When one door closes, build another.
How Mike overcame his lack of experience and got the design job of his dreams
The hiring process can be painful, especially when you like someone who you can't hire. That's what happened to me last year...
Last year we interviewed a young man named Mike for a design position on our team. To be honest, he wasn’t ready. I felt bad because I know him as a person, but we just couldn’t hire him. He is a great guy, an amazing artist, super smart, and would have fit right in with our culture.
That’s what made it so hard to tell him that he wasn't ready for what we needed.
We stayed in touch and I tried to give Mike a few pointers here and there on how to get noticed by people who are hiring.
Months and months went by after our last interview, and one day I got a SOS text message. You know, the kind you send someone when you're really struggling. Mike was feeling frustrated and confused, and so I offering to meet up with him at Chik-Fil-A to talk about it.
When I was starting out over a decade ago there were a handful of people who literally walked me through open doors to my career that I would never have made it through on my own. I made a deal with myself, and with him that day at Chick-Fil-A to help in any way I could. We ate chicken sandwiches and talked about the kind of design job he wanted, and the things he was passionate about. We talked about Mike's frustration that nothing was happening for him.
I shared something with Mike that helped him see the opportunity that was hiding behind the lack of job offers. I told him something that one of my mentors taught me.
“When doors don't open for you, sometimes you have to build your own door...then knock it down.”
I gave Mike a plan to get his portfolio in order and start going after jobs instead of waiting for someone to come knocking.
I challenged him to hustle, and fill out a certain number of applications per week. I have been following up with him every single week and giving him action steps to take to get him closer to landing interviews and ultimately a job.
He took my advice to heart and hit the pavement.
Mike understood the assignment and ended up getting a job interview. Here's what he texted me when I asked how it went:
“I got the design job at [Big Company I cannot share]! Thank you for pushing me and helping build the door, I wouldn’t have gotten half the interviews I got without your encouragement!”
I literally almost cried when I read his text. After almost a year of being jobless Mike got a full time job at a massive company here in middle TN!
I couldn't be more proud of Mike for believing in himself and building the door he needed to open for his career.
Turns out Mike needed three things that many of us all need in life when we get stuck:
Someone to believe in us tell us that we can build our own door when one won't open
An action plan with measurable goals
A Chicken sandwich
Go build your door, and when you can...help the people you can't hire to build one for themselves.
#puthumanitybackinbusiness #hiring #design #sandwich #encouragement
