Google: Hiring Comittee, Team Matching & Negotiation
One week later, Google called to let us know we will continue to the hiring committee, where they will either ask for more interviews or advance to team match. Per his recruiter, the results of his interview were good enough that rejection is no longer on the table.
Two days later, the recruiter called and said we’re going to the team matching phase! Olek got a total of four team matches over three weeks. One of the hiring managers wanted to hire him on the spot! It went quickly from there. He received and signed the offer on the day he picked his team. If you have references, provide this information as these details will be helpful during the team matching procedure.
Helpful Questions that we used for team matching:
How’s the work and life balance?
How many team members?
How old/young is the team?
What are the typical working hours?
Can I work from home?
What’s the product?
For team selection:
Scoreboard to help you decide:
Rate the teams 1–10 with ten as the highest and one as the lowest per category. You can get the total summation or get the average.
Negotiation tips:
- Do not reveal your price when asked, always answer with “market rate.”
- Know your baseline, but do not disclose the amount and ensure the position will pay your acceptable pay rate to avoid wasted time. You can ask the recruiter about compensation (sometimes you have to do “fishing” to know how much the position will pay).
- Aim high, 20% higher than your range, most of the time, they won’t reach it, but hopefully they will come in the middle, and it will fall in your range.
- When the offer is too low, “It’s on the low side, I was hoping to ** % higher.”
- Get competing offers from the big companies (Facebook & Amazon).
- Communicate — mention about more sign on bonus if you want, no sign on bonus and mostly equity (depends on your preferences)
- For the first number that the recruiter will give, make sure to calculate it using your way. Sometimes the recruiter may calculate it differently from your method. We calculated ours as:
Base pay * by the bonus + the base (equity / four) + (sign-on bonus/four) or do not count it all.
Base pay: $170k Bonus: 15% Equity: $240k Sign On Bonus: $40k
170k*15%+170k+(240k/4)+(40k/4)
Good to know:
In some states, asking for salary history is illegal. Recruiters may fish out your compensation expectation by saying, “We’ll aim for $270k and higher. Closer to $300k”
After signing the offer, onboarding preparations started two weeks before his first day of work. He was also asked to choose his computer, and background check started. All of this happened during the COVID-19 outbreak, right in the middle of the shelter-in-place order in Santa Clara county.
If you don’t make it, it’s okay to be sad and grieve for it, but you have to learn from this experience. Ask yourself: “How can I train better?” and “Where can I improve?”. The internet is your friend, and there are several free resources that you can use to improve your coding and interviewing skills. The key here is to be always persistent. Conquer! If you fail, try again! Application is free, and whenever I am down, I remember what Deku (My Hero Academia, Episode 2) wanted to hear from his mother after learning he is Quirkless — “Dreams can become a reality.”
This was not the first time he applied for Google. He applied for Google internship when he was a student and failed the phone interview. He tried again once he moved here for good. For that story, he was a fresh graduate, and his recruiter left Google in the middle of his application. By the time we heard back from the replacement recruiter, it was late as he already signed with another company. So if you don’t make it, gather your tools, sharpen your skills, and apply again.
Our Google Timeline:
Summer 2014 internship: No response to his application
Summer 2015 internship: Failed technical phone interview
February 2017 Full-Time Software Engineer: Recruiter ghosted us
September 30, 2019: Google project started
Late November 2019: Google recruiter contacted him
Early December 2019: Google recruiter phone interview
Early January 2020: Google technical phone interview (one week later we received the news)
Mid-Feb 2020: Google On-site interview (one week later we received the news)
Late Feb 2020: Google Hiring Committee (After two business days, we received the news )
Early March 2020: Team matching (It started a week after passing HC, and there were four teams over three weeks)
Late March 2020: Team selection and offer signing
May 2020: Remote onboarding due to Shelter in Place order
True enough, love will make us sacrifice, looking back now, I do not miss the music I could have played, or the television shows I could have watched or the paintings I could have drawn during the evenings of the quiet hours. I am someone who enjoys background noise while working, and the past months have been crazy for me. However, to see my spouse happy and proud brings an immeasurable level of fulfillment and satisfaction. And I will do anything just for him to be always happy.
Of course, this achievement was only possible because of Olek’s intense determination and unyielding passion for making it to the big G. He spent evenings coding, reading, and learning. He is the living proof that Mr. Nice Guy can and will finish strong. He still does Leetcode’s weekly contest and improves his coding everyday.
If you make it to the big G, congratulations! If you followed our regimen, continue it. Go to work well-dressed, looking and smelling good, exercise well, and eat healthily. Reaching Google should never be the end. It’s just the beginning. The aim is to get from L3/L4, to get to L5 and L6. It’s challenging but not impossible.
I wish you well, and I hope this series helped you. May you always be in your happiest spot.
