Canadian HR Strategy

23 A t Google, innovation and creativity start with hiring the right people. e com- pany's hiring process is a science and very metrics-driven, according to Ster- gios Anastasia-dis, engineering man- ager at Google Canada in Toronto. "We're always looking at putting on the bus the right people. It's important we focus and get everyone engaged in that process," he said, speaking at a re- cent Strategic Capability Network (SCNetwork) event in Toronto. "Everything we do in hiring and interviewing is very well-structured." Google doesn't review resumés. Instead, it puts candi- dates in a position where they actually experience the type of work they would be doing. "From an engineering perspective, we want to know: How can they code? What do they do when they are given three, four, fi ve problems in a day and how do they per- form?" he said. "It's important to understand if this individ- ual, who will potentially be brought on board, can actually deliver." Ninety-nine per cent of the time, all the engineers who are hired produce code in their fi rst few weeks on the job. Putting people out of their comfort zone is a characteristic inherent in the company and one employees are extremely used to, said Anastasiadis. "We're not here to ride a wave, we're here to create them," he said. "In many situations, a lot of things happen when you're in chaos. I can't say it's a day-to-day experience, but we are put into those situations very frequently because ev- eryone likes to operate in that way." An employee's goals are designed to ensure she is taken out of her comfort zone. Getting a 60 per cent score on goal achievement is "abso- lutely fabulous" because the goals are real stretch goals and extremely hard to achieve, said Anastasiadis. is type of mindset is really important because it al- lows for failure, said Marc Hurwitz, chief insight offi cer and founding partner of FlipSkills, a leadership and innovation consulting fi rm in Waterloo, Ont. "If you expect 100 per cent success, then you expect zero per cent failure and that's very diffi cult in that kind of envi- ronment," he said. Peer-to-peer assessment is important at Google, which has 400 employees in Canada. e company has separated assessment from development and given the assessment piece to peers. It's a "heck of a leap of faith" but peers can do it, said Hurwitz, also speaking at the SCNetwork event. Managers don't really have a say in how an employee is doing because peer-to-peer assessment has greater value to the organization, said Anastasiadis. e role of manage- ment is to chart the path of an employee's career and assist with professional development. " e leader now becomes someone you can really go to because they're not the person who is assessing you, they are the person who is going to coach, facilitate, train, help you develop, to encourage, motivate, et cetera," said Stretch goals, peer assessments, comfortable environment key drivers By Amanda Silliker PHOTO: MARK BLINCH / REUTERS

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