Insight needed: Mid-tier MC to Google Marketing/Sales

First time poster checking in.

I'm starting at a mid-tier global consulting firm next year in Sydney, Australia. Unlike what seems like the bulk of people going into consulting, my end-goal isn't PE/hedge funds etc. etc. Instead, I want to work in consulting for a few years and then move into the technology field, namely, Google. I don't have an engineering or marketing background but based on my research, I would really enjoy product marketing management and just general sales roles. Unfortunately, the Sydney office wasn't recruiting grads into anything other than engineering. Their Associate Product Marketing Manager program would've been amazing. Position descriptions for sales roles often mention consulting in the required experience section which is promising.

My question is, does anyone have any insight into setting yourself up for this sort of role from day one? Is it enough to have consulting experience or should I be somehow developing my marketing/technology skills outside of work? Will Google respond better to someone with a mid-tier consulting background than someone from Accenture/IBM/Deloitte who has a tech consulting background?

Can anyone who has made this shift, particularly in AsiaPac, share their experiences?

Thanks!

 
Best Response

I know of one person who was at a Tier 2 strategy firm (Deloitte, Booz, ATK, etc.) to Google marketing. Didn't stay too long. Also someone who went from an MBB to it and then went back to their respective MBB a year later.

Further still, a good friend of mine interned at Google Marketing/Sales, ditched it for an MBB for full time.

From my very limited knowledge, the no-brainer is to try to work on product management/marketing ideally within the tech space, but I don't think technology-oriented consulting a la Deloitte Tech or IBM would be a good idea. Mid tier consulting would be a much better bet in my opinion.

Beyond that though to add some anecdotes for color, the people I've spoken to who went to Google all gave somewhat negative reviews. Sorry to deliver news that might burst your bubbles, but they mentioned how they felt a bit second-class citizen in the firm for not being engineers. Mentioned things about how their role was limited without engineering backgrounds, wasn't as open/creative as they were let to believe, etc. Do your own research, but just food for thought.

 

Thanks for the responses Ampharos and Xepa. I completely understand that non-engineers are considered second-class, and have always suspected that - I try not to have rosy eyes when it comes to Google. What's important to me is being in a creative environment, even if my initial role isn't product-oriented.

Ampharos:
From my very limited knowledge, the no-brainer is to try to work on product management/marketing ideally within the tech space, but I don't think technology-oriented consulting a la Deloitte Tech or IBM would be a good idea. Mid tier consulting would be a much better bet in my opinion.

Product management require CS/SE backgrounds so product marketing management is my idealistic end goal. Those were my thoughts re technology consulting - I think strategy, despite not being technology oriented, will help me develop better skills around evaluating and understanding markets. I'm hoping that I get enough "client engagement" in my first few years in consulting to be able to back up saying I have astrong client focus blah blah.

Xepa:
2) My Google recruiter and PM contacts encouraged me to take my role at IBM for Strategy consulting as they hire IBMers to go into business roles at Google later on. It's a place where Google's better as a later-on job for business people, rather than entry level. Anyone who does the BOLD program will tell you that. Yes, Google does take a lot of MBB, but they like tech strategy consulting as well (first hand experience, I was in the recruiting process for Associate Strategy at Google but took IBM before my offer blew up).

That's a really interesting point. Looking at Google's Australian careers site, I can see that the majority of the roles advertised are for people with 3-5 years experience it seems so I begrudgingly accepted that I needed to get some experience first. So how's IBM strategy working out for you?

Xepa:
You wanna know some great places to work for? Square. Asana. Twilio (not Twitter). Now, if you don't know any of those companies, then you should probably re-consider the industry altogether and go to a more traditional place like Oracle or Samsung.

TBH, the technology opportunities in Australia seem to be mediocre at best. I know a few people working at Oracle and the work they do doesn't sound particularly interesting, at least to me. Then we've got Microsoft Australia who almost purely have a sales focus and are very inconsistent with their grad hiring. I don't know too much about Fujitsu, HP etc. in Australia. Looking at Accenture/IBM/Deloitte, they hire many tech/consulting grads but again, the work doesn't seem particularly special, especially compared to strategy.

But say I widen my gaze beyond just Google and look at product marketing management jobs in large technology companies - is it realistically enough for me to just go about my first few years in strategy when I don't have a marketing background?

Thanks a lot for the responses - they are much appreciated.

P.S: I think it's really interesting how different the perceptions of companies are over here compared to in the US. Here, working at a Big 4, although good, is not considered that big a deal (and the pay typically reflects that) - the majority of decent grads end up in a Big 4 Prof Services firm it seems. Deloitte's S&O, while respected, is hardly talked about alongside MBB and mid-tier, while IBM and Accenture are likened to sweatshops at times, reputed for having generally poor progression and workplace culture.

 

1) At Google, you are a second-class citizen if you're not an engineer. I literally know like 20+ people at Google and a lot of their recruiters. This is true.

2) My Google recruiter and PM contacts encouraged me to take my role at IBM for Strategy consulting as they hire IBMers to go into business roles at Google later on. It's a place where Google's better as a later-on job for business people, rather than entry level. Anyone who does the BOLD program will tell you that. Yes, Google does take a lot of MBB, but they like tech strategy consulting as well (first hand experience, I was in the recruiting process for Associate Strategy at Google but took IBM before my offer blew up).

3) Roles really depend. If you're in Agency relations in the NYC office, that can be cool. If you're a PM on one of Google's more exotic products, that can be cool too. However, there's not much choice (one of my HBS graduate friends got placed in Adwords and wasn't given an option for anything else; my software engineering friends don't even know what team they'll be on until near the start date).

4) IDK what the Google fetish is. Prestige wears off fast once you live the daily life of a second class citizen. Per Diem/Expense accounts in consulting > Google's free food. Every semi-major company in Silicon Valley has free food and the same "lifestyle." It's like, business people who don't really know the Tech industry just want to apply to Google. It won't make you happy long term.

You wanna know some great places to work for? Square. Asana. Twilio (not Twitter). Now, if you don't know any of those companies, then you should probably re-consider the industry altogether and go to a more traditional place like Oracle or Samsung.

 

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