Receipts Required: The Promotion That Almost Never Was
Reflections on my first promotion at Google
I recently connected with a fellow ex Googler /now Facebook employee on performance evaluation and career advancement as well as different approaches various companies take with these two areas of employee management. After the conversation, I found myself reflecting on my first promotion at Google and how it can be a learning experience for others.
Joining Google was the start of my career in technology. At the time I wasn’t particularly looking to transition into tech, but I did want to join an innovative company that could expand my skillset beyond analytics. The year was 2011, and my best friend realized that Google was planning to hire over 10,000 employees that year. She recommended that I apply, but I was a little hesitant since I had interviewed with Google the previous year, making it the final round, but ultimately being rejected. In the end, I took her advice and sent in my application.
Ultimately, I received an offer as a strategist within the global sales organization and made the cross-country journey from New York City to Oakland. I spent my first 6 months on the Google Analytics (GA) product rotation, leaning into my analytics background. I helped small and medium business (SMB) advertisers with understanding GA reporting, implementing custom URLs and event link tracking, and quite often, partnering with them to troubleshoot HTML on their sites. Did I mention that I was in the sales organization? So yes, I was still responsible for driving product adoption for features like sitelinks and video ads as well as consulting SMBs on increasing ad spend and optimizing for ad quality. Imagine the skill that’s needed to go from troubleshooting HTML to pitching sitelinks with a business owner who, at the end of day, just wants to run her business.
I was average at best.
I transitioned to the Payments product rotation, and this is where I started to shine. Payments on AdWords was “easy”. I quickly mastered it and expanded my scope to cross-functional projects with the AdWords payments product team, selection by Learning and Development to be one of three trainers responsible for onboarding of all new hires, taking over management of the mini MBA program, and moving into associate rotation lead and rotation lead for my 22-person rotation. What was the impact? A few highlights include:
· Provided the initial business case for a new billing experience (which I ultimately led the launch of less than a year later when I transitioned into product marketing —$XXXMM incremental revenue)
· Piloted and launched a new onboarding training experience that resulted in higher product adoption (+20%) and higher customer satisfaction (+15%) for new employees AND worked with L&D to scale it to our APAC and LATAM teams
· Expanded the Mini MBA program from 2 to 4 offices, increased the number participants by 22%, and added 2 additional courses
· Transitioned the payments product rotation to focus on driving business metrics as well as built relationships with teams outside of our organization in order to assist rotation members with driving projects related to invoicing, incentives, and more
Killing it? Making impact? Promotion is next!
“You get in life what you have the courage to ask for.” — Oprah Winfrey
I thought I knew everything I needed to know about promotion. I knew what metrics mattered, I knew the type of impact that mattered, I knew the typical timeline for promotion within my org, I knew that I needed to communicate my impact and, most importantly, I knew that I needed to have a conversation about promotion with my manager. I had delivered across all of those except have the promotion conversation with my manager (which was coming). I would find out soon that what I thought I knew wasn’t enough.
Me: Are you putting me up for promotion this cycle?
Manager: No.
During a one on one, I asked my manager if she was putting me up for promotion that cycle with the expectation that we the remainder of the meeting would focus on what I needed to provide for my promotion packet. I was immediately surprised and frustrated with her response. After a moment of silence, I started rambling on and on about all the impact I’ve had with the team and ended with, “I’m strongly requesting that you reconsider, and I’ll grab time with you later this week to discuss.” In between the first and the second meeting, I created a google doc highlighting all of my accomplishments with a level of detail I had never done before. It included every project, every person I had worked with, all of my metrics with improvement over time, quotes from every past performance review, quotes from positive emails, and more dating back to my first quarter at Google. I could have created a documentary titled, “Anndrea’s First Few Years at Google” with the level of information that I provided.
She cancels the meeting, and I head to Vegas.
That’s right. The second meeting was canceled, and I headed to Vegas for the global sales conference. You can imagine my frustration and anxiety. This only increased after pings and emails went unanswered. On my second day in Vegas, as I worked away in our war room, I receive a ping from my manager saying that she would recommend me for promotion.
A few months later, it’s official — I was PROMOTED!
I do not know if I was promoted because of the of the mini book I created or because some members of the team decided to switch roles or leave the company or if advocates on the management team spoke to my level of impact within the broader organization. I DO know my manager had no intentions of promoting me, and that it only happened because I initiated the conversation.
My biggest mistake was not having the promotion conversation early and often.
I hope this serves as a reminder to have performance AND promotion conversations earlier and more often than you think. Check out the following articles for tips on how to prepare as well as how to structure the conversations.
How to Ask for a Promotion — The Muse
6 Ways to Prepare for Promotion — The Muse
Quick Promotion Tips — LiveCareer
Having the Here’s-What-I-Want Conversation — Harvard Business Review
