Secret test in Google search used to recruit programmers
Google uses its own search results to recruit potential candidates for jobs at the company, recently-hired Google employee Max Rosett revealed.
Rosett said he searched the phrase “python lambda function list comprehension” and started looking for the most relevant link in Google’s list of results.
Suddenly the search results split, folded back, and revealed a box which said, “You’re speaking our language. Up for a challenge?”
The box contained three responses: I want to play, No thanks, and Don’t show me this again.
After clicking to indicate his interest, he was taken through to google.com/foobar, where he was presented with what looked like a Linux terminal.
Google Foo.bar, via Hustle.co
It asked him to solve six problems, with a limited time to submit solutions for each.
A few days after he submitted the solution to the final problem and was asked for his contact details, a Google recruiter e-mailed him.
“Foo.bar is a brilliant recruiting tactic. Google used it to identify me before I had even applied anywhere else, and they made me feel important while doing so,” said Rosett.
Re/code reported that it asked Google to confirm whether it uses the recruiting process that Rosett described. In response, Google sent the following:
\u0050\u0075\u007a\u007a\u006c\u0065\u0073\u0020\ u0061\u0072\u0065\u0020\u0066\u0075\u006e\u002e\ u0020\u0053\u0065\u0061\ u0072\u0063\u0068\u0020\u006f\u006e\u002e
This translates to “Puzzles are fun. Search on.”
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