Location: In La La land…. but I’m not dreaming

April 23, 2012 by 3 Comments

If you would have asked me 5 months ago, where I would be in April 2012,  I would have probably  been annoyed. Then I’d say, “I don’t bleeping know” in a more tactful manner. This time in December, I was nearing the end of my term on Capitol Hill and once again found myself at a dead end. I felt I had exhausted my resources as far as coffee and informational meetings and emails could take you and working at Starbucks had started to seem like the most viable option. My plan after the holidays in Minnesota was to return to Washington D.C., find a peanut job so I could eat and at least pay my angel of an auntie a little something for letting me squat in her apartment, and co-produce a webisode series I wrote with the little money I had. Meanwhile, I would wait for my 5-figure job to fall from the sky.

The Sunday before my departure from Minnesota, I received a call from one of my best friends from high school that I can now confidently say changed the course of my life forever. She asked me if I had a job yet and if I’d be willing to move to L.A. to work for a show we will refer to as, Mr. Bigtime. A production assistant had just quit and she was going to give my resume to the producer. After wiping up my drool I was able to say, heck yes. In a matter of two hours I was on the phone with a producer for Mr. Bigtime. She was extremely bubbly and excited to talk to little old me for some reason. This woman tells me (and my mom, who was sitting on pins and needles listening along), “Now, I could hire someone locally, but because of your resume and what I’ve heard about you if you can get here by next Monday the job is yours. Call me on Tuesday with your answer.” It took a nanosecond for me to decide that I would go. I really could not believe it! Me, the quirkster, suburban, African girl was finally going to the big time! Who knew, maybe I would have a chance to be the first production assistant ever to take over a major network primetime show. At this point anything was possible!  I floated. Of course my parents were elated as well.  So much so they told quite literally our whole extended family. Immediately, I devised a plan that I would go to D.C., pack up my things, and fly to L.A. that Saturday. I bought my ticket from Reagan to LAX, planned to ship my car, and made arrangements to stay with my friend until I could find my own place.

When I called the woman back her tone was substantially less bubbly and she told me to call her back on Thursday. Strange I thought, this hussy better not try to pull a fast one on me. In the days leading up to Thursday I could not eat or sleep. It was definitely the worst anticipation anxiety I’ve ever had. My gut told me that something was wrong. I called again on Thursday and she handed the phone to her Associate producer who goes through my job description, what my days will be like, tells me to watch the last 2 episodes of the show, and tells me she will email me a sample of the packets I will put together each week. AH, I could breath again It hought until I heard her whisper “Should I tell her now?” The associate producer then informs me that  she would “ call me back in 5 min”.

I wanted to say, “No, you trickster. Tell me whatever you have to say NOW!” I mean, come on woman, this was no small decision, it’s Thursday and my ticket was for Saturday. But I conceded and again waited for her call. FOUR HOURS LATER my phone rings. The sweethearted associate producer is on the line. It went something like this:

“Hi hun, we actually decided to hire someone local just because we didn’t want you to move here just for this job, you know? And we’d feel responsible if it didn’t work out.”…And a bunch of other stuff that sounded like the teacher from Charlie Brown. At the end, I simply said, “Okay, thank you for your consideration.”

So here we have it, a one way a non-refundable ticket to Los Angeles International Airport, cancelled casting calls for my webisode series, and a big fat question mark lingering over my head. The bon voyage dinner my best friend Camille and I cooked had turned in to something quite different.  It wasn’t until Camille’s older brother said, “Well, you’re still going right” that I considered still going. Who knows what could happen, I thought. But this was just too gutsy; my parents would think I was crazy. And obviously I was because that Saturday I got on the plane and not one of those doubts have come to fruition.

I just recently made the deposit on a studio in, yes you guessed right, L.A. May will not only mark my 1st year as a graduate, but also my 5th month living in the City of Angels. Within a week of arriving in this foreign land, I had a freelance job on a film. This led me to the permanent job I have now. My dream of pursuing acting seemed so far fetched only weeks before; I now have an agent. And most unbelievably to me, I auditioned, passed, and enrolled in the first course at the Groundlings School. Something I truly dreamed of, but thought could only be reality years from whenever I was dreaming. I really cannot believe my life right now and I owe it all to that tricky producer at Mr. Bigtime.

You see, I didn’t ramble on with every detail of that story to hype myself. That’s actually one of my least favorite things to do. I want you to understand my thought process because I know you’ve worn those apprehensive shoes too. We’ve all found ourselves at a dead end where our options seemed limited. We doubt, we stress, and we complain about things that are out of our control as opposed to the easier  option of taking control.  There is something beautiful about risk. No, not tightrope walking across a high-rise building over a pool of sharks. I’m talking about jumping in to an insecure situation and trusting yourself to turn it into something solid. When you take risks, you take control. Think about the times where you doubted yourself and went for it anyway. You took a risk! Regardless if the situation ended in your favor or not, I know you lived because you’re reading this article. And if it don’t kill ya, (in unison, please) it makes ya stronger. My friends, when it comes to your dreams, especially those that seem farfetched, the only thing that will come from sitting and waiting is a sore toosh. Make the choice to take control and turn your dreams in to your reality. You’ll surprise yourself.

And always, be thankful!

Filed Under: Blog, Career + Internships, Featured, Other Side Tagged With: , , , , ,

Interview Hotseat Part 1: Tell Me About Yourself

January 25, 2012 by Leave a Comment

With the new year in full swing, Zora readers are doubling down on 2012 goals and searching for new opportunities. Whether you’re graduating this year, looking for an internship, or readying yourself to move on to your next job, interviewing will likely be a part of the experience.

Interviewing provokes major nerves in most of us.  This is an odd phenomenon because most interviewers aren’t that creative and typically ask the same questions. This means that the interview experience can be conquered. With sufficient preparation, you may even find yourself enjoying interviews. That’s where this blog series comes in. Over the next few weeks, Interview Hotseat will provide relevant advice and tips to tackle the most commonly asked interview questions.

I’ve spend many hours interviewing candidates for various positions, both on the phone and in person. They’ve ranged from internship and college hires to full-time professionals. It is always evident, usually from the first few minutes, whether a candidate has sufficiently prepared. A good resume or recommendation is not enough, and many great-on-paper candidates have blown opportunities by failing to prepare for common questions.

We begin the series with what is not only a very popular question, but likely to be one of the first encountered:

“Tell Me About Yourself”

Before explaining how to answer this question, let’s first look at how not to answer.  Typical but bad approaches to this question include:

  • Rambling: Hopefully this won’t apply to you after reading this post, but one of the worse things people do when answering this question is to talk too long. Five minutes into it, the interviewer has completely forgotten who you are and most of what you’ve said. She’s probably thinking about what she’s having for lunch. Less is more!
  • Talking only about yourself: No one likes a egomaniac and though this question ostensibly asks about you, interviewers are really looking for more. The point of the interview is to see if you’ll be a good fit for the company. Let that fact guide your answers. If all you do is talk about how great you are without any connection to the position for which you’re applying, you’re missing out on a big opportunity

Instead of the above, you should:

  • Tell A Story: When the interviewer asks this question, she is definitely not looking for encyclopedic, biographical details. Instead, she wants information to contextualize you. Think about what happens after the interview: the company will have likely interviewed a few candidates and a committee may meet to discuss them. At this point, your interviewers will need to be able to clearly describe you. They’ll be pitting your 30 second “elevator pitch” against that of other candidates. What information do you want the interviewer to remember and recall about you if she only has 30 seconds? This is what you need cover in this question.
  • Be concise:  Because this question is so broad, it gives you the opportunity to craft your story and introduce its main points (see above) but you should not use it to go into detail. So while it may be fine to say “I’ve spent the past few years building my personal brand in the nonprofit sector,” you should not go into detail about your blog, all the things you’ve written about, responses to it, etc. There’ll be time later for that. The key here is to present a short, compelling story that leaves the interviewer wanting to know more.
  • Be natural: While you should prepare ahead of time, do not memorize a paragraph about yourself. Do this and you risk coming off as uncreative, scripted, and annoying. There is an easy way to avoid this: DO NOT MEMORIZE A PARAGRAPH. Seriously, you will practice  your interview questions until you’re comfortable answering them. In the process you may find yourself using the same key phrases, but you should avoid the urge to memorize

Prepare the specifics of your story:

The story that you tell in your answer to this question is key to the rest of your interview. You should spend some time crafting it. Everyone’s story will be different but at minimum, yours should:

  • Provide an overview of your academic and/or professional background (e.g.,” I graduated from NYU and have spent the past few years as a producer at WNYC’s news desk. I’ve covered a range of local news stories from politics to education and social policy”)
  • Explain why you are interviewing (“I’ve enjoyed working in radio and over time I’ve found that I have a passion for reporting on education issues which is why this position is so interesting to me”)
  • Provide humanizing tidbits that reveal your interests and personality (“Writing is my first love so I’d love to return to a career that involves writing. Plus I probably spend more time than I should keeping up with edchats and educator meetups)

After crafting your story, the next and final step is to practice. Answer this question out loud to yourself while looking in the mirror. Better yet, have someone listen to and critique your answer. You’ll be an interview ace in no time!

Filed Under: Blog, Career + Internships, Featured Tagged With: , , , ,

The Danger of Making College Too Career-Focused

August 28, 2011 by Leave a Comment

Via GOOD:

Indeed, to shift his student’s relatively short-sighted thinking about the purpose of higher education, Wiley assigned his classes to read David Foster Wallace’s poignant 2005 Kenyon College commencement speech, which challenges “the so-called real world of men and money and power.” Wallace posits that true living is instead about “being able truly to care about other people and to sacrifice for them over and over in myriad petty, unsexy ways every day.”

Similarly, Steve Jobs said in his famous 2005 Stanford commencement address that “Remembering that you are going to die is the best way I know to avoid the trap of thinking you have something to lose. You are already naked. There is no reason not to follow your heart.”

Read the full story at GOOD

Post image courtesy of Thirty30 Photography on Flickr

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