I’ve never really had much of a problem finding work. When we moved to Fredericton (despite a minor panic attack at the prospect of a whole new – and bilingual – job market) it was simply a matter of walking down the street and talking to a couple of shop owners. Before that, I was never short on options when it came to work.
But Toronto has been a tough nut to crack. I’m finding I need to use a whole different set of strategies to find my place. Since I’m hoping for something beyond retail and customer service, walking into a shop and handing in my resume isn’t really an option anymore. The biggest challenge is that in such a large city, there is both an overwhelming number of potential opportunities… and an equally overwhelming number of applicants also seeking jobs. It’s been hard to know where to look – complicated by the fact that, other than being a self-employed artist, a big part of me still can’t decide what I want to be when I grow up.
So, when I heard that a startup was hiring, I jumped at the chance to apply. While it is still technically an entry-level service position, a startup environment is a great place for an entrepreneurial-minded girl such as myself, and the benefits (and potential for advancement) are certainly a fair bit better than my current position.
Freshbooks is an accounting software program designed for small businesses, and while no one will argue when I say that financing is not my area of expertise, I think I’ve learned enough from my experiences with Dragon-Fly’s finances to be useful.
One of the reasons I was excited for the opportunity to work with them was that they asked for a video résumé as a part of the application process. Not that I was a bit excited about having to record myself… but the spirit and energy of a company that requested such a creative thing was rather intriguing. Here’s the idea I came up with. It’s a bit more rudimentary than the vision in my head, but I do like how it turned out.
Missing 1 uncaptioned photo
It has now become apparent that this stunning piece of artwork, combined with my answers during the telephone screening were not enough to astound the powers that be and move me along in the interview process… but I’m still pretty happy with my little résumé.