Be unique and creative.
Thats all the advice you get.
If you want to work in this industry, you should probably get noticed.
I could make a ski, a board game, maybe a video?
They had all been done before; I needed something new and improved.
It might have been the beer, but I thought I had come up with an ingenious idea.
A trail map; I was going to turn my resume into a trail map.
Its amazing what beer and the internet can accomplish.
I looked through a box of trail maps I had collected over the years for inspiration.
The sketches were rough and I wasnt exactly sure if I could turn the idea into the real deal.
Malakye was hosting an industry job fair during SIA.
I had convinced my dad to buy the plane ticket and lined up aninternship with Newschoolers.
This was my chance to make an impression, in-person interviews.
Wow, it actually looks legit.
Interview day was here.
I walked down to the mezzanine floor of the convention center.
I was terrified and nervous.
Doug and Jason had assured me I would do great and offered me some business cards as references.
I waited in line for probably 30 minutes until it was my turn.
I walked up to the Windells table and tried to be as normal as possible.
In reality I was super awkward and tripped walking to the table and dropped my folder on the floor.
I handed my plain resume over and struggled with some small talk, normal interview stuff.
I ended up setting it on the table and saying, Oh, heres this too.
Her eyes literally lit up and she started to smile really big.
Hell yeah, it worked!
I had bought myself another 15 minutes.
I was told to email my cover letter and a reference list.
A few weeks later I sent over my resume, cover letter and reference list.
I was surprised, no shocked, I had gotten a response in less than an hour.
They wanted to know if I wanted to be the lead administrative intern aka get paid.
Why yes I would love to work there AND get paid.
This began an intense game of email and phone tag.
Literally 20 emails and at least 5 voicemails were exchanged.
I followed my gut and kept being persistent.
The Vice President and CFO wanted to have a phone interview with me.
I happened to be skiing; I took the call anyways.
I literally had my interview on the chair lift.
Apparently they wanted me out there at the beginning of April, less than a month away.
A solid description of my life at the time.
Two weeks later I hadn’t heard anything and was getting incredibly anxious and running out of time.
My entire future was balancing on a whim.
I called the office twice with no answer.
I tried one more time and got an answer.
I was employed and headed west.
*Since starting at Windells my title has become Operations Coordinator
