1 Down... (enter # here) More to Go

As I'm driving to Waltham, MA , I have the AC blasting to keep my curls to their most non -frizz potential before I have to face the heat wave outside. My go- to professional business jacket is hanging in the back seat, my heels are in my purse while I sport my Sperrys in the meantime. I have a folder stacked with resumes and Map Quest directions in my lap that read my destination is only an hour and 20 away -yet I left three hours in advance. I have my A game on. The only challenge left is to get through an interview at Racepoint Group flawlessly. Wrong.

My next challenge is to find the building. After circling a parking garage, walking across the street to the wrong industrial park, asking a few people,walking back- I found it. Leaving three hours early didn't seem so silly after all (hate that my mom is always right.)

Now in my jacket and heels standing tall in the waiting room, smiling at everyone that walks by, I'd say I was doing a good job at hiding the pit in my stomach filled with nervousness. The secretary asks me if I would like anything- a juice a water etc. I politely say "No thank you I'm fine" even though I'm dying of thirst (stupid habit) - she hands me a water anyways and replies "you're going to be talking to a lot of people you'll need one."

With my newly acquired water came along with an increase heart rate. Talking to a lot of people? What was I getting into. To make it worse while I'm filling my application I come across the reference page. Shouting at myself in my head on why the hell don't I have a an already printed out paper with all my references information -(amateur move!)- I fumble through the business cards I brought with me and try to get the rest of the info on my phone that has no service.

Shana, the head HR at Racepoint Group finally greeted me and lead me to a room -and it was all up hill from there. Of course it helped that she was an incredibly sweet woman, but the nerves disappeared and I just felt like - Me. The best part was, I meant everything I said, and I believed it. While talking about my experiences and what I have learned a light bulb kind of went off like - Hey I am qualified for this job! And I could feel my confidence shining through, Throughout the 2 hours there I met with another Account Executive and an Account Coordinator. All three conversations were genuinely pleasant, and It felt great.

Leaving the building, (after switching out of my heels and back into my Sperrys of course) I felt like skipping to my car. But coming down from my high I stopped. As great as it was, I have to keep going, keep applying, keep networking. This is no one and done. But the experience was so worth while and I know with each interview it can only get better. But Racepoint Group isn't going anywhere and either am I. I have a feeling we will meet again soon.

Spell Check

Thanks again to another week of Rhode Island's humid rainy weather, I have been forced to be indoors, glued to the computer as the #jobhuntsontinues- but, I finally got something accomplished. (I wasn't being sarcastic- thank you R.I. )

After writing my first cover letter of the summer, sending it to some friends and generous alums, getting it back changing it, revising it, starting over completely, changing it back-two weeks later- I came up with my final draft. Well, what I thought was my final.

For those that don't know, I freelance once a week for the Media Department at RISD. By only fate, is my supervisor a former employee of an agency in the Great Boston Area, Racepoint Group, and was kind enough to offer to take my cover letter and resume and send it through some people she knows that still works there. Ironically, I follow them on LinkedIn, and notice they were hiring, Like I said, fate.

I admit, I am a little rusty on the whole cover letter format thing, I haven't written one in over a year. It is a little awkward starting off, finding that balance of modesty yet wanting to show off your skills without sounding so desperate-"PLEASE HIRE ME." Not to mention the pressure, you have one shot, one spelling error, and BOOM- trash can- or I guess in these days "DELETE."

Therefore, I thought two weeks was more than enough time, and this cover letter had to be complete. I sent it to my supervisor. SEND. I reopen it to give it one more read, and right there in the first paragraph, I am missing a period. My heart stops. IMPOSSIBLE. So I come up with an excuse that I sent the wrong CL, resent it in a PDF, after adding the period and a couple other things... Two hours later. I re-read it. And my mind is going back to Journalism 341 Editing for Publication (my least favorite class) I know numbers over 10 should be typed in numerals, and majors should be capitalized... I didn't do these things. CRAP. I am really messing up on this one. I go back and forth on the options to my bff Khiara- should I just accept defeat? or confront it, resend ANOTHER , explain and make a fool out of myself. Khiara votes- fix it, and it will show you want to have things right.- So for the THIRD e-mail, I make the revisions and admit to my supervisor my nervousness and lack of experience writing cover letters. I don't hear from her. My thoughts are , she's thinking - "I am not putting myself out on the limb for someone as idiotic and careless as this."

To my surprise, at the end of the day she responds that she understands, is more than happy to help and even made a suggestion herself. THANK GOD. Goes to show you, people remember how it was first starting out, it's scary, we are new at this, and all we can do is learn. So lesson? It's important to get it right. Maybe not always four e-mails worth of trials, but my mind was in the right place and I am sure my supervisor saw that (I hope.) Regardless, I get a good laugh every time I open my e-mail and see that ridiculously long thread (seriously ,click the picture- you will too) But despite it all , I wrote three more cover letters,even one to CONE in Boston, and it's only getting easier. Wish me Luck.

Making Room for the New Me

I finally started transferring all of my belongings from the foyer into my bedroom. Yes, it has now been three weeks and I still have not given my mother the relief she has been begging for. Every morning I wake up to:

"Rise and shine, sweetie! So...will today be the day?! Can we please make some sense out of your stuff down my hallway?"

"It's a process, Mom." I always reply with a smile.

I decided to give her some hope a few days ago and managed to get a few bags of clothes together to donate to the Salvation Army. I was feeling good until I started setting up picture frames on my dresser and my dad mentioned additional shelving he would make for me in my closet.

"Yeah! That would be great, thanks Da-"

No. This is not happening. How long do they think I'm going to be back here for?! I immediately texted my other half: Sophies in the morning? She knows the routine.

At 9:30am the next day we grabbed our iced coffees and sat at the table closest to the outlet. With the exception of our what-word-am-I-looking-for-convos, we sat in complete silence. Before long we finished our cover letters and continued applying to our list of potential careers. For her, the focus of the day was Racepoint Group and for me, McGarry Bowen. We swapped some fun facts about the companies: Racepoint Group was the first agency to follow her on Twitter and McGarry Bowen recently acquired the Burger King account- does that mean free fries for life?! and then as usual, drifted off into our dreams for the future. We wrapped up our Sophies date by shaking our hands wildly in excitement and left with big smiles knowing we were one step closer to our dream jobs.

My mom has been patient long enough so I promised her the hallway will be cleared by tomorrow... however I'm sure I can get away with keeping  at least one bag packed.