Google, part of the esteemed FAANG group, is an unparalleled tech powerhouse. It works in diverse industries spanning from online advertising, search engine technology, cloud computing, computer software, quantum computing to e-commerce, consumer electronics, and artificial intelligence. It has been at the forefront of innovation since its inception.

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Securing an Software Engineer (SWE) role at Google is highly sought after for Indian tech professionals. However, gaining entry into this position can be challenging. While the conventional approach involves applying directly through the Google jobs portal, a more accessible and effective route is to obtain a referral from an existing employee.

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In this article, we'll delve into Google’s work culture and explore how you can leverage a referral to enhance your chances of landing a rewarding career opportunity within this tech powerhouse.

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How to get a job at Google?

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Coming to the main question first, how to get into Google. There are several ways of doing that. First go over to Google careers page and scour through it and find the job you're looking for. You can check active jobs on their LinkedIn page as well. Apply to the job and wait for your resume to get shortlisted out of hundreds of resumes. 

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But if you’re looking for a more effective and an expeditious way to land a job at Google, you should consider following the referral process. This method entails asking current employees who can advocate for you within the company for a specific job role. The referral process is advantageous for three primary reasons: firstly, existing employees already possess credibility, so anyone they vouch for is likely to be viewed favorably. Secondly, if their referral doesn't meet expectations or leaves the company shortly after joining, it could affect their reputation within the company. Some companies have employee referral programs and employees get monetary incentives if their referral joins the company. Therefore, they have a vested interest in recommending candidates who are qualified and likely to succeed.

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How to Get a Job Referral

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Let’s talk about the process of how to get a referral at Google. Here’s a step by step guide for it.

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Finding a Potential Referrer

• Open LinkedIn and dive deep into research mode. Read and research about the company, its culture (you can read about it in this article below), and its employees. 
• Try to find if anyone in your friend circle/ acquaintances/ college alumni are currently working at Google and reach out to them. 
• You can install our chrome extension to cut through the manual process and see which of your 1st degree LinkedIn connections are connected to Google. You can even ask them to provide a referral through a 1 click easy process.
• Don’t sweat, if the above step doesn't work. You can check out job referral sites which have a curated list of people who have agreed to give referrals in their companies. We have made a list of Google employees who have agreed to give referrals. You can check out a few of them below (install our extension to check the rest).

1. Abhay K. - Currently working as Lead SRE Engineer at Google | Previously worked in Electronic Arts EA, Techmojo Solutions, De Shaw, Wipro, Symbol Technologies Inc. | College: BMS College Of Engineering
2. Aniket Kalgutkar - Currently working as Software Engineer at Google | Previously worked in BNP Paribas, Hyperon Technologies, | College: Watumull Institute
3. Aniruddha Bhattacharjee - Currently working as Software Engineer at Google | Previously worked in Goldman Sachs | College: NIT Silchar
4. Anubhaw Choudhary - Currently working as Software Engineer at Google | Previously worked in Sabre | College: BMS College Of Engineering
5. Harisanker Pradeep - Currently working as Software Engineer III at Google | Previously worked in Walmart, Prescribe, The Eplane Company | College: IIT Madras
6. Harris Siddiqui - Currently working as Senior Software Engineer at Google | Previously worked in Adobe, Synaptic, Stintmint, Limeroad.com, Aspiring Minds | College: Maulana Azad National Institute Of Technology, Bhopal
7. Harshit Gupta - Currently working as Software Engineer at Google | Previously worked in Microsoft, IBM | College: IIT Kanpur
8. Kashish Suneja - Currently working as Software Engineer at Google | Previously worked in Microsoft | College: Bennett University
9. Kishan Dewangan - Currently working as Test Automation Engineer at Google | Previously worked in Citriz, Amazon, Mobileiron | College: Bhilai Institute Of Technology
10. Prashanth Shanmugam - Currently working as Senior UX Designer, Google Search + AI at Google | Previously worked in Microsoft, Freshworks, Verizon, BNY Mellon | College: Karpagam College Of Engineering
11. Raajashri Sathyamurti - Currently working as Product Operations Manager at Google | Previously worked in SAP, Verisure, Viblle | College: Essec Business School, France (2021)
12. Sanjay Gandhi - Currently working as SWE 2 at Google | Previously worked in Amazon, Hackerearth | College: Lovely Professional University
13. Sudharma Mokashi - Currently working as Strategic Cloud Data Engineer at Google | Previously worked in Iqvia, ZS Associates | College: International Institute Of Information Technology Pune
14. Vamsi Yerra - Currently working as Analytical Lead at Google | Previously worked in Mu Sigma, Shell | College: NIIT University, Neemrana (2019)
15. Vineet Adnala - Currently working as Business Apprentice - Devices and Services Marketing at Google | Previously worked in Little Big Things | College: University Of Mumbai

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• Try to find people with whom you share a common interest with such as your ex- colleagues, college/ school mates, people from your hometown or people with mutual connections. If you don’t find anyone like that, try to find a mutual interest which you can talk about eg, interest in startups, finance or even anime.

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You can also search potential referrers directly through LinkedIn

• Search for Google employees in the search bar and then filter them using connection, location and college filter. You can also navigate to the "People" tab on Google’s LinkedIn page and search through the employees.
• Remember to try to find people with maximum mutual interest and working in the same or similar role you want to apply for.

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Crafting Your Request

• Now that you've identified your potential referrers, it's time to prepare your approach. Remember, personalization is key here.
• Start by researching the referrer's background and interests. 
• Craft a LinkedIn message or email. 
• Start with a brief greeting followed with an opening line using the shared interest (same college/ school, mutual connection/interest). 
• Introducing yourself and explaining why you're reaching out. Be clear and concise about your intention, attach your resume and any relevant work sample.
• Highlight how your skills and experience align with the job requirements and the company's goals and make it clear why you're a perfect fit for the role. Emphasize on how it would benefit both the organization and yourself. 
• Don't forget to express your gratitude for their time and consideration.
• Be patient about it and wait for at least a couple of days before sending a following up.
• Be polite in case they refuse or don’t reply. Thank them for their time and make sure that you don’t burn the bridges. If they refuse, try to get their feedback and work on it.

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You can check out sample examples of personalized referral requests below in this article.

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Bonus Tip: Making it Easy for your Referrer

To make it easy for your referrer, consider providing a prefilled message that they can simply copy and send to the hiring manager. We have attached the template below.

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Sharing the template below:

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Hi [Hiring Manager],

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I hope this email finds you well.

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I'm writing to recommend [name] for the [role]. [name] and I worked at [company] together/ attended the same college and collaborated on various projects during our time there. He's demonstrated himself as a hard worker and a dedicated team player.

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Sharing his contact details below:

Email: xyz@gmail.com

Phone: +91 xxxxxxxxxx

Resume:

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Best regards,

[referrar]

Work culture at Google India

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Google boasts a work culture that is both dynamic and demanding. Understanding the nuances of Google’s work culture can greatly aid in navigating the job process and acclimatizing to the company's environment.

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Pros

• Innovative Environment: Google is known for its innovation andGoogle employees are at the forefront of technological advancements.
• Impact: Google’s products have global reach, contributing to such projects can be professionally and personally fulfilling.
• Insanely Talented Workforce: Google employees are some of the most skilled and talented people in the industry. 
• Perks and benefits: Google gives good salaries and other excellent benefits and perks. Google campuses have on-site fitness centers, free meals, and wellness programs.
• Work-Life Balance: Google puts an emphasis on work life balance and provides good wellness programs and ample paid leaves, though the work there is challenging.
• Learning and Career Development: Google has many programs for employees learning and career growth, including tuition reimbursement and opportunities for skill development.

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Cons

• High Expectations: Google has a high pressure work environment and employees are expected to take ownership and deliver results.
• High Competition: Working with some of the top minds of the world has its downside too. Employees have to work hard to compete for promotion.
• Bureaucracy: Google has many layers in hierarchy due to its size. This leads to slow decision making.
• Work-Life Balance: Though Google emphasizes on work life balance but high expectations can lead to high pressure and long working hours.
• Change in Internal Strategies: Google is known to change its internal policies, team structure and strategies. Employees find it challenging to adapt to such constant changes.

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In the end it’s about weighing pros and cons to reach a final decision when considering joining Google as an SDE. 

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Different roles and hierarchy at Google

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• SW Intern- This role is for final year students pursuing their undergraduate degree. It is very hard to get into this role despite it not having any salary.
• SWE 2- For college graduates, requires 0-2 yrs of experience. The candidate should have a basic understanding of programming and work on tasks assigned by other engineers. 
• SWE 3- Requires 2 - 4 yrs exp. They take end to end ownership of small/ medium projects and execute them from requirements gathering to testing and launch.
• Sr. SWE- Requires 8+ yrs exp. They have strong coding, design and leadership ability. They lead SWE 2 & 3 and work on complex problems.
• Staff SWE - SWEs at this role are in the top 10%. They lead large projects but are less involved in individual coding. They are also more involved in the decision making and can switch to a managerial role if they want.
• Sr. Staff SWE-They are equivalent to senior supervisors. They are mostly promoted from within the organization and roles above this are rarely hired from outside.
• Principal Engineer- They conceptualize approaches for large scale projects and are responsible for handling large teams of software engineers.
• Distinguished Eng - They are subject matter experts in the domains. They lead innovation and impact through their work. 
• Google Fellow- This is equivalent to a Vice President role where the person is responsible for leading 100s of engineers and complete engineering verticles at Google.

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Google salaries for different roles:

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Google is known to pay good salaries to its engineers. On top of the base salary, SDEs are given additional stocks as well. Average salaries for roles are given below,

• SWE 2- 25 LPA 
• SWE 3- 33 LPA
• Sr. SWE- 53 LPA

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Samples for asking for Job Referral:

Email sample for job referral: Reaching out to a college senior

Hi Anuj,

Hope you’re doing well.

I don't know if you remember me or not but I worked as a volunteer in your team in our annual college cultural fest. We worked directly in the stage play event when the judge canceled at the last minute and led to the whole event getting delayed, quite a fiasco it was.

I'm actually reaching out to you because I needed a small favor. I recently saw that an SWE 2 position has opened up at Google and I'm interested in applying for it. Would it be possible for you to refer me for the same? I have 1.5 years of experience as a Fullstack Engineer at Weekday (a YC backed startup) and I believe my skills and experience align well with the requirements of the SWE 2 role at Google.

I've attached my resume for your reference. If you're able to provide a referral or offer any advice on the application process, I would be incredibly grateful.

Thank you for considering my request. I truly appreciate your time and assistance.

I know that you’ll be submitting a referral in your internal portal but in case you’re going to mail the hiring manager you can use something like this.

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Hi [Hiring Manager],

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I hope this email finds you well.

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I'm writing to recommend Amit Singh for the SWE 2 role. Amit and I attended the same college and collaborated on various projects during our time there. He's demonstrated himself as a hard worker and a dedicated team player.

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Sharing his contact details below:

Email: xyz@gmail.com

Phone: +91 xxxxxxxxxx

Resume:

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Best regards,

Anuj

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Warm Regards

Amit

Phone: +91 xxxxxxxxxx

Sample of how to ask for referral on LinkedIn: Reaching out to a person with mutual connection

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Dear Anuj,

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Hope you’re doing well.

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I got your reference from Akhil. I believe you guys went to college together. He is an ex colleague of mine, we worked briefly together at Weekday before parting ways.

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I'm actually reaching out to you because I needed a small favor. I am actively looking for a new job and saw that an SWE 3 position has opened up at Google. I wanted to see if it would be possible for you to refer me for it? I have 4 years of experience in a similar role at a YC backed startup. I believe I possess the technical skills and relevant experience required for this role.

Attaching my resume for your reference. If you're able to provide a referral or offer any advice on the application process, I would be incredibly grateful.

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Thank you for considering my request. I truly appreciate your time and assistance.

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Warm Regards

Amit

Phone: +91 xxxxxxxxxx

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