How I Got a Job at Google

I grew up in Vancouver in a first-generation immigrant family, and the glass high rises of corporate Canada always felt very distant to me. My father had founded a company when he came to B.C., which inspired me to study business when I started university. 

In my first two years at UBC’s Sauder School of Business, I took several introductory courses that gave me a good window into various business specializations. I also got involved in marketing-focused extracurriculars, where I gained experience by organizing networking events, conferences, mentorship programs and case competitions. 

In second year, I took a particularly formative course on the basics of starting a career, called Career Fundamentals. In the first lecture, the professor asked us what would be our dream company to work for. Without hesitation, I said, “Google.” It was the first time I had given myself permission to aim that high.

We had to apply for a job as a part of the course, and I decided to look for opportunities in marketing. I have always loved art, and marketing seemed like a specialty that would allow me to tap into my creative side. That’s how I landed my first paid summer marketing internship. Unfortunately, a few weeks before the internship was supposed to start, the recruiter called to inform me they’d cut my role. I panicked. I met with a mentor I knew from high school, whose friend had started a marketing agency called Monday Creative. I met with the founder for coffee a few days later and told her that if she was willing to hire me as their first intern, I’d put 110 per cent into any project that came my way. She did. There were only six full-time people at the agency, and I had the opportunity to work on photoshoots and campaigns.

My time at Monday Creative solidified my interest in marketing. My next position was a summer internship at Nestlé Canada, where I got a crash course in large-scale campaigns and traditional brand marketing. It was very satisfying to see the recyclable Smarties packaging and NHL-themed KitKats I worked on in my local grocery store that fall. It was my first time working at a global corporation, and I initially questioned whether I was good enough. Despite the imposter syndrome, I received a return offer for the following summer.

By fourth year, I had a lot of experience under my belt, and my confidence was building. I got a job as a teaching assistant for Career Fundamentals, with the same professor who’d inspired me to dream big two years earlier. I helped undergrads finesse their cover letters and resumés even as I was submitting applications of my own for work after graduation. I came across a posting for a summer internship at Google. I knew I had to take this chance to work at my dream company, even though I didn’t know if I was ready. In hindsight, after years of studying business and working in real companies, I had the skills I needed—and I already had my resumé and materials prepped. I applied immediately. 

I didn’t hear from Google right away, but I knew I had done everything I could to make myself a good candidate and now it was in the company’s hands. A month later, I received an email from Google asking me to schedule interviews in a few days. I felt confident about my interviewing skills because I’d been interviewing regularly for jobs, and had done several mock interviews at Sauder’s Business Career Centre, but I wanted to find out more about the recruiting process at Google. I reached out to peers who had gone to UBC and now worked at Google to see if they had any tips. The best advice I received was to record myself practising responses and to identify and fix my verbal tics.

The interviews went well, and Google offered me the job shortly after. During the internship, I worked with the Google Ads marketing team to increase Google Ads sales for new and existing clients. When I didn’t know something, I took the initiative to find answers myself and I approached junior employees before reaching out to my manager. I tried my best to get to know everyone on my team by meeting them for coffee, helping them with their projects and organizing social events.

When the summer internship ended in 2022, I received a full-time offer for a position as an associate product marketing manager. Now I’m a product marketing manager working on marketing for Google Ads, Google Canada’s social media handles and Google’s AI assistant, Gemini. I come up with strategies to market them and look at data to evaluate how campaigns are performing.

I’ve found mentors who have helped me handle imposter syndrome by sharing how they navigated various situations. Looking ahead, I’m focused on growing my skills in the marketing sphere. I’m particularly interested in the AI space, because there’s so much innovation there. I would love to manage a team one day. I hope to become the person others turn to, and to encourage students like me—who never thought they’d work at Google—to aim high and dream big.

This story appears in the 2026 edition of the Ultimate Guide to Canadian Universities. You can buy the issue for $19.99 here or on newsstands.