When It Rains It Pours

When I first moved to New York back in August of 2010, I spent my first month here with no job.

Thank God for my unemployment checks from Mercent! And selling my car.

I went on countless interviews. I dropped by numerous bars dropping off resumes.

Nada.

Then I had two jobs in a day.

Started working at Coach in Soho and Affair on 8th in Greenwich Village.

Then there was a drought in January 2011. No hours at Coach. No more serving shifts at Affair.

Then I had 6 jobs. Raining again.

I stepped back from working at Coach and Soho Park. I decided to work full time at Soho Park (aka I became a So Ho - inside joke :)) with the lovely Leila, Albina, Zalina, Wendy and Joy (who I can't call lovely because he is a guy but is awesome nonetheless).

After interviewing over a month earlier, I got an offer letter to be an admin at Prudential Douglas Elliman. After numerous discussions with Rebecca and my mom and my first round of negotiations, I decided to take the job.

A day later, I received a phone call about an internship at Penguin (a dream job). Raining again. I turned down going to an interview because I had just accepted my job at PDE. Scared of not being financially independent, I backed out.

Not going to lie, I often think about what would have happened if I hadn't declined.

Especially since I decided at the beginning of Spring 2012 I would love to design book covers. Moving on . . .

After a miserable 8 months at PDE - I got a job that I thought would amazing. It was not.

I realized that I never want to be a f-cking admin assistant ever again.

Upon my epiphany, I applied for numerous internships and junior designer positions via LinkedIn. To my shock and utter happiness, I got one.

Up until today, I had been hanging by a thin financial thread. I mean like spending less than $6 a day.

Nada luck with finding a restaurant besides hitting the pavement HARD. I mean dropping off like 20 resumes and applying to multiple Craig's List postings. And pimping out any and all restaurant connections.

It's raining again.

I have a training shift at Arabesque tomorrow. An interview at Fab.com for a position I applied for almost two months ago.

And I still LOVE my internship. My boss is badass. My other teammate is funny, nice and takes the time to teach and talk to me. The photo shoots alone make me happy.

New York is a tough city. It is full of endless possibilities.

Why do you think I live here ;)?

Need a Design Job?

Thanks to internet surfing my GD2 professor I've found a couple of helpful places to look for work.

Coroflot
The Design Observer

Advice: From Hiring Managers to Job Seekers

I love job seeking advice. It's kind of an addiction because every time I see an article featured on msn.com's home page or some place else, I can't help but to click. When I checked out 24 Seven Talent's facebook wall, I saw a link to this article: 21 Things Hiring Managers Wish You Knew.

Some of the tips were obvious because I've cooridnated onsite interviews and phone screens and have witnessed a hiring manager's reaction to candidates that arrive more than 5 minutes early, fail to send a thank you note or treat the phone screen too informally (tip #15, 4, 9 respectively).

New suggestions that I've filed away for later are: hiring managers may check references beyond the list of references a candidate supplies, they want to know your real weaknesses, and candidates should address their overqualifactions in a cover letter if applicable (tip #11, 6, 7 respectively).

It's a great article to brush up on job seeking etiquette from a hiring perspective. Let me know what you think!

Dream Job: Store Manager for European Boutique

Now that my news is official, I'm working on sending out my resume and applying for jobs in the city.

My friend Erica who moved to NYC three years ago recommended 24 Seven Talent, a recruitment agency that specializes in creative fields, which is perfect for me because I love graphic design, marketing, and retail. 

This job posting I found sounds like a dream job: 

An edgy, downtown-chic European brand is seeking a Store Manager for their Soho location. This is a FABULOUS company that is looking for someone who can manage the business without being too serious! This is an amazing opportunity to join a huge retailer with a laid-back, fun-loving attitude towards work. To qualify, you must: 

• Have a strong understanding of the brand & company culture (I definitely understand the importance of executing and communicationg a company's brand thanks to my experience at Rosanna Inc. (retail and corporate experience), Coach, and Mercent).
• Understand how to drive a business without being too serious or rigid with your team (I am a firm believer that a little silliness or fun does not detract from getting the job done right - sometimes you need that to get through the work day). 
• Be a committed, loyal, and dedicated employee. no job jumpers! (Commitment, loyalty, and dedication are just as important to me as enjoying work. I like a trusting environment and to not worry about someone else trying to steal my job). 
• Be a great motivator and coach for your team (A great manager is a great teacher. A great teacher is a great mentor who motivates, coaches, encourages, and criticizes appropriately). 
• Possess excellent customer service abilities (If you work in retail, excellent customer service abilities are a necessity and applicable to dealing with co-workers and bosses).

The Best Part:

There is a tremendous amount of upward mobility with this company.

Candidates that are hired will get to travel to Europe for 3 weeks prior to starting!!!

I wish at 24 Seven, I could have listed multiple industry I'm interested in because I would have checked in addition to marketing: retail (see above awesome position), graphics -  other, and public relations.

24 Seven has great feedback, check out their twitter and facebook pages. Once I move, I plan to attend at least one if not more of their events.

Inspiration: Transformational Leadership

I think that one of the toughest jobs in the world is to be a great manager and/or boss. 

I am fascinated with leadership and what factors define a great manager and/or boss. In my work experience only a few managers were great and most of them were not. When I stumbled upon this article via twitter its title, "Four Things Employees Need From Leaders", got my attention and its content gave me a lot to think about.

I hadn't heard the term "transformational leadership" or "transactional leadership" before but just their names gave me a very clear picture of each models' definition. Transformational read to me that it is a way of transforming behavior and thoughts via leadership and transactional was based on transaction; money. 

Not only did these terms give me a different perspective on my past and current work experience but so did the Big Four. 

The Four Things by Dr. Cleve Stevens

1. The Need to Love and be Loved: Employees and employer/manager/boss/leader need to have a  reciprocal relationship full of  "focused concern and action directed at another exclusively for that person's good." I would agree that it's beneficial to employees to show that you care about them. 

2. The Need to Grow: Stevens' argument is that there are only two directions one can go: decay due to stasis or grow and expand. I would rather grow than decay.

3. The Need to Contribute: People like to contribute because it makes them feel like they belong. Contributing to the whole means belonging to the company.

4. The Need for Meaning: "We are meaning-seeking creatures. If our lives lack a clear sense of meaning, if we are engaged in some larger purpose, we will not be fully satisfied, regardless of whatever else we may have." 'Nuf said.