Google dream companies for all students to do internship and for
every graduate, the dream place to work.
For the college students all over the world, having internship at
companies like Google and is one of the most prestigious internship
opportunities.
But, getting an internship offer at Google is not an easy
thing. About internship opportunity at
Google, there has been a saying that getting at Google is even harder than
getting admission into top colleges like Harvard and Stanford.
Probably because, every month Google receives approx. 50000 plus
applications for internship and only about 27000 get the first interview.
So, if you are applying, you need to make sure that you get that
first interview.
Well, easier to say than doing.
1. Preparation
and the application.
The journey to getting internship in Google starts with an
effective application process.
When you submit your application, you need three things: resume,
cover letter, and transcript.
1)
Resume
Think to answer these questions :
What do recruiters see when they look at your resume? How can you take your resume to next level?
Here are some of her ideas that can help you in building your
resume.
a)
Be
Specific :
Include how you impacted the company or organization you worked
for.
This is important because many people only describe their past
jobs. What's more important is demonstrating how you contributed to that job.
b) Be Concise and to-the-point
Recruiters only
spend about seven seconds on average glancing at a resume so that means you
want to keep your resume at a maximum of one page.
c)
Let
the numbers talk:
It is very important
to quantify your achievements when possible. Rather than telling you were
exceptional in your previous job, let your achievements do the talking.
For example, if you saved the company $25,000, put that number in
your resume.
The tangible, concrete, and quantifiable data really grabs
attention of recruiter.
d)
Prefer
Using Action Verbs
Use of action
verbs really matter. It represents your go getter attitude.
For example, instead of saying ‘I made a new algorithm that increased
traffic,’ it would be better to say ‘Initiated a new program that increased traffic
by 25 percent.
e)
Never,
ever embellish
If you are uncomfortable in talking about something during an
interview, never ever mention that in your resume.
For example, mentioning your knowledge about multiple programming
languages might lead interviewer to put some questions about that.
f)
Don’t
put an objective statement :
Everyone knows you’re looking for an internship or else you
wouldn’t be applying for it, then why to waste space by putting irrelevant
information on it.
g) Don’t put images of yourself :
Putting images in resume doesn’t help at all. Instead it takes
more of your valuable place.
h) Mention Accomplishments not JD :
What you do want to put, is your results and accomplishments, not
your job descriptions. What did you do differently from the last person who was
in your position?
i)
Tailor
your resume to the particular internship you are applying for :
Go on the website and check out what words they are using to
describe what they want and copy it. This will make sure Google sees that you
are the perfect match.
j)
Mention
Side Projects
Yes, I agree, a
high GPA or name of a top-tier school in resume does sure help, but what recruiters
like Google really looking for are people who have builders attribute. Show
them that you have a passion outside of the classroom.
It can be anything from starting a little side project like a
simple website to launching a full on startup.
Demonstrate your creativity, passion, and drive to start something
from beginning to end. Recruiters are going to love that.
The question that you must be prepared to answer is :
How did you increase your productivity on your side projects at
the end of the day when you were tired from work/college?
2. Your Digital Footprint (Online
Presence) :
Recruiters spend a
lot of time online looking for candidates and finding out the activities of
applicants.
First of all you need to improve your digital footprint by
optimizing your social media profiles and pages.
Also, be active on the relevant platform that matches your skills, for e.g.,
Engineers can put their work on Github. For designers, there is Behance and
Pintrest.
Sites like Career Cup or Collegefeed Connect can help you with some practice
interview questions.
Get involved in the relevant community through Twitter , Quora
etc.
Love writing, get started with your blog on wordpress.
End of the day, make sure that along with your other social media
profiles, your LinkedIn is also up to date you are engaged with relevant groups
and discussions on it.
3. Connections
This is probably
one of the best ways to make it into Google. A candidate referred by a Googler
or a Xoogler has a much higher chance at getting in the right hands than a
candidate that comes out of the blue. Check in your Linkedin profile, if you
have any 2nd or 3rd degree connections.
If not, don’t be sad. There are still plenty of people, who got in
without connections; they just had to put in a little more work.
So, how to improve your connections :
You can start it
by attending networking events and talks. Instead of wasting your weekend in
random stuff, participate in weekend startup Meetups, compete in a hackathon,
or attend other Meetups of your interest.
There are so many people at events like these and chances are you
might run into the right person at the right time.
4. The
Application
Check the careers
page of Google here for open positions.
https://careers.google.com/students
If, the position you are looking for is not open, have patience
and wait. Keep on checking. Once the position is open, apply and now hope that all
the preparation work. If all goes right, you may get a call in next 2-3 days.
5. Interviews:
The interview
process varies with the position. For a programmer the process and number of
interviews will be totally different than that for a UI UX designer.
The solution to
this problem is : Practice, Practice and Practice
There is no
shortcut to it. You need to practice for your interviews irrespective of the
position you are applying to.
Practice at your school/college career center with mock interviews
and seek help if your friends.
Work on making mock interviews as realistic as possible.
You’re going to have phone interviews so try to practice at the
location you’ll be at and how you’ll be setup during that interview.
Demonstrate Your True Self - Who You Really Are
A major part of
interview is to see if you’d be a great cultural fit. It’s not going to be 100%
technical.
Don’t answer scripted answers. Get involved, be personal, show you
care about the fit as much as the company does.
Your interview is not one sided, its both way. You are
interviewing them as well to see if they are a good fit for you.
Do your homework and prepare questions showing that you really
want to be there. Use the opportunity of “Do you have any questions for me?” to
shoot your questions.
Hiring Committee:
Members of the hiring committee
review the feedback from your interviewers, your resume, and other related
documents. If you appear to be a strong candidate, your information is placed
in a pool for host matching.
6. Host-Matching Stage.
This is the place
where you need to have a lot of patience. There is no way to speed it up.
Projects and teams play a big priority in Google’s intern hiring
process. Teams submit their potential intern projects and once they are
approved, they are able to choose candidates from the pool of applicants who
make it to this stage. This process is
pretty different for each role.
Once you find a potential host,
it will be followed by a couple of telephonic interviews which are generally
non-technical. The host just tries to determine whether you would be a good fit
for the team (and vice versa).
It is pretty similar throughout the board. You fill out a
questionnaire that asks what Google products you’re interested in, where you’re
interested in working at, and other pretty simple questions. The hosts and
teams then go through and choose their favorites. There’s no limit to how many
hosts can choose you. Some people get three host matches, while others get
none. It all depends on the hosts and what they are looking for during that
season.
This process
usually takes a while for most people, from a couple weeks to even a few
months. Don’t get discouraged if you haven’t heard anything yet, be patient!
Word of advice :
Competitive Programming:
It’s probably the most straight-forward and easy way to
prepare for and crack the technical interviews of all top-notch tech companies.
A good rank or rating on CodeChef / TopCoder / CodeForces
will help you to clear the resume screening which is often the biggest hurdle for
most of the candidates. A good performance will not only help you in technical
interviews , but you will also get good referrals as the referrer can quickly
verify the claims.
No Brainteasers:
Google stopped asking complex brain teaser-type questions in
the interviews long ago after realizing that such brainteasers don’t really
predict the performance and problem-solving ability of the candidates; instead,
they focus on structured interview questions now.
Check out this guide
by Google on how to develop your technical skills- https://www.google.com/about/careers/students/guide-to-technical-development.html
Do your research:
Most students don’t get matched to a host because they are
too rigid while filling the questionnaire. Be little general. Research about
various Google products and the teams behind them for a better possibility of
finding a team which resonates with your interests.
TIPS :
Get used to coding on
a whiteboard, in Google Docs, and get comfortable talking about coding over the
phone.
You can also watch these two videos prepared by Google
recruiters themselves on Technical interview tips and Non-technical interview
tips.
You can also read about the exhilarating experience of
Anushka while she did her summer internship at Google.
If the software industry is your calling, you can check out
these cool Computer Science internships. To apply for more of such internships,
please register here.
NOTE
The information is
based on online research, talks and experience shared by multiple people who have been
through the interview process. Readers are advised to go through the Google
website for latest information.
