Listen Live
KMJQ Featured Video
CLOSE
Businesswoman talking on cell phone looking at documents

Source: Dan Dalton / Getty

Can you be too eager or aggressive in pursuing job opportunities? Yes, I do believe so. But as the old adage goes, closed mouths don’t get fed, so you might as well make your intentions known by any means necessary, right? There have been several times where I have applied for and/or made my interest for job opportunities known with what I then deemed to be proactive means. Looking back on some of my chosen means of presentation and communication, I may have done a tad bit too much a couple of times I was going for a new opportunity.

MUST READ: Don’t Ask Someone To Be Your Mentor’ & Other Career Advice Millennials Need To Know

One opportunity in particular was for an internship. While interning in Houston, my boss made some phone calls to some of his connections in New York and scored, what I thought to be, an interview for a summer internship. I paid for my own plane ticket, housed up on one of my sorority sister’s couches for a couple of days and prepared my resume and interviewing points for the time I would meet with a particular female executive who worked at a record label I was dying to work for.

So, I make it to New York, head to the executive’s office at the scheduled time previously discussed and because this office had a front desk with heavy security presence, I was unable to make it upstairs to her office because she was allegedly not there. “Ok, no worries” I thought to myself. I will just wait.

I remained downstairs and even took up a seat at a restaurant literally right in front of the office. I checked back with the clerk at the desk every 30 minutes for the next three hours. Now, since I flew thousands of miles, I was not simply going to relent. So, finally, after waiting for well over three hours, calling my present boss, who had to call his boss to call the executive’s boss, I was informed that the executive was in her office and I was let up.

I got to this lady’s office, on a Friday evening at close to 6:00 pm and she basically tells me that her husband just got back from traveling for work, her kids needed to be picked up and she really just did not have time to talk to me. In fact, she also stated to me that she made a “blanket agreement” to her boss to interview me and she really had no opportunities available at the time. This lady, literally, shoo’d me out of her office while shoving promotional compact discs into my handbag, while also grabbing her own bag and keys to bolt out of the office.

I was completely disappointed because I felt as if I had wasted money and time to travel for an internship interview, displayed patience and tenacity by waiting on my chance to be interviewed and this lady really had no intentions on even hiring anybody. No lie, I felt like Martin when Varnell Hill invited him to Hollywood, only to find out that was just small talk with absolutely no substance.

Despite this unfortunate incident, I still would go above and beyond to either show my astute eagerness to work for a particular company or in a particular industry. Along with waiting more than three hours to be “interviewed,” my thirst for gaining some really desired work experiences also included putting together tangible Michael’s and Hobby Lobby inspired creative projects for two marketing companies and also searching for previous employees to gain knowledge of relevant information that may assist me in any interviewing processes that may arise.

Simply sending in a resume and hoping for a call back isn’t going to cut it these days. Going above and beyond the standard means of looking for new work or new opportunities is not a bad thing, in my opinion. Outside of stalking someone and/or implementing any illegal techniques, I say go for what you want. Being an eager beaver may actually pay off!

RELATED STORIES:

Why Working Abroad May Be The Best Thing You Could Do For Your Career & Life
 
Is Your Career Success Coming Between You And Your BFF?
Dust Yourself Off: Can Failure Help Your Career?

 

Can Being Too Eager Or Aggressive In Your Career Actually Hurt You In The Long Run ?  was originally published on hellobeautiful.com