After what seems like a lifetime of schooling (because it literally has been), it is so overwhelming to have a graduation date in sight. Overwhelming in a good way. My official (tentative -- don't want to jinx it!) graduation date is December 18, 2010. I need a countdown for that (I'm on it when I'm done here). I am so excited to be done! I can't wait to find a job. I love the challenge of job hunting. I suppose this is how I ended up with two jobs as a full time student. I've been looking at jobs daily and I'm getting so anxious. I want to apply for all of them. It's such an awkward place to be in though because I feel like I shouldn't apply until I actually have a degree and can start working. I mean -- who posts a job they don't need filled until five months from now? I need to update my résumé and I know that's going to be quite a task in itself. Not to mention tailoring it to each job I'm applying for. My criteria for the perfect job seem pretty loose, but I'm starting to realize they might not be.
I wan't:
1) the job that will pay me the most
2) in a city I wan't to be in (Dallas might barely make this list)
3) doing something interesting (This is almost not even a question. I picked a good major. I can't think of any advertising/marketing job that wouldn't meet this one)
The first problem I'm anticipating is with the first criterion. Austin, California, Florida, Colorado would be ideal, but I'm not aiming for anything. I guess it should probably read 'not in a city I don't want to be in.' If someone wants to pay me $100,000/year to live and work in Montana we might have a problem. For $100,000 I'm probably moving to Montana, although I'd much rather live somewhere more southern. I guess I'm a true Texan. I love the heat. I hate the winter. It does not need to be any colder than it gets in Texas. Ever. I've been keeping an eye on Gap, Inc.'s website for the past year checking out marketing jobs which are all located at headquarters in San Francisco. I've worked at Old Navy for three years now and almost accidentally advanced to a "full-time" specialist position: a pseudo-manager (i.e. underpaid). I feel like I may have a shoe-in. If not just for the fact that I'm familiar with the company, I know it would help me wow an interviewer. Which leads me to my second fear. Interviews. I can't be flying all around the country to interview for jobs with 400 other applicants, especially without knowing what they'd be paying me IF I landed the job. Phone interviews are a possibility but I would imagine they are not preferred. I wonder if any companies use Skype to interview candidates? I would hope that the companies I would be interviewing with were at least that media savvy. Thirdly, pay should be proportionate to location -- and how the hell do I figure that out? Is there a calculator online somewhere that can do that for me? If there's not there should be. Strangely enough, I would rather not live in Chicago or New York City. That extreme of big city life does not sound appealing. It's too fast-paced for me, I think I would never be able to relax. At the same time though, I've never experienced it. Obviously, if the opportunity of a lifetime presented itself I wouldn't say no. A job in either of these cities or in California would have to come with an exponentially bigger salary. It seems unfeasible starting out, but I'm not going to sell myself short and say it couldn't happen.
Texas AdGrad (on Facebook, Twitter (@TexasAdGrad), and on LinkedIn) is a great pool of resources I have at my disposal. I'm also thinking really great things could come from this fall's career fairs and the school's career services center. And of course, the internet. I've started thinking of all the things I'm interested in and seeking out their sites and job postings. For example, music. I've always wanted to work for a record label, or a music magazine and they need advertising just like everybody else. Yesterday I started thinking about the opportunities I could have in the cigar industry. My second job and advertising internship are at a cigar lounge / eCommerce site. The owner has taught me a ton and is fairly well known within the industry. Another plus of this option is the prevalence of cigar manufacturers in Miami.
So for now, its just clearing the last few hurdles: finishing up my last summer class (Integrated Communications Management) and internship, and getting through one more semester -- only 9 credit hours of classes 2 days a week (Media Law and Ethics, Advanced Issues in Multicultural Marketing, and Integrated Communications Campaigns). It sounds easy, but I know it won't be. The classes will be demanding and I'm sure multiple group projects will be putting a strain on my already tight schedule. But I'll make it happen.
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