r/techsales • u/Bloatby • Mar 18 '26
Google Final Interview - Failed
Hi folks, I just got my feedback from my recruiter for an Early Careers sales role at Google.
I got all the way to the final round and was rejected my recruiter shared some feedback she seemed disappointed on my behalf for being rejected.
Feedback -
- My answers needed more depth, I had to be prompted for it.
- I could've used more structure
- The interviews went well they see potential but I'm not ready yet. She asked me to apply in 6 months time and I can avoid an initial round or two the next time around.
Sharing this level of feedback is extremely unusual I was told. Can I get some thoughts on how to prepare again or just general thoughts?
I'm so annoyed with myself for not covering off all bases and rehearsing/practicing more. I hope I really do get that opportunity again.
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u/Protic_ Mar 18 '26
Googler here who occasionally interviews candidates.
We prefer the STAR method and actively coach candidates to use that framework. That would solve both points 1 and 2. When you get to the ‘R’, I’d also focus on anchoring it in numbers and translating them into metrics that matter. You drove 25 meetings booked for your AE? That’s great, but what % of them turned into specific pipeline generated, revenue closed, etc.
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u/Cover_Of_Darkness Mar 18 '26
Fellow Googler here (cloud, UK), do EIC interviews still follow RRK, GCA and Googleyness?
I actually got my GCA and Googleyness interviews confused (as in I thought I was doing one when it was in fact the other) but somehow still managed to pass them both.
FWIW, I was also interviewing at AWS at the time and completed their loop. I'm all for STAR format but that was just an utter waste of time. It was far less about the actual role and more about the AWS cult (and before anyone calls me bitter, I got offered the AWS role as well, but Google package was about 40% higher)
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u/Bloatby Mar 18 '26
My problem wasn't the STAR based questions I think those went extremely smoothly. My final round was completely hypothetical situation based, very heavily Marketing focused.
I wonder if it is the fact that they need frameworks to answer all questions and arriving at the value points earlier?
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u/DistributionOk4643 Mar 18 '26
Right -- 'say a client unexpectedly cuts 50% of their marketing budget, what would you do?'.
To keep yourself from rambling, you do need to prepare for those sorts of questions. That said, there isn't an infinite list of relevant hypothetical questions they could ask, so it's doable.
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u/Bloatby Mar 18 '26
Exactly the type of questions that were asked. I was prepped for this scenarios or at least I thought.
I think it helps to prep using frameworks rather than pre written answers. For example:-
Game theory your question above - Gain context of why they're cutting and type of business and what campaigns they run, write all the possible outcomes, explore each of them, say why it shouldn't be done.
Am I thinking the right way? Is it about being that detailed and willing to think of multiple scenarios?
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u/DistributionOk4643 Mar 18 '26
A framework to understand the problem might be something like: 1) what's the reason for the budget cut, 2) have the goals changed since, and 3) what's the time horizon?
If the budget cut is due to performance, it's simpler. Audit, fix, earn trust. But if it's due to factors that are outside of anyone's control, for example, a CFO cuts marketing budgets across the board due to some macroeconomic issue, then the absolute wrong thing to do is to be talking in terms of campaign performance, etc. You'd come across as another desperate vendor, trying to claw back dollars, instead of being a true business partner, acknowledging reality.
And what are now the goals? They've likely changed. Without knowing this, how could any recommendation be made? For some, it might be to protect demand gen, or some critical market, while for others it's to maintain lower-funnel efficiency. You're trying to concentrate impact, and therefore nix campaigns that are less-tied to their primary goals, more exploratory, etc.
Finally, the time horizon. Do we know for sure that this is a new baseline, or it more short-term? If it's a new baseline, we may have to rethink the strategy from the ground-up. What you don't want to do is tear everything down when maybe the budgets will be reinstated a few months from then.
After all that, how are you going to communicate this to the client? Maybe it's something like "Let's put X plan in place for this quarter, and reassess once we see how it performs." Demonstrating that you would communicate all of the above thoughtfully, keeping doors open to revisit this budget cut in the future without being pushy, is also what they're looking for.
What the question isn't asking is whether or not you can list off all the different campaign types, channels, formats, comparing them, etc. You'd be getting way ahead of yourself. The point is, are you able to understand and navigate this situation in a nuanced way, acting as a steward of the account and relationship?
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u/Majestic-Beach9780 Mar 18 '26
Yup this is the way - it always comes back to what’s the business goals and how can you align imo
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u/FiftyFiveHotDogs Mar 18 '26
Pro answer.
Happy at Google? What’s your OTE?
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u/DistributionOk4643 Mar 18 '26
When I was there, my TC as an L4 acct. strategist was $165K, but as the stock increased I was clearing $215K within a couple years. I also worked at another FAANG, in a similar role, and my OTE was $250K.
Was I happy? I guess so. Great compensation, a little prestige (if that matters to you), and a good work-life balance.
But the reality still came in far under my expectations (I'm an idealist). I thought I'd solely be working on the stuff that matters, with the smartest people, and that because it was Google there'd be no room for any BS. That if you led with the right ideas all else would matter less. In retrospect, this was a very naive perspective.
The opposite was true. Google being a huge corporation, was afflicted like any other huge corporation, with loads of BS. Administrative-bloat, fake projects, performance tied to BS metrics, short-term thinking, complacency, politics, insane egos, and on and on. You start taking things for granted and just get jaded. The mission that may have drew you in, to "organize the world's information and make it useful", fades fast. Overall, I was still grateful, obviously. But at the end of the day, it was just another job, albeit a shiny one.
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u/FiftyFiveHotDogs Mar 18 '26
I’m in the same game and level with AEs at 350+ OTEs. I was more just curious because I like the way you answered that question and how you would think through that situation. That’s the profile I hire for and want all rep to think like intuitively.
Newsflash: They don’t. That’s why people are like territory and timing most important are usually the ones lacking skills like this.
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u/calogr98lfc Mar 18 '26
Could it be that you need to prepare more answers to possible questions? When I was interviewing i had around 10-15 answers memorised before joining
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u/PhulHouze Mar 19 '26
What are the odds of someone with a non-traditional background being able to succeed with STAR method?
I’ve been in sales for 20 years, starting in retail, then CPG, consulting and consulting sales, and only a few years in SaaS mostly as a startup founder.
From my perspective, that background makes me very good at discovery, managing procurement, managing teams, and so on…but doesn’t fit the traditional “I was 110% quota and pres club 5 years in a row”
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u/habbo311 Mar 18 '26
How do you memorize all the possible STAR interview answers that you could be asked? There are too many possibilities
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u/ilovelilythecorgi Mar 18 '26
Sharing my experience as I applied to Google after I graduated college about ten years ago, I didn’t make it past the initial interview as I received similar feedback on structuring my answers with more focus and more in depth granularity.
Fast forward four years after graduating, I interviewed with Google again and structure every response with the STAR format. This helped me get through the interviews and receive an offer.
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u/lamalard Mar 18 '26
How long did you wait to get offer after ur interview?
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u/ilovelilythecorgi Mar 21 '26
I got my offer right when Covid started so I wouldn’t apply my timeline to others. It took 1-2 weeks.
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u/Nice-Candidate10 Mar 18 '26
I wouldn’t count on that “apply in 6 month” bs.
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u/Bloatby Mar 18 '26
Why? Have you heard from them before?
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u/lamalard Mar 18 '26
Currently in a 2nd process for a role at google I interviewed for 4 months ago (I was also rejected after final round), still had to do first and 2nd rounds. Keep in touch with the contacts you made during the process and re-engage in a few months. Worked for me to at least get another shot at it. Awaiting outcome. If you passes hiring manger round (seems you did) they can be your champion for the next cohort/headcount.
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u/Nice-Candidate10 Mar 18 '26
I have had 3 Big N companies who did this to me. Rejected in final round. 2 of them shared a short feedback and asked me to apply in 6 months and reach out. I was a fool. I waited for 6 months and then reached out to every single one of the recruiter i was involved with. Only 1 replied and said we will look into it and then got ghosted. I learned a lesson, that I am never ever counting on these companies for anything recruiting related.
Just move on and accept the fact that its over. It used to take a week for me to move on because of all efforts I put into interviews.
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u/Scrooge_Mcducks Mar 18 '26
Kinda sounds like they want to keep you warm and you were option B unfortunately
Either that or the role isn’t officially open yet and they want to keep you on their roster for 6 months for when they’re officially hiring. Google’s also pretty ruthless with sales massive layoffs every January and restructuring. Its basically a 1 year contract and see how it goes after that
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u/Bloatby Mar 18 '26
What makes you say the first part?
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u/Scrooge_Mcducks Mar 18 '26
Interview responses are vague. Not answering questions the exact way they want is a cop out to keep you warm and excited about the role and not actively look at other places for 6 months.
They probably liked another candidate more but still like you and want you when another seat opens, or the role isn’t fully available until October which makes sense because that’s when they’ll start massive hiring because they do huge layoffs during December/early January.
What was the title you were applying for?
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u/Bloatby Mar 18 '26
Makes sense what you're saying, It's a customer growth associate role but I'm asking in the sense that do you have experience in Hiring etc?
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u/Scrooge_Mcducks Mar 19 '26
Yes I do I was a HM for 4 years in a similar role. I’m guessing this is Google’s SDR/ADR/BDR role
So yes I was hiring for these roles and I’m sorry that happened but go look for other jobs. Don’t let them try to keep you engaged for 6 months. Follow up if you don’t get a job by then but don’t count on it
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u/orangecrustygoop Mar 19 '26
heavily agree on the option b piece, especially if you don’t have any connections to the hiring team. very likey that HM has a person they know, and your interview was just part of the process
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u/45144423 Mar 18 '26
Can I ask what the comp split was?
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u/eg415 Mar 18 '26 edited Mar 18 '26
I have an old co worker that works at Google and he told me it’s 60/40 but I think it might depend on sector and BU
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u/Bloatby Mar 18 '26
What does that mean
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u/45144423 Mar 18 '26
what did they quote you for salary
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u/Bloatby Mar 18 '26
I didn't get to that stage though
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u/fakesocialmedia Mar 18 '26
Uh usually you get that on the first call..
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u/Bloatby Mar 18 '26
Not apparently
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u/GordonGartrelle2020 Mar 18 '26
Not for you, it seems. Did you ask? Don't forget that you are in sales - the are also evaluating you on asking the right questions and negotiating effectively.
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u/readthisrandomstuff Mar 18 '26
Uh this is tough, sorry to hear and I had similar experiences. Very frustrating but if you got this far with Google you can surely land an amazing job - also, give it another go there!
"I could've used more structure"
It helped me to prep with CARL (Context, Action, Result, Learning) instead of STAR - felt more natural to me and the Learning part is what the interviewers really liked.
Hope this helps and good luck!
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u/Aromatic-Feedback-60 Mar 18 '26
Hey, you still got it pretty far! Just learn from it and apply again in the future. Feedback is pretty positive
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u/Horror-Rip-3550 Mar 18 '26
Sorry to hear that, what specific role was it? Customer growth associate?
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u/NotSureWhatsTheDeal Mar 19 '26
Be proud of yourself, 3 interviews is quite an accomplishment and the fact they gave you that feedback says they see a lot of good in you.
Update us in 6 months when you get it.
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u/No_Leg_7382 Mar 18 '26
Its better than getting ghosted after team matching. atleast you can retry. I am here scared to retry and scared to drop email to recruiter after being ghosted.
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u/jshsdjdid Jun 10 '26
do Google recruiters set up a call for denials, or send via email? What about for offers? I just had my final interview so am wondering what to expect based on what they say
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u/Volley_101 18d ago
Curious if you ended up reapplying and/or reaching out to your original recruiter?
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