategies that avail the best workforce in terms of competence.
The company receives over 2500 job applications in a day. The recruitment process is geared towards hiring employees with great potential as well as retaining them. The recruitment and selection process at Google is characterized by high requirements. According to the head of the human resource department, the hiring bar at Google is so high that there is normally a shortage of the required people in terms of academic background, experience as well as intelligence. The most important requirement for joining Google is that the employee must be smart. Consequently, the recruitment process is not focused on hiring employees with predetermined skills in certain disciplines, it is simply geared towards identifying those who have excelled and have the capacity to excel. This being the case, the interviews are designed to bring out the intelligence and skills available among the employees. The recruitment process entails a series of interviews conducted by different interviewers with different aims covering a wide range of issues such as personality, logic as well as programming ability. Normally the number of such interviews may be between four and ten depending on the requirements. The intention is to establish how well a person can cope with a new situation therefore rather than being tricky, the questions asked are unusual (Google’s recruitment process revealed, 2010, par4).
The recruitment is definitely working for the company. This is mainly because the best get hired and this helps in maintaining a high rate of innovation which continues to drive the company to greater heights. However, the intensity of the recruitment process is already considered too demanding and often puts off some applicants. In addition, the cost of maintaining this recruitment process is very high as compared to the other recruitment methods employed by other organizations. Despite this shortcoming, the recruitment strategy applied by Google appears to be very effective. This is mainly because the industry in which the company operates requires constant innovation to maintain competitiveness. This being the case, the selection of employees with emphasis on their intellectual ability is an important step towards attaining a workforce with the ability to drive innovation (Recruitment Policy of a Company, 2010, par7).
Google also employs retention strategies on different fronts in a bid to retain the top-notch workforce for as long as possible. First, the company is known for its high compensation terms. It is listed among the best-paying companies in the US. The compensation is considered to be commensurate with the high job requirements as well as the high expectations on the application of intellect among the employees. It is all about getting the best and paying them in the best ways possible in order to retain them. In addition, The Company values employees’ contribution. This is most visible with the application of a 70/20/10 model. Under this model, 20% of the work time is set aside for the employee to be free to do what he/she wishes in furtherance of the company’s mission. This gives them time to come up with new ideas which are readily absorbed. In addition, the company offers great opportunities for training and development for the employees. This is evidenced by the requirement that an employee at Google has to commit at least 120 hours to learning and development very year as opposed to the normal average of 43 hours adopted by most other organizations. This intense training and development is a great incentive for employees willing to grow in their careers. There are also immense opportunities for learning different skills such as delivering feedback, executive speaking as well as learning different languages. Such opportunities are rare especially in companies where the requirement for individual performance is high.
There are other recruitment and retention strategies which if implemented in Google could work well to boost the quality of workforce available. In the recruitment process, it may be more appropriate if less emphasis was laid on establishing what the certificates say about the person and add more weight to finding out what the employee is capable of doing. (Google’s recruitment strategy revealed, 2010, par6)The intention here is to ensure that talent as opposed t academic qualification is the main basis. This is informed by the fact that there are many people with special talents but whose academic performance may not match the high standards set. In addition, the series of interviews could be cut down in favor of more tangible evidence of capability especially in the form of projects which would help identify skills.
References
Google’s recruitment process revealed, 2010. Computerworld. Web.
Google’s recruitment strategy revealed, 2010. Business news for students and graduates. Web.
Recruitment Policy Of a Company, 2010. Recruitment.naukrihub.com. Web.