So during the past 3 months I have been on a job hunt for a job that truly fits my personality, passion and professional goals. This search required something of me that I was not expecting...patience. I am not really a patient person in the grand scheme of things, though I do have the ability to be very patient in some things. Overall though, it is something that I struggle with.
As I was looking for a job my wife came across a company that she thought would be perfect for me, and as usual, she was right. The company is called Wistia and they are a video hosting site for businesses with a focus on providing companies with awesome video marketing tools. I found a job description that seemed too good to be true and appealed to many aspects of my personality and seemed to fulfill what I was looking for in a company and career. I couldn't believe that I was staring at what seemed to be my perfect job, right on my computer screen!
Well I applied for the job and didn't want to get my hopes up. There were a lot of immediate concerns such as the company being in Cambridge, MA and I didn't want to commute that far. I also didn't know if I had a realistic shot at landing such a perfect role, but my wife kept supporting me and telling me I had what it took for this job. Isn't she great?!?
Fast forward a whole month of not hearing back and pursuing other opportunities, and I found myself giddy when I saw an email from the Director of Customer Happiness asking me if I was available for an interview. I jumped on the opportunity and had a phone interview the next day which was a Friday. The interview went so well that I was asked to come in on Monday to meet with one of the department managers at their office in Cambridge. I had another great interview, an hour and a half conversation at a coffee shop close to their office. Two weeks later and a couple of emails exchanged back and forth (in which I had to answer some mock questions as if I was doing the job already) and I was asked to come back in for a round of interviews and to do a product demo of the Wistia player.
I had 3 opportunities in front of me at this point that would all be great career choices; but after some intense soul searching, logical thinking and support from family and friends, I came to one conclusion - I want to work at Wistia!
So with that attitude and with the help of my brother-in-law, sister-in-law and wife, I began brainstorming and developing a rocking demo! I was asked to create a product demo based on a fictional customer that was a restaurant chain looking to improve their video marketing. I decided to create a transcript of an email chain that I would have hypothetically sent to the customer and received back with answers to my questions. This would help me formulate and design a better demo due to their direct needs and core competencies. I then decided that since one of the main attraction pieces to the Wistia product was their video analytics, it was only logical that I had to create my own video content to use for my demo. That way I could demo a "live" website to my fictional client so they could see just how Wistia could help them. So, with all of that said, I asked my sister-in-law Monica to help me by being my "Head Chef" for my fictional restaurant client, "Luigi's and Friends." We went out and bought the ingredients and on the day before my interview, in an hour and a half's time, we recorded the content and pictures for the video that I used for my demo. I then edited the video on iMovie during the next hour and just like that it was done. The video that landed me a job at Wistia was born!
I added the photos at the end of the video to get across my subliminal message along with hosting the video on my fake clients website which just happened to be called - http://iwanttoworkatwistia.blogspot.com. It was quirky and nerdy but that is me, and I took the chance that Wistia (from what I had seen) would be a company that would appreciate that and love my focus and efforts.
So I created the video and spent the rest of the night going over my demo ideas and practicing over and over and over again. I had my interview and subsequent demo planned for 10am the next day and I was up until 2am practicing. I was also soooo excited that I could not fall asleep that night until about 4:30am and I had to wake up at around 6:45am to shower, get ready and leave in time to get there without traffic jams. Well, needless to say, I crushed it! They said a couple of times that they were impressed with my demo and really impressed with the fact that I created a video!
I am on the beginning of my second week at Wistia and so far I am loving it and coudn't be happier, even with an hour and 40 min commute each way! After much ado, here is the video that I created that clinched my spot as one of the next Wistians! Here is to what I hope to be a long road with Wistia!
