Oh hi there.
Yes, we have a lot of catching up to do.
First of all, and most important, this lil lady is employed! After interning for less than two months, I am now a Social Marketing Coordinator for 360i, a digital marketing agency whose company culture is compared to Google, Facebook, and Twitter. MediaPost picked up one of 360i’s most recent blog post about the 10 reasons why employees love working at 360i. Check out the link yourself, but I will confirm that yes, the first reason listed is true: we do have a Tweeting Bar and yes, you can make a pit stop.
All cheesiness aside, I couldn’t be happier. I love the work I’m doing and enjoy coming to work every day.
I credit my success in snagging a job (an almost impossible feat for all the entry-seeking college graduates) to three decisions I made in the past three months.
1. Moving to New York City after graduation despite not having a job, and no real plans other than to NOT go home after graduation.
Steph (The Big Brown Bag), Hanna, and I literally spent the last weekend of May finding an affordable apartment in a decent area, applying, and moving in. No, we do not live in the nicest of areas in Brooklyn, and yes, we have had our fair share of “fun” experiences with the G, but for having little money and time, we lucked out.
2. Realizing that working at a cafe is not going to pay the rent and deciding to search for paid internships at 1 am on Craigslist.
I KNOW – you must be extra careful about applying to anything on Craigslist. It got to a point where I was not making very much money and frankly felt dissapointed in myself with not having the sparkly career other people talk about. I thought “ugh! Eff this, I have more than enough experience. I can definitely get a paid internship.” It was perfect timing – one of the internships I applied to was at 360i. I received an email a few hours later, went in to interview, and started the following week.
3. Even though my internship was at the ideal agency, I knew it was important to keep looking and applying for other full time jobs.
I talked this over with multiple people about whether it was ethical to apply to jobs when I was barely at 360i for two months. However – You never know what opportunity may come your way, and as my friend Emily always said, interviews can lead to more networking. I was leaving work early to go in for one interview and had to let my supervisors know. Enough word spread around and by the end of the week I knew 360i would provide a great deal of opportunity for me, and BOOM – I have a job there – and trust me, nothing has changed much so far, I’m just as busy as ever.
There are no free tickets when it comes to being successful. It doesn’t really matter where you intern, who you know, and what school you went to. What it boils down to is this – all experience is meant to teach you is knowing which risks are worth taking and trusting your gut- while having good timing.
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
My Name Is Reb 