Google Is Hiring: The Secret To Getting A Job At Google

There's the woman who designed her cover letter like the Google's ad materials (she got an interview, no job). There's the man who created an entire website to land a job there (he got an interview, no job). Forums are filled with frustrated applicants to Google, with Ph.D.s and decades of experience, who did the dance for months, only to get a "no thank you" message in their inbox.

Tales of "world-shaking innovation" and "free sushi" lure a million applicants a year, but only 0.5 percent of them make it through Google's mystical gate. Some applicants have had multiple interviews, only to be told that they'll be contacted when a job becomes available -- sitting for months on the waitlist for the hippest party in town.