She Says Portfolio Surgery, 13/01/11

I wanted to let you all know about the January She Says Event, one that is very popular, Portfolio Surgery.  If you'd like your portfolio reviewed you need to book a place and you can do that here. Also a big thanks to the lovely people at Iris who are hosting this year!

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Portfolio Surgery January 13th, 2011

Does your portfolio need a brush down? Got a tad cobwebby during the bleak winter months or not sure if you’re heading the in right direction?

Then fear not, the SheSays UK portfolio night is back by popular demand! Come and get your work in front of some of the UK's leading Creative Directors, Art Directors and Strategists.

These are the fabulous creatives who will giving their advice and thoughts.

• Laura Jordan-Bambach - LBi
• Becky Power - Grand Union
• Elspeth Lynn - Profero
• David Gamble - Saint Y&R
• Rhiannon James - D&AD
• Bo Hellberg - Tribal DDB
• Sanky - All of Us
• Steve Price - PlanB Studio

And a few more we will be announcing of the next couple of weeks - stay tuned.

Places are limited, so let us know in advance if you’d like your portfolio reviewed. We’ll be sending out an invite shortly.

The night is an open, informal and social affair – so bring your best networking skills along too. 

Either way, we look forward to seeing you there!

Iris Worldwide
185 Park Street
London
SE1 9DY

Interview at Grand Union

I had an interview last week at Grand Union with a guy called Robert Fein. A nice American man who is heading up the User Experience team. I found out about the interview the day before at 3 p.m. and the interview was at 8:30 a.m. Not a problem. This was set up through Nick at Zebra People. I was pretty excited. Nick gave me some good interview tips and I was feeling good. He did mention that I might not be experienced enough for the role, but to meet Robert because they might have a permanent role that I would be suited for. That sounded good to me.

I showed up to the interview and I liked the look and feel of the reception room. The lift was out so I walked up six flights with a girl who was working there. She had come in through a graduate scheme. She was very nice and we had a bit of a chat in between our huffing and puffing.

Robert was cool. He knows his stuff and comes across in a very approachable way. He didn't come across as arrogant at all. He is from the states and has been living in London for nine years. It was nice to be interviews by an American. You feel like there is a little bit of common ground there.

After he got done describing the role I knew I was in no way experienced enough to take it on. It was for a very important new client and I told him that I at the level to do it. I know sometimes people embellish their skills because they know once they get in there they can learn what they need to quickly. It wouldn't have been right to pretend that I could handle it.

Robert mentioned that he was looking for a jr person to join the team. Someone who could lighten the workload of the senior people and be mentored by them. To me that sounded great. I have the technical skills and experience to work on IA and bang out wire frames. I felt like maybe this was going to be moment, I was in the right place at the right time. I felt comfortable with Robert and thought that this might just thing I was looking for.

The interview ended and Robert mentioned that he would be going out of town for a week and he would be in contact with Nick. So he walks me to the door and we do one last handshake and I look straight into his eyes and say "Thank you Nick, it was great meeting you."

The moment after I said it I just about died. I called Robert, the man I hoped saw some potential in me and was going to hire me, the wrong name. I couldn't believe that I had done it. I have never done that before. Now maybe it's not the end of the world, but I felt incredibly stupid. I walked down the stairs and leaned against the building wondering if I had just blown my chances.

I wondered what to do. Robert mentioned that he was going to be going out of town in an hour. I thought about waiting outside the building for him to come out and apologize. Then I thought maybe I should just leave it and pretend that it didn't happen. I didn't know what the right thing to do was. I thought that I had ruined my chances.

It was an honest mistake due to nerves. At least I called him Nick, the person we were just talking about. I wanted to make a good impression. I felt I needed to do something. I decided I would write a note and lightheartedly apologize for calling him the wrong name while saying it was good meeting him. I went back up the six flights and left the note with reception. Thankfully Robert was in the room next to reception interviewing someone else.

These are tough situations. I didn't know what the right thing to do in a situation like that. I guess there really doesn't have to be a right thing, you can always just follow your gut. That's what I did. My gut said leave a note. The good think about following your gut is at least you know you did what you felt was right.

I still can't believe that I did that. I am still waiting to hear back, so keep your fingers crossed.

Zebra People New Media Recruitment

Last week I went to meet up with Nick, from Zebra People. I was referred to this recruitment agency by a woman who I met through Julie Dirksen at MCAD. As I've mentioned before I like going with recruitment agencies that have been recommended. I asked Matthew how many recruitment agencies he thought were in London and he answered thousands upon thousands. 

I gave Nick and a call and set off to meet him last Monday. He had a job going that I could interview for the next day. I was pretty excited. I went over to meet him and have a chat about my skills. I haven't written a post about it yet, but I've decided look for a job that was similar to what I was doing at Popular Front. I've been looking for IA and user experience roles. There was a role at Grand Union, a successful interactive agency with a great client list. 

I would hope that my interview with Nick went ok. The role at Grand Union was a bit beyond my skills, but Nick mentioned that they also had a jr role that they were looking to fill. He thought it would be worth a go. 

The interview style in London is much different than in Mpls, as I have mentioned before. I really have to learn the competency style of answering the questions. Nick asked me how my efforts at Popular Front impacted their bottom line, how I increased profits. I was stopped dead in my tracks. I had no idea how to answer that question. Nick was helpful and gave me ideas of how I could answer that. Thank goodness. I just showed me that I had a lot to learn. I think that I am not talking about my experience in the right way. Which is frustrating. I used to think that I came across well in interviews, but I know that I am not doing well here. I've got to work on that.