Last year, Google’s senior vice president of People Operations, Laszlo Bock, peeled back the curtain on Google’s management style and culture with the publication of his book “Work Rules!”
The bestseller is chock-full of insights that explain what it’s really like to be hired at what’s consistently been ranked one of the best companies to work for in the US.
We rounded up some of the most compelling takeaways from the book, as well as from recent interviews Bock has given.
Read on to find out what makes the tech giant so awesome — and what your company can learn from them.
SEE ALSO: Google’s Larry Page uses an unusual management trick to inspire his employees to think bigger
1. Google sets its sights high.
Google’s mission is “to organize the world’s information and make it universally accessible and useful.”
Bock says it’s a moral goal, not a business one, and represents the culture that the company’s leaders are trying to create.
It’s intentionally impossible to achieve because, as Bock writes in his book, “there will always be more information to organize and more ways to make it useful.”
Read more about the Google mission statement »
2. Google interviewers ask candidates two types of questions: behavioral and situational.
Google uses an internal tool called qDroid that arranges a list of interview questions depending on what type of position is being filled. The questions are behavioral, dealing with past scenarios, and situational, dealing with hypothetical scenarios.
For instance, an interviewer may ask a behavioral question like: “In the past, how have you obtained and incorporated customer feedback into your organization’s planning and service standards? Give specific examples.”
He doesn’t advocate unstructured interviews, in which the company asks questions like, “What was the last Halloween costume you wore?” citing research that found structured, job-specific interviews are the best predictors of job performance.
For more question ideas, he recommends checking out the questions included in the career resources section of the US Department of Veterans Affairs website.
Read more about Google interview questions »
3. An unbiased group of people makes final hiring decisions.
After an interview, an independent group of reviewers goes over all the interviewers’ feedback and has the final say on whether to bring the candidate on. This strategy helps ensure that the interviewers’ biases don’t affect hiring decisions.
