Because I Actually Do Have A Bucket List. Typed Up In A Word Document.

Now, even before the movie The Bucket List came out, I have had a list of my own that I just call ‘Things I Want To Do Before I Die’. Doesn’t sound as good I know, but if Morgan Freeman had uttered it in a soothing voice on thousands of the big screen you might feel differently.
Get a drink named after me. Check.
Go skydiving. Check.
Go scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef. Check.
Be in People Magazine. _____

Now, there are way more things besides being in People that I haven’t yet accomplished (see a Blue Whale, see a man eating clam- I swear, my AP Bio teacher said they exist) but that is the one we are going to focus on today.
You see, just before I started this blog, something else hit the web and exploded! Bigger than Charlie Bit Me and bigger than FML. Why bigger? Who is the judge? Because this thing that hit every computer screen somewhere, got written up in the next issue of People Magazine. (It has since then even been incorporated into my favorite TV show (spoiler alert for those of you who still haven’t caught up on this season), The Office.
So congratulations Kevin and Jill, you have hit that goal before me. Congratulations on your wedding too. And on being in People magazine. Oh ya, and for trying to turn a brief youtube phenomenon into a charity organization.

So what does this have to do with my blog, my job search, or me?

Not much, other than I too had a good 5 seconds of fame (this definitely didn’t count as part of my 15 minutes) recently, and I just wanted to share it with you all.
A few nights ago, a more than an acquaintance, not quite a good friend, (lets call her a ‘friendly’), started chatting to me about my life. She opened with, “I have been thinking about you all week.”
Really? I asked. Why?
“Earlier this week, a friend of mine in the CBS Page Program sent me a blog to read saying ‘this person writes my life’. So then I started reading it and I just wanted to share it with you, because it is hilarious, all of my friends read it now, and I feel like it is your life too!”

Well now I am intrigued! What is this blog?

The friendly laughs. She says, “Its called ambitious and funemployed.”
Before she finishes my jaw has unhinged and is resting on the floor. But within a split second, I think I am shrieking. I hope I wasn’t, because I can get very high-pitched, but I think my still ringing ears would attest- there was shrieking.
Did I start this blog with the intentions of being famous? No.
Do I think that because one group of post-college grads found it on the internet and now read it that I am famous? No.
Does this in any way accomplish my goal of getting into People magazine? No.
Am I still loving the fact that someone unknowingly recommended that I read my own work? Hell yes!

CBS Sports: You haven’t heard the last of them!

So nothing came from my first interview with CBS Sports. We said hello, we said goodbye, and we left things open for the future.
But remembering back to the way I first landed that interview at CBS Sports, (the aunt’s friend’s neighbor who works there and sent out my resume to his colleagues?) and we realize that while I thought I had used up the connection, really those forwards that he sent out were still circulating through West 57th street.

About a month after the bittersweet ending with the first guy from CBS Sports, and the day after I still hadn’t heard from Letterman, I once again got a call from an unknown number. This time, on the other end of the line, was a researcher from CBS Sports calling to schedule an interview with me for a position opening in the fall. Knowing that CBS Sports and I probably aren’t destined to be soul mates, I didn’t rearrange my travel plans to fly in to New York for the 25 minute interview. Instead, I scheduled a phone interview. And again, like all the others, it went great. Well, mostly great. We spent over 45 minutes on the phone (which is a helluva lot of time considering it was an international call) and I could tell he liked me for the position. Just as we were saying our goodbyes with the ‘we should definitely be in touch next week’, he hit me with, ‘Oh, one more thing.”
“Sure,” I said, trying to keep the nervousness out of my voice.
“Did you watch the Superbowl last year?” he asked.
“Yes of course,” I answered, leaving out that it was only for the commercials.
“Who won?” he shot at me.
Well, I froze. I'm sure that somewhere in my head I knew the answer, but at that moment, I got nothing. So I told him what I did know.
"Well," I said, "In 2008 the Giants won."
"Yes, but what about 2009?"
I blanked.
Then I got drilled on sports trivia for the next 6 minutes. Which is a long time when you don't know who the UMD basketball coach is, or the names of all of the American players going to the US Open, or who won the World Series in 1999.
Finally, the questioning ended. But I couldn't just let him hang up with that weak last impression of me. So I said, "Listen, I have not spent the past years of my life filling my head with sports trivia. I was in college, and I spent my brainpower on other things. But if given this opportunity at CBS Sports, I know I am capable of learning all of this information. If this was my job, I would do it right. If given the chance to immerse in this culture, I would absorb everything."
He told me not to worry about it, and less than confident, I hung up.
About 3 weeks later I received a call from him, telling me that the position had been filled. Shocking. However, they still needed help and I had left an impression on him, therefore he would like to offer me a chance to freelance for CBS Sports during the NFL Season.

So yay! Woo Hoo! But working three hours on a Sunday afternoon is no incentive to give up on the rest of my job search.

CBS Sports: Like a Bite of Dark Chocolate

So I interviewed at CBS Sports. It went well.
I must admit, I am not the biggest sports person. I am originally from St. Louis, so I know more than a thing or two about baseball, and one time I even got to meet Tony La Russa (which was pretty cool). Other than that, I play soccer, basketball, I ran track and cross country, and I even made an attempt at shotput. I was on a swim team for years, and I still love the pool. Oh, and this last semester I took a trampoline class, if that counts for anything.
But still, I did my research, I knew what teams had played that week in various sports, who had won, and what the scores were. I knew which games CBS had covered and which they had not. I knew when each season started, and what CBS's involvement is with each of them.
Besides, the position was for the entry level job as part of the production team. The basic responsibilities were going to be acting as a gopher for the people in charge. Doesn't matter who won the Stanley Cup, I know I can do that, and I know that I can happily do it well.

The interview was going great. It was four executives....and me. There was good conversation, a good repertoire, and lots of information flowing about. I was professional, I was prepared, and I was qualified.
At some point, one of them asked me about my interest in sports. I went with what I know. "I grew up in a baseball house," I said. Which was true. We had an enormous chart outside the front door during the summer of 1998 where we kept count of the race for the Home Run Champion. But still, I must not have been convincing enough because the next question I get is: "What do you think is the best baseball team?"
Not who is your favorite, who do you support, why is that your favorite team, who is at the head of each league right now...... no. Which team is the BEST? But even with that bizarre question, I responded easily. "Well," I said, "I am from St. Louis, and so I'm not really allowed to say anything but the Cardinals."
Still though, they moved on to tennis and basketball, and while my backhand sucks, I can shoot a layup as good as most- but it still wasnt enough to convince them of any die hard sports fanaticism.
So even though the job was for a production position, they wanted someone who was going to be more thrilled about putting Sports on their resume than CBS. At least this time however, we ended on good terms. And by that I mean, they called and told me honestly that they really liked me, I have a great resume and they are certain that I will succeed. However, after a long debate they had to go with someone with greater sports knowledge.
I understood. I thanked him for calling and telling me personally. To which he responded, "I wanted to stay in touch, because after seeing your resume and meeting with you, I am pretty sure I am going to be calling YOU for a favor one day."

A nice bittersweet ending this time.

The Art Of Networking

I follow up with every networking opportunity that I get. I keep my resume in my coat pockets, purse, backpack, and laptop case. I even have some folded up copies in the back pockets of my favorite jeans. You never know where you might meet someone, who might lead you to that next someone, who might have an cousin somewhere, who used to work for someone, who will eventually offer you a job. Or when you bump into that random person on the subway, and it turns out they are the executive producer of Oprah’s show (that hasn’t happened…..yet). How much more memorable and impressive are you when after making that connection, you are able to whip out a copy of your resume right then and there, and exchange it for their business card?

So I’ve got everyone I know on the prowl for connections. My entire extended family, worldwide, has a copy of my resume. Countless relatives of each of my roommates, parents and coworkers of my elementary school classmates, and every previous employer and supervisor of mine have copies with the instructions: forward it like it’s hot.

So about 7 months ago, my aunt tells me she has a friend, and that friend’s neighbor is a big name at CBS Sports. Forward it like it’s hot. I get in touch with the friend, the friend gets in touch with the neighbor, and soon after, I am personally emailing an executive at CBS Sports. He is very nice, and tells me that he is passing along my resume to his coworkers.

Four months later, I get a call for an interview at CBS Sports in New York City.

I also have a cousin who works at the deli where Stephen Colbert buys his lunches. Now if only I can get him to start wrapping those sandwiches in my resume….

Damn you Canceled Daytime Soaps

Lets see, I think I sent out my first job feelers in October, 2008. By November, I was sending like crazy. By December, I had already emailed the entire HBO community. But when did I get my first interview? That wasn't until May 11th. I remember it clearly.....
It was the last official day of my internship at a production company in Silver Spring, Maryland. As I finished up the last of my projects, I saw that lovely little (1) next to the red and white envelope in my minimized gmail window. I opened it up, and there read the subject line: job interview at One Life To Live. Very nonchalant. Well, at that point, I didn't have a clue what One Life to Live was, but I saw 'job' and 'interview', and a quick check at the senders address showed that it had indeed come from someone@abc.com. Very exciting.

A quick forward to my parents made me realize that not only were they also excited, but they could not mask the huge sigh of relief they were feeling even in their typed responses.
Now some of you might be impressed with my achieving such a feat, actually getting an interview at ABC. The rest of you might not care. Still though, to those ever-hopeful-for-themselves readers out there, let me tell you how I got this interview. Because while its true what they say, that it's 'who you know', they don't mention how well you have to know them.

My father is a scientist. Yes, I know, very interesting, but not the point of the story. So my dad is a scientist, and back in February, a scientist from somewhere else in the U.S. came in to visit my father's lab and discuss potentially collaborating on some experiments. This guy came to visit for a few days, and at some point over a nice afternoon of microscopes, my dad happened to mention that I was graduating college and looking for a job in the world of television. Now I think this guy is from somewhere in Colorado, but it turns out that he and his wife lived in New York until about 10 years ago. And what did his wife do in New York? She worked on the soap opera, One Life To Live. So experiments were collaborated, data was shared, hypotheses were made, and resumes were sent around. Without having met me or my father, this woman sent my resume and her recommendation to the staff at One Life to Live, and 3 months later- they email me for an interview.

How nice is that?

Well, I dropped everything (my senior thesis, my last class) and I jumped onto a bus to New York that Wednesday night. I crashed at a friends apartment, laid out my interview suit, and got up at 6 am that morning to give myself plenty of time to prepare. I got there an hour early and sat in a Starbucks around the corner to read all of the information I could print out about ABC, soap opera's, and One Life To Live.

Now while some people might disagree, I am going to fill you in on something I learned from this interview. It is not good to be the first person interviewed for a position. Some people might argue that 'everyone remembers their first' and while perhaps that is true in some cases, I don't think it works to your advantage in the interview process. For starters, the interviewers learn better what they are looking for and what questions to ask after they have met with a few potential employees. When you are the first interviewee, the interviewer is almost practicing on you. It takes them a few tries before they even realize what the important questions to ask are.

Well, I was the first person interviewed for the Associate Producer position for One Life to Live. The senior producer who interviewed me told me that she contacted me when she discovered the opening, but that company policy forces them to also post the position online. She told me that within 24 hours of it appearing on the ABC website, they had over 400 applicants. And of course, since she contacted me beforehand, I was the first interview. Still though, it went well. We had a good repertoire, she was impressed with my resume, she introduced me to other members of the production team, and had me meet with the Human Resources Department.

The day after the interview, I sent thank you emails to all of the people I had met with and the original connection. A few days later, I also mailed out handwritten thank you cards to both my interviewer, and the woman I met with in HR.

And then again, it was waiting time. So now while I was waiting, ever hopeful, something else that I could not have anticipated was working against me. "What could it be?!", you might be asking yourself. Well folks, this is when we started blaming the economy again. But not in the same way that everyone else is blaming everything that sucks in their lives on the government. No, this was just plain bad luck too.

The week after my interview with One Life to Live, ABC's premier soap opera, The Guiding Light, CBS's big soap, was canceled. So guess who took my entry level $25000 contract for the lowest position at One Life To Live? The senior producer from The Guiding Light, who couldn't find another job.

Throw 'em A Bone, Sometimes Persistance Pays Off. STORYTIME!

It's a Thursday morning, it's hot, I am babysitting for some neighbors and trying to get out of being 'all-time-pitcher' for a two on two game of front yard baseball. In the back poacket of my jeans, the 30Rock Theme Song begins to play. Bam bam, ba badada bam bam, ba badada dum... "Hello?" I answer. It's a number I don't recognize. "Hi, my name is J_____ R__ from The Late Show with David Letterman."
Sharp intake of breath. Devil stares towards the kids that let them know they better shut up or there will not be any more baseball for the rest of their lives.
She starts: "Now, I don't know how I got your resume..." (I do, I sent it in the mail to The Late Show with David Letterman addressed to To Whom It May Concern) "...but I was wondering if you would be interested in interviewing for our Page position." (Hell, it's not NBC but I'll take what I can get.) "Are you going to be in the New York area on Monday?" Lucky for both of us, I was. We set up an interview for 12 noon.

You see that readers? All of that ridiculous stalking and mailing kind of paid off.
Stay tuned for what happened next.