Every Tuesday, the Career Center on the Sophia Antipolis campus hosts an event called “Career Tuesdays”. This week, our campus was fortunate to have a Skema Alumni, Ludovic de VALON, speak to the student body on his experience at Google. He has worked with Google for just over three years, but has served in his current position as Regional Client Lead for EMEA at the London office for over a year.
He spoke with the auditorium of around a couple hundred students via video chat for about 45 minutes before going into Q & A.
His presentation brushed over a quick history of Google, the company’s core vision and values, as well as its business model and how Google has been a trailblazer in the tech world. This included how Google transformed the world of email by introducing Gmail, or reinvented the web by the launch of Google Chrome in lieu of the slower and less user-friendly Internet Explorer.
A majority of the presentation, however, centered around the application process and standing out from the crowd to get a job at Google. Ludovic offered a lot of sound advice for the students. The first warning was to prepare oneself for the application process which is very long and grueling. In fact, all of the positions for the 2017 year are already filled! One must wait until September/October 2017 to apply for the 2018 application round.
After an application is considered, Ludovic suggested that one prepare for the online screening. This includes: background check, CV submission, motivation for applying, etc. Once that round is passed, one must conduct 3-4 business interviews either face to face or via video chat. Shortly after these interviews, a 30 minute comprehensive form explaining why they should hire you, why you fit, etc must be completed.
Ludovic said when he’s interviewing someone, he’s looking for someone who stands out from the crowd – candidates who really know what they’re looking for. He’s aware that there are some candidates who know nothing about the business nor what they bring to the table and solely apply to the position for the brand name. There are certain trigger questions he will ask to ensure the candidate thoroughly understands the industry and position they are applying for.
Ludovic’s main word of advice for graduates outside of the US was to be ready to move to Dublin because that’s where a majority of positions are available. The same goes for graduate jobs. Also, business students will more than likely be placed in a sales position. Other business opportunities include marketing, HR, legal department or operations and strategy.
There was a large amount of other knowledge and tips he shared but those were the main points. He was very charismatic and passionate about his job which really showed through to the students. Skema will be inviting him back at a later time, which he hopes will be in person instead of via video chat.
