Google’s CEO explains what the company looks for in entry-level job applicants

• Google seeks “superstar” engineers eager to learn and adapt, says CEO Sundar Pichai.
• Job seekers often face a tougher tech job market; firms are demanding more entry-level roles.
• Pichai also said he sees Google’s free meals as a way to boost creativity and community.

If you want to work at Google, you’d better be hungry — figuratively and literally.

Sundar Pichai, CEO of Google parent Alphabet, said that people aspiring to work at the search giant in an area like engineering need to be not only excellent but also willing to learn, grow, and adapt to new situations.

The company is looking for “superstar software engineers,” Pichai said in an interview on “The David Rubenstein Show: Peer to Peer Conversations.”

It also seems that Googlers’ hunger should go beyond the metaphorical.

When asked about the free food for the company’s employees, Pichai said the company’s longtime practice of offering meals to workers has set a standard in Bay Area workplaces. He added that he could recall multiple times early on in his time at Google when he met someone in a company café, got to talking, and then got excited about an idea.

“It sparks creativity. It creates community,” Pichai said, adding that the benefit that comes out of it “far dwarfs the cost associated with it.”

Alphabet had more than 179,000 employees as of the end of June.

When it comes to adding to those numbers, Pichai said he was proud that when the company extends an offer to a would-be employee, almost 90% of people say yes.

Landing a job in tech

Of course, it’s little surprise that most candidates would take the job, given that it’s a prestigious company. It’s also not surprising that many job seekers would be eager to sign because it’s become difficult for some tech veterans to find jobs in the industry after a hiring slowdown.

It’s also grown harder for many people just starting out to land jobs in fields like tech because, as Business Insider previously reported, many employers have ratcheted up what they expect from entry-level workers. Some firms want workers to have years of experience, even in starter roles.

Jason Henninger, a managing director at Heller Search, a recruiting firm focused on executive tech leaders, previously told BI that many tech employers have, for several years running, been boosting what they look to see from those seeking entry-level gigs.

Tech veteran David Jolles previously told BI that he’d moved to the Atlanta area after about four decades in Silicon Valley. It’s been about a year and a half since he was laid off as a project manager at a fintech company. Jolles hoped that the move would help him find work in another industry.

“Wherever you go, they seem to be hiring,” he said, referring to his new home.

Finding ways to stand out

Getting a job at high-profile companies often requires candidates to find ways to stand out, according to former Google recruiter Nolan Church. He previously told BI that, little surprise, people who want to nail a job interview should make sure they’re prepared. That involves spending time on an employer’s website and reading about the organization’s values and mission.

“I think it’s amazing when candidates can come in and say, ‘I was listening to your founder say [fill in the blank]’ and then give specific examples of what they heard,” Church said.

Beyond that, he said, job candidates should have stories ready about topics like a successful project they completed or a career highlight. Having such anecdotes on hand helps job candidates “show their deep inner fire, their motivation, and what drives them most,” Church said, adding that it makes an interview feel more conversational and engaging for both sides.

“I’ve never seen it backfire,” he said.

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