Here's *Exactly* What Google Grades Interviewees On When It's Hiring

For the select number of applicants that actually make it to an interview, they'll be graded on a very specific list of criteria, no matter what position they're applying for.

In the new book "How Google Works," executive chairman and former CEO Eric Schmidt and former SVP of product Jonathan Rosenberg highlight the four characteristics that each candidate gets graded on (Google scores interview candidates overall on a scale of one to four).

Here's what every wanna-be Googler is judged upon:

1. Leadership

Interviewers will find out how applicants have proved themselves as leaders, either through assigned roles or stepping up organically. "We'll want to know how someone has flexed different muscles in various situations in order to mobilize a team," Schmidt and Rosenberg write.

2. Role-Related Knowledge

Google wants people who have a variety of strengths and passions - but you better be prepared to kill it at whatever position you're applying for. Google seeks out interesting, quirky people who have the right background to excel in their (potential) future role.

3. General cognitive ability

If you're gunning for a Google job, you should know how to solve problems. "We're less concerned about grades and transcripts, and more interested in how a candidate thinks," Rosenberg and Schmidt write. They say that, in an interview, they'll ask a candidate a role-related question that will also give them a peak into the person's problem-solving process.

4. Googleyness

This is the most nebulous criteria: Applicants need to be "Googley." Schmidt and Rosenberg say they "look for signs around their comfort with ambiguity, bias to action, and collaborative nature," all of which are generally a good indicator of Googleyness.