Story time: How I landed a job at Google

Truth is, I say ‘landed’ like I did anything extra, when all I did was apply and God literally did the rest. Also, I struggled a little with putting this up on my blog because of what people might think, but I thought to myself ‘What if I can inspire someone?’, ‘Haters will say it’s tooting my horn but that’s okay cos haters gon’ hate anyway’, ‘What if I had made it to CNN, would it have been a secret then?’, ‘It’s on my LinkedIn profile, so how much of a secret can it really be?’. And with all that, I said ‘Whatever! Just like everything else I do with my blog, if the story inspires just one person, then I’m fulfilled’. This is going to be a long post and it still would not be enough to tell the story in totality, but I will do my best to summarize. That being said, grab your popcorn and let’s get right to it!

Hi guys!!! Happy 2018!!! I know, I know; I’ve been away since September. Some of you reached out to ask what was going on and when I would put up a post. The truth is that I was on a job-hunt towards the end of the year and I wanted to concentrate on that as much as possible. 

If you didn’t know me before reading this post, I graduated from Covenant University with a B.Sc. in Microbiology in 2012 and in 2014, I moved to the US to pursue a master’s degree in Public Health (Environmental and Occupational Health). I graduated from Texas A&M in 2016 and I’ve been living and working in the US ever since. 

Being an international student anywhere that is not home is hard! A lot of folks back home do not understand the struggle because they feel we are somehow in a ‘better’ situation, but if only they know. I came to the US with no money for tuition; just short-term scholarships, a super supportive family, and a lot of faith! I just knew I wanted to further my education in the US! Somehow, God saw me through school here in the US and I really can’t explain it. All I know is that during those 2 years, I received more scholarships by just sheer favor, nothing more, and I mean absolutely nothing more. These scholarships were able to supplement the help from my family as well. You can imagine how much my faith increased. I began to understand what it meant to COMPLETELY and UTTERLY trust God in the midst of absolutely NOTHING. Like, being in a desert and TRUSTING, not just knowing, that you won’t die of thirst cos God gatchu!

To the Google story. Sometime in August, a friend and former classmate at A&M so kindly referred me to a recruiter for an EHS (Environmental Health and Safety) job. Note that I didn’t have to apply for it. Before that, because I loved the people I worked with so much, I  had planned that I would begin my job search in December 2017, even though I needed a new job like yesterday. Anyway, I got referred for this job, I went through the recruitment process and I was offered the job! Thank God, right? I tell you my dear friends that my situation was telling me to take that job and stop being an ungrateful village girl from Asaba, while gut could not find peace in the location of this job. I knew I wanted a job but I also needed a life ad needed to be in a city/town that I’d enjoy living in. My family even took polls on if to take the job! It was that deep. So, like you guessed, I took the job, but yaaay with a very sad face! So, the day I was going to resign, my brother and brother-in-law called me and advised against moving forward. Chineke!* What kind of dilemma is this one? Long story short, it took me another one week to rescind my acceptance, and trust me, it wasn’t a pleasant feeling. I was miserable! I felt like I had let down the people who took their time to interview me and I was such a bad person for declining such a sought-after opportunity, especially as a foreigner in this tough country in terms of its immigration laws! But in all, I was very relieved that I didn’t go ahead with something I was not too excited about. At that point, as cliche as it might sound, I surrendered to God and asked Him to take care of everything. I was very desperate for a breakthrough because I felt I was just drifting and life was passing me by. So, I decided to take a vacation to breathe because you only live once,  right? I can't come and go and kill myself...LOL!

So, upon my return, I began applying to jobs every morning before starting the work for the day. In a day, I would submit at least 10 applications. My brother was so helpful and encouraging. He would check on me literally every day to ask how the job search was going. One morning, I saw a job posting for an Environmental Health and Safety Specialist position at Google, and I remember my reaction being, ‘Hmm, I’ll just try. At least, my resume would be in their database’. I remember laughing at myself for being so bold, as I hit ‘submit’. I applied and literally forgot about it because in my mind, it wasn't even possible so why get worked up? A week and a half later, my friend and I had just left a shop and were driving home. I glanced at my phone when we hit a red light and I saw an email notification that read ‘Google - requesting….’. For some reason, I thought it was google maps asking for a review of the shop we had just left. So, I ignored it. When we got home, I took a closer look and almost passed out!!! 😱 Wait, what?! Google?! Requesting an interview from me? How? Why? Are they sure? Is it a mistake? I was officially mind-blown! In fact, I didn't respond to that email until the next day, just to give it time to disappear if it needed to - you know? Being a nice girl and all? See, people RARELY get invited to interview with Google by just applying online; you have to have been referred! And even at that, we all - both online and referral, have a 0.2% chance of getting hired! I called all my family members and told them to start the prayer and fasting, sharp sharp! 😂

Long story short, exactly 2 months after I hit ‘submit’, I was offered a job at Google! God literally took control of the entire situation and gave me rest! From all this, I learned to trust my gut and follow my heart. That unrest you feel is probably God trying to point you in the right direction. I thought to share this story with you to encourage you. If you are an international student, or any student, or anyone for that matter, hustling and trying to make ends meet, keep pushing. The God that you serve that has brought you to where you are is not asleep. He sees all and knows all and He is working something out for you. Just wait on Him. Trust and believe, people! Trust and believe! 🙏

That’s my story! I hope you got something out of it. Thanks for sticking around and I will see you in my next post.

*Chineke means God in Nigerian Igbo language.