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very young -- as I look at all the hopeful college freshman leaving for school this Fall I constantly feel obsolete and outdated -- but I have to believe that I will come back from this setback stronger and wiser than I was before.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.
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