December Kick Off!

rainy subway tunnels

I rolled back into NYC last Tuesday to rain and gray skies.  Fall is over, buhbye leaves.  I felt sick for the first few days back, but everything is shaping up to be all right, because:

1.  I have cherry soda in the fridge.  I'd forgotten how much I like it, Dr. Brown!
2.  My sweater is nearly ready-to-go for this coming weekend's Annual Ugly Sweater Party. I won't talk about it yet; just wait for the big reveal with all the enthusiasm you can muster.
3.  I saw some old work pals at Karolina's housewarming party last night and they had great advice and really bolstered my view of what I can be doing on a professional level to achieve all of the pipe dreams I can't seem to let go of.  This time of year always has me looking ahead excitedly and I get tempted to either paint a mural of my ambitions on my bedroom wall or tattoo them on my arms because I feel so incredibly committed to them -- but then, I would never ever tattoo myself like that (gross) and my walls are busy enough with my artwork tacked up willy-nilly.
4.  It's the season of lights in NYC, and I got to catch up with Allison today while browsing the usual craftwares at the Union Square Christmas Market.  New Yorkers are being uncommonly polite toward each other, and the temperatures are cold enough to subdue many of the worst street smells.

Graham Ave Glitz 'n Glam

East Village Tree Fort 

Allison and I in Union Square

5.  I had a phone interview the day after I submitted my resume for a Coordinator/Designer position at a small experiential and branding design firm in Flatiron District; Image Media.  I have an in-person interview this Tuesday morning, but there are a few peculiarities to how this is all shaking out that have me just a bit cold in the toes:  (Note: This part is boring.  I'm jotting it more for my memory.)

• After a nice phone discussion with Dave (the Project Manager of Image Media) this past Friday, we agreed to set a time for our in-person interview this week after he checked his calendar.

• Fast forward to Friday evening: Dave e-mails to see if I'd be willing to do some design samples for them so they could get an idea of my skill.  I told him I thought I had some free time this weekend but to let me know what he had in mind.  Here's the point where I should have drawn a line for myself and requested setting up a solid agreement as to the scope of what they wanted me to do, design-wise, and that I'd charge at least a partial dayrate for the work.  But, being a (somewhat desperate) and young designer, I instead received a Power Point deck from Dave and agreed to create mock-ups for the background so they could get an idea of my work.

• Dave e-mails around 7:30 to add that he'd like to meet at 9:15 Tuesday morning and asks if that works for me.  It being a Friday night, I don't respond immediately.  10:47 pm brings an e-mail to my inbox that says simply, "yo, you get my e-mail?  -Dave".  It rubbed me the wrong way that he communicated in such a casual and dogging manner before we've even met, but more so that he apparently doesn't know about boundary setting.  Dave: I don't work for you yet, it's Friday night so I'm with my friends, and if the scheduling was a matter of urgency - just let me know that in grown-up words.  But I replied politely and we set the time.

• Saturday afternoon I submitted mock-ups for the Power Point background.  Dave loved the designs and thought they were spot-on but wondered if I could try combining the two different looks.  At this point, I started feeling strange about doing the free work and wondered how many hours I could potentially get sucked into on this when there'd been absolutely no discussion of compensation.  I asked my former coworkers their thoughts that night at Karolina's housewarming party.  They both adamantly agreed that I shouldn't be doing work for free at this point and shouldn't have been put in a position like this before even meeting with Dave.  Katie gave me great diplomatic advice and that night I went home and e-mailed Dave.

• His response had me feeling more than a little taken-advantage-of.  Katie once again offered great advice, and although this e-mail was agonizing for me to send, I did it.  The threat was there that this would get things off on such a bad foot with Image Media that no amazing interview in the world could save my chances at a job (which I very much need, so there's that).  But I realized I'm a professional and if this guy was the sort to think it unnecessary to compensate me for my time in any way -- he's not the sort of guy I should ever work for.  

• I went to bed dreaming about what sort of response I'd get, but was happy to wake up to his statement that this was completely fair and he'd agree to compensating my work efforts accordingly and was looking forward to Tuesday's interview.  

The lesson learned?  I pushed back, and got respect.  Not only did he agree to my terms, but he was incredibly professional as we e-mailed back and forth the next day while I continued designing for him.  Go figure.  I'll be sure to post about how that interview goes, but I also lined another one up for Friday. Compared to the last time I job hunted (two years ago), things are going much more smoothly and it's great to know that my portfolio and experience amounts to something at this point that people seem to be responding to.  Wish me skill!