We know the pandemic has wreaked havoc on our lives and the search for jobs. The Rosie Report’s two very own Editors-in-Residence have had the privilege to take on new roles in the last few weeks. In an interview, they share some of their experiences and provide some insight that fellow job hunters can implement to support their idea of the future of work.
Analisa started as Sr. Integrated Marketing Manager, Financial Services at the Wall Street Journal, and Dominique began as Head of Content Marketing at Creatd.
1. How did you land your new 9-5 gig?
AC: Nearly three years ago a random-coffee-date-turned-mentorish connected me to her friend at the Journal who was hiring for a product marketing role. That particular role ended up being restructured, but a few months later said friend reached out to me about another role. Twisty story short, I completed several interviews and while this role was also restructured, I seemed to have made an impression on one of my interviewees. This past August the person I interviewed with (who would’ve been my manager way back when) emailed me and let me know her colleague had an opening on her team. I was shocked this interviewer remembered me honestly, and to even still have my email address?! I muddled on it for about a day, and then said: sure, why not. I had gotten such good vibes the first time around anyways. And here I am!
DD: Over the past year or so I had put a lot of effort into applying for jobs online. I felt like I did “all the things you were supposed to do.” Once the pandemic started, I redirected that energy into personal projects. I submitted the occasional job application but still wasn’t getting any major bites. It wasn’t until I completely paused on the job search and began manifesting what I wanted that I had my first, real, promising offer after a recruiter and I had connected. This reinforced the power of relationship-building and reminded me to be open to opportunities. It was the ideal gig for me that combined my love for content development, editorials, and marketing. Little did I know that all of the personal projects would support this newest endeavor. Do the work, and let the universe handle the rest.
2. You both swapped cultural environments. Dominique, you shifted to a start-up from corporate media, and Analisa you moved to corporate from a start-up and then independently freelancing. Can you tell us how you felt about the change prior to making it, and how that experience has evolved once you began?
AC: I was nervous I’d lose the balance and autonomy I worked so hard to achieve in my career. I may have come to freelancing through necessity, but I very much had built a profitable business throughout the last two years. I molded my work so that it fit around my life, not the other way around, and changing that wasn’t up for debate. Throughout my interviewing process, I had to constantly remind myself that I could always leave if something didn’t sit right with me. I came to this role from a place of abundance. And that was a powerful (and privileged) thing to have as someone who, just two years ago, had been on the job hunt and was hungry for whatever opportunity someone could throw at me that would pay the bills. I was enormously careful and thorough in figuring out what the company culture was like, and at the end of the day it came down to this: Would this opportunity expand me? The answer was yes. And that felt like it was worth enough.
DD: I had no idea what to expect. I’ve heard great, and not-so-great things about start-up culture. But if there’s anything I learned working with people, it’s that everything must be taken with a grain of salt. Even though I appreciated the positive company culture, I felt like I had taken advantage of all the professional and educational opportunities I could at my previous role and was ready for something fresh, challenging, and would help sharpen my skills. I knew it wouldn’t be easy, and didn’t want it to be. I decided to take on the new role and so far I have zero regrets. The intimate number of employees has helped me learn what some of my professional preferences are and proved to me that I can be adaptable.
3. What has the virtual onboarding process been like?
AC: As a consultant, you grow accustomed to being thrown into the thick of it on day one. I came prepared to sink or swim …and then The Journal handed me some floaties and said chill. The first two weeks were filled with one-on-ones with department heads and high-level overviews of the various products. I was impressed, to say the least. We even had a session with a department head where we went through the physical paper and its various sections.
DD: My experiences echo Analisa’s. I came from an environment where my dept head needed to know everything everyone was working on. While I have been given some new projects to work on, I was at liberty to take on what additional opportunities that seemed fit for my role. It is also so much easier to put faces to names and meet (almost) everyone since we’re working on cross-functional projects. The biggest challenge has been adjusting to limited HR resources as I’ve encountered some minor, but essential, paperwork hiccups.
4. How, if at all, has your role with the Rosie Report influenced your new position, and what experiences from it are you taking with you into 2021?
AC: A large chunk of my day-to-day is absorbing a lot of information, and then condensing it into some strategic words that will hopefully convince someone to do something. My experience as an EIR definitely enabled me to brush up on my copyediting. And less tangible but perhaps more crucial: Being surrounded by words about the future of work has made me consider my own work through a different lens.
DD: My experience has spanned ad, social media, blog and journalistic writing. But unlike other social publishing platforms,through the Rosie Report, I’ve refound joy in taking an editing eye to the work of others’ to ensure consistencies throughout the content or voice – whether it be a brand or person’s. I especially apply this in my Creatd role and in my own writing. On a human level, I’ve been encouraged to practice building relationships across each of these roles. I’ve reconnected with Bennett Bennett, a college friend of mine and one of the original Rosie editors, and in my current role have identified people that would be amazing contributors to the Rosie Report.
5. What advice do you have to others who may be on the job hunt but haven’t had any luck yet?
AC: There is nothing wrong with taking a job to get by, consider it a brief stop on your journey (and this is after all, just one big journey we’re all on with twists and turns we’ll never be able to predict). In an ideal world we can all come to decisions from a place of abundance, but sometimes you just need to pay the rent. As someone once told me: It’s a lot easier to find a job when you have a job and your basic needs can be met. Toss your hands up at the rejections and keep moving (signed, someone who has literally received hundreds), nurture relationships, never say never, get to know people in your desired industry for the sake of getting to know them (not just because there is a job opening at their company – I took at least 60 coffee dates during my year-long job hunt), and keep doing the work, but also- understand that you aren’t the work. You are not your job. Your self-worth isn’t tied to who signs your paycheck and for how much. Once you sever that connection (self-worth : career), you’ll find it’s a lot easier to bounce back and take career-related blunders less personally. Lastly, ask and you might receive. Don’t ask, and you never will.
DD: Change your attitude and you’ll change your income. It’s all about perspective. If you’re constantly putting negativity out into the world you won’t find the results you’re hoping for. You need to be clear on what you want, focus on what you can control, and leave behind what you can’t control. If you’re unsure of what you want, that’s okay. But then get exposed to as many things as you can in order to gain more insight on what it is you want. Take the time to reflect, set actionable goals, and work.
