Crunched the numbers for NaNoJobMo and since I got a job as an infographic designer, it’s only fitting that I create an infographic about them. Please view the graphic here since Tumblr takes down the image quality significantly.
Thanks to my boyfriend for helping me remember math and thanks to everyone reading this for caring. I hope my findings will assist you in your own job search!
So… I got a job! And to put it in Facebook terms, it’s complicated. So I didn’t want to announce it here until I worked my full first day.
I was at work last Friday when I got a phone call from a number I didn’t recognize. It was a guy named Chris who wanted to let me know that he’d found my resume online and wondered if I was interested in a job. I figured it for a scam and told him to email me the details.
When I read the email after work, I was floored! Chris is an agent for Aquent, a DC staffing agency for creative jobs. He was looking for an infographic designer for one of his clients. And that client turned out to be Pew Center on the States, one of the places I’ve most wanted to work since graduation. I emailed back and let him know I was interested, plus sent some of the interactive graphics from my portfolio (this was what Pew was especially looking for.)
The next morning at 8:30, I got woken up from a phone call from Chris. Using my best wide-awake voice, I asked how he was. Unfortunately, my wide-awake voice needs some work, so he told me to have some coffee and get ready to have a phone interview with Pew in 30 minutes or so. I didn’t need to be told that twice!
My interview went magically well. Maybe because I was just waking up, I didn’t think about what the interviewer wanted to hear and just answered her questions honestly. Honesty, and especially over-honesty, is one of my biggest character flaws but in this case, it turned out to be a good thing! Because the interviewer asked if I could come in for training just two days after our talk!
I called back Chris and told him the good news. He was actually surprised, since I wasn’t the first person he’d suggested to this client. (That’s why he had moved on from suggesting people already with Aquent to doing Google searches for random resumes like mine.) I canceled my other four interviews and drove into DC to sign on with Aquent. Apparently, Pew does their hiring through this agency. So there are two layers here. First, Aquent hired me as talent. Then, Pew is hiring me as a contractor from Aquent for the next three months as their Temporary Interactive Designer. During the interview, my interviewer mentioned that she hoped to make this a permanent position, but I won’t know for sure until February or March.
So when I came in to sign up with my agent, Chris (isn’t that so neat that I have an agent now?) my first question was, how did you find me? He told me that he and another agent had found me doing Google searches. But what site came up, I asked? For Chris, it was my Linked In profile with my old resume. He doesn’t know what the other agent found, but he said it was one of my blogs. I like to hope it was this one that did it.
All I can say about the agency so far is that I should have signed up for one a LONG TIME AGO. It’s great to have somebody to negotiate my salary and overtime for me. Plus, Aquent will provide me with those elusive benefits like healthcare and dental that I was getting as a solitary freelancer. Plus, it’s raised my self esteem so much. When Chris told me that my talents were in demand, I started to remember that I had other skills than manning a cash register. If you’re interested in signing up, let me know since I will get a referral bonus.
My first day at Pew was amazing. I got along great with everyone and the job seems like the perfect combination of creative, challenging, and essential tasks. Before I start for real (either next week or January 1, depending on when my background check is complete), I’m taking Aquent’s online course in Javascript (my title will be Temporary Interactive Designer, but there’s quite a bit of CMS management and programming involved!)
I’d like to say this was a fairy tale ending to NaNoJobMo, but 1) I’m not going to stop writing here and 2) there was nothing magical about it. This would have never happened if I hadn’t constantly applied to jobs and put my name and resume out there on the Internet. Good luck to everyone else in the job application process, and look forward to my infographics on the NaNoJobMo stats!
Two days ago, during the Great Tumblr Downtime of 2010, I announced on Twitter that I had miraculously accrued five interviews. And then I promptly shut up about it. Let’s go over what they were:
1) Web Developer/Programmer at George Mason. This would have been a Skype interview.
2) Paid Intern at Education Week. This would have been in Bethesda. No link because I applied for this one in December during the Downtime.
3) Multimedia Journalist at News & Messenger. This would have been in Manassas.
4) Front End Developer at Mediachase. This would have been in D.C.
5) Interactive Designer at Pew. This was yesterday.
What is with all those weird tenses? I think we will find out tomorrow…
Remember when I applied for this position? Here’s what I got back as a reply:
lauren i hope the cave is heated, its freezing here in ny. thanks for your crazy response as you can guess we got swamped with responses, and are culling through them mostly because the ad was so wacky, and from me. im thinking of a blog for the robsreallygood site and maybe from the comfort of your cave you can help write it, post it, organize it, and edit it so its from me but you as a ghost cave writer but with a touch of you i also want to work on my book and off broadway play and cant write, so those could be other projects i will let you know if the karmic kosmic planets are aligned and it is destiny rob
A regular patron shows up at the front desk. He is an older, larger man.
Patron: Do you have any nail clippers? ::He has extremely long nails, and dangles hangnail in front of me::
Me: Well, I don’t really keep them around… Whoah, your nails are really long!
My Boss: Let me go check.
Patron: Up until this week, I had a girlfriend. And she uh, liked me to keep my nails long… for, you know…
Me: Of course! To scratch her back!
Patron: Well, actually—
Me: Backscratches sure are satisfying!
My Boss: Here you go. ::hands Patron the clippers::
Me: There’s a trashcan over there. Although I just heard it makes more sense to clip your nails over a toilet. That way you just flush— HEY!
::Patron is clipping his fingernails INTO MY DESIGNER PURSE::
Me: What are you doing! They’re in my purse!
Patron: No they’re not. ::continues::
Posting this story, which happened TODAY, in celebration of me getting five job interviews within the next two weeks! It’s about time!
Brad sent me this job listing, which I can only assume is some kind of joke. Here’s the cover letter I sent in reply:
Dear Rob,
I was spelunking in a nearby cave when I came across a piece of aged parchment. I knew that whatever was written on this ancient scroll would be my destiny. As chance would have it, it was your job opportunity. Now I must rise to the task and meet my destiny.
While the opportunity was hard to translate (it was written in Sanskrit or something), I realized that I’d be great for the job. I’ve gotten tired of my previous job as an adventurer, explorer, and bear wrangler. I’m looking for a new mission. Give it to me straight, Rob.
Regards,
Lauren
Instead of looking for jobs, I had, as I explained on Twitter, the kind of day people imagine unemployed people have.
I woke up at 9 AM, ate cookies for breakfast, worked out at the gym, got a manicure, talked to my boyfriend on the phone for an hour, brainstormed topics for my blog, met my friends for dinner, watched Brisco County Jr. with said friends. Of course I made sure not to pressure myself by taking Kindle breaks. I am alternately reading Robin Hood, When You Are Engulfed in Flames by David Sedaris, and Dune by Frank Herbert. Dune is actually my favorite book of all time and I like to return to the warmth of Arrakis every year when it starts getting cold.
I hope that because of days like today, I will not feel like my unemployment was a time spent in constant worry. When I have a job, I’ll be able to look back happily on these months.
November — and NaNoJobMo — are over. This was a test I put myself through to see if I could stay motivated and continue applying myself to jobs that I would probably never hear back from day after day after day.
It worked, and I owe a lot of that to you.
So what am I going to do in December? I’ll definitely be continuing to apply to jobs, but not as often. I noticed that near the end of November it became much harder to find new applications, probably because of the holidays. It’s also my birthday month. For these reasons, I’ll be applying to three jobs a week, tentatively on Monday, Wednesday and Friday.
Additionally, I won’t be forgetting about this experiment. Some of you know that I’m a visual journalist who loves to make data infographics. I’ll be sitting on these for a week or so (since one of the factors I am measuring is whether I hear back from these places) and then releasing the data for all to see.
It’s the last job application of the month. Not sure how to feel yet.
What: Local Editor for Washington, D.C. at Yahoo!
Where: Professor Perri again. She is an incredible person.
Why: When Lynne suggests something, I feel confident enough to apply myself to it.
Confirmation: UPDATE: Just heard back. The emailer flat-out told me I didn’t get the job. However, he suggested freelancing as a contributor.
Additional Effort: I actually applied for this job twice. First I emailed the person my professor recommended I talk to with a cover letter, resume, etc. And of course I had to research the person as well (or I would have, if he weren’t somebody I already know and admire!) Then, I applied for the job through the automated Yahoo! system, which involved making a .doc copy of my PDF resume. After trying to find some PDF to DOC conversion software and failing, I cut and paste every little bit of the resume into Open Office. Sigh.
Link.
What: Writer, web producer, anything they might be hiring for at Education Week.
Where: My former professor Lynne Perri, who has helped me out SO much with my job hunt. She has gotten me almost every interview I’ve had — seven of them! It’s my own fault for not taking those seriously enough to get the jobs.
Why: I’m interested in writing and producing for the Web AND I’m interested in education. Especially their Digital Directions section.
Confirmation: No, but I did write my email to a human. He looks young in his Wired Journalist profile, not that I stalked or anything. So maybe he’ll understand what I’m going through and at least send something back.
Additional Effort: Scoured the site for the latest stories (at the suggestion of Lynne) and sent my God-tier cover letter.
No link.
One more to go!
