Walking into the Chicago branch of Google’s corporate headquarters is like walking into the Google homepage, but instead of a blank white screen, concrete walls and pillars frame a fluorescently-lit model of the iconic tetrachrome logo. As part of Living and Working in Chicago, 11 Hillsdale students found themselves on the other side.
The visit was a part of Living and Working in Chicago, a two-day experience organized by career services that provides students with alumni networking opportunities, job shadowing, and a chance to spend fall break touring the Windy City.
Career services has been connecting students with alumni and businesses in Chicago for more than eight years, but, this was the first time the agenda included meeting Google’s head of home services.
John Farrar ’98 is in his second year as head of home services for Google. He was recruited by the technological giant when he was working on a mergers and acquisitions team at Valassis Communications and one of his clients referred Farrar’s name to Google.
As head of home services for the U.S., Farrar leads teams in Chicago and New York which manage Google’s largest performance advertisers.
“In performance advertising, the company wants you to take action immediately,” Farrar said. “For example if you’re in the market to buy home security online, ADT, one of our clients, wants you to buy their products online in your first search. My job is more about creating a linear action between advertising and commerce and making it easier for you to buy right away.”
After graduating with a marketing major and Spanish minor from Hillsdale, Farrar says his appreciation of his Hillsdale education continues to grow.
“I’m a huge fan of our education, mostly because a liberal arts education gives us a well-rounded perspective,” Farrar said. “There is a point of diminishing returns on going too deep in undergrad without being exposed to the actual practice of the profession, but I’d rather have exposure to a vast amount of subjects and go deeper from there.”
Although he has always counted reading both volumes of Alexis De Tocqueville’s “Democracy in America” as a personal achievement, Farrar has been surprised at how frequently De Tocqueville arises in business situations.
“Another valuable skill that Hillsdale grads pick up as result of a liberal arts background is learning to write well,” Farrar said. “I just got married in July and six of my eight groomsmen were classmates from Hillsdale. Pretty much every one of those guys can write really well. We all had to go through it.”
Farrar also credits Director of Career Services Joanna Wiseley for helping land his first job as a customer business manager at General Mills.
Farrar’s career trajectory isn’t surprising to Wiseley, who said she was impressed by his confidence and determination as an undergraduate student.
“John was very proactive and made use of the resources career services had to offer and went to all of our events,” Wiseley said. “I didn’t go to John with a job opportunity, he was always looking for jobs. He was also really good about closing the deal in an interview, telling his interviewer that he would be an asset to the company.”
Meeting Farrar and touring the Google headquarters was a surreal experience, said senior Kayla Stetzel.
“Getting inside one of the largest tech industries and seeing the coworker dynamics was very informative,” Stetzel said. “There was a lot of open space, smart-looking people casually dressed, and quite a few dogs as it is a dog-friendly company. The company culture and work environment felt almost like a playground to keep people thinking in creative and unconventional ways.”
Senior Will Crockett said his favorite part of the day at Google was speaking with a new member of Farrar’s team who was only a few years out from college.
“I got to talk to him about what it’s like starting out and he was very encouraging. It’s nice to see what people a few steps ahead of you are doing. Also, I ate one of the most delicious lunches I’ve ever had,” Crockett said of his meal from Google’s complimentary cafeteria.
The group of Hillsdale students sat down with Farrar and his team, asking questions from ‘What is working at Google like?’ to ‘What was the dumbest thing you ever did in an interview?’
Speaking to the best career advice he’s received, Farrar said he recommends Hillsdale students maximize their current responsibilities rather than tailoring their experiences to future employers.
“Don’t focus so much on what’s on your resume or what it will it be,” Farrar said. “If you’re very passionate about what you’re doing, people will come to you. Also, if you got an itch, then definitely scratch it. At least you can say you’ve tried it. You don’t want to get to be 40 and not try something that you’d expected you might want to experience.”
