While in India last month, I had the opportunity to meet the head of Google India, Shailesh Rao. India is in an economic boom with a GDP growth of 9 percent (compared to 3 percent with the US) in an extremely competitive talent market. It is interesting to see how Google, one of the most innovative companies today, is addressing the talent challenge. In short, what can we learn from this smart and innovative company about how they address the talent challenge in a hyper growth market?

Google India, Google’s second largest employee population outside the US, is divided between core R&D, global support for advertisers, and is an organization focused on the Indian market itself. Compared to many organizations today that go to India purely to leverage the cost advantage of offshoring, Google takes the local market of one billion consumers very seriously.

Rao, who was educated in the US and has US work experience, admits that the talent issue is very severe in India as well. Talent demand is far superior to the supply. Rao claims that talent acquisition, one of his main job functions, has a true strategic impact on his company. Hiring the right people and building the right team is critical to the success of the organization, which is why he spends a significant amount of time in recruitment.

The good news for this emerging market, according to Rao, is that the technical skills of those coming straight out of college in India are better than those in the US. Yet, some shortages do exist, especially in the area of leadership and collective global experience. Some differences also exist in the intrinsic cultural aspect, such as how one shows respect for one’s elders, even though at times, when it comes, to business, this can result in lost productivity. The best example of this can be seen when one accepts orders from a superior even while knowing that they are being led to perform unnecessary tasks in a certain area. Another difference is the importance of titles, as the Google culture in Silicon Valley strives to emphasize impact rather than hierarchy.

What is Google looking for in people?
Google looks for four main criteria: People who are smart, innovative, and fit well within the Google culture. But most importantly, it looks for people that are driven to make an impact. This, in my opinion, is what depicts Google’s culture quite distinctively—the quest for people that are looking to make an impact. The smart thing about this is that it contains in it the necessity for execution and results. Impact does not mean a specific impact (i.e. to organize world information), but to work in order to deliver something that will be noticeable.

What is the difference between the Indian market and the US market? They are both looking for people that can make an impact, but, according to Rao, the core difference is that the US market is driven by self-actualization factors while the Indian market sees compensation as being a more important motivational tool. Rao’s views were confirmed by what I read in a major Indian newspaper, which is that compensation is very important in this market, and looking only at recognition, benefits, and fulfillment will be shortsighted.

Google’s employer brand
A great salary is not the end-all and be-all either. The Google brand is an important factor that also serves to attract people. Branding is conceived by living the brand and not by spending millions of dollars on creating a reputation. The brand is therefore seen more as a consequence of the way you operate your business than simply a marketing exercise. Thus, work satisfaction, the 20 percent rule (20 percent of work time is spent on individual projects), and work flexibility are all important aspects of creating the employment brand. But of course you still need to communicate to make sure, especially at the university level, that people are aware of what makes Google a great employer. Yet communication is achieved by building relationships with customers and living the brand and not by way of commercials.

Advertising for jobs on Google
Does this mean Google doesn’t advertise its jobs? Quite the contrary, for online ads are one of the most efficient ways they attract people. They initially focus their efforts on their own corporate website, where you can find all job openings.

They also leverage the traditional job boards. Most interestingly, they leverage their own ad-words to attract passive job seekers, like many job boards are already doing. Not only does this represent a huge growth market for Google, it is also a very cost effective way for many companies to attract qualified candidates. Indeed, many companies already do so. What remains a mystery is why more organizations aren’t leveraging this cost per click model to source active and passive candidates. If there is one lesson to be learned, it is to explore this way of driving people to your site, for it is an efficient way to supplement organic search traffic volume.

Referrals are also important to source people, as well as campus relations and active searches. Google likes to know, in a “surgical” way, where candidates are and who is a top performer.

Assessment: leveraging the wisdom of crowds Finding people to fill jobs isn’t all there is to Google; for what distinguishes it from other corporations is that it doesn’t compromise on quality. The core method of its organization is to leverage the wisdom of the crowd, or what is called the collective intelligence (for more on this see Checkster blog), to produce superior results.

In short, recruiting decisions are more accurately made when based on the group consensus rather than an individual’s assessment, for one may simply be trying to force another individual into a certain role. Leveraging the collective intelligence mainly relies on two core techniques: interviewing and reference checking.

It is well known that Google performs many interviews, more than the typical organization. The most important distinction is that their interview process includes not only bosses and peers, but also junior team members. They all understand that the best assessment of a candidate comes from the multiple associated views of a complete team and not just those of the future manager.

The second element is the reference check. At Checkster, our approach to reference checking, or leveraging the collective intelligence of co-workers, is shared by Google (more on Checkster Reference Checkup tool here). What better way to assess people than to have other team members tell them how they performed in the past?

Finally, Rao also pushes the fact that new potential hires need to understand that they own the decision. It is a fit, a mutual decision, and he never oversells a job because he understands the cost of a bad hire. So before making any final offers, he wants to make sure that he covers all the negatives that may be included in a job.

What can India teach us about talent management?
My last question to Mr. Rao was “What have the Indian markets taught you about the hiring process?” He structured his answer into three main parts:

1. The market is so competitive that it reminds you every day that people and talent are critical to corporate success.
2. Informal channels for sourcing and reference checking can prove to be very good, and those processes should be used.
3. It is impossible to identify a single incentive or employee value proposition that will appeal to every employee. Each individual is different. In a global company and a country as large as India, with people across the board in terms of wealth, education, and experience, you need to understand what is important to them. Some will value salary, others mobility and internal opportunities, while a few will be inspired by global opportunities.

With Google’s focus on the impact of new recruits, I couldn’t resist asking Mr. Rao about his expected impact. He responded with four items: Being a great ambassador for Google; identifying the right priorities; structuring the organization for maximum performance; and the answer that came first from his mouth: Hiring Great People! With Google’s focus on talent management, we can only see a great future for Google in this part of the world.

Yves Lermusi (aka Lermusiaux) is CEO & founder of Checkster. Checkster is a new Career and Talent Checkup tool. Mr. Lermusi founded Checkster after 7 years at Taleo (TLEO) as President of Taleo Research. Prior to Taleo, Mr. Lermusi founded iLogos (acquired by Taleo) and held several positions in research and consulting organizations in Europe. Mr. Lermusi is a well known public speaker and a Career and Talent industry commentator. He is often quoted in the leading business media worldwide, including Fortune, The Wall Street Journal, Financial Times, Business Week, and Time Magazine. His articles and commentary are published regularly in online publications and business magazines. Mr. Lermusi was named one of the “100 Most Influential People in the Recruiting Industry” and his blog has been recognized as the best third party blog. Mr. Lermusi earned a degree in Physics and Philosophy, and has a diploma in Economics from the University of Brussels and from the University of London.