Does anyone have any suggestions to specific things I can do to efficiently be considered for a job at Google beyond applying on the website?

It’s very competitive. Send them an impressive resume, then see if you can survive the intake process.

They have thousands of applicants for each open position.

Google might not hire you.
Accept this as a possibility first.

College graduates tend not to get their first choice. Make it a long term goal though.

Apply for many jobs. If you don’t get into Google, work somewhere else for now and apply again when you have experience pertaining to their available jobs.

I’m a few years behind you, but realize..
Google is basically the top company in tech. To get in there fresh out of college would be surprising.
(On the other hand, google is always growing and does always need more people. But I still don’t think they have any shortage of applicants)

If you had your heart set on working for Google immediately upon graduation, you probably should have contacted them a couple of years ago and investigated apprentice or work study programs and inquired into recommended curriculum. If they don’t offer that stuff, you would have at least indicated interest and perhaps cultivated a contact. You are now among the masses but hopefully have something to distinguish yourself from the rest. Good luck to you.
See ya….Gary/wtf

Apply to google because it’s a dream. BUT apply knowing almost for sure you won’t get a callback. This is like every computer science major’s dream but realistically none of all the many cs majors I know who applied to google got an interview. You can’t be the average geeky cs major. You have to have special projects underneath your belt, experience that other fresh grads don’t have, showed promise to be innovative and creative. I’m not trying to discourage you, but it’s better to not expect anything to come of it then to to be crushed when they pass you over.

You should also realize working for google is selling them your soul (i.e. you will not have a life, as that may or may not appeal to you).

You should read this.

Google really likes fresh college students, but did decide against hiring recent grads soon after the financial happenings occurred. Perhaps they have since changed that position though. I’ve known several students who’ve received and accepted job offers. They also look kindly on students who’ve participated in collaborative or independent research or who’ve had a variety of interesting related internships/experiences prior to application. They’re also looking for dynamic folks, people who do more than just code well.

Talk to your school’s career center. See if there are any alums that work at Google. If there are, your career center should be able to put you in touch with them. Write them a nice letter introducing yourself and asking to talk to them about Google. Talk to them about Google. Use it as a time to really get to know the company and also let them get to know you. The goal, to some extent, is to get enough information to know if you’d be happy working there AND to get them to submit your resume internally. Google has a system set up for this.

If there are no alums at Google, start telling your friends your ambitions. Someone will know someone who works there. Then you do the same thing—get in touch, talk yourself up, learn about Google, etc.

With any company as large as Google it’s all about how different you are in a good way. Is there anything extra that you bring to the table that the average person wouldn’t, be it experience, Professional Certificates (e.g. CPA, CFA, etc), or even vastly different points of view (e.g. Yearly climb Mt. Everest, Worked as a Forest Ranger for the past 10yrs, etc)

In any Job search its all about showing them why they need you and what you bring to the table that other people can’t, no matter how insignificant it seems to you.