They go to great lengths to ensure this is not the case. If the feedback from five different interviewers led to a 'no hire' decision, the chances are good that it was the right decision.
As a recent hire at Google, I don't really think this is the case. There's not just a bias towards false negatives, there's a strong bias. It's well understood here that lots of qualified people are turned away.
And for whatever it's worth, the offer to keep your resume on file wasn't just lip service. I interviewed two years ago unsuccessfully, and was recruited a year and a half later based on the strength of that failure. It's also maybe worth mentioning that my only prior work experience was four years of desktop software development in C#, so I don't think the Microsoft thing is that much of a black mark.
"As a recent hire at Google, I don't really think this is the case. There's not just a bias towards false negatives, there's a strong bias. It's well understood here that lots of qualified people are turned away."
This is pretty much exactly what I said. Do you think if I'd pointed out that I'm actually a google employee also, I might have been spared the down votes?
You said there was a good chance it was the right decision. That may be true in some amortized sense across all hires, but you implied that it was also likely the correct choice in this specific situation. I don't think putting that much faith in the results of the hiring process is justified.
Jobs interviews at Google aren't near perfection with a slight bias towards false negatives, and it's unfair to the people who don't make it through to suggest that they are.
As a recent hire at Google, I don't really think this is the case. There's not just a bias towards false negatives, there's a strong bias. It's well understood here that lots of qualified people are turned away.
And for whatever it's worth, the offer to keep your resume on file wasn't just lip service. I interviewed two years ago unsuccessfully, and was recruited a year and a half later based on the strength of that failure. It's also maybe worth mentioning that my only prior work experience was four years of desktop software development in C#, so I don't think the Microsoft thing is that much of a black mark.