Main image of article What Google's Restructuring Says About Its Current Skills Need

Google isn’t done with its current restructuring.

According to Business Insider, Google has unleashed yet another round of layoffs, paired with shuffling (and creating) new teams. In addition, the search-engine giant will invest more in “growth hubs” in various international locations, including Mexico City and Dublin.

“As we've said, we're responsibly investing in our company's biggest priorities and the significant opportunities ahead,” a Google spokesperson told the publication. “To best position us for these opportunities, throughout the second half of 2023 and into 2024, a number of our teams made changes to become more efficient and work better, remove layers and align their resources to their biggest product priorities. Through this, we're simplifying our structures to give employees more opportunity to work on our most innovative and important advances and our biggest company priorities, while reducing bureaucracy and layers.”

Some of these changes have been splashy: for example, the company’s ultra-important Android team has now been merged with other hardware and software groups, including Pixel. Rick Osterloh, previously Google’s SVP of devices and services and the head of this new division, told The Verge that the consolidation “helps us to be able to do full-stack innovation when that’s necessary.” If you want A.I. products to run in an optimized way on cutting-edge hardware, you need every single one of your team members under one roof, in other words.

Going forward, Google seems determined to adjust its products to align with the latest A.I. models it creates internally. For example, it will bake its Gemini chatbot into an array of Android-based products. That’s something critical to keep in mind if you want to work for the company.

And if you’re indeed interested in a full-time position at Google (and not just as a contractor), start by checking out Google’s own hiring documents. A referral is always helpful for getting your resume in front of a hiring manager, but in lieu of that, it’s clear the search engine giant is leaning hard into A.I. skills. If you can demonstrate mastery of TensorFlow and other A.I.-related tools, you’re more likely to stand out amidst the thousands of applications hitting a Google hiring manager’s desk.