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Enhancing a Job Search Using Google Tools: Tips for Undergraduates

A Case Study and Reference List for Undergraduates

Technology lowers the activation barrier for candidates to apply to positions posted on job boards or company websites. With just a few mouse clicks, a resume is on its way to a potential future employer. The downside is that it is more challenging to distinguish oneself from a flood of applicants. Standing out from the competition is the key to a successful job search. Job seekers can utilize a variety of online tools to differentiate themselves. This knol describes various technology tools and illustrates how to effectively utilize each in a search for employment.

Over the past couple years, I have experimented with various Google Products that can be useful when conducting a search for employment.There are many Google Tools that can be effectively leveraged regardless of the company or industry you are targeting.This knol is geared specifically to undergraduates and endeavors to share some ideas on how these resources can be utilized to:

• identify and target companies or other organizations of interest
• network, enhance web presence, and showcase key accomplishments to potential employers
• prepare for an interview and ultimately land an ideal position

Jessica knows that she first needs to get organized by deciding what companies to target and she needs to implement tools to manage the information she gathers for her job search. She also needs to develop contacts and network. One of her goals is to find opportunities to meet professionals in the industry and then build those relationships by following up with these newly minted connections. Jessica also wants to enhance her visibility and showcase key accomplishments by publishing professional information online in a way that will make it easier for companies to find her.

Jessica is looking for a job in San Francisco. She is geographically focused. Jessica uses Google Mapsto identify companies within a reasonable commuting distance. Her parents live in Menlo Park, a city just outside of San Francisco. She uses their address as a starting point for her search. She clicks Search Nearby and then enters keywords like management consulting, technology, and human resources. Her search yields a number of potential target companies in the Bay Area. She also discovers that it is possible to search by category. For ideas, she searches in Google Maps for a known company of interest (Bain and Company) to see how it is categorized. She then conducts a search within that category.

Jessica would like to establish a permanent professional email address that she can take with her no matter where she works or studies. She decides to use Gmailfor a number of reasons.

1. She can check other email accounts (eg: you@school.edu) through Gmail to keep her job search organized.
2. She can manage contacts, networking connections, and job leads through the conversation-based interface.
3. She can build her professional network through contacts since anyone that she corresponds with by email is automatically added to her Contacts list.

She plans to cross-reference her contacts on professional networking websites like Linkedin.com to build her list of trusted connections.

Jessica met Greg Marsh, a member of Googles University Programs team at a campus career fair. Jessica uses her Gmail account to follow-up with Greg. Greg gives Jessica a heads-up about Googles HR Associate Program and lets her know that they will be accepting applications and starting their campus interview process in two weeks.Based on information Greg provides, Jessica tailors her resume to highlight the attributes that are most important for an HR Associate and readies her application.

Joe Rainmaker works at McKinseyand went to business school with Jessicas cousin Tom. Joe and Jessica initially met at Toms graduation party last year. Jessica recently saw a post to Joe's blog about a day in the life at a top consulting firm. Jessica decides to follow-up with Joe by instant message usingGoogle Talkto let him know that she has seen this post and to ask for further advice on making the transition from school to the world of consulting.

Jessica adds the Google HR Associate application deadline and a phone appointment with Tom to her Google Calendar.

Jessica also decides to create a Google Site with key information about herself including her resume and links to:

1) A press release about a prestigious fellowship she won based on her strong academic achievement

2) Her stats as a Division 1 NCAA basketball player

3) Writing samples from her work on the student newspaper

Jessica creates aGoogle Profileto provide another mechanism for companies to find her. She includes a short biography, links to herGoogle Siteand other professional content online, and key facts about herself. Since she plans to use this profile professionally, she decides to leave certain categories blank (eg: "My Superpower"). She makes sure to check the box that will allow people to contact her without revealing her email address so that interested companies can easily get in touch with her.

Zero In and Apply

Now that she has done some significant legwork for her job search, Jessica decides to target five companies and apply. The companies she chooses are

McKinsey

Google

Yahoo!

Hewitt Associates

Bain and Company

She does further research and crafts an objective to lead off her resume and a cover letter tailored to each company. For McKinseyand Bain, her objective is to obtain a position in management consulting that will leverage strong analytical skills. For Hewitt, she writes that her objective is to obtain a position in an HR consulting firm that will leverage strong training in organizational behavior and quantitative analysis.For Googleand Yahoo!she writes that she is looking to obtain a human resources position in the technology industry that will leverage strong analytical skills. She finds suitable job postings at each company and identifies existing contacts or finds promising connections at each organization on Linkedin. Jessica applies to each company by submitting a resume via the web and reaching out to her contacts. She also takes advantage of a family referral (Joe Rainmaker, her cousins business school buddy, who now works at McKinsey).

Selected for a Screening Interview

Jessica waits a couple weeks. She hears nothing from Bain. She hears through Joe Rainmaker that McKinseyis focusing more on MBA hiring at this time and has no suitable positions. She hears through Linkedinthat Yahoo! has no appropriate positions either.

Based on her strong resume and clear enthusiasm for the company in her interactions with Greg Marsh, Google invites Jessica to do a phone interview for the HR Associate Program. Jessica makes sure to ask the HR representative who she will be interviewing with. HR was unable to guarantee who Jessica would be speaking with the company draws from a pool of Googlers to interview candidates via phone.

Even though she doesnt know who shell be interviewing with, Jessica can still do more company research.The call is scheduled for next day so there is limited time to prepare. Jessica decides to take a quick peek at Google Finance to answer questions such as:

Is the company getting into any new businesses?

Are certain technologies up for sale or licensing?

Has the company signed any major partnership deals?

Who are the key competitors?

Google Finance also provides a snapshot of the current stock price, a graph of stock performance over time, and an overlay of news that may affect the stock price. She also finds a financial statement, discussion threads, a list of key executives, and a company summary.

Jessica finds that Google News is another useful tool. Has the company been reported in the media lately? What is the press saying? She searches by company name to find key news stories and reviews historical information in the news archives.

Interview Day Arrives

Before Jessica knows it, its time for her phone interview.

The interviewer asks Why do you want to work in Google People Operations? Based on what she learned in Google Finance, Jessica talks about the strong history of innovation in the company, the amazing product offerings, and the global impact of the Google brand. Jessica learns during the interview that Googles philosophy is to make HR decisions that are supported by data. Jessica emphasizes the value of her Statistics minor in reinforcing the importance of quantitative thinking. Jessica asks about Googles initiative to determine the statistical significance of a host of factors that contribute to the success of newly hired Googlers that she read about in a NY Times article she unearthed in Google News. She asks a few pointed questions related to the interpretation and analysis of that data.

Invited On-Site!

Based on the strength of the screening interview, Jessica receives a phone call inviting her to interview for the position at the Googleplex in Mountain View, CA. The interview will take place in three weeks. Jessica is assigned a host for the visit. Jessica asks her host for a list of those she will be interviewing with which her host is able to provide. The host also mentions that one of her interviews will take place over lunch.

The on-site interview is not taking place for 3 weeks so Jessica sets up Google Alerts to provide daily updates on important news related to Google and YouTube. She also sets up a news alert for competitor companies including Yahoo! and Apple. Google Alerts generate email updates on news of interest. Jessica could also use Google Reader to track relevant company news in the weeks leading up to the interview.

Jessica would like to learn more about her host and does a quick Google search to find more information. She already knows that her host will be Jennifer Petoff and she works on the University Programs team within People Operations. Jessica quickly learns that Jennifer has a PhD in Chemistry. Jessicas brother is a PhD chemist. Shes very curious about how Jennifer made the transition from research to HR and plans to bring it up during the interview day. She also learns thatJennifer is a hockey fan. Jessica is a Dallas Stars fan and Jennifer likes the Buffalo Sabres. There is some bad blood between these teams so Jessica will make sure to steer clear of this topic! Jessica discovers that Jennifer is a published travel writer. Jessica loves to travel. She will work this into the conversation during the day to build rapport.

Jessica knows that shell be having lunch at one of Googles on-site cafes on the interview day. She decides to brush-up on etiquette before the interview. She checks YouTube for advice on how to conduct herself during the meal.

Jessicas former basketball teammate and recent graduate, Ashley, told her a story about walking up to the wrong person when she was on a site visit and was meeting her host for breakfast.She saw someone come into the hotel wearing a shirt featuring the company logo.Ashley went up the person, introduced herself, and shook hands only to find out there were multiple interviewees and hosts at the hotel that morning and this was not Ashleys host (much to her surprise)!Jessica decides to useGoogle Image Searchfor peace of mind and to avoid any embarrassing mistakes.She finds a picture of her host, Jennifer, online.

Interview Day Arrives

Jessica successfully rendezvous with her host on the morning of the interview and feels her confidence grow after she easily recognizes Jennifer and introduces herself. She shows impeccable table manners at her lunch interview thanks to the YouTubetraining. Jessica regales her host with tales of her adventures trekking across Patagonia and builds rapport by asking for advice on sights to see during an upcoming trip to New Zealand. She impresses the department director with her knowledge of Googles business model and their unique and innovative HR practices.

Jessica realizes that following-up after the interview is an important next step.She drops her interviewers an email that same evening to thank them for taking the time to speak with her and reiterates her interest and qualifications for the role.She recalls one interviewer mentioning a difficult challenge they were currently struggling with in analyzing a complicated dataset.Jessica recalls a convenient method described in one of her statistics classes that might be helpful in solving the issue. Jessica does a quickGoogle Book Search, finds the textbook that outlines the methodand includes that reference in her thank you note.

As a result of her meticulous preparation and her thoughtful and timely follow-up, Jessica receives an offer the following week.

Thank you for taking this journey with Jessica. Are there other ways that youve used Google products effectively in your own job search? Share your tips and suggestions here.