[TreasonStar]

Hi Darek!

Maybe you can clarify my situation a bit with your experience. I've passed the Google interviews according to my recruiter, and have been waiting for a team matching interview for about 2 months now. Even though I passed, I have a feeling I didn't do particularly strongly in the interviews, since I made some mistakes, needed a few crucial hints and didn't have time for a second question in one interview. Also my CV is likely not as strong as many other applicants, since I didn't graduate from a top tier university.

My theory is that my file is going around from a hiring manager to another, and since the economy seems to be tightening, probably they have less openings than a few months ago. So they've become more picky about who to interview from the pool of possible candidates.

I've been pinging my recruiter regularly, and they keep telling me all is fine and they'll let me know when they have news. It's been rather frustrating to wait without knowing what's the process like and what to expect. I've read about people waiting for a team match for months, but also I know from following appropriate forums that someone was hired in this location on a much more hurried schedule.

So I guess I'd like to hear your thoughts about what happens after you pass the interviews and how likely it is that a "mediocre" hire goes through the interviews, but raises no interest of hiring managers.

[coachdarek]

Hi TreasonStar, so I actually went through a pretty painful team matching process myself. I had to wait 4 months getting turned down by hiring managers in favor of internal transfers.

Did your recruiters say that you had passed the hiring committee? If so, then your interview feedback is probably very strong. Even with the hints, Google decided you met the bar. I can't comment on what actually happened in the interview, but I suspect the delay on the team matching is not because of your interview performance.

Unfortunately all I can say now is that it takes time waiting. I was pretty picky with location so I had to wait longer. If you're concerned about the job market or looking to get a job soon then you can express to your recruiter you're open to more locations and also remote options (this would help if you originally said I need to be in X city).

Another thing you can do is look on LinkedIn for Google engineering managers that explicitly say they are hiring. You can reach out to them directly, inform them of your level and that you made it through hiring committee and ask if they'd like to connect. The recruiters don't know ALL of the managers hiring so this can help expedite the process.

[TreasonStar]

Thanks for the reply!

I don't know if I've passed the HC, so I'm assuming no. My only feedback is that I did "great" in the interviews and I've moved on to the team matching phase.

I'm actually very picky about my location due to personal reasons, but it's good to know that will likely make the process longer.

Thanks for the tip of contacting the engineering managers directly. I might just do that when the frustration grows too large (even though I don't know if I've passed the HC).

[coachdarek]

Oh this is good to know. I would recommend asking the recruiter directly if you passed HC.

For borderline candidates what they do is wait until a hiring manager is interested in your profile before moving to HC. They do this because if a hiring manager already wants you on their team, then your chance of passing HC increases.

In any case I think the plan would be the same to reach out to hiring managers and see who shows interest. I'd also ask any friends you have at Google if there are teams hiring at your level. It will be easier if you're experienced hire (L4 or higher)

[TreasonStar]

Ok this is very helpful, thank you!