He Got my Credit Cards, my License, and my Resume.

Sometimes I see myself the way I worry that others might see me: cliché. In some ways I am Coyote Ugly. The tragic story of the young Midwestern girl moving to the big bad city to be discovered and realize her dream as a superstar. Only in my dream, is just a successful woman in the television industry. Maybe someone who gets tickets to the Golden Globe awards. Maybe someone who eventually presents an award? But lets not get ahead of ourselves. For now, just a successful woman in the television industry would be fine. And I don’t expect to get there overnight. I expect to earn it. But that is for another post.
Lets go back to that cliché.
On Thanksgiving this past year, I decided to stay in New York, and experience one of the greatest days New York City has offer. I went to a Balloon Party, where I got to watch people blowing up the balloons for the Macy’s day parade. (I saw Mariska Hargitay there, and our exchange of ‘Happy Holidays’ was super exciting too.)
I woke up early that Thursday morning to get breakfast with friends, and the walk along the parade from the Upper West Side all the way down to Times Square.

I then rushed back to my apartment to pick up my overnight bag and take the 1 train up to Riverdale, where I was catching a ride to Thanksgiving dinner.
I stood on the platform waiting for the train to arrive, impatiently looking between my watch and down the seemingly endless black tunnel. Finally, the growing light indicated that a train was arriving.
The doors opened and I politely stepped aside to allow other people to exit. Then, as I myself was about to step on to the train, some guy cut in front of me, entered the train, and then just stood there, looking confused. I waited, standing now right in between the doors, waiting for him to step aside and let me through. Finally, as the doors began to close, he jumped off of the train at the last second, allowing me to move into the train car just before it pulled away. As I then put my bag on my lap, I realized that it had been opened, and my stuff had been taken.
Within seconds I realized what had happened. I asked the guy next to me if someone else had been standing behind me, 'waiting to get on' while the whole 3 second occurrence took place. He said yes, but then he decided not to get on at the last second. He too then understood what had happened.
Two guys had basically sandwiched me between the doors, quickly opened my bag and took things, including my wallet, and then jumped off the train, leaving me headed to the next station, sans wallet, and without reception. Lucky for me, I have Verizon, and while I think their customer service is terrible (I actually HATE them) I can't seem to make good on my threats to leave them because they have the best service around. So from the subway, I canceled my credit cards, and began fuming that I had just been mugged, at 1pm, on Thanksgiving Day.

Oh, and of course, my resume is tucked away inside my wallet. You think he's got good contacts in the entertainment industry? You think he'll bother to pass it along?

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!

I am Considering Adding the Word ‘Kickass’ into my Cover Letter

You know, just to mix it up a little.
I am often (well, I was once) described as hilarious, charming, and ambitious. I have since included those three words in my cover letter.
Well, not in my regular cover letter.

That’s right folks, when you job search this much- you have way more than just one cover letter. The cover letter that includes that description of me, is the one I would send to places that I hope would appreciate it. The Onion, College Humor, Comedy Central, etc. Just trying to set myself apart from all of the other over-qualified candidates searching in my field.
Because I am unique. I have done things that no one else has done. Ok, not no one else. But it puts me in a smaller minority of people. Have you been skydiving and bunjy jumping in the same day? What about buying a pumpkin for the mere thrill of throwing it off the roof of a very tall building? What about trying out for the Charmin Toilet Paper Ambassador Program this holiday season?

What’s that? Now I have your attention? Really? Sky diving and bunjy jumping weren’t enough? What is the Charmin Toilet Paper Program???



Every year between Thanksgiving and Christmas, they open up Charmin bathrooms in Times Square. They choose 5 lucky people to man these bathrooms by clapping for the frequenters, cheering on the go-ers, and blogging about their experience Enjoying The Go.
So a friend a I lined up for a few hours in the blustering cold, and prepared a 2 minute medley to perform and prove why we would make the perfect ambassadors for Charmin. For 10,000$ - tell me you wouldn't do the same.

You have to go!
He has to go!
She has to go!
We have to gooooooooo
O my tummy is feeling frightful
But Charmin is so delightful
And since we really have to go
Let it flow
Let it flow
Let if floooooooooooooow
O Charmin Charmin Charmin
Your ends they never fray
Your always soft and ready
To wipe my ____ awayyyyyyy
We wish you a Merry Wiping
We wish you a Merry Wiping
We wish you a Merry Wiping
And a Charmin filled year!

And you didn’t even see the dance that went with this. So yea, I’m pretty unique. And I’ll do almost anything (like sing and dance about toilet paper) to get a job.
I think I am going to add Kickass to my cover letter.

Cocky vs Confident

If there was something you could say in an interview to guarantee you getting the position, you would say it.
Everyone would!
But aside from ‘I will work for free’, what is that thing that is going to make that treacherous interview process a ‘no-brainer’?
Obviously we shouldn’t be giving out this secret phrase to just any old Joe off the street, but (and here is where I shamelessly promote myself) I have a college degree, I did well in school, studied abroad, created my own major, have more than 10 quality internships, I network, I'm responsible, and I'm obviously driven. I have got my shit together. So why do I still not hold the key to that secret phrase all interviewers want to hear?
What do you want to hear from a potential future employee? What can they do to set them apart in a positive light? What makes people say: Lets hire her.
I know there has got to be some one word that everyone wants to hear. I don’t think I'm a bad interviewer, but I am concerned about the whole idea of cocky vs confident. People say, ‘you have to sell yourself in an interview!’. Well, I think I am a good deal! But I also hear that interviewers are turned off by people who think they can do it all.
Let me tell you, future interviewers out there, I have the ability to complete any task. Because if I can’t figure it out, I will ask. I am resourceful, and I know my boundaries. But I will give it my all.
There.
Is that what you want to hear?



**If you watch this video below, please laugh. Who spends the time to make these?**

There is Desperate..... and then there is Too Desperate

This ad was posted on the TV/FILM/RADIO section of craigslist with the title:
Tickling for $150/hr

Now, I was just curious- no way interested- just curious to see what the author of the posting might say to convince someone to contact him- so I clicked on the link.

But after reading the post, I was still not reassured. I mean, who responds to these postings?

These ads appear on craigslist all the time.
I'm just curious to know if anyone responds to them.

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’.

It's Like I'm Running The New York Marathon

Today, an idea was brought to my attention, so I am going to share it with all of you.

Instead of thinking of it as chasing down a job, think of it as a RACE!
A race to see who hires you first.

That way, no matter what, in the end- you win.
Also, even though its you who is still sending out resumes, thinking of yourself as the prize instead of the stalker is way more exhilarating.

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.

It's a Mad Mad World

Yesterday I saw the one of the guys from Mad Men.

I have since decided that I am going to start watching Mad Men, so I can be retroactively excited about seeing one of the actors on the street.
Oh, and what does this have to do with my job search?
Nothing really, because by the time I reacted, he was too far away for me to run over and give him a copy of my resume.

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.

Linked In.......To What?

How is LinkedIn supposed to help you get a job?

My friends and I signed up for LinkedIn when we realized that we were entering the professional world, or so we hoped. But after 'friending' all of the people we already knew personally, and the few people we met at our internships that we felt comfortable enough 'join networks' with, we were done.

So I've been asking around. Basically here is what I have surmised. You stalk famous people on LinkedIn. Not famous like the cover of People magazine. More like, the CEO of your dream company. Then, you see if you have any connections, no matter how far they are, and you ask to be introduced. How weird is that?

As far as my experience with LinkedIn goes, I know I am not utilizing it in the right way. I don't think checking the LinkedIn profiles of people I am looking to buy things off craigslist to make sure they are not sketchy classifies as appropriate LinkedIn usage. But I want to use it. I want to be a success story. I can see the headline (of my next blog post) now: Job Seeker Finally Landing Career Through LinkedIn.

If you or someone you know will be in the online area in the next week, and have gotten a job because of your LinkedIn account, we want to hear from you! Please write in!!!

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.

Do They Have Cotton Candy at Your Career Fair?

Back in March, my University began advertising its big Spring Career Fair! Finally, some hope for those of us with still no answer to the ‘So what are you going to do next year?’ question on the tip of every adults tongue. Unfortunately this year, unless you had already applied to medical school, most of my friends were still in the ‘Not sure yet’ boat. At least I had company in there right?
A few days before the career fair, when we all had our resumes printed and our interview suits dry-cleaned, the university released the schedule for the three-day event. The schedule had a map of where the different booths would be, who would be at what booths, and what time each company was scheduled to be there. The schedule was made up of a few different documents, and that the information was organized in multiple ways- so that every student could easily find the needs that matched their criteria.
Well, as I’ve mentioned before, there was no film school at my university. No media department, no advertising, television, marketing, radio, or production. Plus, the journalism school helps the journalism students, the business school helps the business students, and the theatre school helps the theatre students.
As a part of the Individual Studies Department, there isn’t really an alumni system that can help out, because the alumni didn’t necessarily study the things you are studying. So it is really up to you to forge the road ahead and make your plans for the upcoming year. Now my roommate (lets call her ‘the honors history student of the year’ to sum up all of her awards in one title) and I looked through the lists for the career fair, and found not a single thing appropriate to either of our job searches. But we were not about to let the system beat us down. She expressed her disappointment to me and grew jealous of friends at other private institutions who had received perfect positions from career fairs specifically geared towards the students and their interests. With that note of inspiration, I began to search for career fairs happening at other universities in the metropolitan area. And by metropolitan area, I mean- schools we could get to using the metro.
I thought it was a pretty snazzy idea. Until I found out that these career fairs are not just something you can walk into with your heels on and your briefcase of resumes. They check ID's, to make sure that they are only helping out their own students.
So we were stuck with our own career fair. The one with all the government jobs and 'consulting' positions. Now seriously, what does it really mean to be a consultant?

*No offense to any consultants out there. I just really don't get what your job does. If you can explain it to me though. I will publicly apologize for questioning your career choice.

You Turned Down A Job....in this economy?!!?

Now re-read this post's title in Fran Drescher's voice from The Nanny. Better?
It's a work in progress.
Well reader(s?), I dare say it's true. Only, the job was really just an unpaid internship. That they have conveniently retitled: an entry level position.
Which brings me to a point that I have been trying to hold in. Since when is it ok to not pay people for real full time jobs just by calling it an ‘internship’?
Exhibit A**:

“Intern needed for film production and finance company based in New York. Responsibilities include answering phones, writing script coverage, and general office duties. College students or recent grads preferred. The position is unpaid, but hours and dates are flexible.”

First off, I would like to point out that not only do they want someone to come into their office and be their receptionist/gopher bitch, but they want someone to actually apply for the privilege to do it for free. While I would understand if this was a minimum wage job (being as a trained chimp could perform it) to vie for the opportunity is even slightly demeaning. All the more so if you just graduated with a Bachelor's degree, and you have just invested hundreds of thousands of dollars in a college education.

Now I sent my resume to these people. They called immediately for an interview. And why wouldn't they? My resume is awesome, and they aren't going to pay me shit. After some prodding questions, I got them to admit that by 'hours and dates are flexible' they really meant, we can't give you a contract because we can't pay you, but we still want you to verbally commit to working for us a full five days a week.

So even though my semi-supportive parents are not going to let me take a fake job full time, who am I to turn down an interview? Well, my grandfather got wind of this and let me know in a very slow, carefully prepared fashion that ones value to a company, is determined by the amount they pay you. And therefore if I 'interned' for free, I was worth nothing. His words, not mine. Truth be told, I had heard this speech from him every time I had an unpaid internship in college (7 times) and each of those times, I argued with him about 'getting credit' and 'gaining experience'. Although it pains me to admit it, this time he is absolutely 100% right. While I do not think I am worthless, I do feel (quite strongly) that I have paid my unpaid intern debt to society. The things I have done for these internships...but more on that later. And stay tuned- because those stories are go-ood.


**This is not the job I turned down. The job I turned down was an unpaid position at an art gallery. Within 15 minutes of the phone interview, my interviewer offered me the position. How good of an interviewer must I be in order to translate my love for television into a study of visual digital art?

For Those Of You Who Just Joined Us...

As of October 2008, I was catching my first bout of senioritis, eager for the moment of ‘no more papers and no more books’. In an effort to stall the decision for the topic of my senior thesis, I decided to get one leg up on most of my fellow classmates, if not in the academic department, but in the search for a job after graduation. I decided that I would be so ahead of the game, I would be sure to astound everyone as I arrived home for spring break, fully prepared to answer the “so what next” question sure to be hurdled my way like a batting cage on speed. And with this decision, I began. In the course of the past 10 months, I have sent out my resume over 3,000 times, the internships/jobs label in my gmail account has been used for over 728 emails, and I have finally finished the many books of stamps my mother sent with me to camp over 8 years ago.
These are my stories.