Five Minutes to Fall in Love

Hello again! I know every post I promise I'm not going to disappear again, and then I do. Sorry, I suck. Anyway, the job hunt is back on! (I know, when isn't it?) After my PR internship ended in December, I started freelancing as a social media manager full-time. While I love the flexibility that comes with making my own hours and picking my own clients (my clients are all amazing), sitting at home alone all day having full conversations with my dog is taking a toll on my mental state.

After three and a half months of doing the freelance gig, I'm still not quite up to full-time hours. Therefore, I'm back in the job hunting game searching for the next chapter. Luckily, Houston is a fantastic city full of networking opportunities.

Tonight I went to my first Ad 2 Houston event at The Company of Others for Toast & Tour. I wish I'd heard about this organization a long time ago! In just a couple of hours I made so many connections and new friends in the industry. As a current freelancer, any opportunity to get out and be social with others in my industry is really exciting. Ad 2 Houston is specifically geared towards young professionals, so there is the added bonus that a lot of the members there are around my age. We commiserated over the risks of working at a start-up, moving to a new city, and hunting for meaningful employment outside of the oil and gas industry.

I participated in my first "speed interviews." It was definitely a different approach than anything in which I had participated before. I suppose it was probably a bit like speed dating (not that I've done that either). How do I make this person fall in love with me in five to ten minutes?

Tomorrow I have an interview for a magazine journalism job. I'm very excited! I promise, seriously, to keep ya'll (look I'm a Texan now) in the loop.

And now for your literary musical entertainment, listen to Vampire Weekend's "Oxford Comma."

Another Turning Point

The twists and turns of my vagabondage to vocation have continued. About a month ago I was told the company I moved down to Houston to work for could no longer afford to pay me full-time, so I started working part-time. My job eventually turned into mostly running errands and doing social media.

I took the opportunity to make my jump into the world of public relations and started a part-time internship with a communications agency here. I also started doing social media for a dance company on the side.

I've been working at the agency for about two weeks, and I absolutely love it. You can read my first blog post for the agency here.

Yesterday, I  was officially laid off of my job as the Director of Marketing. The company can no longer pay me. I was not offered a severance package or compensated for the two weeks of vacation I did not take.

However, I am not viewing my loss of job as a tragedy, but rather an opportunity to find a job I really love in my field. I woke up this morning with a huge weight lifted off my shoulders. I have gone into work for months now wondering if that was going to be the day I would leave work without a job. Now that is has finally happened, I am relieved.

I am a worrier. I lay awake at night and worry. Yet, I am at peace with the changes I am going through right now. I am glad I took the PDS job as it brought me down to Houston. The agency is going to increase my hours as we take on some new projects. Soon, I am going to start doing social media for a gelato company as well.

After work at the agency today, I went to the dance studio where the owner offered to double my hours with them. I will be helping run the Fine Arts (ballet, tap, hip-hop) side of the studio in addition to doing their social media.

So, as you can see, there have been a number of changes lately. When I got my first "real" job I wasn't sure if I should keep this blog going as I thought I had finished my "vagabondage." I've now realized that it will never truly end, and I don't know where it will take me. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

Hell Yeah Houston!

Hello all! Don't worry, I haven't died! Call off the search parties! I apologize for my extended absence and lack of crucial information as my vagabondage has taken me down south to Houston. I now have a blog for the company, and I couldn't decide if I should keep this thing going after accepting a position, but after my hiatus, I've missed getting to write about my adventures. Therefore, I'm back! I'll give you a quick and dirty timeline to get ya'll up to speed!

January- Offered and accepted the position of Director of Marketing at Productos del Sol

February-Rented a 24 foot Penske truck (that is a HUGE truck), loaded all of my junk (there's a lot of that), and made the 1090 mile journey to Texas

March-Started my position at Productos del Sol

April/May- lots of traveling for work, made a website and blog, wrote/starred in/edited Youtube videos, designed/placed banner ads, set up nationwide sponsorships, made sales pitches, demoed product (to give you a taste)

My first "winter" in Houston was awesome! I felt like I was on vacation, but I had all my stuff with me!  No snow here! I am beginning to get a taste of my first summer. Everyone keeps telling me to watch out, that I'll be miserable. Hot > Cold in my book. I guess we've had a mild spring because it wasn't in the 90s on Easter. It's been chilling in the mid 90s for the last couple weeks. My apartment complex has a pool, so perfect swimming weather. Getting to spend weekends lounging by the pool and splashing around in a bathwater temp pool-perfection in my opinion. It's ok to be jealous. :)

Some things I am having trouble getting used to:

1. Driving everywhere- coming from Chicago, I get intense longings to just go walk around, but Houston is huge and spread-out so that usually isn't an option.

2. Bars- In Chicago the bars are very much a part of daily life, not reserved for the weekends. Houstonians view it more as a weekend only thing and choose restaurants over bars on weekdays.

3. Air Conditioning EVERYTHING- Houston has the nickname of being the most air conditioned city in the world. I believe it. At last week's Astros baseball game I was rocking a tank top, shorts, flip-flops, and sunscreen ready to get my tan on, only to get into Minute Maid Stadium and find the roof closed and the AC cranked. Weirdest baseball experience ever.

4. Sports- I miss my Chicago/Purdue teams with a passion. A glimpse of a Bears hat or Purdue bumper sticker throws me into such an excited tizzy I know that person is going to be my new best friend!

Some completely awesome things about my new city (other than the weather):

1. The intense pride and love Houstonians have for their city. Check out the new Houston Is Inspired campaign.

2. Space. Yeah I know this was kind of on the having trouble list too, but there is something about having 6 lane roads and real parking spots that makes you want to stretch your arms and sigh.

3. Speed Limits- (optional) Texas cops seem to live and let live. Do the speed limit on the freeways or even 10 over, and you're likely to make a lot of people very angry. No 25mph limits for this city!

4.The people- Everyone down here is so, so nice (unless you are driving at 25 mph). You will never get a door slammed in your face. You are not an inconvenience to sales people. When people tell you to have a nice day, it isn't just an expression; they actually mean it!

5. Palm trees- They're everywhere! I love it!

Ok, this post is getting on the long side, so I will sign off here with the promise I am not going to disappear into the abyss for another four months. Get ready for a lot more Hell Yeah Houston!

Bear Down Superfan Project

During the time of my vagabondage while in Chicago, I've met some truly awesome people, who, if I leave, I will miss dearly. One of these friends is helping his buddy on his passion project- a documentary about Chicago Bears superfans. They've gotten footage filming at Bears home games at Soldier Field all the way to Austin and Atlanta filming superfans at their own homes. I love my Bears. However my routine of rolling out of bed on Sunday, throwing on a jersey, and watching (or recording) the game is shameful compared to these people. The documentary follows superfans from thousands of miles away that never miss a home game. All of their spare money, and sometimes a little more, goes to getting themselves to Soldier Field on Sunday to cheer on the Chicago Bears.

When my friend told me about the project a few weeks ago, I was instantly fascinated. My friends and family laugh at my dedication to my team, as being near the Bears was a huge selling point for moving to Chicago. But these superfans are on a completely different level. I asked my friend to get me more information about the documentary as it became available.

Last night he texted me a link to Kickstarter, where his friend is reaching out to fellow Bears fans or just interested people in general to help back his project. By following the Kickstarter link, you can read/watch a little about the documentary and why is it so important to Joseph, the director/producer. For those of you who are not familiar with Kickstarter, there are different levels of pledges you can make and for each level there is a perk or swag that's offered. I will be pledging to ensure I get my copy of Bear Down as soon as it comes out! This is a really awesome project by some great guys. I hope you'll check it out and, of course, Bear Down!

Surprise! The Real Final hp Interview

This morning was my real final hp interview with a HR person. Apparently the hiring manager I talked to yesterday asked her to interview me as well. This was a little more basic interview asking the standard questions most people ask. We talked about my background/schooling/GPA. Questions asked:

So you speak any other languages?
What is your greatest strength/weakness?
Tell me about a writing project you've done.
What is your learning style?
What do you do to keep learning?
How do you manage multiple projects?
When is a time you displayed excellent customer service?
How well do you work in groups?
What would you if you were in a group with someone difficult to work with?
What would you do if you had to work with someone you'd never met before?
How do you manage your time?
When could you start?

Overall I think this interview went very well. I will find out a week from today if I get the position. If I am offered and accept, there is a three week screening process before I can start, so that gives me some time to wrap up things up here, pack, and head down south to warmer weather. She could not believe it was 40 degrees here and that was unusually warm for this time of year. ha So, interviews completed, now the waiting starts.

Final hp Interview

Today's interview with hp wasn't just with a manager, it was with the hiring manager for the position. This was definitely that most in-depth interview I had. He started by going over the position again and asked how my past interviews had gone.

Questions that were asked in this interview:
Are you willing to relocate to Houston?
What is your writing experience?
What is your tech writing experience? Who was the audience?
What is your experience working with HTML/XML?
What do you know about Clean Global English?
What is your leadership experience? What did you learn?
When is a time you have worked in a diverse environment?
Are you able to work under pressure?
How well can you manage multiple projects?
Do you work better alone or in a group?
On a scale of 1-5, how well do you understand computers?

He then turned the tables and allowed me to ask any questions I had. I asked:
Within the PC division, what would I be working on? (notebooks)
What is a normal turn around time for the advisories?
How long is a typical advisory?
How large is the Houston site?

Apparently the Houston site is HUGE! They took over the Compaq campus when they merged, and sold off part of it to a nearby community college. The site has five or six buildings what are all connected, so you don't have to go out into the weather. Apparently hp is that largest and most profitable PC company in the world, so that's pretty impressive.

I will hear back about the job by a week from tomorrow, Friday. This happens to be the same day I have my in-person interview with Sol Bliss. So that should be an exciting day! Now, it seems this was my last interview, yet I have another one scheduled with the recruiter tomorrow. I am a little confused what that one is about. Guess I'll find out!

hp Interview #2

I had the world's earliest phone interview at 8 am this morning with an hp advisory writer in Taiwan. He went over the job description with me a little more and asked about my experience with HTML and XML. Apparently I wouldn't have to code in XML at all. I'd just have to be able to read it, so that's easy enough. I wouldn't be coding much at all, but sometimes when writing, the code breaks, so I'd have to open it up and figure out what went wrong.

Some of the other questions he asked me:
What am I currently writing?
What do I write for Halftime and DCW?
How long are my articles usually?
What kind of audiences have I written for?
Am I able to manage projects at the same time?
How do I react when yelled at? (Uhhh...)
What would I do if given multiple projects from different people who say theirs is the highest priority?
Why hp/this position?
What kind of tech writing have I done? Who was the audience?

Final question he asked was have I set up the next interview yet. So I think that's encouraging. I have my third interview tomorrow morning with a manager. The week of interviews is half over, and I think things are looking pretty good!