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Google still searching for Mt. Holly management team
By Dan McCue
Staff Writer
In spite of a response from applicants that he described as “pleasantly overwhelming,” Google has yet to hire a single employee for the site, the company’s point man for the development of its new Mt. Holly facility said July 11.
“We’re excited about the opportunities we have for staffing the Mt. Holly facility, but given the unique combination of skills we’re looking for, finding exactly the right people has been difficult,” said Andrew Johnson, Google’s East Coast regional manager for hardware operations.
Google Inc. purchased 520 acres in the Mt. Holly Commerce Park in Berkeley County last year, and formally announced its intention to build a new data center—basically a giant server farm to process Google searches—in April.
The search engine giant is currently advertising seven positions on the employment page of its Web site.
These include positions for two hardware operations managers, who will eventually lead teams of technicians responsible for maintaining the company’s computer and network infrastructure in Goose Creek, two data center systems managers and a system administrator.
Johnson, who visited Charleston this past month to check on the progress of construction, said beginning in October Google will start the phased hiring of a projected 200 employees at the facility. The first phase of construction on the data center is expected to be completed by this time.
Those hires will include technicians, security personnel, grounds keepers and kitchen staff.
“In terms of construction on the site, we’re right on schedule,” Johnson said.
He estimated that as many as 300 local construction workers are on site every day working on the data center.
What makes hiring at Google so challenging is the unique combination of skills the company is seeking, Johnson said.
“For instance, for a site manager, we’re looking for someone who’s technical, well educated, able to interface with many different levels of the organization—meaning from entry level folks to the founders—and they also need to be able to relate to the community,” he explained.
But if there’s one quality above all others that the company is seeking, it’s an intangible “Googleyness.”
“They have to be ‘Googley,’” Johnson said. “Being Googley is a trait shared by the people we hire.”
Asked to describe it, Johnson said being Googley “means you are smart, you work smart, you work hard, you dig into problems, you have an ability to deal with data and are data driven, and you’re a problem solver.
“But at the same time you also have to have the ability to embrace having fun, whether that means taking a break from work to play ping pong or to ride a Razor Scooter around the facility,” he said.
As for the facility’s future technicians, Johnson said he’ll be looking for people who are passionate about computer hardware and software.
“They have to have a love for technology,” he said. “(Google) loves to hire people who don’t just use technology on the job, but spend a considerable amount of time interacting with it in their free time.”
But don’t expect to get to the head of the applicant line just because of your devotion to World of Warcraft.
“There’s nothing wrong with a devotion to World of Warcraft, but what we’re looking for is that person who’s upgraded their machine themselves to play World of Warcraft faster or the person that’s written some piece of code that optimizes their Internet connection,” he said.
To date, there’s been a lot of interest in jobs from applicants around the greater Charleston area as well as individuals up and down the East Coast, Johnson said. He also added that Google prides itself on having a very diverse work force.
“We do have people dedicated to reviewing all of the applications we receive, so I’d tell applicants to rest assured, if they feel they’re qualified for a job with us and apply, someone will review their application,” Johnson said.
As for when a decision might be made on pending applications for the management position, Johnson said, “I’d like to have them in place now … so I guess my answer is we’ll hire them as soon as we find them.”
Since announcing its intention to locate a data center here, Google has received numerous invitations to participate in community and business-related organizations, Johnson said.
“Charleston has been very welcoming, and we’re taking a look at all of those invitations, determining which would be the best fit for us,” he said. “We’re planning on making decisions on those as we begin to have a staff in place at the facility.”
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