The story on how I got my job at Granada Theater is out there in pieces on my blog and in Twitter. I felt it was time to do a recap since a whole lot has changed since I got the internship in the Fall of 2009.
How the change began:
In March of 2009 I was ending a nearly four year run as a contractor for an insurance company as an IT Security associate. I loved the people I worked with and the job was sufficient for getting a paycheck while trying to finish up my degree. The job was ridged and there were rules and confinements and tons of bureaucracy. I’m a creative person by nature and the job left me feeling empty on a daily basis. When it was time for my contract to end I accepted it happily.
Over the summer I looked for jobs but nothing felt like it was for me, so I opted to enroll in school full time for the Fall of 09 and I just pulled out some serious loans. This time I was done playing around, no more taking classes at night while working full time. During the process of researching classes to take, I found that I could do an internship and luckily I caught a tweet from Granada Theater saying they were looking for interns. I direct messaged the theater asking them what the job entailed and it really sounded right up my alley, graphic work, Facebook, Twitter. A creative job at last!
The job was everything I’d been doing casually for the past 10 years. I sent a copy of my resume (via Twitter) and was instantly asked when I could come in for an interview. I thought oh my God, I have nothing to show that I know social media, or graphic work.
What could I do to stand out?
During my time at my job at the insurance company I had a lot of time to read and listen to podcasts on social media and the like. It was time to pull out all of that knowledge of how things worked and put it to use.
Within 24 hours I whipped up a plan and executed it.
The Plan
I wanted to see how many people I could get to follow Granada Theater on Twitter and have them tell Granada Theater why all these people where following them. I crafted a blog that included a link that pre-composed a message to place into Twitter. It was a simple two step process, follow @granadatheater, then tell them why and who told them to follow them.
The message;
“Tell your friends via a tweet that you followed @granadatheater because @got80s told you to.”
After the blog was posted I had to get the word out about my plan.
Facebook:
I created lists of my friends on Facebook using the “lists” feature. The lists where of people I knew had a Twitter account so I could make sure they received the notification of my plans.
I also posted status updates on Facebook to tell people about it just to make sure the message went out to everyone (even the non Twitter users).
Email:
I emailed everyone in my address book that I figured would be willing to help, even some I figured were a long shot. I just copied and pasted the blog posting and told people if they needed help in setting up an account and tweeting I would help them.
Phone:
I contacted people via text messages and actual calls to make sure they had gotten my email and if they needed me to I could help. I had a few people that couldn’t get to Twitter because they were at work so I sent them instructions on how to tweet from their phone and even gave them the message to copy and paste into a new message.
Twitter:
I got in touch with some people who had a lot of followers and asked if they could post about my plans in their streams. I also contacted Mike Orren of Pegasus News because I figured they had a relationship due to the ads I’d seen on their site. Interesting fact; Mike never actually tweeted my message but found out months later that he send the message I had sent to him, to my interviewer.
Timing:
The tweets had to go out the day of the interview. I wanted maximum impact, and it worked. See the impressions my tweet had (warning image is 1200×4000)
The interview:
I have done plenty of interviews, I’ll admit I felt incredibly overdressed. I forgot what it was like to work for non-corporate businesses. We went through the usual interview questions and while sitting in the interview, the interviewer was thumbing his iPhone scrolling through Twitter and said, “I like your little experiment” with a sly smile. I didn’t have a smart phone so I had no clue how far it had gone since I left for the interview. I used Twitter the way it was intended, no barrier to entry, just a simple phone with no web access. Just proving the fact that if you are scrappy and inventive enough, you can stand out no matter what tools you have at hand.
The tweets continued to occur over the following days and I was called in for a second interview with the owner. Proof of my music knowledge was put to the test. The most interesting interview question I’ve had yet. What kind of music do you listen to and what are your favorite bands? Luckily I was one of those people who create lists and had my entire library broken up by months of release on my mp3 player. I pulled it out and rattled off the bands on my most recent playlist. He nodded in approval.
After two interviews I was sent a direct message on Twitter to say I could start whenever. The internship turned into a job when I was sent yet another direct message saying I was hired over Thanksgiving break. Since that time my boss left Granada Theater and after a short time came back to me and we are now working together with another music venue in town. At the time of this posting, I still work for Granada Theater and I’m a contractor through the company my boss and I created. On a daily basis I’m encouraged to tinker and figure out new ways to approach the marketing of music.
I couldn’t imagine my life any different. I’ve satisfied the kid in me as an adult by being allowed to take apart things and figure out how they work and I’m surrounded by creative people on a regular basis.
Hopefully this post gives someone out there an idea that lands them a job somewhere that they truly love. Just remember, stand out from the sea of faces, the resume is just a piece of paper. Actions will always speak louder than words.
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