CREDIT: COURTESY OF LUIS GUERRERO
(From left) Vit Sochor, Liz Gray, Nikola Ledwonova, Jim Han, Luis Guerrero and Ben Cartmell visit Googleplex in San Francisco as part of their prize for winning Google's Online Marketing Challenge.

A team of Fanshawe grads was the regional winner Google’s Online Marketing Challenge (GOMC) and had the chance to visit Google’s headquarters in San Fancisco, California on October 3.

The School of Business graduates competed in the Challenge earlier this year, using Google’s AdWords platform to help local business Novack’s Uniform Solutions with its online marketing.

Team member Ben Cartmell said the experience meant a number of things to him.

“The biggest thing is the validating that what we learned and what we did was put to good use,” he said. “We really gained a legitimate skill.”

Cartmell was also particularly excited to see his foreign exchange classmates.

“I just assumed I would never see them again,” he said. “It [was] a great chance to be reunited with them.”

Cartmell’s teammate Luis Guerrero said the experience was a confidence booster.

“Knowing that we competed on a world scale, that’s going to give me a lot of confidence,” he said. “[It] really opens doors for career choices.”

Guerrero said one of the most eye-catching things at the Google campus were the employees themselves.

“They’re all on a higher level,” he said. “It’s not just that they hire the smartest of strictly IQ geniuses … Everybody’s pushing each other to do better.”

“That was something that was inspiring and eye-catching; how well everybody works together.”

He said he saw parallels between the way Google employees worked together and how his team functioned.

“We were asked to give a presentation on our experience,” Guerrero said. “We crammed and really tried to put this presentation together. While in the zone … Liz Gray our professor, she was just observing and she was like, ‘Now I know why this team work[ed] so well. And why you guys did so well.’”

“We knew how to work with each other … Google is very much like that as well.”

The future is bright for these students. Cartmell said that past winners of GOMC have gone on to work for the company.

“They really opened the doors to us,” he said. “[They said], ‘If you’re really interested, talk to us. Just get a hold of us, and we’ll do our best to give you the opportunity to work here.’”

An offer both Cartmell and Guerrero won’t refuse.

“[I realized] that it’s not at all beyond the scope to think that it’s possible that I could be working at Google in the next few years,” said Cartmell. “It really opens your eyes and there’s great opportunities that could be here.”

“It’s definitely one of those things we all felt like we want to go [for],” said Guerrero. “The fact that we have this on our resumes really increases our chances of getting hired at Google.”

These bright fellows now look forward to what the future holds.

“[I’m hopefully starting] my own business,” said Guerrero. “And seeing what else [I] can take from Google.”

“It’s nice to be back at work,” said Cartmell. “It helped light a fire … I don’t know if it’s a near future thing, but I definitely plan to float a resume over to Google in the next couple of years.”

Both grads had instructor Liz Gray to thank for the experience.

“She’s given us so much and was able to take this trip,” Cartmell said. “It was nice to be able to bring her along … Something she said to us multiple times was, ‘You guys made my dream come true to come here.’”