Now I'm not bragging, but I wanted to write you to tell you about some experiences I've had since I graduated in December 2009.
After graduation it felt like because I had my degree, people were going to be knocking down my door to hire me. Unfortunately, that wasn't the case. In January I left Idaho to venture out in NYC for an internship. I stayed out there for a few months but because I was getting married, I wasn't able to stay out there. My husband-to-be Sean was still in ID going to school. Before, during and after that time I was searching for jobs ANYWHERE in my attempt to plan for the future. Nothing was happening. I called; I e-mailed; I went to their offices. It just felt like things weren't going to happen the way I had “planned”. I had to start saving money for the wedding and the move to Florida, so in April Sean and I got a job with Kirby vacuums. Sean was constantly looking online for jobs for me--we were looking for anything to get me going down my career path. The searching was to no avail so in July Sean and I moved to Florida to get married and begin our lives together, closer to our families and Sean’s business opportunity with his dad.
After the wedding I had some prospects for jobs as a nanny. I couldn’t find anything in my area of expertise so I ultimately chose to start a part-time position as a nanny. All the while Sean and I were keeping an eye out for job postings.
Finally…FINALLY at the beginning of December I got a bite as a receptionist. It was through a temp agency and the lady that I interviewed with told me it was a temporary position that could lead to full time, if I played my cards right. She called me and interviewed me on a Tuesday night and I started on Wednesday morning.
Immediately I could tell this company was great! They were very close-knit, unselfish, integrous people. The office staff had about eleven people and they were all more than welcoming. My first few days there I had helped them set up for their Christmas party in which they flooded their staff with gifts and appreciation for all of their hard work! Can you believe that even though I was a temporary receptionist they even gave me the same gift card they were giving all of their employees?
Anyway, after a few days I went to speak with the HR Manager to ask her specifically how temporary this position was. She then told me that the owner had hired someone else for my position and didn't tell her, so my position was only going to last a total of two weeks. That was a HUGE disappointment. However, even though I wasn't going to be working for them permanently, I still decided to give my all. I wanted to show them that I wasn't going to quit before my time was up. I was going to keep asking for things to do and how things work. I was going to keep giving it everything I had.
The next day, the HR Manager asked how I was with writing. I told her that I can write (not knowing what their expectations were at that point), so she gave me the assignment of writing a thank you letter to the participants in a contest they had had. It wasn't supposed to be anything too long, just short, sweet and to the point (sound familiar :)?) So I did what just came naturally (after 4 years of learning in PR classes) and crafted the thank you letter with all of the information they had asked. I was completely shocked when they were "WOWED" by my work--in one little paragraph!!! They were so impressed that they decided to ask me if I could write other things. I answered with "That's what I was trained to do for 4 years in college. I love doing things like that." After that I was asked to write personal letters from the owner, bonus letters, etc., followed by them asking me if I would be interested in doing their newsletter for them. I was absolutely delighted! They hadn't had a newsletter (or any communications staff) since March and they were happy that I actually wanted to do the newsletter. I was in charge of writing every article in it, including the employee of the month article in which I had to do my research. They were absolutely ELATED when I had finished it in just a week and got the December newsletter out in December. If it wasn't for the practice that I had received at BYU-Idaho, especially in your PR Writing course, I wouldn't have been prepared for the tasks they had given me.
After the newsletter, I was put in charge of the website, as well as the flickr, facebook, and twitter accounts. The owner and the HR Manager just kept hitting me with all of these ideas that they knew I could implement for them. Neither of them are savvy with they ways of PR and were relieved that their ideas would actually be taken care of. I completed a year-in-review newsletter to make up all of the lost months of no new information. Everyone was asking me to write or create things for them. It has been everything from brochures, to boilerplates (which they didn't have one and I created it for them), to scope letter estimate forms. I was working hard all day everyday, writing everything down, staying organized, and always asking questions to learn more about the company. I had to gain a general interest of industrial painting (which I never thought I'd do). Now I know that this seems like a LOT of background information, and NOT a short and sweet version, but I wanted to give you the background so you can understand where I was coming from.
I wanted to tell you that even though there wasn't really a place for me, because of my hard work and knowledge of things that I assumed most people have a basic knowledge of (which most people do NOT have that basic knowledge), they made room for me and offered me the position of the head of communications as the Communications Specialist!!!! All of the hard work pays off!
When people had come to BYU-Idaho for Communications Day, and everyone had told me to write all I can, I didn't realize how vital it was going to be. I would like you to tell your students that it wasn't memorizing answers, but it was writing that got me the position here at my company, and it was because I applied what I learned at BYU-Idaho! I got this job because I knew what I wanted and I worked hard for it, even if it seemed as if it was a dead end. This job came because I trusted in the Lord, when other things didn't work out, I knew they didn't work out for a reason. This job was my reason. I started out as a temporary, two-week-receptionist and became their Communications Specialist. I wasn't the top of my class, I didn't have a definite career planned in my future. I just took whatever I could get, and didn't turn something down because it wasnt' exactly my dream job. I worked hard and turned this less than average job to the career I had been looking for.
P.S. I just got another job offer that originally wanted me as a receptionist, but then saw my resume and wanted me as their marketing specialist!
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