FAANG - Get Hired

Trying to get Google or Facebook (or wider Tech firms) to hire you? Here's what I learned when they both (Google & Meta) simultaneously got in touch with me about working for them.

While all tech firms encourage you to apply, you might have a greater chance if there chosen shortlisted recruiters contact you. I latterly found out the shortlisted recruiters that have the right to choose candidates, can only represent a small subset of cherry picked candidates, often its 2 candidates per agency. To say the process is selective is akin to saying there are a lot of grains of sand on a long beach.

In this short newsletter, I plan to mention things that are not mentioned on a bunch of other 'How to get Hired by..'

How do you get on a recruiter shortlist?

Depending on your function/department, ensure your CV matches a/the job description. Simple, right? I was asked to hire a marketing manager in our team at WhatsApp. We were growing fast, and as good as we all were at our job, we needed extra firepower in the team.

Even with the cherry picked approach, I was sent over 50 CVs to consider. Interviewing for a new team addition at Meta:

Here's what I learned....

• Qualifications mattered far less than capabilities (for this Marketing role)
• Quantity (years) of experience was less important that quality of experience
• A good all rounder was needed, Technical as well as strategic
• A Fast learner was a non-negotiable
• Someone with experience navigating large organizations
• Someone who thought outside the box, to solve complex problems, without a handbook
• Not to mention/forget standard prereqs: someone smart, good communicator (helps), and relevant skills for the job

The above also described everyone in my team at Meta, and most of the people I had interacted with at Meta.?

I did notice from the many interviews I led that there was a correlation (particular with folks who were mostly perm members of staff), the more years of experience, the less hands-on, which made them less reliable to count on in a crisis which called for them to be hands-on. People might have the misconception that at a large tech firm there are many people to solve (your) problem. The oppposite is most often true, in many cases it is up to you to solve the problem, and you're expected to. There are some projects where XFN (cross functional) colloborations are very necessary (you cannot know everything), however, you're expected to be able to solve problems above & beyond the JD you were hired on.

My time at Meta illustrated how important the ability to be hands-on had been. From creating a Martech stack that allowed syncing of multichannel data smoothly, to working cross functionally to recreate Google analytics type dashboards, from scratch. To managing a bunch of other complex new processes… It was essential to find folks that could be both strategic, as well as hands on.

Next, a caveat as large as the Shard.

There are many roles at Google & Meta (not to mention other large firms) that do require great qualifications and years of experience. Reality Labs hired streams of PHDs in Physics and the like (I wonder if they’d have hired Walter, my grandfather, back in the day. I’d wager they would have), as those roles required super cutting-edge technical abilities.

In Marketing, one needs to be technical, of course, but the skills are often learned on the job (or via experiments one runs in their own time/ off their own bat), rather than in courses at colleges and universities. Glad I cleared that up.

Other tips to get onto a recruiters shortlist

• Highlight output on your CV, what did you actually achieve?
• It does not hurt to have at least one widely recognised brand on your CV. (I had Barclays, a 150 year old Global Bank on my CV, amongst others.)
• Google & Meta are highly matrixed, international, large orgs. Highlight where you’ve worked in similar roles/projects
• Stakeholder management is important, as is a helpful/friendly attitude?
• Be a real person

On CVs and in interviews I always find it easier to connect with people that have something else on their CV. Maybe you have a hobby or achievement that you can speak to which both grounds you as a real person, shows grit and determination and also makes you interesting. People sometimes pick up on the fact I taught myself breakdancing, or ran a 4 min mile. I’m not saying this to brag, but to stand out, it does not hurt to have things that make you different from the next person.

In my team, my manager was an ex semi pro footballer, another colleague was a DJ, another a semi-pro concert pianist. You get the idea. This is not to say you must have an outstanding hobby or side gig, but it doesn’t hurt to show you’re an (interesting) individual.

If people like this post, I might write a follow up on the interview process.?

Thanks for reading, and see you in the next newsletter.

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