diaries of the candidates - philip
Profile | Resume | Diary

| Week 1 | Week 2 | Week 3 | Week 4 | Week 5 | Week 6 | Week 7 | Week 8 | Week 9 |

Week 9

Hmmmm….still no job. Right now I’m just feeling frustrated. I can’t seem to find a job. I’ve been emailing resumes, contacting people, going to job fairs, etc. but I still haven’t reached the ultimate goal of securing a job. I’m not really sure what else to do, but I’m willing to try almost any job search strategy right now. I feel like I have a lot to offer to companies and organizations, but it doesn’t seem like anyone knows that. I think one of the main obstacles in my job search is that I don’t want to work in the Midwest, which means I’m applying to companies in far away from Michigan. I can’t ever meet with them face-to-face so it’s hard to get them to know and remember me. It just doesn’t seem like phone calls and emails are the best way to make a lasting impression on a potential employer. Anyway, I’m going to stay persistent and hope for the best. I still have confidence that if I work hard enough, I’ll be rewarded.

Quick update: I’ve found a few more job listings in the San Jose area so I’ll be emailing my resume to them very soon. I’ve also found some contact info for SFX Sports Group, and I’ll call them as soon as I can to ask about possible jobs. In the meantime, I’ll be surfing the web and continue looking for job openings at sport organizations.

So I guess this is my last journal entry for The Candidate. I hope you’ve enjoyed reading my weekly entries while following along in my so-far-unsuccessful job search. Don’t worry though because all five of the candidates will check back in periodically throughout the rest of the school year to update you on our job searches. Just as Arnold Schwarzenegger (the greatest action hero of all-time) said many times before: "I’ll be back."

Phil

Week 8

So I finally finished my mock interview this past week, which turned out to be more stressful than I thought. I sat in the room with the "interviewer" and then they turned on the camera, and that’s when I started to feel the pressure. Honestly, I wasn’t really prepared for the mock interview since I figured that it didn’t really count for anything, but after watching the tape, I made a lot more mistakes than I would’ve like to. My "interviewer" gave me some great tips on how to emphasize my resume, relate past experiences with the job I’m applying for, and have more confidence in my abilities. I noticed that I stuttered a lot and didn’t really highlight some of my past work/school experiences and accomplishments. I’ll try and learn from these mistakes and work hard to improve my interview skills so that employers will be impressed. And now that the mock interview is over, I feel much more confident about doing a real interview.

I’ve also been feeling better about my job search because of some email responses that I’ve received. Over the past few days or so, I’ve been contacted through email by about five prospective employers. And I really owe all of this to networking, as all of the respondents to my emails were contacts of my former internship supervisor this summer. Now I feel like my job search is gaining momentum and my outlook has become a lot brighter. Presently, I’m not close to securing a job, but it does feel good to know that my job searching is making progress. I plan on doing some follow-up emails and phone calls in the next week and doing some more job hunting online. It’s time for me to go and keep my job search momentum going. See you next week.

Phil

Week 7

These past few days have been a good time for my job search. First off, I did an informational interview. It’s where I interview someone that works in the field that I want to work in and ask them questions that will be helpful for me. I’ve never actually done one before, but it turned out to be really interesting. I interviewed somebody in a sport organization and asked them basic questions like, "What duties does your job consist of, what are the biggest challenges your organization is facing right now, what do you look for in job applicants" and other related questions. The interview provided me with some great insight and taste of what I might be doing in the near future. I’m glad that I conducted one, and I recommend that everyone do one, too. It’s a useful tool in a job search and gives students like me a great chance to speak with someone who’s already doing what you want to do in the future.

On top of the informational interview, I’ve started sending out introduction emails to some contacts that I’ve received information about. In the emails, I just introduce myself, how I got their contact information, and that I’m looking for any available job opening within their respective organizations. I also say that I can easily provide them with a resume or samples of work that I’ve done instead of actually attaching them in the introduction emails. I haven’t heard back from anyone just yet, but then again, I just started sending the emails out in the past couple days. I expect to hear back fairly soon though, but if not, I’ll follow up with more emails and phone calls. I think that I have to be very tenacious and show them that I am really interested in a job with their company. I’ve heard some good stories about being very persistent so I hope that it works out for me, too. I’ll keep you updated on my job inquiries. Check back next week.
Philip

Week 6
Wow, this past week has been awesome for me. In case you didn’t know, I was in San Francisco for fall break. Earlier this week, I went back to see my coworkers from my internship…it was fun to see them all again. I also went to speak with my former supervisor. As I mentioned in one of the earlier journal entries, she used to be involved a lot with sport business so she has a lot of good contacts. She gave me some great leads to people working in organizations that I’m interested in working for after graduation. Now I have contact info for people at the San Francisco Giants, EA Sports, San Francisco 49ers, and more. She’s been very helpful throughout my job search and has done so much for me already.

I’ve been bogged down with midterms, papers, and assignments for the past couple weeks, but I finish my last midterm next Tuesday. After that is done, I plan on writing e-mails to the people that I have contact info for. These are by far the best opportunities that I’ve had since I started my job search, and I’m confident that something positive will come out of this.

Another aspect of my job search is interviewing. Therefore, I’m doing a mock interview at the Career Center early next week. I think it’ll be really helpful for me to practice speaking with confidence, making eye contact, and maintaining good posture. I actually haven’t done any interviews for any jobs yet, but I hope to be getting a few within the next month or so. I’m also pretty sure that nearly all of my interviews will be over the phone, but I still believe the mock interview will help me increase my chances of getting a good job. A lot of employers consider the candidate interview to be the most important part of the hiring process so I really want to ace any question that comes my way.

Classes have been stressful lately, and the job search is adding some more stress for me, but it will all be worth it in the end. I’m looking forward to the weeks ahead of me because I have a feeling that good things are in store for me. I just have to go out there and seize my opportunities. See you next week.

Phil

Week 5
On Wednesday, we had one of the associate athletic directors come in to my Human Resource Management class to speak on various issues in that field. He spoke about his past job history, job-related issues that he’s had to face, and answered some questions about some human resource issues. He really stressed one of the points that he was making about hiring new personnel. His point was that it’s not what you know, but who you know. I know that everyone’s probably heard this a million times, but I have found out within the past six months that it certainly is true. He told us about a time when they were hiring for a new position, and all five of the interviewees were people that had known someone within the organization. None of the five were just applicants who sent in a resume and cover letter. So with all of this "who you know" stuff in my mind, I did a little bit of networking over fall break.

I was out in the San Francisco bay area during fall break and spent Saturday afternoon at a casual VIP party at PIER 39, the place I used to internship at. The party was amazing – great views of the Blue Angels air show, good food, gorgeous weather, and just a lot of fun. I got a chance to meet up with my former co-workers from my internship and catch up with them. I also saw my former supervisor, and she was able to introduce me to a few people at the VIP party that may be able to help me out with a future job. I ended up having good conversations with all of them and collected a few business cards. I appreciate the fact that they were willing to help me in my job search. I have to follow up with these people in the next few days, and then go from there. I’m also going to speak with my former supervisor on Tuesday to get some more contact information for companies/organizations that might have opportunities open. This networking during fall break has by far been the biggest help for me during my job search, proving that it truly is who you know. Stay tuned…

Week 4
The big thing to talk about for this week’s entry is the job fair. I went today for about an hour or so, and overall, I thought it went pretty well. The main reason I went was to speak with representatives from Electronic Arts (EA). They’re located in the San Francisco Bay area, have marketing positions available, and are involved in entertainment/video games – a perfect for me in an entry-level position. I spoke with a guy ironically named Phil. We seemed to have a good 4-5 minute conversation about their company and my qualifications. I introduced myself with a firm handshake and gave him my resume like the other million people that spoke with him. Then I told him about my internship at PIER 39 in San Francisco, and he seemed impressed since he was born and raised in the Bay area and knew exactly what PIER 39 is. I also told him a little bit about my academic background and shared some of my career goals. Overall, I thought it went very smoothly so hopefully I’ll be hearing back from them in the near future.

In addition to EA, I spoke with a few other companies. Honestly, I wasn’t particularly interested in them but visited them anyway because of opportunities in marketing. The other organizations included Target, which is based out of Hayward, CA (in the Bay area), Borders, Handleman, and Plastipak. My conversations with them also gave me a chance to practice interacting with various company representatives so I can be more confident and relaxed in future discussions. I gave all the other companies my resume and basically talked about the same things that I did with EA.
I’m not really relying on this job fair to secure a job because there are just too many applicants from too many schools. I’m confident in my skills and academic background, but it’s just too hard to stand out from the rest of the applicants. I’m going to try to use my own contacts in finding a job, which I think will be easier and better for me. As a matter of fact, I’ll be reconnecting with some contacts this fall break when I go out to San Francisco. So when most students will be relaxing or studying during this fall break, I’ll be networking, promoting myself, handing out resumes, and trying my hardest to secure a job while in the Bay area.

Philip

Week 3
I went in for my strong interest interpretation a couple days ago, and it turned out to be pretty helpful. A lot of the things that were covered during the session reaffirmed what I already knew, but it also brought up some interesting ideas that I had never really thought about before. Did you know that I would make a great flight attendant? I didn’t either, but that’s definitely not what I want to do with my life. If I was a flight attendant and our plane hit some turbulence, that wouldn’t be a good sight to see. It turns out that the flight attendant position falls under "enterprising," which was listed as my strongest aspect. That’s perfect for me since I want to go into sport management/marketing. Another one of my strongest aspects was "artistic," which I hadn’t really thought about. I ranked really high on "likes to cook" for a guy. Maybe I’ll open up my own restaurant and be the head chef. I’d specialize in sandwiches, cereals, and ramen noodles since that’s a large part of my diet. Anyway, I was glad to see that my strongest interest was business-related. It gives me more confidence in my goals and reaffirms what I already knew.
As for the job fair coming up this week, there’s not a lot of companies that match up well with me. The only organization coming to the fair that I am targeting is EA Sports. They produce video games and specialize in sport-related video games. I’ve already looked on their website for job openings, and most of them are for software engineers or programmers. But they did have a couple openings for marketing/promotions jobs. An extra bonus is that they have offices in Redwood City, CA and Walnut Creek, CA, which is the area (San Francisco Bay area) I want to work at after graduation. I plan on doing some more research on their company before I speak with their representative and hopefully I can develop a good dialogue with them at the job fair. I’ll be bringing a few resumes and handing them out to organizations that might be a good fit for me or that are interested in me. I’ve never been to a job fair before so I can’t really say exactly what I’ll do there so I’ll just play it by ear. I’m sure things will turn out fine and who knows, maybe I’ll have a job locked up in the next couple weeks.
Philip

Week 2
Finally, in my senior year of college, I feel that I have a solid resume. It’s been a long process of revising and rewriting, but I feel confident that it will give me an advantage over others when applying for a job. Even though I think that my resume is strong, it’s pretty stressful trying to showcase myself on only one piece of paper. Just like everybody, I feel like I have so much more to offer than what’s on that piece of paper. I’ve now been focusing on having that certain "something" within my resume that will guarantee to catch the employer’s eye since I’ll now be competing with a few hundred applicants for different positions.
I actually started forming my resume during freshman year, but didn’t really focus on improving it until last year when I was applying for internships. I had went into the walk-in advising hours at the Career Center at least five or six times to speak with a counselor about my resume, which was really helpful. Then I also looked at some resume books for ideas, which also turned out to be useful. I really think the key to a good resume is to constantly keep critiquing it. I would recommend showing it to family, friends, career counselors, or professors so they can make suggestions. Since I’ve been using this "constant critiquing" strategy, I’ve seen a definite improvement on my resume, and I’m still working on making it better.
The main way I’ve been trying to improve my resume is by gaining more relevant experience, especially within the sport industry. I’ve been in contact with the Michigan Athletic Department about getting a volunteer/intern position, but it might not work out. But that’s all right because I have some other options. I’ve already gathered some contact information on marketing/market research companies in Ann Arbor and will call/e-mail them within the next couple days about a job or internship for the school year. Hopefully, something will work out for me, but I guess you’ll have to check back in next week to find out. See you then.
Philip

Week 1
This journal entry marks the first step in my job search journey, but I guess it actually means more than that. This job search is the transition period that will take my life in a whole new direction. For 16 straight years, I’ve been going to school for an education and in just several short months, I’ll be finally able to apply all of the experiences and knowledge that I’ve accumulated over those years.

So as you can tell, this job search process looks to be an exciting time for me, too. One reason is that I’m not very certain on what exact job I’m looking for. I don’t really know if that’s a good or bad thing. I’m not sure where I want to work, what company I want to work for, or what specific position I think suits me best. But my uncertainty means that I can explore a lot of the job openings within sport and business. Right now I’m very open to various positions and companies and will start to narrow my options as I get further along in my job hunt.

I’ve just barely started doing some job searching through the internet. I think that’s going to be my best resource for job openings and the place that I’ll be most successful at finding specific jobs for me. My plan is to go into sport management, specifically sport marketing, and I’ve already seen some listings for Major League Soccer, some NFL teams, and a few sport marketing firms. Another major strategy I plan on using is referring to Beth, my supervisor from my internship this past summer. She has had a lot of experience in sport business and has a lot of close contacts in the field. She’s a master at networking and will definitely be a great asset for me during this process.

People are always asking me what my dream job would be. I can’t really ever give them a definite answer, but I have some criteria for it. I want to be my own boss, work with lots of different people, travel around the world, and be truly passionate about my field of work. I hear all kinds of stories about people hating their jobs and only doing it for the money, and I hope I don’t end up like that. I think my happiness is more important than money so I’ll sacrifice a bigger paycheck if I’m genuinely interested in the work I’m doing. Well, that’s about all for this journal entry. I should have some more fun stuff to talk about next week. See you then.
Philip