Google Analytics Hiring and Sheepwalking
February 11th, 2007 by Michael Gray in GoogleIf you're new here, you may want to subscribe to my RSS feed. Read my top posts or learn more about Michael Gray. Want more frequent updates follow me on Twitter. Thanks for visiting!
So I came across something from the Google analytics page about hiring a new representative
To meet Google’s exacting hiring standards, you’ll need an outstanding academic record from a highly ranked university and have a history of professional achievement.
Which struck me as kind of humorous as I just read Seth Godin talking about hiring and Sheepwalking
I define “sheepwalking” as the outcome of hiring people who have been raised to be obedient and giving them a braindead job and enough fear to keep them in line.
(skip)
I was at a Google conference last month, and I spent some time in a room filled with (pretty newly minuted) Google salesreps. I talked to a few of them for a while about the state of the industry. And it broke my heart to discover that they were sheepwalking.
Sphere It
February 11th, 2007 at 1:51 pm
I agree with you. Google is being very foolish by only hiring people with real high grades and only from big schools. Look at Bill Gates he was a dropout and he is the richest man in the world.
February 11th, 2007 at 3:46 pm
That type of language is demonstrative of sheepwalkers infecting a business’s Human Resources department.
HR specialists feel that by insisting on a high GPA from a highly ranked university that they will immunize their company from hiring underachievers. Okay, that makes sense, but if not carefully moderated it is boiler plate language that results in an insular culture and age discrimination.
What about Johnny who got a 3.5 average at the city university while he cared for his dying mother? What about Jenny who partied her way through college thirty years ago, then when she turned thirty she turned a corner and learned to apply herself in admirable fashion?
Instead of writing a job description that says, “You be bright, articulate and determined with madd skills,” which, to be fair, is probably what they really want, they play it safe by writing words that sound like PC speak for, “You come from this little sliver of society that has been statistically proven to produce bright, articulate and determined with madd skills.
February 12th, 2007 at 10:07 am
isn’t that what college is?
obedience training for untalented humans?
February 12th, 2007 at 11:04 am
They have a series of of people following very inflexible business rules that make no sense. Having a great degree isn’t enough. They are scoring resumes on keywords and numbers not judging people in conversations. All the leaders at conferences ask me to apply. Then the HR group stones their own hiring manager referrals. When the army of sheep no capable of innovating becomes fully staffed, more nimble search players will have room to emerge.
http://daviddalka.com/createvalue/2007/02/10/rick-rubin-doesnt-read-music/
It would also help if they could execute a simple media campaign correctly…
http://daviddalka.com/createvalue/2006/09/23/google-recruiting-error-fixed/
Who is responsible for all of this? Laszlo Bock a former McKinsey Consultant…
http://www.google.com/intl/en/corporate/execs.html#laszlo
February 12th, 2007 at 11:13 am
Maybe the job is relativley simple and they want people to just “do their jobs.” It’s not always advantageous to have a creative motivated “out of the box” thinker working for you. I mean do you want your janitor to be an ambitious out of the box thinker? What google is saying here is “If you need a more challeneging creativie position, then don’t apply here, we want a professional hard worker we can own who will do EXACTLY what we tell them” I’m sure Google has more creative positions that are open to more then just sheepwalkers!
February 12th, 2007 at 11:58 am
I’d rather have a creative janitor who on his own comes up with “if we did this instead of that we could get the floors cleaned in much less time” any day of thew week. Creative and outside of the box thinking and problem solving is rarely done by people who are simply book smart and test well.
February 12th, 2007 at 1:22 pm
I understand the ideology behind your statement, but if your janitor was creative and out of the box he wouldn’t be your janitor for very long and you’d get stuck with losing your janitor and having to spend your time and money replacing him or her because you picked the wrong person for the job.
February 12th, 2007 at 1:27 pm
PS. From an ideological standpoint I COMPLETELY agree with you, I’ve just learned to be a bit of a realist in my approach. I believe it’s important to have loyal, stable “less creative” individuals to support the entrepreneurs and “plan” makers. Goes back to the ancient chiefs and Indians cliché. If you put all extremely gifted, creative, out of the box thinkers together, they may have difficulty working together and have ego collision problems. I’d rather build a team with a few plan makers and a few stable by the book individuals. Put them together in the right group and you’d really have something.
PS. Love the book “All Marketers are Liars” by Seth Godin. If you’re into SEO and come from a technical as opposed to a marketing background it’s a must read, actually I’d recommend it for everybody. When I first say that book, I had absolutely no idea who he was, it was actually the title / cover picture that caught my eye, I read two paragraphs and then proceeded to sit down and read it cover to cover.
February 12th, 2007 at 2:38 pm
>he wouldn’t be your janitor for very long and you’d get stuck with losing your janitor and having to spend your time and money replacing him or her because you picked the wrong person for the job.
From a long term retention and employee loyalty aspect who is more likely to be loyal to you the janitor you promoted or the guy you head hunted off the street? I personally know many people who started out in low grunt jobs, showed some spunk and were promoted, given a little freedom and went on to do great things for the company. I even know one person who actually started out sweeping floors and is today manager of the data center supervising 20 employees for that same company. If the owner didn’t take a chance and say “hmm he may not fit the mold but he’s hungry and want’s it” he would have missed out on allowing a great employee to grow to his potential and help make the company better.
February 12th, 2007 at 3:45 pm
That’s a beautiful story and like I said I agree with that ideology, but I still think there is a place for “sheepwalkers.” I was simply suggesting mixing up hiring creative out of the box thinkers with more “by the book” types. My argument was for the value in both, not exclusively one or the other.
Personally I haven’t had to have a regular job since once year after completing my Army enlistment in 2001, so I know the value of creative out of the box thinking. I definitely didn’t have any type of ideal background when I started doing SEO and designing websites, but through hard work and ingenuity I was able to do well and 5 years later I’m as busy as ever with lots of new aggressive projects.