Meet Google's hiring gatekeepers

Google's hiring process is beyond rigorous - according to HR head Laszlo Bock, of the more than three million job applications the tech giant receives from around the world each year, it hires only 7,000. That's an acceptance rate of about 0.2%.

To weed through an insane number of applicants, the company has gotten its hiring process down to a near science, and every candidate needs to be screened by a number of people including their potential boss, potential colleagues, a hiring committee, and Google's CEO Larry Page, Bock says.

But before being screened by all these people, candidates must first make it past Google's hiring gatekeepers: the staffing team.

Looking through LinkedIn for a Google staffing contact can seem a little daunting at times since there are so many employees with seemingly similar titles, so it's important to know the distinction between each role. Bob See, a principal recruiter for Google Engineering between 2005 and 2014, explains the role of each team member.

1. Recruiter

This is your primary contact person during the interview process and should update you on any developments. For example, your recruiter should touch base with you within 48 hours of any interviews, See says.

Recruiter responsibilities according to the LinkedIn profile of a Google recruiter based in New York include:

• Liaising between hiring managers, hiring committees, and candidates
• Creatively sourcing new candidates through Linkedin, Google+, and referrals
• Managing the candidate process from initial reach out to start date

2. Sourcer

A sourcer at Google is an internal employee or contractor typically responsible for guiding you through Google's hiring process up to your onsite interviews, See says.

Beyond that the sourcer isn't usually involved in moving you forward, but, because one performance metric is the number of candidates receiving offers, the sourcer has a stake in your success and might work with your recruiter to keep things moving.

The LinkedIn job summary for a technical sourcer at Google in New York reads:

Building and utilizing leading edge sourcing strategies and research methodologies to surface top talent and build premier pipelines.

3. Coordinator

The primary role of a coordinator is to schedule interviews and handle logistics, See says.

Unlike your sourcer, they don't have any direct investment in you "other than that they all tend to be great human beings, really nice/caring people, and would want to help simply because it's the right thing to do."

A job posting for a Google recruiting coordinator position in Mountain View, California, details the various support responsibilities a coordinator has:

As a Recruiting Coordinator, you'll ensure a seamless, candidate-friendly hiring process. You'll be responsible for keeping the process organized and actively maintaining clear lines of communication with recruiters, hiring managers and candidates - from entry-level all the way to senior leadership hires. By providing great customer service and smoothly managing all the details, you'll contribute to the overall success of the Staffing team.

4. Candidate Host

An HR representative of sorts, the candidate host's role is to meet and greet candidates and set them up the day of their onsite interviews. "I don't believe they're involved anywhere else the rest of the process," See says.

The role according to one coordinator in San Franciso's LinkedIn profile includes providing a positive experience for all candidates that come onsite for an interview, verifying that the candidate's interview logistics are set before their arrival, supporting technical aspects of the interview like video conference or presentation setup, and positively portraying the Google brand.

While a sourcer brings candidates in to the hiring process, a coordinator helps schedule your interview, and a candidate host makes everything run more smoothly, typically the most contact you will have as a candidate is with the recruiter.