For those unfamiliar with the term, MAANG is an acronym for Meta (Facebook), Apple, Amazon, Netflix, and Google. With a combined total estimated employee count of over 2 million people worldwide and a market capitalization of over $7 trillion, MAANG represents some of the top technology companies in the world. Not surprisingly, MAANG on one’s resume is seen as a badge of honor and getting into a MAANG is a notoriously tough process.
We here at Don’t Bother Applying believes hiring is an inequitable and one-sided process in favor of companies. Transparency is definitely needed. We are not alone in this. Our work has connected us with many that feel the same way.
We connected with a MAANG recruiter who offered to share their insider stories of recruiting practices at a MAANG. This will be broken into three posts. The first part, this one, will cover various tidbits about MAANG hiring recruiting, which will be helpful if you are looking to get hired at a MAANG or any company in general. The next post, to be released in two-three weeks, will cover H1B practices at the recruiter’s MAANG. Finally, we will expose ghost job practices at the MAANG. Let’s start!
Things Are Far More Inefficient and Disorganized Than You Think
This should come as no surprise to anyone who has ever worked in a large company, especially technology. Companies are rarely as united and efficient as they claim they are. Divisions and business units are often granted varying degrees of autonomy for processes and technology choices. This includes things like hiring practices, recruiting teams, and applicant tracking systems (ATS).
When you apply at a company, you are often told, and it may appear, that you are now “in the system.” In reality, this is commonly not the case. Sometimes your resume ends up at the business unit hiring for the position, and nowhere else. Some reasons for this include disparate process flows, data control restrictions, and different tools used across the company.
This means if you see another position you think you’re perfect for, the internal recruitment team may never see your previous application. Recruitment directors at our recruiter’s company often were not allowed to see swathes of candidates who applied at other divisions. Yes, you would have to apply again, which is another time waster for candidates.
Questions That Can’t be Held Against You Actually Can
You know the standard questions that are only supposed to be used for demographics? Every application includes questions that don’t seem to have anything to do whether you are qualified and would be illegal to hold against you. However, there are grey areas that companies exploit.
This MAANG company decides on a pool of candidates to consider. Often in the hiring process may decide there is not enough diversity in the pool. They will request things like, “we need a veteran”, “we need disabled candidates”, or we need more of a certain ethnicity.
Where do you think the recruiters get this info? Yup. Although the questions are not supposed to be held against you, they are often used to move you to a second round.
By the way, the standard disability question is very broad. Being disabled in the past counts. If you qualify, say yes to this question.
Hiring Managers Often Do Whatever They Want
Companies are fraught with internal politics, and the larger the company is, the worst it becomes. Hiring managers are knee-deep in this and commonly use political capital to disregard hiring processes and guardrails. For example, if there is a candidate that a hiring manager wants, the company may still have to go through the required postings and interviews, but the hiring manager is still zeroed in on their preferred candidate. Our recruiter also tells us there were occasions where the hiring manager verbally offered a candidate before even a position was even opened.
When this happens, if the hiring manager has gotten this far, this often means there are little or no consequence for the hiring manager. For you, this means you are applying for a job where the hiring manager has already made up their mind, and the winner is not you.
The Common Theme
Hiring is a messy and chaotic process at MAANGs. This creates a couple of underlying themes. First and foremost, the application and hiring process is often not as it appears. This leads to more work and time for you, the applicant.
Second, recruiters sometimes are tied by politics and procedures. More on this in the following posts…