Speaking at Carleton University's Spring Leadership Luncheon on Monday, Google senior vice-president Shona Brown said recruits at the firm face seven levels of interviews before they get an employment offer.
"It's all about having the best people," said Ms. Brown.
Most often, the recruitment process is managed by a team of people – because "teams make better decisions than individuals" – and must be approved by a senior executive, she explained.
Ms. Brown, who graduated from Carleton University with a degree in computer systems engineering and then pursued studies at Oxford University and Stanford University, said Google prefers to hire generalists with strong critical thinking skills. "People who ask why as opposed to what," she said, adding passion is another key trait.
Other human resources policies include peer input into employee performance reviews and "bureaucracy busters," when Google employees identify policies that should be reviewed or abolished.
Employees also have regular opportunities to quiz Google executives. With all those smart employees, said Ms. Brown, there are tough questions that are not easily ducked."
Besides people strategies, Ms. Brown said the most innovative companies also take calculated risks.
She cited two examples at Google.
When the key algorithms behind Google's search engine were written, there was insufficient computational power to process them. Similarly, when Google launched its popular gmail product with one gigabyte of storage for every account, the company was unsure how it would satisfy the promise.
Ms. Brown was awarded the A.D. Dunton Award by Carleton University president Dr. Roseann Runte at the luncheon.
