Dear prospective employer, here is a great example of “managing ambiguity” and “overcoming challenges”

As some of you many know, 2 of my biggest passions in life are consumer electronics and athletics. So companies in those 2 spheres are at the top of my list for places I’d like to work once I finish my MBA. That is also a big reason why I chose to go on exchange in the fall rather than the spring: most of those companies do not recruit in the fall so I wouldn’t miss out on them by not being at Rotman in the fall.

However late last month I was surprised to learn that Nike- one of my target companies- was coming to Rotman in October and I wasn’t there! This is the story of my experience managing this job application process from afar. It’s a long but good story so get ready to read!!

My first challenge was twofold:

A. How do I get top of mind at Nike without physically being present?

B. How do I create a good application for the marketing job Nike was hiring for?

--Managing Part A--

One of the members of the Rotman class of 2012 interned at Nike in the summer of 2011. Given I was always interested in learning more about what it’s like to work at Nike (with the idea to maybe work there), I had spoken with her a year ago about my interest in the company. She began working full-time there after graduation and was luckily part of the recruiting process for Nike’s on-campus visit this time around. I tried connecting with her on the side, to get some additional info about the role which I might have missed in the Rotman on-campus visit. And having met her previously, gone to the same Rotman events with her, etc, it wasn’t like I was some random stranger out of the blue either. So this helped me get as top-of-mind with Nike as I could given I was in Madrid and Nike was visiting Rotman in Toronto.  

Nike also has a very specific and unique culture that involves wearing “Nike-appropriate” clothing. After discussing how to be top-of-mind with my career adviser   I decided I send over a picture of me in such clothing so that they have an idea if I look the part sufficiently for Nike- especially important given I couldn’t be gauged in-person at the recruitment event in Toronto. I don’t know if the email with a photo of me was ever seen but I was happy I sent it so that the Rotman Alum who works at Nike if necessary, could pass who “Mike Moses” physically is on to the Nike HR team even though I wasn’t physically at the Nike recruitment event at Rotman.

--Managing Part B--

I was also lucky because one of my friends interned at Nike this summer and is living in Europe this fall as well. Same time zone made things MUCH easier. So in talking to her I got a sense of what sorts of things Nike values, how to communicate to them, etc.

Of course, after writing my cover letter, I sent it over to my career centre adviser for feedback and input to ensure it all looked good.

So with that, I sent over my application. I never like to “count my chickens before they’ve hatched” though, so I decided to move on with my life once my submission was in. This meant among other things, that since we had a week off school in mid-october, I decided I’d use that time to visit Portugal for the first time.

Little did I know that TWO DAYS before I was to leave, I found out I got shortlisted for Nike!! They wanted to interview me! Except they wanted to interview me in literally the middle of my Portugal trip!! AHHHHH

I wanted to prepare as much as I could before I left meaning I had to prepare everything: company research, interview question answers, questions for the interviewers, cool ideas of my own for the Nike team, etc. in a whopping ONE DAY before I was to leave.

Additionally I had a big dilemma on my hands:

-Do I cut my trip short (because I flew with ryanair, cancelling anything meant paying HUGE cancellation fees)?

-Do I do my interview in the hostel and risk strangers coming in (at worst, naked!) unexpectedly? Does the hostel even have the infrastructure to let me do an interview??

-Do I find some sort of business centre in Lisbon and pay for an hour to use a quiet room and internet service?

And even if I did do my prep in advance this meant I would be studying said prep in a hostel!! Not the most conductive environment for studying anything. Haha

Let’s take a look at what I did now:

--Prep--

I found out I was shortlisted on Thursday night (Madrid time), was leaving to Portugal on Saturday and on Thursday night was a big party for the IE student community. I am never one to miss a party though so while I went out on Thu and enjoyed myself thoroughly, I forced myself up Friday morning and got straight to work on Nike prep. I worked literally all day.

I had also been emailing my Career Centre adviser with various questions about how to prepare and luckily that Friday evening (Madrid time; afternoon Toronto time), she had some free time  and rather than send me a bunch of long emails, called me to talk Nike prep for about an hour. SUPER USEFUL!!!!  

Because I wasn’t sure what the computer situation would be in Portugal I printed all of my prep documents and brought a USB stick with those documents on it as well so I could have everything with me while away.

By the end of the day on Friday, I was sufficiently prepped and had my bags packed, ready for Portugal.

On Saturday at the airport I had some free time while waiting for my flight so what did I do? Found I quiet part of the terminal to practice my interview questions answers! And because I have an iphone, I recorded myself giving said answers so I could make necessary tweaks to my tone, speed of voice etc.  

In my hostel, whenever I had some down time, I pulled out my Nike prep notes and went over them again and again to ensure I remembered everything I needed to.

So now I was sufficiently interview-ready.

--Dealing with the interview itself—

As soon as I knew I was getting interviewed, I emailed the Rotman Career Centre to find out what medium I’d be interviewed in (phone, audio skype, video skype). However without a concrete answer until EOD Friday Toronto time (which meant I was asleep by then), I just assumed it would be the most involved alternative possible, meaning video skype, so I packed a cool golf shirt to wear for Nike just in case. On Saturday morning I found out it would indeed be a video skype interview. Good thing I planned ahead!

Regardless of how the interview would happen, I knew I would need privacy. After pricing my various alternatives, the cheapest (but risky) was getting privacy in my hostel. Luckily I was staying at the best hostel in the world on the day of my interview (seriously; The Travelers House Hostel wins the award for best hostel in the world like every year on Hostelworld.com) so was hoping I might be able to be accommodated. I emailed them as soon as I knew about my interview and asked if they have a quiet room I could be in to do my interview and if necessary, access wifi (I didn’t know if I would be doing a skype call or not yet). Travelers House got right back to me and said they would hook me up with a room for a few hours to do my interview with an ipad! Sweet!

My interview was at 3pm Lisbon time and the afternoon is typically the quietest part of the day for a hostel. My bedroom in the hostel has maybe 6 beds in it but Travelers House let me have the room completely to myself for the afternoon for the interview. What cool and helpful people at that hostel!

Prior to the interview I set up a call with the Rotman Career Centre on videoskype to work out any technical glitches and I was happy we did this. The ipad I was going to use from the hostel had some video issues so thinking on the fly, I decided to try with my iphone instead and it worked perfectly. So  there I was, sitting on the floor of my hostel in Lisbon, doing a video call on skype on my iphone to people in Toronto. Isn’t technology amazing??

With everything all set, off to my video skype interview I went. I was really happy I took all of the preparatory steps I did because the next morning I found out I made it to the next round!! AWESOME! Round 2 wouldn’t involve another interview but rather doing a project for Nike due in a week. Just one problem: I was still on vacation for 4 more days!! AHHHHHH!!!!!!

So I “wrote” my project in my head while away and did as much prep research as I could while in my hostels. Once I returned to Madrid, I worked almost literally for 3 days straight to get my submission on paper and done on time. I was so focused on Nike that I didn’t even unpack until after I submitted my Nike project!

In round 1 I was just competing against the other Rotmanites but round 2 would be vs. everyone else in North America (and possibly the world?) applying for Nike so the challenge was very, very fierce.

I still don’t know how I fared in the second round but if nothing else, I can hold my head up high that:

-I overcame ridiculous odds to land a job interview with one of the best companies in the world AND made it at least to the second round

-Given my situation I created the best project I possibly could have…If I had to do it again, I would have done nothing differently.

So that is my story and is a lesson to all you prospective employers about Mike Moses- when I am passionate about making something happen, I will do everything short of moving mountains to make that something happen!