Unofficial Interview
I had an interview at a company called Anthem Worldwide earlier this month and the way it came about was very unusual considering I never actually applied for the position that was on offer but I will go into detail regarding how it came about.
My dad is a cab driver and was going about his business having conversations with clients as per usual, one of his clients that day said they were a graphic designer at the aforementioned company (although it was a subsidiary company called SCHAWK that he initially worked for in the same building). My dad mentioned to the customer that my boy (me) has a degree in graphic design, and is currently looking for experience either an internship, placement or a full time job and wondered if you have anything going at your company that my son could be interested in applying for.. Or at least it was something along those lines. Jacques (the customer) gave my dad his number asked him to give it to me so I can make contact later.
Once my dad gave me Jacques's number I contacted him letting him know who I was, the conversation went rather smoothly and in the end Jacques asked me to send him my CV and portfolio so that he can forward it to his managers and then take it from there. I initially didn't hear anything for about week or so and decided to contact Jacques again to find out on the developments of what I sent, he responded saying there was some interest from the the managers at the company but they haven't been able to get back to me as the one that needed to was on his travels, but ensured me that he (Phil, the managing director) will contact me once he returns.
A week had passed and Phil had contacted me letting me know that his team would like to interview me for an initial paid internship and if things go accordingly then they would take it from there, so he gave me the details of interview and I went away to prepare. When I was looking for the building on Google maps I noticed the area of the location was very close to my first primary school, not only that... But when I found the location of the building it was the EXACT SAME building my dad had worked at, as part of security more than over a decade ago I was amazed and shocked by this discovery.
On the day of the interview my dad's old friend who he use to work with was still there so we caught up briefly and then I went to the waiting area. Looking around the inside of the building, it had changed so much from what I remember but there was still some things that were still the same I won't go into that now. Anyway the actual inside of the studio was really inspiring and I already naively started picturing myself working here (I probably shouldn't have done that but I was just so enthused to be there it was an incredible feeling).
Long story short, (not that I can actually say that anymore) I was unsuccessful in getting the paid position, the managing director Phil Jones (who didn't actually interview me on that day) mentioned that something had happened, which required them to bring the other interns contract forward and have her start a lot sooner than originally planned. I never did find out what the circumstances were that forced them to make that decision, but Phil said he didn't want to just turn around and say thank you for everything but unfortunately you didn't get it so they said I could come into the studio at some point and they can work with me on my portfolio and CV, but unfortunately that hasn't happened as least not yet anyway. I was a bit gutted of the outcome in all honesty but because I didn't officially apply for that role (I didn't even know it existed) I just took it on the chin.
My dad is a cab driver and was going about his business having conversations with clients as per usual, one of his clients that day said they were a graphic designer at the aforementioned company (although it was a subsidiary company called SCHAWK that he initially worked for in the same building). My dad mentioned to the customer that my boy (me) has a degree in graphic design, and is currently looking for experience either an internship, placement or a full time job and wondered if you have anything going at your company that my son could be interested in applying for.. Or at least it was something along those lines. Jacques (the customer) gave my dad his number asked him to give it to me so I can make contact later.
Once my dad gave me Jacques's number I contacted him letting him know who I was, the conversation went rather smoothly and in the end Jacques asked me to send him my CV and portfolio so that he can forward it to his managers and then take it from there. I initially didn't hear anything for about week or so and decided to contact Jacques again to find out on the developments of what I sent, he responded saying there was some interest from the the managers at the company but they haven't been able to get back to me as the one that needed to was on his travels, but ensured me that he (Phil, the managing director) will contact me once he returns.
A week had passed and Phil had contacted me letting me know that his team would like to interview me for an initial paid internship and if things go accordingly then they would take it from there, so he gave me the details of interview and I went away to prepare. When I was looking for the building on Google maps I noticed the area of the location was very close to my first primary school, not only that... But when I found the location of the building it was the EXACT SAME building my dad had worked at, as part of security more than over a decade ago I was amazed and shocked by this discovery.
On the day of the interview my dad's old friend who he use to work with was still there so we caught up briefly and then I went to the waiting area. Looking around the inside of the building, it had changed so much from what I remember but there was still some things that were still the same I won't go into that now. Anyway the actual inside of the studio was really inspiring and I already naively started picturing myself working here (I probably shouldn't have done that but I was just so enthused to be there it was an incredible feeling).
Long story short, (not that I can actually say that anymore) I was unsuccessful in getting the paid position, the managing director Phil Jones (who didn't actually interview me on that day) mentioned that something had happened, which required them to bring the other interns contract forward and have her start a lot sooner than originally planned. I never did find out what the circumstances were that forced them to make that decision, but Phil said he didn't want to just turn around and say thank you for everything but unfortunately you didn't get it so they said I could come into the studio at some point and they can work with me on my portfolio and CV, but unfortunately that hasn't happened as least not yet anyway. I was a bit gutted of the outcome in all honesty but because I didn't officially apply for that role (I didn't even know it existed) I just took it on the chin.
