Creative Reaction

Yesterday we looked at Google’s Our Googley advice to students: Major in learning, where we got a good look at what Google looks for in its employees. Today we look at how Google attracts its talent and we need to look no further than Google’s Top 10 Reasons to Work at Google. (Go read it.)

How many of you have articulated your own company’s vision so well? How many of you are challenged to make your own departments or workplaces just as inspiring? How many of you want to work for Google now? What if they promise never to use the word “googley” again? Well, that’s what they want; they want people to desire to work there. And they get 100,000 job applications each month!

Of course, they are not simply looking for people who want to work there; they are looking for people who deserve to work there. And it’s getting harder and harder as they have doubled in size in each of the last three years.

Google is known for measuring and tweaking pretty much everything, and even its procedures for finding qualified employees are starting to implement statistics, formulas, and automation as detailed in this NYT article. (free subscription required.)

As I’ve said many times, Google’s efforts and money are proportional and make good business sense for Google; likewise, our company’s efforts must make business sense for us.

“Management guru Peter Drucker noted that companies attracting the best knowledge workers will ’secure the single biggest factor for competitive advantage’”.  Drucker’s quote appears on The Official Google Blog; clearly Google recognizes this fact. You don’t have to be Google to appreciate this fact for yourselves; all of us need a competitive advantage.

On The Official Google Blog last week, there was a post entitled Our Googley advice to students: Major in learning, where Google outlined what it looks for in its employees. (The post was written by Jonathan Rosenberg, Senior VP, Product Management.)

I found this line intriguing; “At the highest level, we are looking for non-routine problem-solving skills. We expect applicants to be able to solve routine problems as a matter of course. After all, that’s what most education is concerned with.” (Emphasis mine.) In other words, Rosenberg is saying that Google is looking for problem solving skills beyond what most education provides.

After reading the ChangeThis manifesto Turning Learning Right Side Up I imagine its authors would agree; “traditional education is about teaching, not learning” they say. 

Both Google’s blog post and the Turning Learning manifesto dovetail nicely; Rosenberg’s post is about the lifelong process of learning, and not simply earning a degree; “keep on challenging yourself, because learning doesn’t end with graduation… success is inexorably determined by the lessons you glean from the free market. Learning, it turns out, is a lifelong major.”

(I won’t summarize the manifesto’s content. I’ll only say that after reading it, managers will realize they will need to focus their training on the educational system’s gaps!)

So finally, what is Google looking for aside from problem-solving skills?

1. communication skills
2. a willingness to experiment
3. team players, and
4. passion and leadership.

I would argue that the very same skills should be sought by every creative company; after all, being creative within a business setting is largely about working within numerous constraints.