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Eric Schmidt: Google Discovered the Optimal Number of Job Interviews Is Four

By Eric Schmidt · Leadership · 1 min read

Schmidt remembers the packet — a gentleman who had been interviewed 16 times. The recommendation was not to hire him. Schmidt said: you cannot do this to people anymore.

Key Points

Schmidt capped interviews at eight after someone was interviewed 16 times
Google revised it further: five interviews for engineers, four for non-engineers
They looked at when the score no longer predicted outcomes — that was the statistical cutoff

You cannot interview people more than eight times.

Interviewed 16 Times

Schmidt: I still remember this packet — this gentleman who we had interviewed 16 times. The person running the process came in and said — look, you guys have got to make a decision. The recommendation was to not hire him.

I said — you just can't do this to people anymore. So I said: you cannot interview people more than eight times.

This gentleman had been interviewed 16 times. The recommendation was not to hire him.

The Statistical Cutoff

Schmidt: They have since revised it. For engineers, they have five interviews. For non-engineers, four. And that turns out to be statistically significant.

The way they did it — they looked at when the score drop-off no longer predicted outcomes. At a certain interview, the additional data stops mattering. Those are simple techniques that wouldn't have occurred to the normal company. But because we hired all these smart generalist types, they applied an analytical bias.

For engineers, five interviews. For non-engineers, four. That turns out to be statistically significant.