"I Want to Work for Google/Microsoft!"

"I want to work for Google/Microsoft!"

I hear that a lot...

It's kind of like saying: "I want to visit Europe".

It's too vague. Europe is a big place...unless you choose a country/city you are not going anywhere.

Landing a job at these corporations is no different. If you want to improve your chances you need to get specific.

Here's why:

1) Microsoft has 151,163 employees, Google has 114,096 and that's excluding vendors/temps, so you can double that number.

2) There are hundreds of products in each company which means there are a lot of business units who operate independently.

3) Because it is so segmented, there are only a few dozens of employees (the ones who work for/with the business unit you are applying for) who know the hiring manager and could provide a valuable referral.

4) Unless you find those people, you are wasting your time. Any employee could refer you (employees get a bonus for referrals), but not all referrals are equal. If you want to have the best chance, you need a high value referral.

Choose the product/business unit you want to work for and focus your outreach on the people who work there. It will save you time and increase your chances!

Microsoft/Google product lists: Microsoft: https://support.microsoft.com/en-us/allproducts Google: https://about.google/intl/en_us/products/?tip=autofill