Google CEO Sundar Pichai said he is proud of the overwhelming rate that applicants who are offered jobs accept them and explained what kind of talent the tech giant needs.
In an interview with David Rubenstein on Bloomberg TV that aired Thursday, Pichai said the rate is close to 90%. When asked what Google looks for in entry-level new hires, he said it depends on the type of role.
“If you’re in engineering, we’re looking for really good programmers, people who understand computer science well and can be dynamically willing to learn and grow, apply themselves into new situations and do well,” Pichai said. “But we are really looking for superstar software engineers.”
Google, like the rest of the tech sector, went on a hiring spree in the aftermath of the pandemic, but then laid off staff earlier this year as companies shifted from focusing on growth to cutting costs.
That’s led to grumbling among some Googlers, who have also noted a pullback in workplace perks, culminating in an all-hands meeting in May as employees sounded off on lower morale and complained they’re not enjoying their fair share of the company’s success.
Despite the earlier cuts, the AI race continues to fuel growth. As OpenAI, Meta, Amazon, and Google ramp up their artificial intelligence efforts, they are spending billions of dollars on chips and other hardware while also snapping up top talent.
In fact, Google is even using AI in its hiring. The company’s cloud-computing division has been using AI since last fall to improve its candidate matching and onboarding processes. The company has created its own AI product, Gemini for Google Workspace, which it says has become intertwined with most stages of talent acquisition.
Tracey Arnish, head of HR for Google Cloud, told Fortune in July that the team started using AI to parse through the millions of workers who have applied to roles within the past few years.
And when the hiring committee comes together to assess a group of applicants, Google Gemini is deployed to collect all relevant internal feedback on the individuals.
Meanwhile, Pichai still believes in supplying employees with free food, despite the cost it requires.
“People value in-person collaboration,” he told Rubenstein earlier in the interview. “I can recall several times when I was working at Google early on being in cafés, meeting someone else, talking, getting excited about something. So it sparks creativity, creates community. And I think the benefit that comes out of it far dwarfs the cost associated with it.”