How does Google do it?

...with Microsoft. Google also hired Mark Lucovsky, former Windows architect and distinguished engineer at Microsoft, as a technical director in November 2004.

Another former Microsoft engineer is Adam Bosworth, who left his job as BEA's chief architect to be a vice-president of engineering at Google in July 2004. Before that, he was a senior manager at Microsoft where he worked on XML and Microsoft Access PC Database.

The most controversial hire for Google was also a former Microsoft executive named Kai-Fu Lee. Microsoft sued Google after he was named president of Google China in July, arguing that the move violated a non-compete agreement that was part of his contract. Lee had worked on speech recognition for Microsoft and founded its China research lab in the late 1990s. The two sides settled the case in December.

Google also has tapped the ranks of Amazon and eBay for search experts. Earlier this month, Google hired Udi Manber, formerly chief executive of Amazon's A9 online search unit, to be a vice-president of engineering. And sometime before last July — Google won't say when — the company quietly hired Louis Monier away from eBay to be a member of its technical staff. Monier founded AltaVista, one of the best early Internet search engines.

"The main reason for me to leave is that eBay does not absorb innovation at the pace I enjoy, and its focus is narrower than Google," Monier told blogger John Battelle, author of The Search, a book about the search giant. "And frankly, I'm dying to peek under the hood and see the infrastructure they have created. For someone like me, it's the ultimate Christmas toy."

After nearly a year without a head of public relations, Google finally hired one in October 2005. In classic "think big" fashion, it hired Elliot Schrage, formerly Bernard L. Schwarz senior fellow in business and foreign policy at the Council on Foreign Relations.

The company also has keyed into top university talent. In December, Google hired Andrew W Moore, a professor of computer science and robotics at Carnegie Mellon University, to be head of Google's new Pittsburgh engineering office.

And in May 2005, Google hired Alan Davidson, former associate director for advocacy group Centre for Democracy & Technology, to handle its government relations in Washington, D.C.

Several noteworthy international hires were Nikesh Arora, formerly chief marketing officer at T-Mobile, as vice-president of European operations in November 2004, and Jimmy Chou, former president of China operations for UTStarcom, as sales and business development for greater China in October 2005.

In addition, the company has hired plenty of open source engineers, including Sean Egan, lead developer of the GAIM instant-messaging application, who was hired in October 2005 to work on making Google Talk interoperable with other chat software; Ben Goodger, a lead engineer on Mozilla's Firefox browser, hired in January 2005; and Brian Ryner, another Mozilla software developer, hired in March 2005. Another noteworthy hire was Guido van Rossum, author of the Python programming language, who was hired in December 2005.

That's not to mention executives and employees who come from companies Google acquires, like former Apple hardware designer Andy Rubin, whose mobile start-up Android was purchased last year. Rubin also co-founded Danger, the maker of the Sidekick smartphone which Google co-founders Brin and Page were fond of.

While Google easily recruits high-profile executives, scientists and engineers, it puts most employees through a rigorous, multi-interview hiring process that can take months.

"It is hard to get in there unless you are a luminary and then they bring you right in," said Gary Stein, director of client services at consumer research and consulting firm BuzzMetrics.

"Interestingly," Sullivan added, "I think they're still trying to find a [chief] cook."