Nailed It

Last week I had a phone interview with an agency in San Francisco.

Yes, San Francisco.

I can hear my mom hyperventilating at the thought of me moving away from the NW again.

The interview was the initial screening with HR for an agency I have great respect for and have liked for sometime.

After talking with the agency I tweeted:

"I've learned that in the job search you have to be honest about who you are and not try to be who you think they want."

I recently went through an interview process with my dream company but not the dream job. I tried to be uniquely me but I was also selling what I thought they wanted. After 4 days of being interviewed by 16 people they went with another candidate. Bummer, right?

I have always been a dreamer and my parents encouraged BIG dreams but only now am I starting to realize that I need to dream even BIGGER! Which is what I did with the phone interview. I continued to be uniquely me but instead of giving what I think they want to hear, I spoke the truth.  I talked about my strengths, where I see my future and ways I want to grow. After getting off the phone, even if they had hated me, I knew I would never regret being honest in who I am.

(Thankfully, I made a strong connection and the feelings were mutual. Now I am planning my SF return trip to meet in person. Stay tuned.)

Seize every opportunity.

I wanted to share a snipit from an article for Sports Illustrated that related to me in the job hunt and you might find it relevant to you.

[To read the full article click here>>]

What should every commencement speaker do at this time of year? Simple: Tell kids how to get jobs. Goodell's advice began when he graduated from Washington & Jefferson College just outside of Pittsburgh in 1981 and wanted to work in football. Anything in football.

"I wrote more than 40 letters to the NFL,'' he said. "Everybody. The results: a big pile of rejections. Some plan, huh? But I was determined and persistent and kept writing. Finally, there was a polite but somewhat dismissive reply from a weary executive at the NFL to, quote, 'Stop by if you're in the area.' So I told him, 'I'm in the area.' ''

Sort of.

"I got in my car,'' Goodell said, "and drove all night from Pittsburgh to New York, and I was on his doorstep the next morning. Six months later, 12 or 13 more letters later, they offered me a three-month internship. So it doesn't matter how you get in that door. Just get in that door. The lesson: Seize every opportunity.''

A little while after his speech, I caught up with one of the graduates, 23-year-old history major Thomas Screnci of Milton, Mass. I asked him what he thought of the speech.

"Very inspirational,'' Screnci said. "He knew what we wanted to hear. We all wanted to know how he got from college to here. He told us what we needed to hear -- there are no shortcuts, no magic formula. He got dozens of rejection letters, but he was determined to show his boss what he was made of. Same thing with us now. Now it's our shot to show the world what we're made of.''

In front of a civic center of strangers Saturday, Roger Goodell did his father proud.