Wednesday, July 23, 2008

New Beginnings

As I sit in my empty room tonight, I reflect on the good memories with good friends from over the past two years at apartment 234. Not only am I ending a two year residence, I am officially beginning the next chapter of my life.

When I first moved into the Commons, I had a ponytail and some Elvis Presley-like sideburns. The personal transformation from my first day here to tonight is great. I will leave tomorrow with a typical haircut and relatively modest sideburns (one day, bro, I will cut them).

Surprisingly, I am extra cheery about the transition. Not that I am ready to be an old fart just yet; however, I am excited to begin being a college graduate. Tomorrow when I wake up I will be sad. But like the Dr. Seuss told me growing up, "Don't cry because it's over. Smile because it happened." As I depart from the place I called home for the last two years, I will be smiling.

Salute!

Thursday, July 10, 2008

All American Reject

OK, so I haven't made a post in awhile. It's not that I have been delinquent in my posting. Rather, I have been "full-court pressing" in my job hunt. In the last two weeks, I have had one formal interview, two informal interviews, three meetings with employment agencies and I have called every marketing and advertising agency in a two area code radius. Whew!

The motivating factor for intensifying my search was simple: until yesterday, come August 1 I had no place to live with no money to pay for it. In reality, though, moving home was and is always an option. No, I do not have a full-time job yet, but I do have a short-term place to stay in the meantime. So one problem down, one to go.

Even though I have been productive in terms of output during the last two weeks, my success rate tells a different story. For every ten phone calls I make or resumes I send out, I may get one meeting/interview. In other words, I have experienced a lot of rejection.

It is easy to see why sales is one of the highest paying professions for one simple reason: people fear rejection. In order to be successful in sales and in life, one cannot fear rejection. It is inevitable. I can't tell you how many "no's" I've received from companies who are not hiring.

But Benjamin Franklin once said, "There are no gains without pains." For me, I'm experiencing more pains than gains right now. But in the end, it will be worth it. Maybe my first job won't be perfect, but it will put me a lot closer to where I want to be.

However, with the job search, you can't base your success on numbers alone. You must incorporate your attitude into the equation. Lucky for me, I have a support network in place to keep my morale high. This in turn allows me to keep on keepin' on.

Salute!