Girls networking badly

In case you haven't noticed, I have taken a much-needed hiatus from my online presence, including that within the blogosphere. Call me a hypocrite, but I actually have many other things going on in my life aside from this blog. Shocking, I know.

For the past few weeks, I have been studying incessantly for midterms, and enjoying a well-deserved vacation over my Spring Break. But even in between my time spent lounging on the beach, my naps, and my nights at the casino, of course, I couldn't help but think about that little nuisance that's looming over my head. You know, a job?

As I enjoyed sunny Aruba, so did about 400 young adults at my hotel, sent there with all expenses paid by CareerBuilder.com. Judging from how they sent so many employees (and their guests!) to the Caribbean simply for pleasure, clearly, this was a company that was doing well...and worth looking into. My boyfriend, ever-encouraging, told me that now was the time to network.

At the casino craps table on one of our first nights, I decided to use the sociability of this game to my advantage. I don't remember who started talking to whom, but I found myself in a conversation with the man in his late 20s/early 30s next to me. When he said that he worked for CareerBuilder and they they sent all these lucky people here because they're a great company that's "big on recognition," I asked him if they were hiring for anything entry-level, as I graduate from the University of Michigan this May and I'm very interested in online content development, to which he replied that he believed there were a few openings at the company. After chatting for a few minutes, the CareerBuilder employee told me that not only was he from Michigan (went to State, but I'll let that one slide), his wife was from Newton! Score.

After that interaction though - and a couple great rolls of the dice by my hotshot boyfriend - the conversation dwindled. I couldn't muster up the courage to get this guy's contact information, and we walked on to some other table games, all the while kicking myself as my boyfriend asked me what the hell happened. I guess I figured I had all week to schmooze, since the CareerBuilder people would be at the hotel until Friday.

In the end, I walked away with nothing but a peeling nose. For some reason, although we talked to lots of these people at the casino each night, I just couldn't close. I was on vacation, and so were they...although I could have scored myself a few business cards, the last thing I felt like doing was bothering them.

I usually don't like to call out the companies that I apply to, interview, or network with, because who knows what will come back to bite me in the ass? However, since I was such a flop with this one, I figure I have nothing to lose. Oh, well. There are plenty of other online conglomerates in the sea. For now, although my vacation is over, I'm happy to be back in the swing of things and enjoy the less than 2 months (!) I have left here.

A blow to my online self-confidence

Let me start this off by stating that I put a link to this blog on my resume. That's right, I actively advertise my "deep," random, and often biased thoughts to those I hope will hire me. When I started this blog, I truly believed that nobody out there really cared about what I had to say. Turns out, potential employers do - I've heard more than once that my interviewer/contact has checked out my blog. Since I know that some employers might see this post, I feel the need to preface the fact that my rant is not directed towards anyone in particular. It's just a general feeling that I've had brewing inside me since day one of my job search.

I think that it's a good thing that I put myself out there for anyone to see; our precious little world is rapidly becoming one filled with Tweeters, Flickr (-ers?), and bloggers. In particular, as I hope to become involved in the creative online industry, it's oh-so-important that I appear to somewhat know what I'm doing with that kind of stuff. Hopefully, that kind of competence is what my minute audience sees when they browse this site.

What I don't understand, though, is the lack of effective communication that I've experienced within this supposedly "2.0" web world. I could probably count on several hands the number of non-responses I have received after various e-mails and LinkedIn messages. When asking for a little advice about a specific job listing, or even just requesting the name of an HR contact from a UM alum, apparently, a short message in return is too lofty an expectation.

The best (read: worst) part about this is that I know these people are out there at their computers. When I get in touch with someone, I do my research. I Google them, check their Twitter feed, and mini-stalk them for a few minutes. So, if these people put themselves out there expecting to be heard and responded to, why not return the favor? It's the 21st century, and the Internet has enabled us to do amazing things when it comes to maintaining contact; it takes me a total of two minutes - tops - to send an e-mail from my BlackBerry. And then there's that feeling in the pit of my stomach that I get after the second go-around in messaging attempts: Is he/she not interested in me? Did he/she forget about me? Usually, I can't decide which outcome is worse.

I understand that, as a prospective entry-level employee, and sometimes a stranger, my needy e-mails are not necessarily high on the totem pole of to-do items for these people. I'm not that important, I get it. I just have a hard time believing that these people weren't once sitting in my chair, hoping for the miracle that is post-graduate employment, in a crappy economy to boot.

This has happened to me after initial, wonderful chats about setting up a phone interview or even a face-to-face interview. The contact relationship begins to bloom, I get excited, and then it dies a sudden death - and I look crazy after sending a third message ("just wanted to know if you were still interested in talking..."). What gives? Get with it, people.

How much preparation is too much, really?

Ummm...pretty sure I have a 3-hour long interview tomorrow morning. No big deal.

Essentially, I need to call three separate people from this company at 10, 11, and 12. Hopefully, these conversations will end with a little bit of time in between for me to regain composure. The thing is, I'm honestly not so sure how ready I am. I have reviewed the company, their major clients, and my interviewers. I have brushed up on my own experiences, so that I'm ready to discuss leadership or teamwork experience with ease. I've even looked over certain vocabulary to strategically include in the conversation, that might be key terms the interviewer is looking for. But for some reason, I still don't feel ready.

I think that the reason for this is the sheer fact that I just returned back to school from my winter break; because I haven't had any real work yet, I'm still not in a motivated, go-get-'em mindset. But I have prepared. So, is this relaxed feeling such a bad thing? In the past, I've gone so crazy preparing for these interviews that I have given myself such bouts of frustration and fear that borderline classify as minor panic attacks. Maybe I should try to reinterpret these feelings of unreadiness with feelings of confidence. If I go into an interview feeling at ease, I'll probably act as if...I'm at ease. Which is good. Right?

I'll report back with news!

Interviews, finally!

I wish I could look - and sound - as good as she does during a phone interview.

Okay, clearly I've been slacking a little bit in the posting department. But, that only means that I've been busy, and now have lots to write about! Yay! Besides, isn't it smarter for me to actually research jobs, apply to them, and participate in interviews than it is for me to sit on my tush and blab all about it? I'd like to think so.

Anyway, there's much to discuss! Remember that big ol' important job application I had sent out before that I was having a minor anxiety attack over? I finally got in touch with that recruiter, and he could not have been nicer. He told me that the particular office was still looking over applications, and that they may have just gotten backed up. Sit tight, he said, and he would let me know if anything progresses - good or bad. So, naturally, over the next week, I checked my email every five minutes. Nothing. But, when I least expected it (while studying for an exam) I finally got the e-mail and, guess what? I got the interview! I was a tad bummed to read that it would be another phone interview, as the recruiter had told me that they were interested in me, they wanted to expedite my application and bypass a phone interview, etc. etc. But I was excited nonetheless.

Like I said, I had already interviewed with this company before for an internship last year. It was, without a doubt, my first "hardcore" interview. This isn't to say that all of my other jobs and internships have been characterized by total bullshit, but this company means serious business. Needless to say, I was somewhat caught off-guard during that interview; I had never been asked such major questions before, such as, "tell me about a time when your role was unclear, and what did you do to clarify that role?" I prepared for the interview, but I could have prepared for it even more. With that experience under my belt, however, I sort of knew what to expect this time around. I studied up on the company, and got lots of advice from my dad and my boyfriend, both of whom really know the ropes of the recruiting process and always offer great advice.

When the time came for this interview, I felt pretty ready, yet extremely nervous. Then came the call - the first of two back-to-back half hour conversations. Looking back, I definitely consider myself adequately prepared for the character/behavioral questions about leadership, teamwork, conflict resolution, and all that good stuff. But they totally put me on the spot with situational questions about particular marketing scenarios. I mean, they really put me on the spot. What frustrated me the most about this was, if I clearly couldn't answer a certain question to the best liking of the interviewer, he/she wouldn't just accept my answer as less-than-stellar. Rather, the interviewer would continue to probe me about it, as if making me feel more nervous would somehow magically bring the correct answer out of my mouth, like beautiful word vomit. This type of questioning definitely made me leave the interview feeling stupid, focusing on what went wrong, instead of what went right.

Also, although I never had this opinion before, I really do feel incredibly disadvantaged during phone interviews. Over the phone, I can't look an interviewer in the eye, I can't smile and show my passion for the position - I can't really connect with the interviewer. I guess it's kind of a trade off, because phone interviews allow me to look at my resume while I speak to someone, and write certain helpful notes.

But, who knows? Maybe I'm nervous about this for no reason, and the interviewers actually believed that our chats went perfectly. I doubt it. The good news is, I have another phone interview on Monday. More on that in another post. If anything, I guess I can at least look at this recent interview as some good practice.