Why Google? How to Answer This Interview Question
A good answer to "Why Google?" names one specific thing Google builds. Then it connects that to work you have already done, and says what you want to learn there. Anything that would also be true of ten other companies is a weak answer.
The interviewer is checking two things. Did you research the role, and will you still want it in a year.
Keep it to about two minutes. Then stop and let them ask a follow up.
| Part of the answer | Length | What it must contain |
|---|---|---|
| The specific reason | 30 seconds | A named product, team or technical problem |
| The fit | 45 seconds | Something you built that connects to it |
| The growth | 30 seconds | A skill you want, and why Google suits it |
| The close | 15 seconds | One sentence tying it to the role you applied for |
A sample answer you can adapt
"I work on search quality for an internal tool that indexes about four million documents. Latency is the part I enjoy, and it is also the part I keep reaching the limits of.
Google runs that problem at a scale I cannot copy anywhere else. The published work on indexing and serving is what I have been reading to get better at my own job.
I want to work where query latency is measured in milliseconds and the dataset is orders of magnitude larger. That is the skill I want next, and this team is where it is practised.
That is why this role rather than a general backend role somewhere else."
The specifics change for you. The shape does not.
What not to say
- "Google is a great company." True of every large employer, so it carries no information.
- "The pay and the perks." Honest, but it says you would leave for a better offer.
- "I use Google products every day." So does the interviewer, and so does everyone else.
- "It is my dream company." This describes a feeling, not a reason.
- Anything you cannot back up. If you name a product, expect a question about it.
Why people actually choose Google
If you are deciding rather than interviewing, these are the reasons people give most often.
| Reason | What it looks like day to day |
|---|---|
| Scale | Systems used by very large numbers of people, so small choices matter |
| Engineering practice | Shared code, required review, heavy testing and internal tooling |
| Internal mobility | Moving between teams without leaving the company |
| Pay | Salary, bonus and stock, compared in who pays more, Google or Microsoft |
| Research access | Published papers and research teams inside the company |
| Brand | Later job applications get read faster |
The common complaints are worth knowing too. Candidates report a slow hiring process, large teams where individual effect is harder to see, and products that get cancelled.
How to research in 30 minutes
You do not need weeks. You need three specific facts you can say out loud.
- Read the job listing twice. Write down the two responsibilities that repeat in other listings for that team.
- Find one public paper or engineering post from the area you applied to, and read the abstract.
- Use one product of that team for ten minutes, and notice one concrete design decision.
- Write one sentence connecting each of those to something you have built.
The related questions
"Why Google?" rarely arrives alone. Prepare for the follow ups in the same session.
- Why this team rather than another team?
- Why leave your current job?
- Where do you want to be in three years?
- What would you change about a product we make?
Each follow up wants a reason, not enthusiasm. Give one fact, then one sentence about yourself.
How to Prepare
- Write the answer down, then cut it in half. Read it aloud and time it. Two minutes is the target.
- Prepare three supporting stories. A project, a conflict and a failure, each with a measurable result.
- Use a structure for every behavioural answer. Grokking the Modern Behavioral Interview covers the frameworks companies grade against.
- Do not neglect the technical rounds. Most of the onsite is coding, and Grokking the Coding Interview teaches the repeating patterns.
- Read the related answers. See why choose Google in an interview and the most common behavioural interview questions at Google.
- Know where this question falls. The five rounds of a Google interview and the Google interview guide both place it in the behavioural session.
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