Interning at Canva and Google

Chatting to Hailey Jung about her experience in tech and startups

Hailey Jung is a final year Computer Science student at UNSW. She is currently working as an Associate Product Manager at Canva. She has been involved in many different projects at Microsoft, Accenture, Samsung, Real Skills Education, UNSW Hero, UNSW Founders, UNSW New Wave and her own start-up Overswap.

Can you tell me about your role at Canva and how you landed it?

I currently work in the Search and Recommendation team at Canva. We work on the overall template navigation experience by improving the search functionality and bringing personalisation to users.

When I heard that Canva may have an Associate Product Manager position, I reached out to every single PM at Canva on LinkedIn, sending personalised invitations (I did this exact same thing to land a previous job as well). I mentioned that I was really interested in the product space at Canva and asked if they would be willing to chat with me. Two people got back to me- including the head of Product at Canva.

He was happy to answer my questions and also referred me to the recruiting manager at the company. We caught up and had a chat about my previous experiences. From here, I went through the interview process and got the role!

What does a typical day look like as an Associate PM?

I’ll caveat this with the fact that I’ve only started as an APM recently. At Canva, we plan things by season and are starting a new season very soon. So, at the moment, we are wrapping up projects for the current season and prioritising what to improve and launch for the next season. Specifically, I’m writing up documents explaining why we need each product and what we could improve.

The team is quite technical. We have a lot of engineers and I’m the only junior PM. So, a lot of my role involves bringing user perspectives to the engineers. This could be customer insights or user research so that the team can empathise with user pain points. Day-to-day, this involves lots of meetings with the team to prioritise initiatives and work on the high-level view of the product.

What are the main touchpoints with users?

Given how resource-constrained startups are, I decided when I joined that I would take the initiative to focus on the user point of view. We use a platform called Full Story that records user interactions with the platform. From this, I can see how our customers use Canva and highlight interesting points to the team.

The other main touchpoint is social media like Twitter, Instagram, Facebook, TikTok etc. I search up keywords on these platforms related to Canva to understand what users are saying online. If I still need more information, I can request a full user interview to go deeper into a problem.

What’s something that you have found challenging about your role?

The main challenge has been dealing with ambiguity. Unlike roles at bigger corporates, there are often missing pieces in the puzzle.

My main challenge is how to prioritise things and make decisions based on the existing data.

If there are things missing, I document what they are and how we can get them.

Can you tell me about what you worked on while interning at Google?

I worked as an AI/ML intern in the Google Cloud business over the last summer. Here, I was assisting to make AI chatbots for a large telco company. Telcos get heaps of calls with preliminary questions such as when bills are due. Answering these basic questions creates an unnecessary strain on human resources, so they wanted to automate this process as much as possible with an AI chatbot.

During this project, I got to build my own chatbot as well as run a workshop with the client. Apart from the engineers, a lot of people at the client (such as in operations or business strategy) didn’t really know what the tool was or how to use it. So, I worked with some senior engineers at the client to explain how it worked and how to build the bot using the simple drag and drop features.

Any tips for students looking to secure similar internships at tech companies?

Before applying for a job, focus on building experiences related to the field you want to get into. This could be through uni projects, case competitions or hackathons. After building this experience, be proactive in reaching out to people.

I have discovered that surprisingly it doesn’t matter who you reach out to, people are generous with their time and willing to help you out.

Often, you may not get responses, but you just need to make that connection with one or two people that will help you a lot.

Additionally, I like to set up 30-minute video calls to speak to different people and build my network. Before the call, I make a list of questions that show my interest in what they do as well as give me a chance to showcase my experience and skills. Once you build that network, you can ask for referrals before applying for a role.

Lastly, always tailor applications to each company you apply to. Adapt your cover letter and change the order of your experiences on your resume according to what is most relevant.

Who are the three people that have influenced you the most?

There are three groups of people that have influenced me the most.

1. My family. My dad has worked in the tech industry for over 2 decades. He sparked my interest in technology and the wonders it can do, bringing home cool projects he was working on. After I told him about my role as a product manager, he told me that he realised he’d been working as a PM for 25+ years and didn’t know that’s what it was called! He never forced me to do anything and was always willing to support whatever I wanted to pursue.

2. My partner. Back in my first year at uni, I really sucked at coding. That difficult time made me wonder whether I was good enough to pursue a career in tech. During this time, he would always reassure me that there were roles in tech that weren’t centred around programming. He gave me the courage to explore other parts of the field such as data science and product management that don’t require hardcore software engineering skills.

3. My friends. My friends are a really proactive and passionate group of people that motivate me and support me whenever I need them.

Where do you see yourself in 5 years?

Right now, I see myself in a senior role in the product space. I still see myself working in the tech industry, but I’ve realised, especially after COVID, that there are so many ambiguities in life and you never know where you are going to end up. My passions might evolve over the next couple of years and I’ll follow them wherever they take me.

Why do you think students should get involved in the startup space? And for those interested, do you have any tips, tools or resources?

Startups are constantly changing and there is so much impact you can have. Even big startups like Canva encourage flexibility once you get your foot in the door which opens up a lot of options. For example, I’m a PM but I work closely with designers as well as engineers.

Apart from books, podcasts and articles, the biggest way to learn would be talking to people in the space. Reach out to people in companies or industries that you are interested in. If you’re not sure about the role, ask them about what they do and what makes it enjoyable. Startups often don’t have defined internship programs and recruit through people they know. Don’t be scared to sell yourself and demonstrate that you are capable.

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