I bombed my first interview at Google so badly that it took 3 years to get another one. Here’s what I learned.

Throughout university, Google was always my dream job. I watched “The Internship” and dreamt of the day that I would get to work there.

Eventually, after a few years, I made my way in and landed a role at Google as a global product lead. Prior to that, I was at Meta as the business operations and planning lead for North America. Now I’ve left Big Tech to build multiple businesses, including one that is doing seven figures a year, and invest in over 20 companies.

None of that was a straight line. The first time I interviewed at Google, I was one of three finalists after a 12-month process, but I walked out knowing I had lost the moment I opened my mouth.

I bombed the final round so badly that it took three years before I interviewed there again. Here’s what happened, and the four lessons I’ve carried into every interview and career decision since.

I interviewed for a sales account manager role on Google’s ad team

I had never interviewed at a Big Tech company…