Into The Wild, There Goes Another Resume

Yesterday I gave out my resume, not to a celebrity, not to a reporter, not to an awesome job contact. Yesterday I gave out my resume to a guy on the street. During my wild promoting for a film at my current internship, I got stopped in Union Square by one of the many of flyer wielding carnivores. When he realized that I was not a potential customer but rather someone who was soon going to be fighting for the same 10 square foot area of sidewalk battlefield, he introduced himself, and we began to chat. Over the next few hours, I learned that Rob (*names have been changed) made a huge amount of moolah from just handing out fliers. Rob, an aspiring actor, is also of course involved somewhat in the film industry. And by that I mean, makes mini documentaries with no budget to speak of, but just because he is an arts person, and no money no matter.
While him having my resume in no way gets me closer to getting me a job, I met someone cool on the street, and now will potentially be a production assistant for one of his films some random Sunday in Brooklyn. By the time that happens though and I get to put it on my resume, I hope I will have better information for him instead of ‘guy on the street’.

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.

The Search for The Mystery Man

In December of 2007, I was visiting friends up in Boston. And yes, I did say ‘December’ and ‘Boston’ in the same sentence, so all of you from the New England area can predict what I am going to say next.
Snow.
After a lovely weekend visiting friends, I trudged through the snow to the train station, to catch the train to the airport. I chose a bench, dropped my bag, and sat down to huddle and wait for the welcome ‘chuga chuga’ sound.
15 feet away sat another guy, clearly in the same predicament. Small rolling suitcase, oversize gym bag with luggage tags on it, and a backpack perched on his knees.
The train was scheduled to arrive in 7 minutes.
7 + 25 minutes later, and still no train. Both of us checking our watches, checking our phones, looking down the tracks trying to decide what to do. On one stroll to the end of the platform, I noticed a small sign with the phone number for the train company, suggesting calling if there were any problems. A few frostbitten fingers and some catchy hold music later, I found out the train was stuck because of the snow, and couldn’t be expected to arrive at the station for at least another 45 minutes. As I hung up, the guy walked by me heading out of the station muttering, ‘this is ridiculous’ as he passed. I told him about the phone call and he said he was going to try for a cab- he had to catch a plane.
Lucky for me. Within a few moments we were sharing a 45-minute cab ride to the airport.
But my luck wasn’t over for the day, and that’s where the relevance of this story kicks in.
We were both so relieved at the situation that we became fast friends, talked enough to discover a few mutual friends, and continued our companionship while waiting at the terminal.
And before we shook hands and continued on our separate ways, I learned his name, where he was from, that he had been visiting his girlfriend at school, that his sister’s boyfriend was good friends with the friend I had been visiting, that he started the satirical newspaper at his university, and that there were a group of them from the paper that were all working for The Onion’s video department.
As a first semester junior, I was not yet carrying my resume with me like a security blanket, but we made the connection with our career interests, and he casually recommended that I should get in touch with him once I graduate.
That was almost two years ago.


Flash forward to a few weeks ago, when I was at a wedding, sitting with a group of people who went to school in Boston. After sharing some stories of my job search, I suddenly had another light bulb flash over my head!
However, it had been a long time, and I had never done even the facebook follow up with this guy, so some of the details escaped me. But I had to try. Soon, we were all on a mission to find the name of the mystery man from the ride to the Boston Airport.
A few hours later, with many yearbook pages turned and tossed aside, we finally came up with a name. The name of the guy that his sister was dating. A few days later, one of the friends I had made at the wedding got an email from another friend (I know it’s confusing! Just try and bear with me!) telling her that the sister and now husband had just had a baby. So now we had the sisters name. And once we had that, we figured out his name. It took a few more calls, but this week, I finally got his email address.
So now I am deliberating. After all that, I now have a way to contact the mystery name from the cab right who used to work for The Onion. Is that good enough to follow up with my resume and see if he can help me?
My answer: Yes.
It’s just going to take me a day or two to compose an email that doesn’t make me sound like a creeper and gently remind him who I am. Then who knows? Worst-case scenario: restraining order.

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.

My grand plan to infiltrate into 30 Rockefeller Plaza: Late Night with Conan O'Brien

Now this story isn’t nearly as good as some of the others, but like the others, it is all true, and therefore deserves a place on the mantel of weird things to do to get a job.
After I found out about getting tickets for the comedy central shows, I started looking up tickets for other shows as well. I found that for tickets to Late Night with Conan O'Brien, all you had to do was call a hotline. I assumed it would be an automated service, so of course, I called it. Moments later, I was surprised to find myself chatting with the guy on the other end about Conan and Jimmy Fallon, and all the drama going on with that. For my own amusement, I was talking about both Conan and Jimmy on a first name basis, and the guy was full of helpful information.
After I hung up, I quickly launched my plan. I would wait a few days, and then call back- but this time, with different intentions.

The second time when I called, I apologized and said that I was just accidentally transferred there, and I was in the middle of leaving a message for Conan’s booking people. To my shock, he transferred me. More lies and more lies spilled out of my mouth, ‘was just talking to Suzy in HR’ ‘got disconnected from Tim in the booking office’ ‘was trying to leave a message about next weeks bit with Starbucks with the Executive Assistant’ until finally, I left a voicemail on as close as I could get to Conan’s personal machine.

Now, if one got the chance to leave a message for Conan, what would you say? Mine went something like this:

Hi, my name is _____ ______, great show last night (insert specific reference here). I am graduating from college this year and I am looking for a job on your show. I have mailed you my resume and emailed you all of my information. I am just letting you know to look out for me, and to let you know exactly how to reach me. (I left him my cell number and email address.) Thank you for your time and I look forward to being in touch.

At least, I'm pretty sure that is how it went. It is always hard to remember exactly what one says to an answering machine. It all goes by so fast.

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.

The NBC Page Program

In November 2008, I suddenly realized that Kenneth the Page, on NBC’s 30 Rock, was not a completely fictional character. While someone over the age of 19 who still believes in a witch who comes after you when you don’t eat your vegetables probably doesn’t exist anywhere, the Page position at NBC is just as coveted as Kenneth’s NBC Page jacket in the game of poker with Jack Donaghy. With over seven THOUSAND applicants for a mere 60 spots, the chances of getting into the NBC Page Program are about as likely as your boob falling out of your top while on TV in the middle of the Superbowl. So about one. But actually, the stats prove that it is less likely to be chosen to wear a dorky suit, give tours of a glorified office building, and get the chance to usher people into their seats for a show, than to be a qualified candidate getting into Harvard Medical School. What does one learn from that statistic? Be a doctor; because your dreams of getting coffee for a GE executive are never gonna happen. Still though, one cant crush a dreamer with numbers, and I decided to become Kenneth the Page. Only a shorter, wiser, more awesome one.
My first step to becoming the next best friend to idol Tina Fey, was to find the job description and application for the NBC Page Program on the World Wide Web. It wasn’t too hard. After I read the three paragraphs explaining the program and realizing that all of my prayers had just been answered, I left the tabs open on my laptop for two weeks. It was already a moment of great accomplishment- finding something that I actually wanted to apply for, a goal for something to look forward to in my life after college.
I then discovered that my roommate’s friend’s sister had once been an NBC Page. Swish right?
I emailed the distant connection and soon set up a phone call. At the designated time, I called her, and then proceeded to have a glorious hour and a half conversation with the person who I was certain was my foot in the door. She helped me with my cover letter, passed my name around to some hiring people, and convinced me that if she could do it, anyone can.

Before I continue, I would like to take a quick moment to explain what the process entails for becoming an NBC Page.
First: you submit your resume, cover letter, and basic information online, basically requesting to be considered and applicant.
Second: they either acknowledge that you applied and inform you that they will eventually contact you regarding the next step, or you just never hear from them again.
Third: if allowed to continue, you are given a time to complete the Email Screen, a fancy way of wording: online questionnaire, within an hours time.
Fourth: if you pass ‘the screen’ you are invited up for an interview. You then meet with a few different members of the NBC team who do their best to make you wet yourself
Fifth: if you have survived the interviews and you have brought a change of clothes, you ate submitted into the well of death, that is- the group interview. There, they force you to compete with the other applicants while pretending to work as a team.
And if you do all of that correctly, and Jerry Seinfeld owes your father a huge favor, the might let you work at the lowliest position NBC has to offer.

So after hanging up on a high note that the first job I was looking into was almost guaranteed to be perfect for me, I submitted my information to the Page Program.
Then it was waiting time.