My Brutally Honest Advice About Joining Google (after 9 years)
About this video
After nine years at Google and interviewing hundreds of non-technical applicants, Jeff Su offers six strategies. First, get a foot in the door through sales: by the time he left, Google’s global ratio of sales to marketing employees was 6:1, and in Greater China it was 15 sales openings for every one marketing opening, with broadly interchangeable junior skills. Target ad sales teams — account manager or account strategist roles in Large Customer Solutions (LCS) or Google Customer Solutions (GCS) — then transfer internally after a year or two, as he did via the APMM program two years after joining GCS. Second, join as a contractor: citing the New York Times, he notes Google had over 100,000 contractors versus over 180,000 full-time employees, with a lower interview bar and an inside track, though he says conversion is not guaranteed and his observed two-to-three-times higher success rate is anecdotal. Third, earn authentic referrals — he cites studies that referred candidates are three to four times more likely to be hired — by building real connections (his classmate Aash referred him) rather than asking in a first chat, since Googlers can check ‘I don’t know this person.’ Fourth, write resume bullets in Google’s XYZ format: accomplished X as measured by Y by doing Z. Fifth, interview like a consultant across general cognitive ability, role-related knowledge, leadership, and Googliness, starting with clarifying questions. Sixth, fresh graduates should not join Google straight out of college, because ‘Google babies’ can develop warped expectations and get too comfortable; his own first job in consulting built resilience.
Key takeaways
- Apply to sales to get in: Su cites a 6:1 global sales-to-marketing employee ratio (15:1 in Greater China) and targets LCS and GCS ad sales roles, then transfer internally.
- Consider contracting for a lower entry bar and inside track, but work hard and know conversion to full-time is not guaranteed.
- Earn referrals authentically over time — never ask in the first chat, because a referrer can check ‘I don’t know this person’ and kill the referral’s value.
- Write every resume bullet in XYZ format: accomplished X, as measured by Y, by doing Z, showing impact instead of listing tasks.
- For Google interviews across cognitive ability, role knowledge, leadership, and Googliness, ask clarifying questions first and think like a consultant; fresh graduates, he advises, should get experience elsewhere first.
Episode details: published July 29, 2025 · 10:36 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Jeff Su’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.
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