Google is well known for offering its employees cushy Silicon Valley pay and enviable office perks — but it’s also known for being extremely competitive.
The tech giant reportedly receives millions of applicants a year and has been said to be more difficult to get into than Harvard.
BI spoke to three recent graduates who now work as software engineers at Google. They each shared the résumé they used to land an interview — but it’s important to remember there’s no silver bullet for getting your foot in the door at Google.
Two of them sent in cold applications, and the third applied with references. All three went through Google’s lengthy interview process which included a super round of interviews that lasted multiple hours.
The three résumés varied in style and content. Some were heavy in text and others didn’t fill the full page. But one factor all three applicants had in common was an internship at a Big Tech company.
They also all had a degree in computer science and listed their GPAs, which were between 3.6 and 3.8.
Check out their résumés below and see what the Googlers had to say about what they think stood out in their applications.
Kevin Tsui
Kevin Tsui is a 24-year-old software engineer at Google. He graduated from the University of Pittsburgh’s School of Computing and Information in 2022 and said he applied to Google with no referrals at the time.
Tsui said he felt it was important to show multiple years of work experience, even if not every internship was related to what he does now.
He also said he felt that spending two years at a bigger name, like Amazon, which also gave him global product experience, may have helped him stand out.
Tsui said he decided to include outside interests on his résumé, like cooking and traveling, because he wanted to show that his coworkers could connect with him outside work.
A job isn’t just doing that kind of work 24/7, Tsui said, you need to “be a person” in your off hours.
Tsui said he felt that it’s important to be a team member and sociable.
Eric Stein
Eric Stein is a 23-year-old software engineer at Google. He graduated from the University of Virginia in 2022 and applied with three connections at the company.
He said he thought his involvement with the Google Developer Student Club was the biggest contribution to his résumé, and it ended up getting him his references too.
“That showed my commitment to Google and my commitment to improving the world around me with technology,” Stein said.
He said another highlight on his résumé was his inclusion of personal projects, like being the cofounder of Pareto Touch. He said he thought of it as a testament to his willingness to find work if he didn’t have any. He also said he thought it showed his dedication to sharpening his skills.
Matt Wilkinson
Matt Wilkinson is a 24-year-old software engineer at Google. He graduated from American University in 2021 and applied to Google without a reference.
He said he thought his experience at Roku stood out the most on his résumé. While he’s not necessarily working in the same specialization at Google that he did at Roku, he worked in a software engineering role at both jobs.
Wilkinson said he started off as a finance major and switched after sophomore year. He said because of that, he didn’t have as many tech experiences and felt it was important to include some projects he worked on related to the field. He also said he thinks his role in one of the projects helped show leadership.
Do you work at Google? Reach out to the reporter from a non-work device and email at aaltchek@businessinsider.com