Google Student Blog: My Journey With Google: Kalina

Student Blog

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My Journey With Google: Kalina

February 25, 2016

There are many ways to start your journey with Google. As a university student, two great ways are BOLD Immersion and AdCamp (apply by March 1st 2016!). Take a look at Kalina’s journey with Google.
My journey with Google started one late, summer night as I was randomly browsing for the meaning of life. Let me decipher that -- I was looking for ways to make practical sense of my degree in Technology and Innovation Management. Naturally, I ended up looking for opportunities on the Google Careers website and stumbled upon the BOLD Immersion Program. The good news: I loved the description; the bad news: the deadline was in two hours. Fortunately, I managed to submit my application just in time and I was accepted to participate in the program.

Some of the greatest moments during my BOLD Immersion experience were:

Learning about Google’s culture and business: The program fully immersed me into Google’s world famous culture and gave me the chance to learn what Google’s core business is all about. It also gave me the opportunity to witness the type of professional opportunities open to me as a young professional.

Exploring the art of pitching: We all had the chance to do a Sales Pitch simulation that involved a lot of creativity (some groups included audio visual and stage performance in their pitch, which I found later on as a full-time Googler is not the most effective way to pitch to clients).

Making friends!: I made many new close friends with university students from across Europe, The Middle East and Africa, whom I continue to stay in touch with today.

And the highlights continued even after the program ended…

Mentorship Participation: After flying home, I was assigned the ultimate Google mentor, Olga. I am very grateful for all the time she took to help me develop my skills and prepare me for the actual interview process. Her great advice helped me through the recruitment process and also gave me insights into the work of a salesperson, managing relationships and expectations in the workplace. This was an invaluable source of knowledge for me!

Then, in September 2014 I was converted from a ‘BOLDer’ to a ‘Noogler’. There were a lot of Nooglers who joined at the same time as me. We all went through an intense one-month training program prior to joining our teams.

Following the training, I launched my Google career as an Associate Account Strategist on the SMB (Small and Medium-sized Business) Sales team for the Bulgarian market. As part of my core role, I have organized three big educational client events in Bulgaria and five design thinking workshops. I have also trained another member of my team, who arrived in mid-2015. I’m excited to be working on the “The Startup Meetups” project, launched by Google for Entrepreneurs, with their branding and design. The mission of “The Startup Meetups” is to engage with and empower Irish entrepreneurs by offering 1:1 mentoring sessions with a Google product expert. It’s great being part of a project with such a positive impact, helping startup businesses grow.

Outside of work hours, there are also loads of social activities at Google. This year, I’m acting as the main female lead in the adaptation of “The Picture of Dorian Gray” by Oscar Wilde, hosted internally.