Comment by cellularmitosis
11 years ago
Ah, they are very unlikely to get the top 100, but very likely to get e.g. 100 of the top 200? Now I think I understand the trade off they are going for (e.g. Getting 100 of the top 200 is more efficient and they are "good enough")
Eh I don't know that they're getting 100 out of the top 200 either. At some point Google's reputation for an insane hiring process causes the best computer scientists to not even bother applying because it's a waste of their time. Those people have many, many options that would pay them handsomely for their talents.
Look at it this way. If you're a cream of the crop programmer and you're looking for a job, Google has the most drawn out and arduous hiring process. Even if you apply there and start the interview process it often takes a lot longer than the industry average to get to an offer. In the meantime a multitude of other companies have probably already determined that you are an excellent programmer and tried their best to snap you up.
Google seems to be happy with the tradeoff they're making but I'm pretty sure their process is not optimized for getting the best people in the field.
Most of those 200 would not even apply for Google knowing their process.