Job seeking tip

November 18th, 2010 by Jack

Earlier this week, I was telling one of my former students–who’s rapidly approaching graduation–that I’ve always targeted the specific places I wanted to work (rather than just trying to find where the openings are), so I figured I’d share one of my success stories.

When I was in grad school, I knew I’d like to be a researcher in the NBC Information Center after having become familiar with it years earlier as an intern and freelancer in the sports department.  Anyway, we had a school assignment where we had to survey a library, so I set it up to spend a few hours at NBC’s version and interview the manager there.  When I finished the assignment, I sent her a copy of my report, which she seemed to like.

Several months later, as I was approaching graduation, I saw a posting for an entry-level job there, and I contacted her.  “Remember me?  I’m the guy who interviewed you.  Will you interview me now?”

The rest is history.

So the moral of this story is, even if you don’t have a similar school assignment, it might be worth faking one…or more. 😉

And here’s a funny addendum to the story too…

The course with the library survey assignment was the only one where I did not get an A in grad school.  Before I even took the class, fellow students told me the professor “had it out” for guys.  But who cares?  I was committed.  I went to school in Albany and while I could have done the survey at any nearby library, I drove all the way down here on my birthday–16 years ago today–to snag the one I really wanted.

BEST B+ EVER!!!!!

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