This month on the blog, we are focusing on “the hunt”—for colleges, for internships, for jobs—and will be sharing valuable insights and experiences from women with stories to share, as well as some expert advice from women-with-wisdom.
I’m not sure what this says about me, but I loved the hunt and still do today. Maybe not for best-fit colleges (I was not cool during this process, sorry mom) but I enjoyed the research aspect of searching for internships and jobs. Looking back, I also realize how much I grew from having to apply to hundreds and hundreds of jobs, with none of them handed to me by my parents or some inside connection. I got very lucky with graduate school and only applied to two for my master’s and one for my doctorate, so a painless process.
Case in point: interviews. As a reserved INTJ, interviews, at first, were not my thing. In fact, I remember putting a lot of time and energy into choosing outfits for interviews that would hide how much I sweat. If you’re interested, I always went with a suit (Theory was my go-to), and a button down, or a sleeveless button down in the summer. I worked in higher education, so this fit the bill. Also, suit jackets are hard to sweat through. (side note, we are talking a little bit of fashion this month, too!) However, no outfit can hide a bright red face and the beads of sweat that would form on my upper lip during the easy stage of my career when faced with meeting someone—or worse, two or three people—during an initial interview.
Anyway, after about a hundred or so interviews, I slowly gained more confidence in my ability to tell my story. And, almost twenty years after my first interview (I started working very young during summers on LBI), though I still get a tiny tinge of nerves and a few beads of sweat here and there, I’ve embraced them. Not only because I am way more confident than my teen and early twenties self, but also because I’ve learned to approach them the right way, with the correct mindset: viewing them as a two-way street where I am evaluating the company, organization, individual, etc. just as much as they are evaluating me.
But enough about me.
This month, I’m excited to feature interviews with some super badass career-savvy women. One of them I have known for years and others I am just getting to know by way of Strategy Girl. Behind the scenes, one of the most exciting things about the interview series is that I’m getting to put my research and networking skills to work. I’m researching women doing things I admire and supporting causes I believe in, trying to evaluate their mission, vision, goals, and determining whether or not they embody what SG is all about. So, although I don’t know all of the women we feature personally or too well (yet!), I do know that beyond doing amazing things with their careers they are all about supporting other women, and lifting each other up and not pushing each other down to get ahead.
Now that’s a strategy for success—education, career, wellness…life!—that we all can and should get behind. I encourage you to read their interviews and connect with them, whether by giving them a follow on Instagram or connecting via LinkedIn. I’m inspired on the daily by the willingness of complete strangers to support the mission and goals of Strategy Girl. To all of you who have contributed, I can’t thank you enough.
Stay strategic,
Brittany
