Part III of the Generation Google Scholarship Blog.
You can read about the first two phases of this scholarship here:
This is the third & final round of selection i.e you reach this phase only after you have cleared the first two phases. So, if you are here to prepare for this round, Congratulations to you already!! You are one of 0.001% (or even less) of people that get selected to interview with Google.
I too was selected. This, in fact, was my first interview ever. And in this blog, I aim at sharing my interview experience & various interview preparation tips with you.
About a month after the Google online challenge, I received a mail saying:
It was 00:15 and I was in a meeting, celebrating a virtual birthday when I got this mail. To date, I cannot explain the feeling of receiving it. I was on the seventh cloud that I had cleared the technical round & they liked my essays(*also clarified my doubt that real people get selected for such programs — not just some angels xD).
After all, it was from my inspiration, my dream — Google. It was time to gear up and prepare for the interview. With all the happiness of getting selected for the next round and no fear of getting rejected, I started preparing for the Conversation with a Googler, or as most of you would say, a Telephonic interview. But I’d prefer the fancy term, “Conversation” because the mail clearly specified that it will be
- 30 min-long conversation and not an interview
- To learn more about me, my interest in the scholarship, and my passion and goals
- Platform: Google meet
The main agenda of this interview is to know more about you and to verify that it's you who has written your essays. Here’s how you can go about it:
1. Know about yourself!
Now, to tell someone about yourself, you should be well versed with your beliefs in the first place. Brainstorming on some answers beforehand is better than thinking in the interview; not only saves time but prevents you from saying stupid things because of interview pressure. This also prepares you for unexpected questions.
Try answering questions like:
- What are you most passionate about?
- Who is your role model?
- How do you exhibit leadership skills?
- Why there is an imbalance in tech and why did you get into Computer Science?
- How is the whole pandemic situation treating me?
- Why this scholarship? How do you currently contribute?
2. Be well versed with your Resume
- Revise all your projects. Try defining:
- Situation, Task, Action & Result
- Which technology did you choose & why?
- Major challenges faced
Note: This is not a technical interview and technical details of your projects won’t be discussed in much detail.
2. Recollect your Outreach initiatives.
3. Elaborate on various Leadership roles mentioned on your resume.
3. Revise your essays
By the time you receive an initiation for this round, it has already been a month or two, so reignite the passion with which you wrote your essays. Since essays are a major part of your application, a lot of questions are based on your essays hence, this is a must!!
4. Try answering general questions or questions on social issues
- How important organizations and communities are if we are to remove gender disparity?
- How would you keep a women-in-tech organization afloat?
- What are the problems caused by technology in the world?
- How to empower women to fight for equal rights in and outside workplaces and how we could not please everybody?
- How do you encourage more women to participate and volunteer in the events?
5. Get in touch with past scholars and current selectees: learn about their experience!
- Read blogs: To learn about previous interview experiences. I don’t think this is cheating, it's just preparing.
- If it’s your first interview, this would help you understand the flow of such interviews.
- Gives you an idea of the number & type of questions asked:
This is how I got to know of an interesting question previously asked from many scholars- “What would you do if you were given 1 billion rupees right now?”
- Reading about various passionate stories gives you motivation & confidence to succeed.
- This also eliminates the fear of the unexpected as after reading some blogs, you would get an overall idea of the process.
2. Ask for tips
3. Learn about current selectees’ experience: Interview flow this year, tips, probable questions.
6. Read about the company & its values
This is an essential step for preparation.
Read about Google, qualities they look for while selecting a candidate, current state, future ventures, etc to show your interest in the company.
7. Mock Interviews
Try to arrange 1–2 mock interviews before the final one. Give them the above list of questions for context but also ask them to throw some unexpected questions at you. This would help you understand how you will react during the interview.
Note: In this online era, most of the interviews are virtual, so we have to prepare for a whole new war. Other than having an excellent internet connection, professional lighting, and an adequate mic, you should practice ‘looking’ into the camera during the interview (probably on the platform as you would use for the interview) for the best results!!
Tell me about yourself/Intro Tips:
- Basic Info- College, branch, primary language, etc.
- Hobbies/Interests
- Include future goals
- Might lead to follow-ups like- Tell a not-so-common fact about yourself, Strengths/Weaknesses
Prepare some follow-up questions: Always remember that “You are interviewing them as much as they are interviewing you”. Other than asking how your performance has been in the interview or feedback (which is not a good follow-up usually), you can ask questions that can strike a good conversation. Examples:
- a piece of advice for their college self
- motivation to join google
- the project they are currently associated with
PRO TIP: YOU DRIVE THE INTERVIEW!! The interviewer usually asks questions from ‘what you say’. So, don't say anything you won’t wanna discuss or you are unclear about.
My Interview Experience
The D-Day: Mixed feeling of excitement & nervousness. I was very excited to meet the Googler. I had prepared well and felt confident. With everything set, I entered the meeting before time & waited for the interviewer.
- It started off with a short introduction.
- The very first question I was asked was about an outreach initiative I had mentioned in my resume, followed by my passion & goals.
- I was then asked about my recent projects & the major challenges faced during it, team size.
- Leadership role in an unfamiliar group of people.
- Questions from my essay.
- Follow-ups for interviewer-one advice to your college self.
Verdict
After 2 weeks, I received the selection mail:
I was positive about it all the way long, and it turned out to be positive! After so many failures finally, the feeling that “I did it!! That this was my time”. I was so happy! And happier than I was my family and friends! After a long time in a while, my dad hugged me. I could see the pride and satisfaction shining through his eyes. I don’t think I’ll ever be able to forget that moment and it will be my motivation to work hard throughout my life.
I would like to sincerely thank God Almighty, all my dear friends, and family who helped me in every way possible to make this dream come true!
Conclusion
You are doing great, this is just the final stepstone towards your goal. I am sure you will nail it! And even if you don't, this isn’t the end, this is just the beginning of your career. Yes, having someone as prestigious as Google to believe in you & your work is great but your belief in you should be stronger than that.
All the best!! You got this!!!
Thank you for taking out the time to read this blog. I hope it helps.
If you have any doubts or queries, please feel free to ping me. I’d love to help you.
Live Session link(where I explained the entire process in detail): Click here.
Link to the Generation Google Scholarship Blog: Click here.
You can connect with me on LinkedIn or Twitter.
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