I don’t want to be working at Sky in ten years. Hell, I don’t want to be working at Sky in five years. To that end, I am going to stop sulking and go locate myself a new job.
No, really. I am. This time, I mean it.
I have a list of about half a dozen local companies I’m planning to target, and I plan to wring more possibilities out of all my local contacts (which isn’t many, I’ll grant). I just bought a pack of 100 hub-printable mini CD-Rs (and they were a *bitch* to find at a decent price, let me tell you what). I already updated my resume to send in response to that one classified a couple weeks ago, so that’s done—although I’ll still need to update the super-cool print version. The paperwork for July’s NISDM Flash workshop is printed out and ready to mail, as soon as I know how much my former- student-employee discount will be.
I intend to resharpen my Director skillz by making myself a new multimedia portfolio (hence the 80mm mini CD-Rs). I also intend to teach myself some more PHP, so I can confidently say “I know PHP” with a straight face.
My main concerns:
– What’s my selling point? Why do people need ME in particular?
– Do I need to buy a $200+ suit to go out and interview? Would it help?
– Will my three years of working a financial job instead of design hurt my chances?
– How honest can I be with interviewers about *why* I feel I need a new gig?
– How much persistence is appropriate, and what’s over the line and annoying?
I need to bottle this enthusiasm and keep it somewhere, like a can of Perri-Air (a la Spaceballs). Even though I’m totally exhausted and still need to wash some dishes before I go to bed, I can still be moderately excited about finding a new job. I’m afraid that, in a day or two, this fire will disappear yet again, and I’ll be back to feeling inadequate with my design skills and lukewarm about finding a new job.
Di, when an interviewer asks you why you want to leave your old job, the answer is always “I want something that challenges my creativity and problem solving ability.” No matter how much you’ve exercised your problem solving ability at Sky, I think the public concensus is that careers in the financial world are not the home of the uber-creative. With that in mind, your selling points are:
-Your ability to stick to something that needs to be done, just because it needs to be done (like working your current job).
-Your willingness to go out and learn new things on your own.
-Your willingness to acknowledge that you don’t know everything, but would like to someday.
-Most of all, you are honest, fun, and hard working.
And if that sales pitch doesn’t work, show a little leg.