How Wrong Is It To Apply For Internships While You Are At An Internship?

Now, you may have been following me for a while as I search for a job that will make me proud to attend Career Day at the local middle school, or you may have just joined me. But one thing you should realize as you follow my futile attempts at getting a job in this economy, is that I have not been spending my days bemoaning my failure at life. Instead, I want you all to know, that in this interim time between college and first job, I am keeping myself extraordinarily busy. In addition to my three babysitting jobs, and my 3 hours a week freelancing at CBS Sports (that I hopefully start next week) I have four different internships that I am devoting 40 unpaid hours a week towards.
One of these internships is at a production company in midtown Manhattan, in a building that makes me feel important when I walk in 4 days a week. I don’t want to lie- there is something exciting about taking an elevator up to the 20th floor surrounded by important people in suits even when I can wear nice jeans and a sweater to work. At this internship, I am in charge of online promoting for an independent film. I work closely with the Writer/Director/Producer and Associate Producer to make sure we get the word out about the film in order to (as they say) ‘put asses in seats’.
And since I have been posting and blogging and tweeting for their company, the website hits for their film have gone waaaayyyyy up. So yay! I’m doing something well!
But I have realized at this point that in less than a month when the film opens, I will have no more reason to stay at this internship, although I am sure they would be happy to have the free help stay on. So even though I am busy as a bee for the next few weeks, I am already lining things up and applying for my next set of internships. Still assuming, at this point, that a job doesn’t magically work out instead.

All in a Days Search For Work

Some weeks are posting weeks, some are emailing weeks, some are faxing weeks, and others are mailing weeks.
Last week- was a mailing week.
As I am sure you have surmised from glancing through my blog, I have been searching the world wide web, the yellow pages, and any Rolodex I can get my hands on trying to get my resume in the hands of that one special yet still unknown person who is going to offer me a job.
Every few months or so, I acquire enough address to prompt me to send out a mass mailing. This isn’t the type of mailing where you BCC your contact list and send them some annoying message. I never do that. This is when I have saved enough headers, footers, and signatures from different emails that I have received and now have the mailing addresses of some places that I would like to work.
I also then searched production companies, and use my powers (cross referencing with the yellow pages, google, and each companies personal website) to get the mailing address for each of them. Then I’ve searched in wikipedia ‘shows that film in New York’. I play around with the wording a little. ‘Reality shows filming in NYC’. ‘Current television shows New York’. ‘Soap Operas New York City’. I then google and google, opening hundreds of new tabs, skimming each link for what those wizards over at the googleplex might have thought would be useful for me. Gleaning whatever information I can to track down some contact information for any show I can find.
In the end of all of this, I usually come up with about 40 to 60 names and addresses that I can send my information to. It may not be worth the stamps, but the hope is that someone is more likely to open a piece of mail and be forced to glance through my resume rather than discarding my email with an unopened resume attachment.

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.

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.

You call it desperate? I call it determined.

One day, I sat down in the back of my class, plugged in my computer, and quickly zoned out the lecture for the day. Instead, I opened up my laptop to start the days search for a job.
However, I realized that since I had last submitted (the day before) there was nothing new posted on craigslist, mediabistro, timewarner, or disney (abc & espn) that were of any relevance to me. Or maybe there were a few, but I took care of applying right away. So there I was, 20 minutes into a three hour lecture that I had already missed, with no interest in jumping in to catch up, and I was stuck without any more places to apply. I had no networking emails to follow up on, no new random email address to send to, no more mailing addresses to find. I thought, this is it, I have exhausted every job searching outlet. Well my friends, that was 6 months ago and I am still finding new ways to send my name (and resume) out into the world.

Take this link for example:

http://newyork.craigslist.org/mnh/tfr/1322676002.html

(For those of you too lazy to follow it, I have copied and pasted the post below.)

"Do you and your family have any funny pictures that make you say...what were we thinking when we took this picture? You know, the pictures where you are all wearing a pair of rabbit ears, or one person is making a funny face? Or maybe you have a themed family photo that makes you laugh every time you look at it? A national TV show wants to hear from you. Email us at TalkShowProd@yahoo.com"

Now while this is posted in the tv/film/video/radio job postings on craigslist, they are obviously not looking for someone like me to work on their show and get their first foot in the door of the entertainment industry. So should I send them my resume? Probably not. Can it hurt to send it anyway? Maybe. Will it take more than a minute of my time? No. And yet is there a downside? Not that I can see, but then again, I still don't have a job.
Risks aside, I figure best case scenerio- they call, and worst case scenario- they don't.
But I don't just copy and paste my cover letter and attach my resume. Instead, I start with Hi! My name is ____ ____, and while my family photos can be plenty awkward, I don't think I am the one you want to talk to. Instead, I suggest you talk to some of these people at www.awkwardfamilyphotos.com. I am sure you can find all you need and more on that site. And apart from my expertise in the awkward family photo department.......... and so the pitch (and cover letter) begin.

With all of the real jobs to send to, and all the not really looking for me but send them anyways, I try to send out my resume at least 20 times a day.

I am attacking. World: beware.

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.