Google's Answer to Filling Jobs Is an Algorithm

An anonymous reader tipped us to a New York Times article about Google's newest HR tool: an algorithm. Starting soon, the company (which gets roughly 100,000 applications a month) will require all interested applicants to fill out an in-depth survey. They'll be using a sophisticated algorithm to work through the submitted surveys, matching applicants with positions. The company has apparently doubled in size in each of the last three years. Even though it's already 10,000 employees strong Laszlo Bock, Google's vice president for people operations, sees no reason the company won't reach 20,000 by the end of the year. This will mean hiring something like 200 people a week, every week, all year. From the article: "Even as Google tries to hire more people faster, it wants to make sure that its employees will fit into its freewheeling culture. The company boasts that only 4 percent of its work force leaves each year, less than other Silicon Valley companies. And it works hard to retain people, with copious free food, time to work on personal projects and other goodies. Stock options and grants certainly encourage employees to stay long enough to take advantage of the company's surging share price. Google's hiring approach is backed by academic research showing that quantitative information on a person's background -- called 'biodata' among testing experts -- is indeed a valid way to look for good workers."

Today Google Jobs...

[Flimzy]

Tomorrow Google online dating?

Psychological profile included ala The Game?

[LParks]

Do you feel guilty when you masturbate?
Do you enjoy harming animals?

Go away or...

[sootman]

Sounds like someone got one of these shirts [thinkgeek.com] for Christmas and took it to heart.

Re:Psychological profile included ala The Game?

[gardyloo]

Do you feel guilty when you masturbate?
Do you enjoy harming animals?

      Huh. I must be really efficient. Killing two birds with one stone, no beating around the bush. Er... as it were!

Re:Bias

[FoXDie]

if (race.black() || gender.female()) {return 0;}

Re:Today Google Jobs...

[panaceaa]

I'm feeling lucky. [google.com]

Re:Psychological profile included ala The Game?

[xdroop]

Do you feel guilty when you masturbate? Do you enjoy harming animals?

Huh. I must be really efficient. Killing two birds with one stone, no beating around the bush. Er... as it were!

Now I'm no expert, but I don't believe it is called "masturbation" if you are harming animals.

the code..

[Mogster]

bool recommend = true;

if (surveyResults == Evil())
        forwardResumeToMicrsoft(bool recommend);

hire();

Re:Psychological profile included ala The Game?

[Anonymous Coward]

What if he were "choking the chicken" or "flogging the dolphin"?

Re:Bias

[dagamer34]

You're program does nothing for Asians and Indians. Way to leave out 1/3 of the human population!

Re:Bias

[__aaclcg7560]

Try explaining that to the Japanese! ;)

Re:The Dot-Bomb Trap

[starglider29a]

No problem. Then, they can devise an algorithm to decide who to lay off.

Re:Psychological profile included ala The Game?

[gardyloo]

Sometimes I take the one-eyed trouser-snake for a helmet-polishing expedition. It's always looking forward to a spelunking expedition, but the cave just isn't available at times. So the self-abuse is more of a mental thing.

Re:Bias

[sacrilicious]

It depends how good their algorithm is - let's say it looks at what proportion of your life since graduating you've been in work, where more is better. That's a disadvantage to women because they (generally) take time off to have/raise kids and so on, even though the algorithm isn't specifically designed to discriminate against them.

Damn! Even though I keep my gender a secret, they'll be able to tell I'm a woman because of gaps in my resume when I took time to be with the infants... krap, it was so nice thinking I was flying under the radar. Maybe I need to fill those gaps: "Dec97-Mar99, Lactation Dispensation Consultant".

(ps - I *am* joking. And, I'm not really a woman... I'm really a horse. Well... I'm just pretending to be a horse... actually, I'm a broom.)

Screening for skin-jobs

[ultraexactzz]

You're in a desert walking along in the sand when all of the sudden you look down, and you see a tortoise, it's crawling toward you. You reach down, you flip the tortoise over on its back. The tortoise lays on its back, its belly baking in the hot sun, beating its legs trying to turn itself over, but it can't, not without your help. But you're not helping. Why is that?