> the HM said that 500 people applied to the job I was interviewed at As someone who interviewed candidates in big tech, this sounds like a lot but you have to understand most people who apply are truly not qualified in any way. About a third of people who get to the onsite fail really hard (I get people have off days).

Especially when you have a brand like Google, people apply just to apply all the time w/o considering if the big G is a good fit at all.