At the end of last semester, if you had asked me about my plans for the summer, I would have listed off half a dozen opportunities I was pursuing, with three in particular I was confidant I could obtain. By the time I was two weeks into this semester, all six of those had fallen through, and I had begun to panic about finding something to do to help pay for my final year of college. I ended up brainstorming some ideas with my parents over spring break, and identified a local start-up to the Toledo area called SkyLIFE Technologies. They have a mission that I feel passionate about, and I decided to put our sales training to the test.
I started by researching the company to gain as much knowledge of the founders and the business as I could. If I was going to convince them that I was passionate about their businesses, I needed to know it as well as possible beforehand. Based off of what I could learn about the primary founder, Jeffery Potter, I mimicked his normal working attire, so as not to over or under dress. After tweaking my resume to focus in on my relevant experiences, I drove over to their headquarters and asked to speak to Mr. Potter. God definitely was smiling on me that day, as I was able to immediately sit down and chat with both the founder and the employee I would be working under for an internship.
Ultimately my preparations paid off, and I was able to guide our conversation immediately towards summer internships. I maintained control over the flow of the conversation until I felt like I had demonstrated my interest in the company, and by the end of an hour long discussion and tour I was offered a paid position for this summer. They stated later that my initiative to meet them in person, and my knowledge of their company had impressed them both.
BoweryJE22
Beginning with research was a great idea! Good post!
Professor Sweet even mentioned in class that at times we will all have to sell ourselves. Nice example.
I love this post, because I recently had a similar experience! I’ve been searching for a job when I graduate in a couple months, and having a hard time pursuing leads. I was going to be in FL (this was last week), so I called some companies that didn’t even have any job postings to ask if I could come in and talk with them. I ended up talking to the founder of a premier marketing firm in Vero Beach, and when I left I had a job offer. It pays to research and to sell yourself in person (legally;)!