Interview #2 Harvest Digital

I  just got a call from the woman that I was supposed to be interviewed by this morning letting me know that they already found someone for the role. It's a bit of a bummer, but these things happen. She was very nice about it on the phone. It was a role that I was really interested in, but all things happen for a reason.

On the upside, I spent a great deal of time preparing for this interview. That will serve me well for the three interviews I have next week. You can never spend too much time preparing as I like to say.

I found out about this job through the She Says Facebook group. A current Harvester was advertising a job, which led me their website where I discovered the role that sounded perfect for me. They still have a few roles going for anyone interested have a look here.

Also it's Friday and I've got the entire day ahead of me. I will be meeting up with a fellow American for a coffee this afternoon. I am excited about that. Audrey found me on Facebook through an Expat group a few months back and now we're going to meet.

To all those out there looking for their next job best of luck.

Getting ready for interviews

I am just taking a wee break from getting for my interview tomorrow. I will write more about looking for a job soon. Although I want to write about it and share my experiences, I am a bit hesitant. I want to repsect people's privacy. Which is why I never wrote about what it was like working at Rechord. 

At first this started out to be a blog about looking for work and then I thought it would morph into a blog about what it's like to work in the UK. However, I didn't feel right about it doing. 

Ok, I should get back to work. Just thought I would share with you a photo of where I usualy sit at home whilst working. 

Cheers

Rhea

Interview #1 Futureheads Recruitment

I've been putting off writing about this interview because it went pear shaped. You know when you meet someone and you just know that you're not going to get on? You feel a vibe, well I felt a vibe and lost my nerve. 



Before I go into interviews I like to sit down and prepare a list of objectives for the meeting. Key points to highlight, questions to ask the interviewer and I make a list to describe how I want to come across. On my list were the following words: capable, secure, confident, calm and enthusiastic. I probably didn't hit any of those on the list. 


I probably came across as incoherent and unfocused. Two things you don't want to project in an interview. The good thing was that it was an interview with a recruiter, so it was good practice. How likely is that recruiter going to want to find me a job? Not very, but there are loads of recruiters our there. 


The person was kind enough to give me some valuable feedback and I took all that they said on board. I went home and started writing out in a standard format the projects that I worked on. I've also been using a voice recorder on my iphone so I can practice answering questions. It's works really well.  I used to just talk in front of a mirror, but you can forget what you've said. Once you've recorded it to a standard that you like you can just listen to it. Trust me, I am taking steps to make sure there isn't a repeat performance. 

My digital pm mentor was super nice and sent me an email asking how it went and offered her words of wisdom after I told her. I am pretty darn lucky to have such a great mentor.


What can you do except learn from the situation and do better next time.

How Twitter found me my first job in London

Rechord, photos of my office
Finally I am going to write about my first job! That's what this blog was all about. My journey to finding my first job, the good and the bad. The triumphs and the tears. Finding my first job after college in London has been one of the most challenging things I've ever had to do. It hasn't been easy.

So you all know the story by now and if not you can find it all here within the pages of this blog. I had spent months looking for my first job in London, so imagine how surprised I was when it found me. I came to "find" my first job in London through Twitter.

One day I received an email from my now boss. She had come across my digital CV on my Twitter profile after setting up a search to find a web manager for her agency. She had set up a search and my feed appeared in it and she had a look at my extendr profile and decided she liked what she found. I had my contact details on my extendr and so she was able to send me an email with a link to the job description.

I couldn't believe it! I was over the moon, a job that sounded amazing had found its way to me. I got in touch with her and came in for a trial day.I've been at Rechord for one month now.

It's so crazy that I would get my first job this way, especially after what I had been going through. At first I thought it had just fallen in my lap, but I had also made a conscious effort to use social networking to help me find a job. When I first started looking I remember thinking that it would be cool to find a job just using Twitter. It's funny how things work out.

Keen to get my foot in the door

http://rheajoconnor.extendr.com/

I've been following Tim Brunelle's Future of Advertising class at MCAD. He's been great at getting his course information up onto his blog, Useful Lunacy. I didn't get a chance to meet Tim when I was at MCAD, but friends of mine have been in his class and have said good things. It's been interesting to follow the class and to learn along with them.

I was going through the class sessions looking for some of the workfolio sites that the students were using as part of the class and ran across the link to a site called extendr.com. I have been thinking that I would need some sort of online workfolio in order to boost my chances at getting a job in London. Unfortunately, all of my MCAD work is very carefully documented and stored on a memory stick packed away in a basement in Minnesota.

The reason being is that I came to London to study abroad and I only planned on being here for two months. I didn't bring that memory stick, but oh how I wish I had! Most people would like to see work examples and I understand why. I've put off sorting it out because to be honest the thought of recreating three and a half years worth of portfolio projects is the last thing that I want to do.

So when I found extendr.com the other day, I thought that it might be the perfect way to have a presence here in London. I liked that it was simple and straightforward so why not give it a try? It was fun to put my profile together. It also helped me to remember that I have done a lot of stuff and that I have worthwhile experience!

One of the challenges I face being here looking for a job is that no one here has heard of MCAD, let alone the Visualization program. People can look at my CV and see that I've had an internship at Popular Front, but it doesn't mean anything to them. Someone scans my CV and they think "wait a minute! Where are her GCSEs and A Levels? Did she get a first at university or a second?" I've received the feedback that because I am coming from a different educational system and have had internships at places no one has heard of, that I am going to have to work extra hard at getting that information across.

Great, but how do I do that? My CV is already going on 4 pages! I've gotten the advice that I should I write up a one page summary and include thumbnail images. I wasn't too keen on that idea, writing up a one page summary explaining all that I did in four years at college? Yikes! Even if I included the links so they can take a look, they still have to take the time to type in the urls. It seemed to me that there should be a better way and along came extendr!

What I am hoping to get out of my extendr.com profile is that an employer or someone whom I am trying to network with can look at it and quickly get an idea of what my background is. They can have a look at where I've worked, what I've been learning and what I am involved in. It's quick and easy. They don't have to read a bunch of copy and bullet points. Just click if you're interested in something and away you go.

I will keep you all updated on my progress with it. It's also just a great way to keep up a list of all the things you've done.

Creative Careers Job Hunting Workshop

Last Friday I attended a creative careers job hunting workshop put on by the University of Arts London. It was a good workshop. My objective for going was to see if there were going to be any UK specific tips and just to keep up the  motivation. 

I would say that there were about 60 students and graduates at the event. It was good information, nothing new as far as job hunting goes. I liked being able to meet other students who were looking for jobs and finding out what their experience has been like. 

It was a very interactive workshop and there were a lot of small exercises that you did with a partner. We talked about job hunting methods, practiced our elevator pitch and shared ideas. 

I would say it was worth going to just for the support and motivation. The London University of Arts has a new website to help students which I thought was cool. They seem to do offer a lot of support and services to their students. Have a look at their Creative Living website.

Monday Afternoon

I went to the downtown St. Paul public library yesterday. I love being at the library. For me it’s a great place to get inspired. After being dropped off I decided that I would need a little snack before getting going. I walked over to Mickey’s Diner. I love that place. I didn’t get a chance to take Matthew there the last time he was here. Next time. I had a wonderful grilled cheese with crispy bacon and tomato and a bowl of chilli. I just like being in there sitting at the counter. I love hearing all the thick Minnesotan accents. It was just a cozy place to be. They keep your coffee cup full, what more could you ask for.

I went back to the library and spent most of the day in the business library. I like to go through the trade magazines. I flick through the magazines and make lists of things to look up. Of course my main goal is finding a job, so I was having a look through Brand Week, Creativity, Exhibitions, Ad Age. I love how there is a trade publication for everything under the sun. It was good and I got some ideas. So I have things to look up and I am feeling a bit more optimistic.

I was also having a look through some career books. After this week being home I am going to have let go of my frustration and just get on with it. For me the hardest part is starting over. Having to cold call, setting up informational interviews and endless networking. All things I generally like, well except the cold calling. I just did all those things for four years. It was something that I was really proud of. I started building my network day one while at MCAD. I conducted almost 75 informational interviews. I had seven internships, belonged to professional organizations. I knew people.

I am afraid to contact people in London and ask for informational interviews. I ask myself why I would be afraid. I certainly wasn’t afraid to do it in Minneapolis. I think I perceive things to be so cut throat that people wouldn’t want to give me the time of day. I guess it’s also because I feel like I don’t know the rules. Should I phone someone up directly, or send an email. I just have to remember that I am going to have to face rejection. I am finding myself facing a lot of it lately and getting used to it. I am just going to have to get over it and I know that I will.

I am going to allow myself to kick and fuss for the time being and then once I get back to London I am going to accept that I have to start over and quit moaning about it. It feels like I’ve run a 30 mile race and I have come in first place except that they’re not going to give me my medal. Instead I have to run it again….

Sunday Night

It was a long week and it had its ups and downs. I was working on some more applications and I feel pretty good about it. You hear people giving the advice that you just need to be yourself and it's really true. I write all these essays and I could drive myself crazy worrying about whether or not I am giving these people what they want. At the end of the day if you just be yourself than you can't go wrong. 

I had two more rejections from jobs that I applied for. It always stings a bit, but I don't take it personally. The first reaction is usually disappointment, but you have to get over it. I am just so eager to go to work. I graduated back in May and it wasn't until I came back to London in October that I could legally work. To be fair I haven't even been back a month yet, but I just want to start my career so badly. It shouldn't be long now. 

I went to an open day at TBWA on Friday. I didn't book my space in time and decided just to show the day of. It was fine. Generally I would have no problem doing that in Minneapolis, but sometimes these things are pretty strict. If you aren't on the list then you aren't going in. It was a really good open day. I got there and people were just milling about in the reception area looking at the work and getting to know people. The first bit was set up so we could have a chat with people who worked there and ask questions. I had the opportunity to talk to a few people before I went up to the presentation. It was good presentation, the guy leading it did a really good job. I really felt for him it was a tough crowd. One guy in the audience was falling asleep and some people looked down right hostile.

 He talked about the agency and showed us some of the campaigns and explained their disruption philosophy. He then talked about what made a good account person and then opened it up to questions. One guy's hand immediately shot up in the air. He wanted to know what TBWA stood for. Can you believe that someone would ask that question? You show up to an open day at an advertising agency and you don't even bother to know what their name stands for? Or even if you didn't know why on earth would you ask that question? I felt so sorry for him, he looked so stupid. 

It was a good day and it was good for me to get out there and meet some people, size up the competition. I had a chat with one of the account guys who had applied for the graduate scheme and didn't make it. He ended up doing a work experience and got hired on that way. I have heard that doing work experience can be a very good way to get into an agency. I don't know how I feel about it. It makes perfect sense. I did a lot of work experience in the US, over four years I had 7 internships, plus all the class projects. I did over 50 information interviews. On one hand I just want to go to work, I don't want to do anymore internships. Of course I will do whatever it takes. I don't want to come across that I am above doing work experience, it's not that at all. I would think that all that experience would account for something.  

I just wish I had more people here to get advice from. I think I might just try emailing a few people that I know through Facebook and asking for some feedback. I also sent an email to a woman at MediaCom last week and hadn't heard anything back yet, I will contact her tomorrow. This week coming up there are a few more applications to have a crack at and I am going to have to come up with a new strategy. The good thing is I know what it is I want to do, I just have to find the right agency. 

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