Reading this? You're Not Alone

Followers around the world...13 countries!


Followers in the US...heaps!

Hey. You. Yeah, you. You're reading this. I don't care how, or I don't care why, but the point is, you're here. THANK YOU!

Social Media Breakfast

On Thursday morning, I attended a social media seminar at the MLC Centre in Sydney, level 47. See views above--not too shabby! The seminar itself, however, was less than impressive. The speaker was Aaron Goonrey, a lawyer that specialises in Workplace Relations & Safety. That, I'm afraid was the problem. I'm confident that I could have given a better presentation on social media with my eyes closed! First of all, his statisitcs were outdated. 40 million users on facebook? Really? Try 50 million. He talked for a while about Second Life, which I find to be totally irrelevant in the social media landscape, and didn't once mention 4square, which while only boasting half a million users worldwide, I think is growing into something huge. It must be, in fact, with facebook's recent launch of facebook places. Funnily, the logo for facebook places is literally a four inside of a square.

Anyway, the seminar was pretty boring. I didn't hear much that I didn't already know. The whole thing had a negative connotation to it (go figure; it was presented by a lawyer) and the 50 or so of us present were warned about the various ways in which social media can be damaging to a business, not the ways in which it could help. Don't worry; I was sure to leave some verbose feedback on the response forms :)

More Interviews, More Job Offers

On Wednesday, I had an interview with Ability People in Sydney CBD. Suffice to say, it went very, very well. So well, in fact, that they sent an offer through to me the next morning! And this, my dear readers, is the offer that I have accepted :) I will be starting out as a social media/marketing consultant, developnig their brand/website as well as getting my hands dirty in the recruitment process. They have some really exciting roles on in digital as well as print media, and hopefully I can take them on solo within a few short months! The social media bit excites me the most. GOAL: become a social media EXPERT. Follow all the right blogs, feeds, twitter accounts, facebook groups, newsletters etc. Create an amazing document with blow-you-away statistics on the impact that social media can have on a company. Present this to CEOs all across Australia, convince them that their company NEEDS to have a social media expert, find them one, and boom. I've started my own division. Bring it!

Meanwhile, ICUR and xpand are keen to move forward, as well. I need to make a decision, and by the time this entry is posted, I will have signed a contract somewhere, hopefully at Ability People. Still waiting for a few things to pan out....

NOW I'm a journo..a real, live journo!

OK, so maybe I thought that I was a journo before. But NOW I'm a real journalist, because my name is in print!

Same article, IN print. If you missed the online version, find it here. But this is WAY better, because I can touch it! OK, so it's no Sydney Morning Herald. Actually, it only comes out once a month. Still...if it's rugby league..it's in the Rugby League Review!

How cool is that!?

ANOTHER interview!

The fabulous view from the yahoo! 7 offices. Oh hey, Sydney Bridge. My future employer? Perhaps!

So yesterday my colleague and awesome account manager at Sherborne, Jason, recommended that I connect with someone on LinkedIn. So I did, and now I have another job offer on my hands! I connected with one of the managers of a recruitment agency called xpand and expressed my interest in moving into the digital sphere. Justin rang me an hour later, and an hour after that I had an interview. Luckily, their offices are just down the road from Sherborne, so I was able to be there and back within the hour. The interview went fantastically, and Justin wanted to set me up as a recruiter with their biggest client--yahoo!7. Jess, who is the internal recrutier through xpand over there, has over 20 roles on at the moment and is in desperate need of help. Therefore, my timing was actually impeccable (they had just talked about the need for more staff at a meeting last Friday).

Justin set up a 2nd interview between Jess and I for that very arvo. We ended up rescheduling for the next day (Friday) but had a great meeting. As you can see, the views from the yahoo!7 offices are fantastic! It's located at Walsh Bay and overlooks the Sydney Bridge. You can actually see the tiny little climbers as they make the ascent! The yahoo!7 offices were awesome. The oldest person working there is 45; everyone is young and pretty hip loooking..company culture=check. Jess says there are sweet social events, conferences and staff happenings all the time. As it was Friday, everyone was dressed casually (and from what I gathered at the interview, casual Friday is every day). Nobody looked stressed, though I know it's a very high-pressure environment. Plus, I get to hang out with people like the Creative Director of yahoo! Australia and ring up dudes like the editor of Rolling Stone Australia for reference checks. Uh.....badass! Jess and I had a really good chat, and we both agreed that I'd be a good fit there. She's going to have a follow up with Justin, but prettttty much I can start whenever I want. Awe-some.

However, I'm going to see through the rest of my interviews next week (Lavolta and ICUR) and hopefully make a decision by Friday. Fingers crossed that I have an awesome new job in one week's time!

Cheeky Sunday Session + JOBS JOBS JOBS!!

Cam and myself--Sunday Sess @ the Coogee Bay!

Well, it certainly has been a while since I've written anything. My most sincere apologies! Life has been crazy, as usual. In fact, I'm in the middle of a major career transformation! OK, so maybe not major. But a transformation, nonetheless. From IT recruitment to marketing/digital media/creative recruitment. I applied for 4 jobs on seek.com.au exactly two weeks ago, and the next day I received THREE phone calls before 12 noon! It felt awesome to know that I'm that..well...awesome. They were all recruiters (rec-to-recs: recruiters recruiting recruiters) and they all wanted me to come in for interviews. Then I went on a little adventure, which went something like this:

Monday night:
- applied online for jobs

Tuesday:
- received phone calls from 3 recruiters, 2 of which insisted on seeing me that day!
- Interview w/ Ashworth Recruitment (lunch meeting, just down the road from Sherborne)
- Interview w/ Fox Recruitment, 5:30 pm (North Sydney, right across the bridge)

Wednesday:
- CLIENT INTERVIEW w/ S2M Recruitment Agency (in the heart of Sydney CBD on Hunter Street)

Thursday:
- 2nd interview w/ S2M
- CLIENT INTERVIEW w/ Lavolta (in Rozelle-bit of a trek from Coogee and about ten minutes from CBD)

Friday:
- Interview w/ Hays Recruitment (Sydney CBD--too corporate, too big, not for me)
- Lunch w/ former colleagues at Melon Media--resume distributed but no role for me at the moment

Monday:
- S2M MADE ME AN OFFER! .....which....I..........(drum roll)..........turned down.

Basically, I'm still wanting to get out there and interview some more before I make a decision. S2M put a lot of pressure on me to take on the role straight away (they gave me one day to decide), and while the offer was quite financially generous and they are, in fact, the leading digital media recruitment agency in Sydney, I decided that I wanted to really explore all of my options before making a decision. After all, this is my career we're talking about, and I want to make sure that I know exactly what's available in the job buffet before I start filling up my plate with the first thing that looks yummy. And S2M looked really, really delicious, I have to admit.

They're a small company, with no more than 20 on staff. They've grown to become an international success in just a few years, with offices in Sydney, Melbourne and Singapore. During my second interview, I was able to meet with almost everyone on the team, and I know that I would have fit in really well there. Most of the staff are under 30, really passionate about digital media, extremely friendly and hard working. I could absolutely see myself going for after-work drinks with almost everyone I met. (Not that that's a major factor in my decision-making-process, but it sure didn't hurt that I'd be working with young, fun people every day.) Also, the managing director assured me that I'd have all of the support I'd need, with on the job training and plenty of people to turn to (literally: the office is small and the lay out is basically one long table with the computers lined up in a row) if I needed help with anything. Alas, I just couldn't do it. I wasn't 110% positive, and my gut told me to wait it out and that there'd be plenty of other offers to come. I had a 2nd interview with Lavolta (the direct competitor of S2M) set up for the following week, and S2M wasn't willing to wait.

Exactly one week later, I still feel very confident in my decision to turn down the offer from S2M. I had yet ANOTHER interview with a different company last Wednesday, a company called ICUR in Surry Hills (creative/digital agency). It went really well, and I have a second interview with them this Wednesday. I'm keen to meet some more members of the team. So far, they sound awesome. And Surry Hills is a FANTASTIC location! It's on the outer edge of the city (closest to me in Coogee), a block away from Central Station and the area has great little pubs and restaurants. Great social scene, close to transport and close to me.

But Lavolta seems fantastic, as well. They've been described to me as the "google of recruitment" and indeed, the office environment was very chill when I went for my first interview. There's even a little office dog--Hollywood--that runs around! Adorable. I met with Steve from Lavolta, but his business partner is in the UK at the moment. As he's unable to make any business decisions (i.e. hiring someone) without her, I'll go back for my second interview when she's back in the country (today!!). Oddly, the same situation had happened at ICUR: the director was on holidays until today. Fingers crossed that both companies make me an offer and I can choose from a plethora of five-star meals, with lovely sides that might include superannuation, bonuses and wonderful commission structures :)

In other news, it's bloody freezing in Sydney. OK, so there's no snow on the ground. OK, so some people are wearing shorts and t-shirts. OK, so it's 60 degrees and sunny. But it's COOOLD in the morning and at night, and I miss my beach weather! I miss my bikini, I miss the hanging out with the sun at 6 pm (it ditches me before 5 pm these days) and I really, really, REALLY miss my tan!

Still...the Coogee Bay somehow manages to remain in business. Wednesday is my favourite night, as my boy Bruce is the muso on. They Call Me Bruce is the name of the gig, and he's fantastic! I actually e-mailed him to say how much I enjoy his shows, and we're kinda mates now :) He dedicated a song to Mary and I ("the Americans") on her first night in Oz.

So hopefully the interview with ICUR goes well on Wednesday and Steve from Lavolta will arrange for me to come in and meet his business partner sometime this week.

I should also mention that me making a career move at this point in time is fairly risky and dangerous, as I still don't have a proper visa. Sherborne actually offered to sponsor me by providing me with a working visa, whereby I can live and work (for Sherborne) in Australia for 4 years (and they call that "short term"!). Me leaving Sherborne would mean me not having a visa. Mind you, I'm still on a student visa, which expires on 30 September. It's coming up! So, here are my thuoghts:

If I'm not 100% passionate about what I'm doing, there's no point in wasting anyone's time-especially mine. As I'm just starting out in my career, I'm keen to do those 12 hour days, extra work on the weekends and maintain that bust-my-ass sort of mindset for a while. I'm ready to take on any challenge that comes my way and drive myself to be the most successful person I can be. However, if I don't enjoy my work, that passion and drive is going to dwindle and I'm going to end up miserable. So I decided that I might as well sort this out now, rather than later, and make my move. I'll find a job that better fulfills my creative needs (i.e. digital media and marketing). Come the end of September, I'll take a short trip to....New Zealand! That's right, New Zealand. While I'm there, I'll apply for a work-holiday visa, which you can only apply for if you're NOT in Australia. With this visa, I'm entitled to work for the same company for no more than six months. SO, I'll just bust my butt at whatever new job I take on, show my employer how totally awesome I am and after a few short months hope that they, too, will be willing to sponsor me for long-term employment. I'm not worried. It only took Sherborne a little over one month to offer me sponsorship, so I'm sure that I can convince whatever new company I join that I'm worth keeping around. Welp, here I go, jumping from a cliff in a huge leap of faith--in myself.

So that's that. And in case there's any doubt left in your mind, I'm never, EVER going back to the states again! This American is in Oz to stay.