Working Girl

Last week I ended my one year streak without gainful employment.  As much as I love Booth I was definitely ready for the school year to be over (as evidenced by my inability to conjure even an ounce of "give a shit" for my ops class).  However, not wanting to be in school does not equate to wanting a job.  Anyone who knows me is well aware of my strong aversion to the actual process of going to work.  But on June 17 instead of hitting snooze three times, surfing the net for an hour, and grudgingly dragging my ass to an office 20 minutes late, I actually woke up before 6, went for a jog, and showed up 15 minutes early.  Why was I so eager?  One word: GOOGLE!


Last week I started my summer internship in Google's NYC office.  While I can't divulge too much about what I'm working on, I can say that I'm in the large customer sales division working on the automotive team.  As much as I wanted to get out of sales I do have to admit that this job is catering to my strengths and past experience.  It's been easy for me to make the connections between what I was doing in CPG and how Google does sales.  I think it helps that I'm working in a completely different industry (tech vs CPG) and focused on completely different products (cars vs. food).  This job doesn't feel like more of the same because it's exposing me to new go to market strategies.  Did you know that dealerships are independently owned entities that are not tied to the manufacturer?  In fact it's actually illegal for car companies to own dealerships.

While I am totally engaged in my assigned projects for the summer I am still very much so interested in nosing around to other parts of the organization, in particular Google.org.  However, I do realize that I need to make the role I was hired into my primary focus if I want to have any hope of navigating through the company.  And what a company it is!  Even though Google is a large company it doesn't feel like one.  There doesn't seem to be the engrained hierarchy that you see in other corporate environments.  But then again I wouldn't describe Google as corporate.  Even with thousands of employees across the globe the company has managed to maintain a lot of the feel of a start up.  Most of all, like I suspected, I feel very comfortable being me here.  I can say what I want, dress how I want, and be totally accepted.

And don't let me forget the perks!  Oh this place is perks central.  Yeah, there are discounts galore that can be used throughout the city on everything from clothing to fitness to the arts.  However, the perk to end all perks has got to be the free food.  I'm not talking free snacks in a break room.  We're talking numerous full service cafeterias that each serve a different menu everyday.  And this isn't just lunch.  It's breakfast, lunch, and dinner too!  That's on top of the kitchens stocked with fruit, yogurt, chips, and almost anything you can think of to meet your snacking needs.  I can't tell you how much money I save by not having to buy breakfast, lunch, and sometimes dinner 5 days a week.  Last week there was a guest chef in one of the cafeterias.  I cannot be held responsible for what I did to that plate of fried chicken.  It was so damn good!! In my defense, the other interns did it too!

Oh wow, look at the time.  It's past noon already.  Hmm...what cafeteria do I want to eat lunch in today?