我和另一个应聘者一起坐在一间等候室里。他看起来大我10岁左右的样子。光从我们的衣着判断，就可以很明显的看出我们是通过截然不同的方法得到这个一生难得一次的机会。

      他穿的很职业。黑西装，白衬衫，条纹领带。他的鞋擦的很亮，闪闪发光的皮鞋和他的皮带扣很般配。

      我穿的很随意。蓝色牛仔裤。运动鞋。一件有领子的褐色毛衣，毛衣里还有一件另人讨厌的栗色T恤，上面印着“计算机向导”，我一直把它当内衣穿。

      我尝试着穿的象我自己。我曾经听说谷歌的穿衣原则是简单的“你必须穿着衣服”，所以我穿着我在做这份工作时可能穿的衣服。与商务套装先生相对而坐的时候，我开始担心自己是不是犯了个大错。

      不管出于什么原因，从我到达的那一刻起，商务套装先生就从没当我存在。他翘着二郎腿，膝盖上放着本杂志，从不抬起头，心不在焉的快速翻阅着杂志。他一直如此，直到招聘经理打开隔壁办公室的门叫他的名字“唐？”

      唐放下手中的杂志站了起来。

      我满怀希望地说，“祝你好运。”

      他朝我点点头，跟着招聘经理走出了房间。我很愉快地发现招聘经理也穿着运动鞋和牛仔裤。

      现在房间里只剩我一个应聘者了。我开始重温我为了面试带来的材料。在我的“文件夹”（一个薄薄的3环活页夹）内有：

• 几分没有装订的简历复本
• 我的3个开放的资源项目的使用说明和截图
• 2封来自前雇主的介绍信
• 一张我打算一面试完就寄出的感谢卡

      我猜想至少还有10分钟才会轮到招聘经理来面试我。因此当一个娇小的女士进入房间并叫我名字“肖恩？”时，我很惊讶。

      “是的？”

      “我是泰西”，她边说边伸出了手。

      我站了起来，同时把文件夹卷起来夹在腋下，并和她握手。

      “我叫肖恩 博伊德。您好”

      “你好。我有好消息要告诉你。”

      “哦？什么好消息？”

      “你的申请已经快速通过了。我将带你简单的参观下我们的工作环境，然后我会把你介绍给对你的背景有兴趣的团队。”

      “哦，我的天。这真是个好消息”，我边说边露出了大大的笑脸“真让人兴奋！”

      “当然！跟我走吧。”

      当我跟着她穿过两扇门延着走廊向下走的时候，泰西向我解释了什么叫做“快速通过”。她告诉我，我还是要接受面试的，但是因为我的申请被一个现有的项目团体一致选中，所以我不必参加第一轮的“最初筛选”面试。我将从第二轮面试直接开始，接受这个团队当前成员的面试，我有可能会和他们一起工作。泰西，高级招聘经理，在面试过程中将会在呆在一旁，观察我如何与团队成员相互协作，并回答我对这个职位可能有的人事问题。

      泰西领着我进了她的办公室，让我坐下来。她在她的屏幕上输入了一个即时消息，并发送出去，随后她又把这条消息复制发送给4，5个人。她用了几分钟时间来回复消息，随后她对我说道

      “在整个团队来与你碰面之前，我们还有差不多30分钟的时间。你愿意和我去餐厅享用免费午餐吗？”

      “十分乐意”，我答道。

      餐厅有点拥挤。差不多每个台子前都有至少6个谷歌的员工在排队等候他们的免费午餐。因为他们对选菜和点菜程序都很熟悉，他们轻松地在餐厅中走来走去，但我却站在原地，拿着个空盘子。泰西指着不同的台子，告诉我每张台子提供的菜色，她鼓励我不要害羞。

      “每样东西都是免费又好吃，并且有营养，”她说道，她的话和我听到过的有关谷歌的餐厅的描述，多多少少又些类似。

      我排队等候中国菜。我要了一份普通的草鸡配米饭。厨师问我除了主菜还要不要几片橙子，我回答说“好的，谢谢！”

      我和泰西坐在餐厅中央的一张桌子边。她把我介绍给汤姆和阿努，他们是午餐后即将给我面试的团队成员。接着她告诉他们我选择来享用免费午餐而没有去参观周围设施，这让我有点没面子，但他们说做了一个正确的选择。阿努怪我没有享用下思乐冰机器。

      汤姆询问我所带的文件夹里装了些什么。我简单地翻了一下，向他解释道这主要是我的应聘信的细节补充。我还说如果他们感兴趣，我愿意在面试时将它展示给整个团队。他给我的印象是他们会对此感兴趣的。

      一吃完午饭，我们就还掉餐盘离开了餐厅。我们四个一起搭电梯上楼，乘到将会进行面试的那个楼层。我跟着泰西转了弯，穿过一扇大木门。

      我一步步踏上船，同时感到迷失了方向。我突然发现我正和我父亲在一艘帆船上，正在大西洋的中央，我们的船在狂风暴雨中剧烈的摇晃。我父亲示意我抓紧靠近船头的绳子，但在我就要抓到绳子的时候，一个大浪打在船身，我摔了出去。就在我要掉下水的时候，我醒了。

…… 

      我是密西根州的一个失业者。在过去的几个月里，我疯狂地投简历，接受各种各样的工作的面试，但几乎没有成功的。就象昨晚，到我梦想的公司找工作的过程充满了我的潜意识。

      我在梦里的经历如此真实以至于我觉得一定要把它拿出来分享。不对，它从未发生过。不对，它不是谷歌应聘和面试的准确流程。但是，它比我最近在现实世界里的经历有趣的多。

      如果我误导了你，那很抱歉。我只是想在写自荐信的间隙休息下，写些有趣的东西。我希望一些读者在读它的时候会很愉快，就象我写它时一样的愉快。

My Interview at Google

sat in the waiting room with one other applicant. He was older than me by about ten years. Judging by our clothes, it was clear that we were taking different approaches to this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.

He dressed professionally. Black suit, white shirt, striped tie. His dress shoes were polished, and their shine matched well with that of his belt buckle.

I dressed casually. Blue jeans. Sneakers. A brown collared sweater that hid the geeky maroon “Computer Wizard” t-shirt that I was using as an undershirt.

I was trying to dress the part. I had heard that Google’s dress code was simply “You must wear clothes,” so I wore something I might wear to the office if I got the job. Sitting across from Mr. Business Suit, I started wondering if I made a huge mistake.

For whatever reason, Mr. Business Suit hadn’t acknowledged my presence since I arrived. He sat cross-legged with a magazine in his lap, half-heartedly thumbing through it without looking up. He kept this up until the Hiring Manager opened the door to the adjacent office and called his name: “Don?”

Don set his magazine down and stood up.

“Good luck,” I said hopefully.

He nodded at me and followed the Hiring Manager out of the room. I took pleasure noticing that the Hiring Manager wore sneakers and jeans.

Now that I was the only applicant left in the room, I started reviewing the materials I brought with me to the interview. In my “Portfolio” (a thin 3-ring binder) I had:

• Loose copies of my resume
• How-To Instructions and Screenshots from three of my Open Source Projects
• Two Letters of Recommendation from previous Employers
• A Thank You Card that I planned to mail immediately following the interview

I imagined that I had at least ten minutes until the Hiring Manager asked for me. I was therefore surprised when a petite woman entered the room and called my name: “Shaun?”

“Yes?”

“I’m Stacy,” she said, extending her arm.

I stood up, tucked the Portfolio under my arm, and shook her hand.

“Shaun Boyd. How do you do?”

“Just fine, thanks. I have good news for you.”

“Oh? What’s that?”

“Your application has been fast-tracked. I’ll be giving you a quick tour of our facility, and then I’ll introduce you to the team that’s interested in your background.”

“Oh my, that is good news,” I said through a huge smile. “How exciting!”

“Definitely. Follow me.”

As I followed her through the double doors and down the corridor, Stacy filled me in on what being “fast-tracked” meant. She explained that I still needed to be interviewed, but because my application was unanimously selected by an existing project team I was exempt from the first-tier “initial screening” interview. I would start at the second-tier interview, which would be conducted by current members of the team I might be working with. Stacy, a Senior Hiring Manager, would sit in during this interview to see how I interacted with the team members, and answer any HR questions I might have about the position.

Stacy led me into her office and told me to have a seat. She typed an instant message onto her screen, sent it, and then proceeded to copy and paste the same message to four or five other people. She toggled through the responses for a few minutes before speaking to me again.

“We have almost 30 minutes until the entire team will be available to meet with you. Would you like to join me for some Free Lunch in the cafeteria?”

“Absolutely,” I said.

The cafeteria was intimidating. Nearly every station had at least half-a-dozen Google employees in line for their Free Lunch. Since they were already familiar with the selection and ordering process, they moved around the cafeteria with ease while I stood in place holding an empty tray. Stacy pointed to the different stations, told me the type of cuisine that was served there, and encouraged me to not be shy.

“Everything is always free, tasty, and nutritious,” she said, more or less reciting everything I had heard about Google’s cafeteria verbatim.

I got into the line for Chinese cuisine. I asked for a helping of General Tso’s Chicken over white rice. The chef asked me if I’d like some orange slices to go with my entree, and I said “Yes please!”

I joined Stacy at a round table in the center of the cafeteria. She introduced me to Tom and Anu, two of the team members who would be interviewing me once we finished our lunch. She then busted my chops a little by telling them how I chose to get Free Lunch instead of a tour of the facility, but they said I made the right choice. Anu scolded me for not taking advantage of the Slurpee machine.

Tom asked about the Portfolio I was carrying. I paged through it briefly, and explained that it was basically a detailed addendum to my application. I said that I’d like to show it to the entire team during the interview, if they’d be interested. He gave me the impression that they would be.

Once we finished lunch, we returned our trays and left the cafeteria. The four of us rode the elevator up together and got off on the floor where the meeting with the entire team would take place. I followed Stacy around a corner and through a large wooden door.

I stepped onto the boat and felt disoriented. I suddenly found myself on a sailboat with my father, in the middle of the Atlantic Ocean, rocking violently in a complete mess of a thunderstorm. My dad was signaling for me to grab the lines near the bow, but before I could grab a hold of them a giant wave crashed into the broad side of the boat and knocked me overboard. Right before I hit the surface of the water, I woke up.

…

I’m jobless in Michigan. For the past month, I’ve been relentlessly applying to and interviewing for various local jobs with little to no success. As of last night, the job hunting process has permeated my subconscious mind to the point where I’m literally dreaming about it.

What I experienced in my dream was so vivid that I felt compelled to share it above. No, it never happened. No, it’s not an accurate representation of the application and interview process at Google. It is, however, more interesting than my recent experiences in the real world.

If I mislead you, I’m sorry. I just wanted to take a break from writing cover letters to write something enjoyable. I hope some readers will enjoy reading it as much as I enjoyed writing it.

该文为引用，作者 Elanso，翻译 tracy0541。

英文原文引用自

http://www.elanso.com/ArticleModule/GJL9PpVcJhONSiJNKUPAKAIi.html

翻译版本引用自

http://www.elanso.com/ArticleModule/SYPzVcPKM6PAPpODR6UKSYIi.html