Recruitment Challenges in the Tech Industry: A Google Case Study

This report provides an in-depth analysis of the recruitment challenges faced by Google, a leading technology company. The executive summary highlights the unique demands of the tech industry, where attracting and retaining talented employees is crucial. The report identifies key issues such as the high volume of job applications, lengthy recruitment procedures, significant expenditures, employee retention problems, diversity concerns, and competition from other companies. It then offers a range of human resource management (HRM) strategies to address these challenges, including establishing application criteria, streamlining the recruitment process, reducing costs, and fostering a positive corporate culture. The report concludes that by implementing these strategies, Google can improve its recruitment effectiveness and ensure its continued success in a competitive market. The report also references various academic sources to support its arguments.

Running head: RECRUITMENT CHALLENGES
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Human Resource Management

RECRUITMENT CHALLENGES 1
Executive Summary
The challenges of companies in the technology industry are different from other
industries. There is significantly high demand of talented employees which makes it an
employee-driven industry. Organisations require providing high benefits to their employees
and establishing a positive corporate culture to attract talented employees. Google faces
issues of a high number of job application through various sources and their recruitment
procedure is too long. Google’s budget for recruitment is considerably high as compared to
other companies. The issues of retention and diversity affect the quality of Google’s
recruitment procedure. Various HRM strategies can be implemented by Google to reduce
their recruitment problems such as reduction in an interview and test rounds. The company
can decrease the number of HRM staff for recruitment and use their organisations image for
attracting talented candidates. The number of the application can be reduced by establishing
criteria for applications. The diversity issues can be solved by establishing a positive
corporate culture.

RECRUITMENT CHALLENGES 2
Contents
Introduction................................................................................................................................3
Google Incorporation.................................................................................................................4
Key Challenges in Recruitment.................................................................................................4
High Number of Application.................................................................................................4
Long Recruitment Procedure.................................................................................................5
High Expenditures in Recruitment.........................................................................................5
Employee Retention (Demographic Issues)...........................................................................5
Diversity in Organisational Culture.......................................................................................6
Competition from Other Companies......................................................................................6
Recommendations......................................................................................................................6
Establishing Criteria for Applications....................................................................................6
Reducing Recruitment Procedure Time.................................................................................7
Cost Reduction.......................................................................................................................7
Positive Corporate Culture.....................................................................................................7
Conclusion..................................................................................................................................8
References..................................................................................................................................9

RECRUITMENT CHALLENGES 3
Introduction
Human resource management of corporations is responsible for a successful
recruitment procedure which included various processes such as attracting potential
applicants, selecting the talented and qualified candidate and appointing them jobs according
to their talents. A recruitment procedure’s success is based upon the employee turnover ratio
of a company. The retention of workers shows the achievement of a recruitment process. The
human resource management of modern organisations faces many new challenges while
recruiting the talented employees for their corporations. This report takes the example of
‘Google Incorporation’ to understand the challenges faced by large technology companies
while recruiting their employees. Various factors affecting the recruitment procedure of
Google such as brand image, employee demands, competitions and demographic issues will
be discussed in the report. Further, the report will analyse human resource management
strategies to provide solutions for such problems and evaluate various theories provided by
market experts.

RECRUITMENT CHALLENGES 4
Google Incorporation
Google Inc. is a multinational American organisation founded in 1998; the company
operates in software, internet, and computer hardware industry. The corporations are known
for their web search engine, and they provide various other services to users such as Maps
facility, advertisement services, electronic mail services and much more. The organisation
currently has more than 72 thousand employees globally, more than 11 thousand of which
works at the headquarters of Google in Mountain View, California. Google has implemented
a strict corporate social responsibility strategy which assists them in providing various
incentives to their employees, Google has won the title of “Best place to work” several times.
The company uses various modern methods to attract talented employees in their
organisation, Google’s primary requirement for employees include highly talented
programmers or coders which are highly in demand in-between technology corporations
(Bock 2015).
Key Challenges in Recruitment
Being an international technology organisation, Google faces various issues and
problems in their recruitment procedure regarding the demand of employees, target
demographic and selection procedure. Following are some of the primary problems faced by
Google in their recruitment procedure.
High Number of Application
The primary challenge faced by Google while recruitment is due to their
organisational image. As per Rosett (2015), Google is an international company and a large
number of people preferred to work for them due to their employee benefits packages. The
corporation has acquired the number one position of the best place to work in the world many
times. Google employee’s incentives include 70-20-10 working hours, unlimited sick
holidays, scholarships, free teaching classes, more family time, long maternity leave and high
pay grade. The organisational environment of Google is positive and diverse; the company
promote ideas of their employees and provide them investment. These benefits attract a
significantly large number of job applications to Google through various sources such as
online website, university and placement agencies.

RECRUITMENT CHALLENGES 5
As per Kim & O’Connor (2009), Google receives around 3 million job application in
a year, the human resource management of the company faces difficulty in finding the right
talent for the corporation through large applications. Other than specific job placements,
Google allows people to send their resumes any time over their website, which increases the
number of job applications. The human resource department face various issues such as
analysing the application to find potential candidates, telephonic interviews, capability tests
and final interviews. Many of the applications come from different countries which makes it
difficult for HRM to conduct personal interviews.
Long Recruitment Procedure
Google is one of the world’s number one organisation in terms of profits which is
achieved by the company through the talent of their employees. The demand of Google while
selecting right employee include talent, expertise, social skills, and humility. There is the
significantly high demand for talented and experienced programmers in Google but there is
lack of brilliant coders. As per Yakubovich & Lup (2006), the recruitment procedure of
Google takes around 8 to 12 weeks of time. The reason for the long procedure is that Google
prefers to hire only the best talent which they determine by conducting various tests and
several interviews. Many candidates leave the recruitment procedure because it takes too
long, in case of candidates from other countries; the selection became impossible due to long
recruitment procedure. Google loses many of the talented candidates due to their
considerably long recruitment procedure which can affect the company’s development.
High Expenditures in Recruitment
The recruitment procedure of Google includes various aspects such as attracting,
analysing, interviewing and retaining the talented candidates. As per Tracey & Hinkin
(2008), the company incurred high expenses over these procedures to select the best
candidates. Google has world’s largest budget for recruitment procedure than compared to
any other companies. Google employ internet and external specialised recruiters to spot
talented programmers. The company has more than 400 profession recruiters in 2009, and
they also provide one HRM member over 14 employees. Google also pay for the traveling
and accommodation expenses for the candidates they invite for an interview from different
countries. The high expenditure over recruitment procedure can be detrimental for the
organisation (Cascio & Aguinis 2005).

RECRUITMENT CHALLENGES 6
Employee Retention (Demographic Issues)
The employees’ demographic of Google include mostly young programmers; the age
difference makes it difficult for Google in maintaining their employees for a long time.
According to Holm (2012), most of the millennial employees (born in the 1980s to 2004)
prefer to changes their organisation and opening their own start-ups. In the technology
industry, specifically software, there is a primary problem of retention in organisations. In
case of other industries, the maximum number of the employees is not millennial, which
assist in retention process, but in Google due to the age gap, the HRM find it difficult to
retain employees in the organisation. For improving retention, Google has to provide various
incentives to their employees which eventually enhance their expenditures (Rehman 2012).
Diversity in Organisational Culture
Wenjing (2006) provided that in the software industry, most of the modern
organisation hires talented employees from foreign countries, in Google more than 15 percent
of employees are Asian. Technology companies establish outreach programs in universities
of China, India other countries to hire talented employees from them. These employees are
beneficial for organisational growth but without proper diversity policies, these employees
face difficulties in adopting a corporate culture of the company. The corporation faces
various difficulties in establishing a supportive and positive diversity culture in the
organisation which contributes to retention of employees (Armstrong & Taylor 2014).
Competition from Other Companies
As per Gore (2005), the competition in the technology industry is considerably high
where companies fight to attract and retain talented employees. The primary competitor of
Google includes Amazon, Apple, Microsoft, and Facebook. These corporations pay
handsome benefits to the employees who leave other organisation and join their company. To
achieve success and sustain future development, Google is required to retain brilliant
employees in the corporation.
Recommendations
To overcome the drawbacks of the recruitment procedure, Google can apply various
HRM strategies. These policies will assist Google in improving their recruitment process.

RECRUITMENT CHALLENGES 7
Establishing Criteria for Applications
One of the primary problems of Google’s recruitment process is a large number of job
applications received by them. HRM finds it difficult to analyse every applicant and conduct
interviews with them. As per Rosa (2008), to avoid this issue, Google should establish
criteria for candidates while they apply for a certain job, for example, if there is a certain
requirement for a job then only the person with such qualification will be able to apply. The
applications submitted over online portals must be divided according to experience and
qualification of candidates, which makes it easier for HRM member to analyse the applicant.
In case of university placements or outreach programs, the criteria for students should be
selected by HRM to speed up the process of recruitment.
Reducing Recruitment Procedure Time
By reducing the time of recruitment procedure, Google can increase the effectiveness
of their recruitment procedure since it provides them more time to analyse more candidates.
As per Sangeetha (2010), Google can reduce their recruitment process by conducting group
interviews in the first stage, which speed up the process and provide information regarding
the social behaviour of candidates to HRM. Google can also narrow their requirements for a
particular job, by narrowing requirement; the HRM staff will only focus on certain
qualifications which reduce the number of applicants. The organisation can also save time in
tests conducted by them, by conducting an online test or group tests. Finally, the company
can outsource their recruitment procedure to reduce the burden of HRM staff and improve its
quality. Outsourcing the work will also assist the company in conducting interviews in other
countries (Yamamoto 2011).
Cost Reduction
Google can adopt several HRM strategies to reduce their cost of recruitment. The
company can reduce the number of a professional recruiter for their recruitment procedure.
The number of HRM staff over one employee is also high at Google which can be reduced by
the organisation. Outsourcing the services will benefit the company in reducing their costs
significantly (Jain 2013).
Positive Corporate Culture
As per Mandhanya (2015), by establishing positive corporate culture Google can
prove retention, competition and diversity issues. The maximum number of modern
employees, which include millennial, prefer positive environment over high pay. The

RECRUITMENT CHALLENGES 8
challenges of retention and competition can be overcome by establishing a cooperative and
positive environment in the workplace. Proper diversity strategy includes provision regarding
discriminations and proper opportunities should be given to women and employees with
different backgrounds.
Conclusion
From the above report, it can be concluded that software and internet industry faces
various challenges in recruitment procedure. These corporations are different from traditional
organisations because they adopt an employee-centric approach in the company. Google
faces various issues regarding their recruitment procedure such as retention issues, high costs,
competition from other organisations, long recruitment procedure, a large number of
application and diversity issues. Google can adopt various HRM strategies to avoid these
issues such as reducing interview process, stabling criteria for receiving applications,
outsourcing the recruitment process and establishing a positive corporate culture. These
strategies will assist Google in improving their recruitment procedure and sustain their future
development.

RECRUITMENT CHALLENGES 9
References
Armstrong, M., & Taylor, S. (2014). Armstrong's handbook of human resource management
practice. Kogan Page Publishers.
Bock, L. (2015). HERE'S GOOGLE'S SECRET TO HIRING THE BEST PEOPLE. Wired.
Retrieved from < https://www.wired.com/2015/04/hire-like-google/ >
Cascio, W. F., & Aguinis, H. (2005). Applied psychology in human resource management.
Gore, T. (2005). Extending employability or solving employers' recruitment problems?
Demand-led approaches as an instrument of labour market policy. Urban
Studies, 42(2), 341-353.
Holm, A. B. (2012). E-recruitment: towards an ubiquitous recruitment process and candidate
relationship management. German Journal of Human Resource Management, 26(3),
241-259.
Jain, M. (2013). Employee attrition-causes and remedies. Journal of Social Welfare and
Management, 5(2), 69.
Kim, S., & O'Connor, J. G. (2009). Assessing electronic recruitment implementation in state
governments: Issues and challenges. Public Personnel Management, 38(1), 47-66.
MANDHANYA, Y. (2015). A STUDY OF IMPACT OF WORKING ENVIRONMENT ON
RETENTION OF EMPLOYEES (With special reference to Automobile
sector). Global Management Review, 9(4).
Rehman, S. (2012). A study of public sector organizations with respect to recruitment, job
satisfaction and retention. Global Business and Management Research, 4(1), 76.
Rosa, C. (2008). Recruitment: the effectiveness of the job applicant selection
process. Management Today, 24(3), 61-63.
Rosett, M. (2015). Google Has a Secret Interview Process… And It Landed Me a Job. The
Hustle. Retrieved from < https://thehustle.co/the-secret-google-interview-that-landed-
me-a-job >

RECRUITMENT CHALLENGES 10
Sangeetha, K. (2010). Effective recruitment: A framework. IUP Journal of Business
Strategy, 7(1/2), 93.
Tracey, J. B., & Hinkin, T. R. (2008). Contextual factors and cost profiles associated with
employee turnover. Cornell Hospitality Quarterly, 49(1), 12-27.
Wenjing, S. (2006). Research on the Problem in the Recruitment of Employee. Journal of
Anhui Agricultural Sciences, 34(16), 4181.
Yakubovich, V., & Lup, D. (2006). Stages of the recruitment process and the referrer’s
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Yamamoto, H. (2011). The relationship between employee benefit management and
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