After an apparently very influential career talk with her father, 7-year-old Chloe Bridgewater decided to go where many hopeful job seekers have gone before: the Google careers page.
After submitting her version of an application to work at Google (addressed to "google boss"), she waited for a response. But instead of the dreaded non-response or generic form letter, she received a letter from the company's CEO, Sundar Pichai, just a few days later.
Google confirmed the letters between the tech CEO and young girl from Hereford, England, are real.
Letter-writer Chloe with her career coach and dad.
IMAGE: ANDY BRIDGEWATER
In the letter, which wasn't exactly a rejection but more of a supportive message, Pichai wrote, "I look forward to receiving your job application when you are finished with school! :)" He added encouragement for the girl to keep learning about computers, robots and technology, saying, "you can accomplish everything you set your mind to."
This all started when a few weeks ago, her father, Andy Bridgewater, said in an email Wednesday. When the first-grade student asked her dad about his job as a refrigerator parts sales manager, he told her what he did. She then asked if there was anywhere else he'd want to work.
That's when Bridgewater told his daughter about Google. "I said Google would be cool and she asked why. So I showed her the pictures of their offices and the cool things they do." She was hooked after seeing the decked out Google campus in Silicon Valley, complete with bean bags, slides and go-karts.
When she said she wanted to work there too, he suggested she send an application, so she did (with some help from dad). In her application " she was very up front about not really knowing how to apply for a job. "I don't really know what one of them is but [dad] said a letter will do for now," she wrote. She also offered up other possible careers if Google didn't pan out: chocolate factory worker and swimming in the Olympics.
IMAGE: ANDY BRIDGEWATER
Like any good cover letter, she propped herself up: "My teachers tell my mum and dad I am very good in class and am good at my spelling and reading and my sums." And she gave specifics to show her skills. "My dad gave me a game where I have to move a robot up and down squares, he said it will be good for me to learn about computers."
Bridgewater said he has no Google connections and his entire family — also consisting of his wife Julie and younger daughter Hollie — haven't even been to California. So he just sent the letter "and hoped for the best."
Her dad posted Pichai's response letter to his LinkedIn earlier this week, where he explained how getting a response has given Chloe a confidence boost. "She is now even more eager to do well at school and work for Google."
That post has been liked more than 94,000 times.
For Chloe, who is still a kid and mentally healing from a scary car accident a few years ago when a taxi knocked her over, this is all a lot to handle, but still really exciting and encouraging, Bridgewater said. "Never imagined all this attention," he said.
As Chloe explained to Pichai, this was only her second letter she's written aside from one to Father Christmas — bet she didn't get this much of a reaction to that letter.
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