In college, I started final papers after the midterm. My design projects tend to ship well before the deadline. I've never pulled an all-nighter. I'm terrible at procrastinating-- not because I don't want to wait until the last minute, but because I can't. If I procrastinate, my work suffers. Oh, how I wish it didnt.
Unsurprisingly, I started my post-graduation job hunt in early February, a full four months before the big day. I spent countless hours grooming my resume and portfolio. I checked a half-dozen job boards on an hourly basis. When something picqued my interest, I transformed into a cover letter-writing barbarian. I was absolutely dedicated to knowing where I would begin the next chapter of my life before the college chapter had ended. If I graduated jobless, I feared that my future work would suffer-- that I'd be forced into settling for a job at an organization I wasn't in love with.
I flew to Philadelphia, to San Francisco, drove back to Boston more times than I'd care to admit and Skyped with firms in Mountain View, Chicago, London, Australia, and Germany. The offers steadily flowed to my inbox, but not one of them blew my socks off. I really wanted my socks blown off.
When graduation came and went and I hadn't yet gotten an offer I was absolutely thrilled with, the anti-procrastinator in me kicked and screamed bloody murder. "I can always freelance," I begrudgingly told myself to ease the anxiety, and while this was technically true, I knew deep down that I wouldn't be happy freelancing. This post-college chapter was for venturing outside my comfort zone, and freelancing sat squarely inside it.
People around me told me to relax. "Why are you in a rush?" they'd ask. "The economy sucks." And while they did indeed have a point -- why was I in a rush? -- I remained steadfast, continuing the search despite popular opinion, a shitty economy and an increasingly embittered group of companies awaiting my reply. I didn't know why I felt rushed any more than I knew why I started research papers months ahead of schedule. It just felt like the smart thing to do given how much I suck when the deadline looms.
Not having a job made me anxious, but so did not listening to the opinions of everyone around me. A few days after graduation, I heeded the advice of my parents and turned down the offers I had worked for months to get.
Literally moments after sending out the batch of difficult emails, a friend encouraged me to contact a buddy of his at HUGE, a firm I admired but hadn't considered. They were too big, I estimated, and I was sure that I didn't want to be a lost cog in the corporate design machine.
I emailed the friend-of-a-friend with a mixed air of desperation and curiosity. Having played the dating game with my fair share of companies over the past few months, I decided be frank: I didn't want to work at a big firm. He reassured me that HUGE was, ironically, not huge-- they had a decent number of employees, sure, but professed that individual ownership was at the forefront of everything they do. I thought that to be a pretty quality line of horse shit, but he offered to prove it to me in person. I didn't have anything better to do, so I hopped on the train to New York City the next morning.
I interviewed with what felt like half the company. They all said the same thing: if you don't own it, you lose it. They were a level of a genuine I hadn't experienced and a level of passionate I could only admire. Six hours, a stroll around DUMBO and a few beers later, a partner made me an offer I couldn't refuse. I start next week.
After months of pouring sweat and tears (no blood, thankfully) into finding a job, I ended up taking one I never even applied for. Ironic justice dealt swiftly by the closet procrastinator in me, I suppose. If I didn't know any better, I'd say life was telling me to procrastinate a bit more. To stop rushing. To sit back and go with the flow. But that's never been my style, and no matter how hard I try, I'll always be the guy working hard to end up holding the itinerary.
Fortunately, I've been given a position at HUGE that will challenge the entire breadth of my skillset. I look forward to applying my work ethic towards game-changing products with the very talented people in Brooklyn and, when I can, writing about them here.