First step after submitting a cover letter and resume is follow up, follow up follow up. I followed up a week after and never heard back...I started to think that maybe it was a failed mission. So I followed up for a second time with my contact for the event coordination position. Probably not the most creative email ever crafted but a follow up at the least. I simply stated that I assumed the position had already been filled but that I was still very much interested in the field and asked if she'd please keep me in mind if anything else opened up. Low and behold an email appeared in my inbox 3 days later requesting a phone interview. HALLELUJAH! HALLELUJAH! HALLALAYLUYAHHHH!! (meant to be sung not said). This news came at a rather inopportune moment in my current career. I had just been asked to take a trip to New York with my boss to meet a new and very important client. For some reason my newly acquired phone interview felt like treason. Why might you ask, well because my current employer actually thinks that my skills in my current field are good enough (if not great enough) for me, project coordinator, to accompany him, principal, to sit in a room full of "senior director of this" and "vice president that" types. SCARY and exhilarating all at the same time. And NEW YORK! I had never been to New York and why would anyone pass up a free trip and hotel in Times Square?!? That's right you wouldn't.
Let's jump forward for a quick second. There is absolutely nothing more intimidating than sitting in a room full of high ranked executives and getting to that part of the meeting where introductions are in order. Now as we all know for some reason this is a real feat for even the smoothest of Joe Shmoe's. Your heart starts to race, you start to sweat and you are saying your name and your title over and over again in your head hoping and praying that you don't stumble over the one name you've said on a daily basis your entire life, YOUR NAME. Then after you do in fact stumble over your name and title you realize that while you were busy sweating, stressing and stuttuering out your name you neglected to even hear a single persons name in the room! So there you are sitting in a room full of vice presidents of something and senior directors of whatever and you still have no idea what any of their names are. FAIL. Thank god for meeting agendas and bosses that pay attention, that's why they pay them the big bucks ;)!
Ok, back to the topic at hand, my phone interview. I managed to set it up on a Wednesday on my lunch hour, I didn't prepare anything, just my wits. Remember that while I have work experience and related experience I had applied for a very lucrative position that attracts all kinds of wannabe's. First thing out of the interviewers mouth was, “Thank you very much for your letter, I have to tell you that I enjoyed everything you had written and we received over 500 applications and you are the only person that I am interviewing who does not have direct experience with wedding coordination.” BOOOMM!!! That sentence right there, was all I needed to hear, interview concluded, let's go home folks. Kidding. But honestly that was the greatest complement I could have ever asked for. I got an interview with her because she felt my passion through my letter and wanted to give me a shot. Now the rest of the interview was quite boring and honestly at the end of it, I didn't really want to be a wedding coordinator, at least not as a full time job. Even though I was not offered the position, I was honored to have the interview and a contact within the field. The interviewer stated that I could contact her anytime with questions about the field and that she'd keep me in mind if anything part time opened up. That was good enough for me. All in all, letter one... a success.
Lessons learned:
- Always try for a job that you think you'll be passionate about. Worst case scenario, you'll find out that maybe that field isn't the best for you but if you'd hadn't tried you'd never know.
- Think outside of the box with your cover letter. Just think about all the boring letters these people read all day long. STAND OUT.
- Even though I wasn't offered a position, I did get an interview and that is a step in the right direction.
- Keep at it
PS if you only had one day to explore NYC, this is what it would look like...
Booses,Shenine joon
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