An Unexpected Email Resulted In My Greatest Stepping Stone
Previously, I talked about sharpening your skill set to make a focused impression on interviewers. For me, that only came after a yearlong detour that prepped me with the right resources to secure my first internship—the proverbial stepping stone towards my end goal. Unexpected opportunities often lead to great learning experiences, and I found that to be true in my own career path.
Two weeks before my second year of college came to a close...
I was packing up the remaining contents of my dorm room when I received an email from a person named Sandra. The subject line caught me at a desperate time:
“Interested in a part-time position?”
Sandra worked at the Parker Career Management Center of the UCLA Anderson School of Management. Like myself, Sandra was involved with the Vietnamese Student Union (VSU) during her college years. She had just stumbled upon a yearbook I had designed and published for VSU a few days prior.
“I love what you did with it,” she wrote. “We have a project going on right now where we’re working to turn our career binder into an e-book. Let me know if you’re interested!”
This email honestly couldn’t have come at a better time, as I was dreading an uneventful summer then. How did she know?
I read a little further into the job description for Digital Designer: “This is the opportunity to have ownership of a design process, enable an innovative educational tool, and help save a lot of trees.”
Save a lot of trees? I was sold! I came in for an interview a few days later, underwent a small test to determine the competency of my design skills (thankfully I passed), and next thing I knew, I was on board to work on an exciting project for the next three months.
I had two major takeaways by the end of this project:
- I had a great finished product that would expand my portfolio. I learned so much about the intricacies of UX/UI and the challenges of designing for mobile.
- Initially pursuing an MBA wasn’t in the cards for me, but working at the Anderson school made me reconsider such a possibility in the future.
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One year later...
Armed with my newfound knowledge and improved portfolio, the doors finally opened up to internship opportunities. I received an email from an internship coordinator at Universal Studios Hollywood recruiting me for a role that closely aligned with the work I did at Anderson.
Well, what do you know?
Only a handful of lucky people go directly from point A to point B in their careers. Detours and unexpected roles are built into the game, opportunities that you just have to adjust to and then learn to capitalize on. It wasn’t uncommon for me to hear of managers and executives who had worked a multitude of odd jobs (acting, ride operating, waitressing, building cars) before settling into their current roles.
And it’s true. My own journey now has me believing in clichés like
“Everything happens for a reason.”
#StudentVoices
This post was edited by LinkedIn Campus Editor @Cheechee Lin.