Why are Google recruiters so slow? I spoke directly with a hiring manager who sent my resume to his recruiter. It's been a week but the recruiter still hasn't emailed me.

Considering how many people we've been onboarding recently, and the staggering ratio of candidates to hires, I think it's safe to say recruiters have a huge volume of résumés/applications to process. I'm sure referrals receive a higher priority, but I don't think any channel will lead to a candidate being contacted within a week. I don't have first hand experience with this situation, as I was cold called by a sourcer, but considering the pace of the rest of the process, I wouldn't be surprised if you didn't hear anything for a few more weeks. Don't lose hope, or sleep.

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2011-02-03/google-gets-75-000-job-applications-in-one-week-topping-record-set-in-07.html Don't worry :)

In the decade that I've worked for start-ups and small companies, I've become accustomed to fast hiring action. If I like a resume, I call that week, screen, get a coding test done ASAP, bring in candidate to interview within a week of that, and decide. It's been similar with positions I've been hired into. In small organizations that used an on-site recruiter, when there has been a perception that the recruiter is the bottleneck in getting people interviewed and hired, the organization has been upset with the recruiter. When small organizations hire, it's for now not for three months from now. I used to work for a very big company. I forgot how Byzantine and labored the hiring process was there. As a hiring manager in a big company, you know you want to bring someone on-site to interview, but you're OK with that happening two weeks from now - and indeed maybe it must be two weeks, so plane tickets are cheaper or because of internal goings-on. As a candidate, all you can do is advocate for yourself. This includes asking yourself what it would be like, to work for a company that moves slowly when it needs staff, or that acts as if you are staff it doesn't really need. The timing you are seeing seems usual, but that does not mean you have to accept it.

The recruiter might just be ineffective, but it is possible that, while the hiring manager has one position he is focused on, the recruiter has many. I don't know Google's internal recruiting structure, I'm just speculating based on past experience as a recruiter.