The Google “HangOutreach” brought ambassadors from the tech giant onto campus to tell students what their company looks for in prospective hires.
The event, whose name was a play on the “Google Hangouts” video conferencing platform, was held on Wednesday in Lecture Hall 14.
It was coordinated by Binghamton University’s Google student ambassador Stephanie Izquieta, a senior majoring in philosophy, politics and law. Izquieta got involved with Google because of its opportunities for employment, and said she wants to share those with others, hoping the event would help at least one attendee get a chance to work with Google or a similar company.
“Our job is to connect students to the internships and job opportunities that are available,” Izquieta said. “And let them know that these are the things out there for them.”
Google employees Andrew Gallatin, a software engineer, and Maggie Hohlfeld, a university programs coordinator, gave a talk via video conference called “Laying the Groundwork for Technical Careers.” Discussions included the steps prospective employees of Google and other tech companies should be aware of.
Gallatin described different methods of impressing potential employers, stressing the importance of getting involved in programming inside and outside of the classroom.
“It’s really important to be involved in computer science clubs, to do hackathons and other coding competitions,” Gallatin said.
The representatives also went over the prospects of an internship at Google, which Gallatin said is an opportunity to expand both educationally and hone networking skills.
“It’s not all just sitting at a computer coding, it’s a lot of meetings and interactions with people,” Gallatin said.
Students like Mike Angiuli, a senior double-majoring in mathematics and Italian, said the event gave him the tools to pursue a career in the field.
But though Angiuli said the event was informative, he found it lacking a personal touch.
“I thought it would be someone talking to us and not a conference call,” Angiuli said. “But I liked it; we were able to see the PowerPoint while someone could talk about it.”
Jenny Fu, a senior majoring in information systems, agreed, saying she learned from the lessons presented but didn’t like the format.
“It’s a lot better if it’s in person because you can actually go up to them afterwards,” Fu said. “But since Google doesn’t recruit on campus, something is better than nothing and this is a really good start.”