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Meg: Hey guys, I'm Meg. I'm with the Communications Team at Google and I was a Google START Associate.
Last time Tolu interviewed me, and now I'm going to interview Jackie, who is one of my
friends in the START Program.
Jackie: Yeah. Hey everyone. My name is Jackie. I was a START Associate as well. I am now
in sales here at Mountan View and a little background. I grew up in Macon, Georgia, and
I went to school at Harvard University.
Meg: Yeah, we got two southerners. I'm from Kentucky and I went to Cornell up in New York.
Jackie: [inaudible] south. [laughter]
Meg: Yeah. [laughter] Cool! So our first question is, "How would you describe the Google START
Program?" So I kind of weighed in on this last time and wanted to see what you think?
Jackie: Yeah. Now you know, you did an excellent job. Um, as Meg stated [laughter] it's basically
like an entry level, you know, associate program for people just exiting college and looking
for entry level positions into a technology business like Google. Um, it covers a huge
amount of departments, anywhere from sales, marketing, to people operations and human
resources. So if you're looking for any of that non-technical, non-engineering, um, work,
work, um sorry, career path, then Google START Program is an excellent place to start.
Meg: Yeah, it's a great community too.
Jackie: Absolutely.
Meg: So, our next question is from Jazzy in Calcutta and they ask, "How and why did you
become a Google START Associate?"
Jackie: Oh, wow! Um, how and why? I guess the how first. [laughter] I started off as
a b... um, in the BOLD Program, you know, Meg and I were both BOLDers in 2008.
Meg: He was in New York and I was here in Mountain View.
Jackie: Right. And so after that summer I just had a great time, thanks to the BOLD
Program, like a phenomenal time. And absolutely loved Google and I decided that I wanted to
work here and at that time I converted, you know, went through the process and now I can
say I'm here.
Meg: Yeah, nice. Okay. Pretty smooth transition there. Um, so what position within the START
Program did you participate in? And that's a question from M.J. Bach in Washington.
Jackie: Oh great. Thanks M.J. Um, well I worked with Talent Outreach Programs, which does
two things. One, it recruits great talent for Google. Um, they've been doing a great
job about that. And secondly, um, it does outreach to find diverse talent, because we
need, you know, everyone included in Google. And so within TOPS, or Talent Outreach Programs
as its known, I did a few projects. You know, I worked with university programs which is
part of TOPS, which recruits for universities and manages relationships with our colleges
around the United States. And there, you know, I worked with resumes and our batch interview
days, etc., etc. Secondly, I did some Facebook work so I helped launch the facebook.com/googlestudents
page.
Meg: Yeah, thanks for participating in that!
Jackie: [laughs] Oh yeah. Yep, that's where you got your question, so...
Meg: Awesome!
Jackie: Yeah. And a couple of other projects, but that gives the, you know, the gist of
it.
Meg: Yeah, so Sandra in Rhode Island asked, "What was one of the highlights of your experience
as a START Associate?"
Jackie: Oh yeah. So...
Meg: There are so many!
Jackie: Yeah there are a ton. [laughter] Meg and I were in the Development Series and START
Program typically has that. It's Mondays, Wednesdays for like three hours in the afternoon.
But on one day in particular we went to the Boys and Girls Club of East Palo Alto and
we had this like field day with these six, seven and eight-year-olders. And it's just
like, I don't hang around kids on a normal day [laughter] and so I was kind of like,
you know, shocked about it, but we just had like an awesome blast. Like all the STARTers
and these, like forty of these kids just running around. [laughter] Like on teams and it was
just like absolutely phenomenal. It was just a bonding experience that I must say I haven't
had in a long time. So it's definitely a highlight that I'll definitely remember for a long time.
Meg: That's great. So, um, how much [inaudible] would you say is involved in the START Program?
Is it more like a job, or is it more of like an educational process? And that's a question
from Amy in Chicago.
Jackie: Well, Amy I would say it's somewhat of a hybrid of the two. You definitely have
your job that you're expected to do Monday to Friday. Um, in addition to that there is
some training with Developmental Series that I told you that's like six hours a week.
Meg: Yeah, not too much.
Jackie: And there, I think we have like workshops and directors and ...
Meg: Yeah, we had some more senior people come in and talk to us just about, you know,
the dos and don'ts of their past careers and lessons they learned. Some really funny stuff
came out of it.
Jackie: Oh absolutely. Some very inspirational things came out of it too.
Meg: For sure.
Jackie: Definitely steered my career to a n... to a new level. So aiming for new levels
and aiming for higher achievement is what I got out of it.
Meg: So, Brendan in Texas was asking what the best advice you have is to get accepted
into the START Program?
Jackie: Oh well. Well Brendan, I've got to say I am a little biased because I am from
the sales org, and I can definitely say that the easiest way of getting into Google is
full on like selling yourself, selling like your skills, your strong, your strong points,
your weaknesses, selling them all and creating this complete picture of you, what you can
bring and added value to, for Google. And so, um, you know, work on that and I'm pretty
sure you can make it through. So... yeah.
Meg: Nice. It's important once you get into the company as well, just to be able to influence
people 'cause everyone has so much stuff going on that you need to be able to get people
behind your causes and get excited about your projects.
Jackie: Yes, absolutely. You're dead-on, Meg. [laughing] It's a very valuable skill to know.
Yeah.
Meg: Nice. So have you ever found yourself in a totally "Andy Sachs" from "The Devil
Wears Prada" situation? Or have you ever encountered your own "Miranda Priestly" here at Google?
And that's a question from Laura in Italy.
Jackie: Laura! Um...
Meg: Well, you've seen the movie, right? [laughter]
Jackie: Yeah, yeah, I saw the movie, I can't say I... I've known a "Miranda Priestly" here.
That's not a very Googley thing! [laughter] Going back to Brendan, that's another way,
don't be a "Miranda Priestly!" [laughter] Find the Googleyness in yourself. And so,
Meg: What is "Googley"? How do you know about that?
Jackie: I don't know... it's non... anti-Miranda I'd say. Just the opposite. Being open, accepting,
Meg: Approachable
Jackie: Approachable and hard working at the same time. But, you know, not over exerting
yourself in some ways.
Meg: Yeah. Teamwork is huge here I think. Being able to work with people and help each
other out when someone is stressed out. You know, step in there and help them get the
job done.
Jackie: You're dead-on.
Meg: Cool! So those are all our questions. If you'd like to apply for the Google START
Program, you like what you've seen here, just go to google.com/students. If you'd like to
a fan of us on Facebook, go to facebook.com/googlestudents. If you want to follow us on Twitter, just
go to twitter.com/googlestudents. Thanks so much you guys and thanks Jackie.
Jackie: Thanks so much and keep the questions coming.
Meg: Okay. Bye guys!
Jackie: Bye.