Edit: I'm sorry, guys, I'm giving up, I can't cope with this again. Thanks for trying tldr: Someone on a recruiter-level hiring committee tagged my account with something (in secret) that prevents me from being hired indefinitely. No one will discuss it with me (or even acknowledge the ban's existence), and I believe the reasons for the ban to be unfounded. [It's worth pointing out that it would be trivial to work out who I am, and I made it no secret who I am. If anyone messages me, I'd be happy to give direct links etc, I think its just cleaner if this thread isn't being indexed against my name.] So, this might be a long one. ------------------- BACKGROUND Earlier in my career, I interned at Google, did work they were extremely happy with, saved them $x million/year in a $billion subsidiary etc, and always thought I'd end up long-term at Google. I left with multiple full-time hire recommendations on my profile. I then went to a top business school, and while I was there, I ended up stumbling into a large fraud within the school's financial aid system. We're talking half a billion dollars in liability due to decades of internal and external fraud. It was bad. ------------------- WHAT I DID I tried to work with the staff members involved to resolve any issues that might exist, but was being lied to, challenged to prove wrongdoing and otherwise threatened. I wasn't sure who knew what within the administration, so I wrote up what I had found in a report. It was a purely scientific paper with no emotion or rhetoric and only followed the data science. I really, really had no agenda. It included what I had found, how it was different than what the school was saying publically (/illegal), the implications of the findings and how the school could start reversing out of the situation it found itself in. That section included legitimate legal strategies on how to avoid getting sued into oblivion, how to manage the internal and external communications, as well as the blueprints for a brand new, market-leading financial aid system. The report was really written _for_ the school and was not an attack. [Its worth pointing out that the school actioned nearly every one of my strategies, and eventually adopted my financial aid system with great success. They were very, very happy with the outcome, just not that the bad stuff was found out.] ------------------- WHAT HAPPENED AFTER THE REPORT Long-er story short, I handed in the report to the Dean, repeatedly met with him and senior staff and walked them through the process. I wanted nothing, I asked for nothing, and I made it very clear we were on the same team. Anything they wanted help with, I was there working overnight while trying to survive in an MBA program. A few weeks into this process, the Dean suddenly cut off contact with me, and decided to make the whole ordeal public, against my advice and that of his staff. He refused to liase with the university's legal department beforehand, and instead blew the story themselves. To both the internal and external communities, the school sold it that I had essentially attacked them with this, and that I was the one which made it public. All I did was hand in a report to my boss, after dedicating 1,000's of hours to covering their asses. In return, they essentially put out a burn notice on me. What was worse was after this initial PR, the school flatly refused to interact with the press. 100's of articles containing varying levels of guesswork and in some cases Buzzfeed levels of integrity started sprouting it, and it was left to me to request corrections to curtail sensationalism. I did my best to reduce the impact on the school as best they could, but I was just one, very depressed person trying my best to help everyone. ------------------- WHAT HAPPENED WITH GOOGLE [PM HIRING] I found recruiting very difficult out of school, despite being at the top school because my profile was of a specialist generalist. I'd been a founder, consultant for top execs (on my own), been an expert in the early days of Bitcoin etc, but didn't fit the mold of any one job. Being international and graduating into a Trump administration didn't exactly help, more so because the school had no idea how to react to the constriction of jobs and help international students. 6 months after graduation, after having about 10 referrals on my account from Googlers, I finally got into the pipeline for MBA PM. At last! I passed the recruiter screening and was sent for the first interview. I was kind of surprised it went so well that the (quite senior) interviewer waived a lot of the questions and wished me luck in the next round. I was in the hospital about a week later when I got a call from the recruiter telling me that they had declined to proceed with my application. I was devastated, confused, and tried my best to convince her to give me another chance. She declined and said there was nothing she could do, but that she and her team [Austin, TX] had decided I wasn't a good fit. I had provided 19 references at Google including 15 PMs who could vouch for me, but none of the references were pulled. I had emailed my interviewer following up on some points we'd discussed, and thanked him for his time even though I wasn't to proceed. He replied with "Hey, that's surprising to hear given my feedback. Did you have another interview before or after mine? Just reached out to the recruiter...". The only way I can interpret this is that he passed me through that interview, but was rejected by the recruiters themselves - something which isn't really meant to happen at this stage. A few friends at Google tried to enquire as they were equally surprised, but each time were told different reasons. I wasn't technical enough (??? bachelors and masters in engineering), I didn't have enough tech experience (??? I had 6-8 years in the tech industry) or not enough pm experience (??? I never had the title of PM, but had led product development and strategy for product lines in the $100's of millions). In any case, plenty of my non-engineering classmates had been hired with zero PM or even tech experience, so it didn't add up. Overall, I was told that I couldn't go into PM, but that I should look for other roles within the company and that's exactly what I did. ------------------- GETTING BANNED AT GOOGLE I spent the next 4-6 months networking heavily for strategy, ops, entrepreneurship roles within the company, but something very strange kept happening. I'd convince a hiring manager directly to consider me, and they'd send me to recruiting to arrange an interview. But I'd neither hear from recruiting again, nor that hiring manager. I would usually get entirely ghosted. This happened 9 or 10 times in a row, including by hiring managers who had reached out to me offering positions! Similarly with recruiters, I'd get a warm reception but then get the same cold, copy-pasted message that 'there are no opportunities that fit your profile' once they looked me up internally. Eventually, I found out why. One hiring manager I guess felt enough pity on me to tell me that they had 'tried to get [me] an interview, but there was something you were involved with [which made it impossible]'. Oh. I'm actually banned from Google. What was frustrating about the situation is that no one ever told me this. They said to "apply for PM again in 12 months", and to "look for other roles" in the meantime. I wasted so much time following their advice. What they really meant was "a few people who have never met you, talked to you or know anything about you, Googled your name and determined that you are not fit to work at our company, and have put you on a secret no-fly list indefinitely." ------------------- WHY WAS I BANNED? While no one will confirm it, and we can only conjecture, it seems pretty clear I was banned for being involved with the financial aid report at my school. I can understand the perspective that Google faces a lot of issues with internal activism, but in my case I really, really did nothing of the sort. I was obliged by the school's code of conduct to report what I had found, as well as legally (as it was attached to a significant data exposure I discovered). I tried to report it internally to members of staff [who would be akin to my boss], but was chased off. As a result, I handed in an internal report to the Dean [essentially my boss' boss] and left it at that. Instead, I've been branded as a 'whistleblower' and 'troublemaker' and put on a no-fly list. ------------------- WHY DO I CARE? The sad thing is, I still want to go back to Google. It feels like an abusive relationship, but at the same time, I know Google is bigger than a hiring team in Austin. I know there is a corner for me where I can start my career, grow and thrive. I know I can do good for the company - I just want the chance to show it. I'm not asking for special treatment, in fact, quite the opposite; I just want to be treated like anyone else. I want the opportunity to fail on my own merit, not because of a TMZ article. To those recruiters, I was just one of 1,000's of candidates, but this is my life. I know a lot of you (or the few who might actually read this far during the holidays) might say I should go to other companies, but its not that simple for me. My background combined with international status and the financial aid stuff makes it very, very difficult to find positions and I'm limited to a handful of companies who will sponsor. [On that note, I was cleared by the big companies for O1]. I applied for 2,340 roles at 1133 companies over 18 months, and came up short. Some companies would be honest and say they 'couldn't take the risk of upsetting [my school]' by hiring me, but the vast majority were straight rejections. I'm stuck in limbo between business school and the real world, waiting for my life to begin. ------------------- CAN ANYONE HELP? :( In summary (thanks for sticking with me), I just want a fresh start. If nothing else, I want to be able to give my side of the story vs what is read from the press and be given a fair shot. I know the world isn't fair, but we can only dream, right? If there is anyone within HR, recruiting or is seniorish to help me in any way, please send me a message and I will be happy to give you any details you require. I'm sorry to be a downer, but happy holidays, everyone.
go to the facebook
@TrueCar I would if they'd have me, but it doesn't seem like they're interested.
“I applied for 2,340 roles at 1133 companies over 18 months, and came up short. Some companies would be honest and say they 'couldn't take the risk of upsetting [my school]' by hiring me, but the vast majority were straight rejections. I'm stuck in limbo between business school and the real world, waiting for my life to begin.” If you haven’t landed any good offers, why hold out for Google? It’ll be the hardest one to land.
Edit: The question changed. New answer: I feel like I've tried everything else I can think of, and I'm really grasping for straws because it _feels_ like that's all I have left. I mentioned toward the end that this is a dream, and I consider it at that level of unliklihood. Google is one way out of my situation, and I truely believe I can/could get back in the company if I otherwise wasn't being blocked from hiring. Or maybe not, but at least I'd have tried. I am trying, I guess that's all I can do at this point. [Old answer: @Credit Karma. None of them were pulled, but I had so many referrals on file because Google had ignored me for over a year. My applications would just be ignored and eventually time out, including for MBA internships and initial full-time hiring. It really took an army to get them to consider me, and for that I am thankful.]
Sorry I edited my post to attack a different angle. My new question is there.
Change your identity
@WeWork, I wish, but no matter my name, as a hiring manager you would 95% be able to work it out from my history anyway. I have a very unique profile and the story of my work is relatively well-known, unfortunately. [I know that sounds a bigheaded - and I hate it - but the community of MBA schools/MBA hiring companies etc is only so large, and there were >100 articles about me and my work].
Most hiring managers aren't going to do that level of research lol
I’ve read your story . One honest question... if google has problem with your past, so should other employers. Are you employed currently ? If yes, build your career with them. In US, there are cases where people had to ask for legal help for their name being tarnished unnecessarily or they were assumed to be someone else.
Hi @medtronic, thanks for reading my story. I truely appreciate the time and you sharing your thoughts. I am very much underemployed, being paid <minimum wage in a role which I think will end in a few months. There isn't a future for me here. I really don't mind grinding to build my career again, but I'm stuck in a position between being too senior for undergrad roles (+ visa issues there) but not senior/there are cleaner profiles for MBA level roles. Its just a mess, I really messed this up. I tried recruiting back into my home country but they don't really value MBAs in the same way (it'd just be me -1-2 years of experience behind compared to my peers) and I'd be unable to keep my head above water given my debt level. I'm going to talk about the legal aspects in more detail in another comment, but the tldr seems to be if I _do_ go down the legal route, then it just validates everyone's concerns that I am a threat. My career, or chance at one, would forever be over. It seems to be a catch 22 that I can't understand a way to wrangle out of.
Please look up defamation or reputation lawyer, not a legal advice
Why not post this to Medium?
@Pinterest Part of me wants to say fuck it, fuck Google, fuck my school, fuck everything, I'll declare bankruptcy and go live in the woods somewhere etc, etc. But at the same time, I understand that the few people I interacted with don't necessarily represent those of the 115,000. My aim is not to burn Google, or my school, or anyone else involved, especially because it is a catch 22. If I burn Google or my school properly, I'm a trouble maker and someone who should be avoided. If I don't, then I'm already known and considered a troublemaker. I don't know if there's a way out of this, but it seems like a lose-lose for me.
That’s completely reasonable and I’m sorry you’re caught between a rock and a hard place. I do think that you can reinvent yourself, but it doesn’t have to be at Google. Have you tried other large tech companies like Salesforce? I heard they compensate very well and offer similar benefits.
Not to be rude, but I think I know what’s happening to you and I’ll explain with a hypothetical scenario below. Let’s pretend I run a company and you are applying, the only way I’d hire you is if you demonstrated a few key things: Your tech skills are strong. You understood how your reactions to the situation (writing that paper) led to the bad outcome. You’ve developed the self awareness to avoid this kind of problem in the future. And then I’d see all the other qualified candidates who wouldn’t worry me and I’d hire one of them instead. This is probably what’s happening in your case from the perspective of the people who have to judge if hiring you is a good idea.
@Google_Ax, thanks for sticking with me. I'm not sure if I conveyed it strong enough, but I _totally_ understand the situation from Google's perspective. 100%. Even if I was a strong candidate, there are another 100 nearly identical who doesn't come with the same baggage. I guess my disagreement with the company's reaction is that a recruiting team has seemingly blanket banned me rather than leaving it to hiring managers/hiring committee (who would get a more holistic viewpoint vs a cursory google search) to decide for themselves.
So much to say. But honestly, you sound like those sjw who once in, would try to do the same bs, bite the hand that feeds you. I wouldn’t take the risk.
@Oracle. I appreciate the honesty and I would love to dig into this more. What is it about the story that tends towards sjw'y-ness for you?
Put yourself in google shoe. They have enough problems with sjw. Those people act as if a corporation is a democratic country. It’s not. I don’t know how you personally. You could be a good human being. But if I was a decision maker at google, what am I gaining by hiring you? There are tons of other good candidates just like you. But losing potential? A lot. I would be cautious. It’s not personal but its the safe thing to do. Any big corporation would do that. The world is not a fair place.
Find a lawyer, get a nice settlement from the university. Then say screw the system and use that as seed money for your next big thing. Maybe recruitment or fraud consulting, because clearly you think there's a need and you can tell a story
@Oracle If I attack the school, it validates every concern anyone could hold against me, regardless of them being true or not. I might get a bit of money but then what?
Consult with someone in PR who deals with recovering from defamation. My informed two cents is that your reputation is already as damaged as it'll get, so going to court can't put you in any worse a situation. From what you said, no one is willing to hire you anyway. On the other hand, by taking this to court you may get some compensation for what the university unjustly took from you, and a court opinion that reinforces your innocence.
It sounds like a problem outside of just Google being unwilling to hire you. I’d probably try targeting companies that are more comfortable with the potential press attention. Have you considered other options like finding a job in your country of origin? Changing your name? Have you networked with any VC people to get their take on willingness to fund you if you started a company? Very frustrating and I’m sorry you’re experiencing this. I am not the type to give up but I am also not the type to sign up for repeat abuse. I looked this up and if you’re the person that came up right away in the search results I would imagine it’s going to be a challenge to distance yourself from the press. Surely there are ways forward for you, whether that’s in your intended PM track or another one, but I can’t imagine it being easy or even worthwhile to break in at Google considering you’re blacklisted. Best of luck.
@CapitalOne_ender. Thank you for your advice and taking the time to comment. I've targeting other companies (all 1,132 of them) but the combination of roadblocks has had me striking out across the board. Some recruiters will be honest with me that they can't risk the relationship with the school if they're seen to hire me, while most will outright reject. If this was any other decade, I'm sure I'd be fine but the visa thing has really killed things. At Capital One, I was introduced to 4 jobs for example, but every time they decided they couldn't sponsor. -------- NON-US I find myself sitting on $100'000s in high-interest, non-deferrable or financeable student debt (MBAs are expensive, and are meant to be offset by high-earnings after graduation...) that can only be realistically paid off with US levels of earnings. Combined with my need a particular medication that I require that due to predatory patents and pricing (~$300k/year, used to be <$1000), I have to find my way back to the US ASAP. In addition, I tried recruiting back into my home country but they don't really value MBAs in the same way (it'd just be me -1-2 years of experience behind compared to my peers) and I'd be unable to keep my head above water given my debt -------- My profile is too unique (honestly, its weirdly unique - the second you try and validate anything on my resume and you know who I 'am'.) Its a very particular hodge-podge of mildly noteworthy things which combined make me stand out too much for a name change. As you found out, it is trivial to work out who I am and I am indeed the person you think I might be. I do have some support within VC for when I start a business, and I do have ideas, but visas are difficult for founding companies. My debt level is also too high to realistically sustain with angel, and I just don't feel comfortable getting into the scenario where if my startup fails, I'm at the homeless level of financially mega-fucked. Thank you for your support, I do appreciate it.
Well that is all deeply frustrating and I don’t have much in the way of advice. Have you researched what other whistleblowers have done to repair/adjust their careers? It sounds like so many doors have closed for you, it might be worth it to bite the bullet and accept the notoriety - write a book on a related topic, brand yourself in a way that aligns with your values (something about believing in doing the right thing/staying positive in the face of adversity and helping others), go on speaking tours, etc. You might also be able to get hired with some kind of non-profit that focuses on diversity and inclusion, helping underrepresented groups and/or international students break into tech. I know it might not be the salary you need right now but could it be better than being unemployed and give you some stepping stones to get to a more well-paid career. The debt and medical needs are very scary but you might be better off compartmentalizing those numbers until you can do something about them. Again, I’m really sorry to hear this has happened to you and you’re facing such big obstacles. Don’t feel ashamed to ask for help, ask for favors, pursuing work that isn’t going to immediately net you the income you need. If you need to change your name, apply for data science or project management jobs, shameless self promotion, etc. - do whatever it takes. The fact that you’ve already approached such an extensive list of companies shows you have grit. Best wishes and best of luck.
Just move forward.
@Two Sigma. I really, really wish I could, hence the comment about it feeling like an abusive relationship. I eventually had to leave the US due to lack of sponsorship, but find myself sitting on $100'000s in high-interest, non-deferrable or financeable student debt (MBAs are expensive, and are meant to be offset by high-earnings after graduation...) that can only be realistically paid off with US levels of earnings. Combined with my need a particular medication that I require that due to predatory patents and pricing (~$300k/year, used to be <$1000), I have to find my way back to the US ASAP. Despite being eligible for O1, I can count the number of companies that would even pick up the phone to someone without work auth + requiring O1 on one hand, and I've tried, so, so many times. I'm not saying this is a good plan, I just don't know what else to do. I'm on like Plan H by this point :(