Great Googley-Moogley!

On November 13, I flew to Mountain View, CA to do second round interviews with Google. It was quite the experience, and I'm glad I had the opportunity to view the mythical Googleplex. I flew to SFO on Tuesday night and met up with a few other candidates (two from Michigan and one from Wharton) on the shuttle to the hotel. We had fun chatting about the positions we were interviewing for and our respective schools. We stayed at the Sheraton Palo Alto, right across from Stanford. It was a really nice hotel and they had goodie bags for us when we checked in. Nothing too exciting, but we got a pack of gum, a Google-branded ditty bag, and a book on management and strategy.

The next morning, I woke up bright and early to eat breakfast where I met some more MBAs from all over the country. People were interviewing for many types of positions, the largest of which was Finance. The position I was interviewing for was Online Sales and Ad Manager and that group contained 6 people, 3 of whom were from Michigan.

We all loaded onto the Google shuttle to go to the campus. These shuttles were awesome! And better yet, they are one of the MANY benefits Google provides to its employees. The shuttles had cushy leather seats with headrests and were entirely Wi-Fi! Google provides free shuttle pickup to all employees anywhere in the Bay area! The Google campus stretched for a few miles and we were dropped off at the OSO building for our interviews.

First, we had the opportunity to get free drinks and snacks from one of their "microkitchens". Another benefit Google provides is free food and drinks to all employees all day! We then got an overview of the OSO department and then went into our interviews. We had three back-to-back interviews, and mine were with three members of their internal analysis/strategy team. I thought I did alright, but not great. The rest of the day was filled with lunch, an HR presentation, and then a tour of the main campus (the original buildings). The tour was really what I had been looking forward to all day.

Some highlights: seeing people ride around on the free bikes and scooters provided (even inside!). Seeing the beautiful landscaping on a beautiful day, which included seeing people walking their dogs (you can bring them to work) and visiting their children (there is a daycare on campus). Seeing pink flamingos next to a statue of a T-Rex. Okay, that one needs a little explaining. The Googleplex is where Silicon Graphics used to be, the company who did Jurassic Park (hence, the T-Rex). Apparently, some Google employees took it upon themselves to arrange pink flamingos in various patterns around the T-Rex (for example, putting them in a group around the front of the T-Rex like they were going to attack him).

Seeing and almost shaking hands with Barack Obama! Google brings many interesting speakers to campus, and Obama was there the day we were to give a speech. He happened to be arriving as we were getting toured around, and he stopped to shake hands with another group of MBAs. We were approaching to do the same, but just as we got there, he had to leave. Oh well!

As soon as we got back to the hotel, I had to hop on a shuttle back to the airport. Luckily, we got to drive down a portion of the palm-lined drive to Stanford on the way out. It was a quick trip, but definitely worth it. It was an experience that I am so glad to have had and I will never forget!