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For many technology enthusiasts and coders, landing a job at Google would be a dream come true. Everything you hear about working at Google is always so great, the excellent work environment, free food, and 20% projects. Who wouldn’t want to work at Google? There is just one small issue, getting hired at Google is no easy feat as Google only hires the best of the best. But it turns out that there is a rather odd way of getting the search giant to at least give you a chance at getting hired.
Max Rosett, a data scientist, stumbled upon this secret Google recruiting technique about three months ago while using Google search. Max decided to blog about his finding today on the Hustle and tell people how this secret recruiting technique ended up getting him hired on at Google. He apparently had absolutely no intentions of acquiring a job at Google, but he was in between jobs and definitely had the right experience needed under his belt.
One morning, Max claims to have been working on a coding project that had him a bit stumped. So naturally, like all of us do, Max turned to Google for an answer. He opened up Google search and typed in the following, “python lambda function list comprehension.” What happened next caught him completely off guard. The search results came up as usual but then something unordinary happened, the search results page split into two and folded back ever-so-slightly to reveal a message to Max, “You’re speaking our language. Up for a challenge?” It offered him three options, “I want to play”, “No thanks”, and “Don’t show me this again.” Of course, Max clicked the “I want to play” option just to see what this strange happening was.
Max was directed to a page called “foo.bar” that he describes as resembling a UNIX interface. Knowing his way around this type of interface Max took a look at the file list only to find one single file named “start_here.txt.” He opened this file and followed the instructions it contained, which resulted in him being presented with six challenges over the course of the following two weeks. After finishing and submitting his sixth problem, Max was then offered the chance to input his contact information, which he proceeded to do. Days later Max received a phone call from a recruiter at Google who asked Max for a copy of his resume. From then on Max went through the typical hiring process at Google and ultimately landed a job there. What happened to Max is nothing short of amazing and has shown us that Google actually recruits some employees via Google search. Entering the right search term at the right time into Google search could attract the attention of the company.