It's not enough to just want to work at Google.
If you want to land a job at the tech giant, you're going to have to get more specific, said Hiroshi Lockheimer, Google's senior vice president of platforms and ecosystems.
"It's important to know what you are passionate about," he told Business Insider. "It's not just, 'Oh, I want to work at Google' — but I've heard some people say that."
The tech company has grown to incorporate numerous products and services, so it helps to have an idea about which team you want to work on.
"Being able to sort of articulate, 'Well, here's what I'm really passionate about, and here's what I want to work on,' is really important," Lockheimer said. "Just make sure you make your preferences known so you're routed to the right team."
While this expectation isn't as high for interns and entry-level candidates — "You don't really know yet; you want to explore," Lockheimer said — Lockheimer recommended more-experienced applicants come in with a strong sense of their passions, as well as the initiatives and products they'd like to work on.
And since many Googlers end up switching projects every few years, he said, demonstrating flexibility is also key.
"If they want to specialize in a certain area, that's OK too, but figuring that out is important," he said. "You do spend so much of your life — even if it's just nine to five, that's still a big chunk of your life — working. You want to make sure the fit is good."
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