Call of Duty: Morning Warfare

Woke up to an alarm clock that just didn't work for me this morning... strange as I went to bed at 10:00pm after a calm night hanging out with my kindly old neighbor watching an episode of Downtown Abbey.  Got to train my body to wake up and go to the gym earlier... it's just that when there isn't a place I have to go every day, finding my morning rhythm becomes a battle in of itself.  But it's one I intend to win!  I just never realized how important structure was to my daily life... really puts my High School complaints in perspective. #butregretisnotasolution

Had a call with a reputable agency that a friend at my last job recommended me to at earlier this morning, which I think went well!  I'm finding that the more I talk about my experience and skills as a media planner, the more confident and capable I become at it -- so I guess those interviews this week weren't such a total loss after all.  Just have to keep finding more opportunities to push myself out there -- and craigslist and monster just aren't cutting it.

In lieu of those sites, I'm focusing on setting up contacts with recruiters in media.  It's strange to say that I have no geographic preference when they ask, but I figure if I'm willing to go to NYC on my own (ie - the most expensive place to live) then I may as well be open to anywhere in the U.S that has the right opportunity.  While I have contacts and friends in New York, it might be fun to start over in a whole new environment, like Texas or California.  It'll be hard to leave the support and warmth of my family and hometown, but I'm sure it will be easier knowing that I've done it before... I hope.

Also, taking some time to go over all my old scripts and video projects in hope of building a better portfolio and reel for the future. Sometimes I forget how much work I've put into my creative passions already, and so little of it has been used for anything outside of classes or even my own hard drive... Bout time I start utilizing it.

This is going to take getting used to...

It's going to be difficult keeping up with this every day -- I used to jot down my thoughts all the time in college but once you get out of that habit it's hard to go back. So lets see...

This week I have been to two interviews for job openings that I found on Craigslist.  I knew it was a long shot going in that they would be legit opportunities, but I reserached their websites and they seemed like real ad agencies. Unfortunately, I should have taken that for the grain of salt that it was as, in my experience, ad agencies rarely explain their process in less-than-broad details. But I was hoping that I could find an easy way out of my predicament and didn't look carefully enough, so one trip to Hartford and one to Southington (at 8 in the morning) later, I can at least say that I have gotten thinner since the last time I wore my business attire.  Having the free time to go to the gym two hours a day will do that...sigh.

I have been communicating with some agencies looking for media planner's this week as well, all in New York City though. I have a call tomorrow at 10am with one that a former colleague at MediaVest helped me set-up, and while I am becoming comfortable living back home in CT, I know that I would be very happy to return to the city. Broke soonthereafter, but happy.  However, the nagging thought remains, is Media Planning really the path I want to take again for a career?  I know it's one of the most logical career paths for someone with my degree (Masters in Comm) -- and it pays well with good opportunity for advancement.  But after leaving MediaVest, I have a huge chip on my shoulder to prove that I can be successful in it...although, I sometimes think that might be the only reason I am pursuing it. 

I think I'll try and read a book on advertising for kicks, maybe one of my old text books or something new and shiny from the library, and get a grip on why I loved advertising in the first place.  While I know it didn't have much to do plugging in billing data and making flowcharts and spreadsheets all day, I always felt that those were just "little details" that I could overcome through effort when the time came.  If only I'd taken more internships then... sigh, wisdom of the perfect past is an agent of regret in the future.

Until tomorrow, true believers.

1st Post

This blog is a platform for sharing my experience as a Job-Seeker.  It is also a tool for which I will share my day-to-day experiences as someone who is still shaping their idea of what his life should become. It also a creative outlet I hope to use to share projects and perhaps arouse the interest of prospective collaborators and (someday) employers. 

Let's start at the beginning...

My name is Shawn James Perry.  I am a recently-unemployed 23 year old who just spent the last year chasing his advertising dreams in NYC.  After six months of job-searching and contact-building, I landed my dream job at a reputable agency right in the heart of Times Square, and then six months later, I was let go.  As I packed up and left the building I felt a mixture of regret, despair and relief... I had fought tooth and nail for my position day and night for so long, and yet I had never felt like I fit the role the way that I was meant to or wanted to... but I knew that I had truly given it my best effort and with that thought in mind I could leave with my head up.  Still, I knew that I had a long road ahead of me...

Now of course, having to move back to Connecticut after being let go by the agency has been an extremely frustrating, not to mention humbling, experience. There are, of course, different reasons why I was let go and plenty of things I would do differently if I could go back and start again, but the most important lesson to take away was that I needed to find a role that was a better "fit" the next time around. My first job-search had gone on for months before that offer came in (of course, as soon as I accepted it, so did several more -- when it rains it pours  I guess) and when it finally did it could have been for removing zeroes on a TPS report and I would have jumped at the opportunity.  This being in my chosen industry as well as on a great account with lots of opportunity for building my ideal contacts -- I knew that if I could succeed there for a year or two, I would be opening up the doors to a great future.  But life is what happens when you are busy making plans.

It's hard to remember that by most people's standards I am still very young -- as I look at all the hopeful college freshman leaving for school this Fall I constantly feel obsolete and outdated -- but I have to believe that I will come back from this setback stronger and wiser than I was before.  I have to use this transition to become a more mature professional and find a new role that is a better fit than the last one.

So far I have applied to a lot of companies that call upon my creative background, such as WWE and ESPN in Connecticut as well as television production companies across the country.  I honestly have no idea where my next job is going to be, and while my funds would dictate that staying at home should be my prerogative, I do not believe that Connecticut has the sort of opportunities I am looking for...though I will certainly give it some thorough research.  Every day I am just trying to fill up my to-do list with as many potentially-productive activities as possible -- like pursuing contacts for advice and researching companies I find interesting for openings -- in hopes that in time answers and opportunities will come my way.  Part of the reason I am making this blog is a way to record my activities so that I can keep track of all my efforts in hopes of finding successful patterns.  And who knows, perhaps one day after I have found my next role and succeeded there someone else who is starting their own transition period will stumble upon this blog and use it as a tool or guide in their own job-search.

Anyways, this is the beginning of a journey, and while it sucks to be at the beginning of anything, it's a lot better than surrendering to the thought of being no where or giving up.  I hope you enjoy the ride -- God knows I'm trying to as well.