1. DuPont Chairman and CEO Chad Holliday discusses the professional
experiences that shaped him for the role of being a CEO:
"My training is in industrial engineering, and I am a licensed
professional engineer," Chad said. "So I often take a disciplined
approach to evaluating and setting goals and objectives and approach
challenges with a structure in mind."
He continued: "This was especially valuable early in my career
regarding my approach to leadership. The experiences that served me
the best were the jobs I had when I was close to people and really
evaluated and understood how they approached their work, how they
dealt with problems, and how they got their jobs done. I'm thinking
mainly of positions in which I had contact with first-line supervisors
and operators in a plant. That's where real work gets done, and an
executive has to appreciate the reality around their work and
concerns.
"To this day when I write or say something intended for employees, I
am always asking myself what will the operator on shift tonight think
of this message?" Chad added. "Am I speaking to that person in a way
that he or she will understand or am I saying something that sounds
good but does not connect to them or the reality of their jobs?"
He said: "Another experience that has been really valuable is in a
sense the opposite of my early career experiences with direct access
to the organization. I'm thinking of the first jobs I had where I was
leading an organization that was so large I couldn't know everybody.
When you finally get to an organization of three, four, five thousand,
wherever that breakpoint is where you really can't know everybody and
can't be personally in touch, you have to rely on other people to give
you the information about how things are going."
"Now you have to learn how to tell whether what you are being told it
is the right and accurate information or whether it has been filtered
or watered down or taken out of perspective," Chad concluded. "Making
that distinction is one of the hardest things for an executive to do,
but for the CEO, it's an essential skill."
Dupont Corporation: Dupont Daily News
http://www.dupont.com/corp/news/daily/2002/dn06_19_02c.html
2. John Tesh, an actor, reporter, and musician, on how he became a
sportscaster, and later got his job on "Entertainment Tonight":
The interesting thing about sports is that I was working in the news
so long in the small stations, in Nashville, North Carolina, and
Florida, when I got to New York in local news, I got a call from the
guys in sports. I said, ‘Listen, you guys, I cannot name all the teams
in the MBA or football or baseball. I really don't know that much
about sports. They said, 'We need someone who can work live.' I had
done a lot of live broadcasting, so they hired me, taught me and Terry
O'Neal from CBS sports, sent me all around the world doing bike
racing, the Tour de France, down hill skiing, tennis, gymnastics. And
then, to make a very long story short, when O'Neal went to NBC sports,
he hired me to do the Olympics, to do gymnastics. A lot of people were
very surprised, because they were like, 'What does this guy know about
gymnastics?' But I had done eight or nine national championships. So
I'm not a sportscaster, but I'm like you; I like to do my homework and
I can learn quickly. But you don't want me to call on a baseball game,
because I will throw in the wrong terminology.
I was doing a bike race on CBS sports, the Tour de France. I was in
England. We were doing post-productions on it. And I got a call from
Paramount television, which produces Entertainment Tonight. They said,
‘Would you be interested in auditioning for this job? We will hire
you.' I said, ‘Are you crazy!' I had watched the show. I'm not a host
guy. I'm like the guy that does the bike races. So I came back, showed
up not barefoot, but with sneakers and a crunchy T-shirt. There is
Mary all dressed up, with her legs crossed and all this. What they
were looking for was a news presence, and I think because of my news
background and I guess I had a presence on the air that was newsy
that's what they wanted. I turned them down. They said, ‘Listen, you
come to Hollywood, you work five hours a day, you can build your own
recording studio down here, you can score films, and you can release
your albums.' I said, 'OK, where do I sign up?'
Christian Broadcasting Network: John Tesh
http://www.cbn.com/ScottRoss/interviews/John_Tesh.asp
3. Here is the story of Adam Schroeder, a saxophone player who
wouldn't give up until he got a job with Ray Charles's band:
Schroeder, a '96 graduate of East High School, sent an audition tape
to Charles after careful prodding from an instructor at Southwest
Texas State, who had played with Charles in the past. And after six
months of waiting, he finally got a call. "I was working my day job in
Texas and I got a call from the band manager and he said 'you didn't
get the gig.'"
But unwilling to give up, and knowing he was going to be in the area
soon, Schroeder asked to see him personally. Schroeder flew into Los
Angeles on Monday and talked to the band manager and on Tuesday he
received the call from Charles himself. "He doesn't book the band, I
do," said Charles, "do you want the gig or not?"
Siouxland: Sax Man Builds Resume Playing with Ray Charles
http://www.siouxland.net/siouxland/music/adam_schroeder.cfm
4. Pulitzer Prize-winning cartoonist Paul Conrad tells a funny story
about his job with the "Denver Post":
After seeing some of his drawings, Hoyt [Editor and Publisher of the
"Denver Post" ] had invited Conrad to come out to Denver after he
graduated. Halfway there, Hoyt telegrammed the young cartoonist,
telling him to postpone the trip. Conrad came anyway.
"So I showed up at Hoyt's office and said, 'Hey, good to see you.'
"He said, 'You didn't get my telegram?'
"I said, "What telegram?'''
And after a month of airbrushing the private parts of champion bulls
from pictures taken at the National Western Stock Show, a Pulitzer
prize-winning career was launched in Denver.
Denver Press Club: Hall of Fame
http://www.pressclub.org/events/halloffame.htm
5. Here's an account of how Carson Daly got his job as an MTV VJ:
Carson Daly wasn't always an MTV VJ, growing up in California, Carson
Daly wanted to be a priest, believe it or not. Then as he grew older
he wanted to be a golf player... Carson's main love was music... He
started off interning at KCMJ a radio station in Palm Springs, and
then fast as a bullet got promoted to be the producer of the morning
show!
After he got promoted to be producer, all Carson did was LIVE MUSIC!
For 6 months Carson worked 2 jobs, his Palm Springs day [morning] job,
and on-air talent with an overnight-DJ slot at a station in San
Diego... 100 miles away... whoa! Even though all that was hectic, it
paid off. Carson's overnight shift gave him an oppurtunity to define
his radio personality, and he soon landed a job at San Fransisco's
Live 105 FM. Carson then took off to the Bay Area.
In 1995, Carson scored the plum afternoon drive shift at KOME FM in
San Jose. His first assighnment was covering the 1995 MTV Video Music
Awards live from Radio City music hall in New York City...a taste of
things yet to come!...The next summer, Carson headed back home to
L.A., where he was the nighttime DJ at KROQ FM. With that high profile
gig, it was only a matter of time before MTV discovered this talented
babe and snatched him up (Woo Hoo MTV!)
Now, the baby blue eyed boy from sunny Santa Monica lives in New York
City, where you can see him hosting TRL (Total Request Live) weekdays
3:30pm-4:30pm.
Carson Jesse: I Adore Carson Daly
http://members.tripod.com/~CarsonJesse/celebrity/Carson411.html
6. Actor Diedrich Bader, of "The Drew Carey Show," talks about his
first acting job:
My first job I met a casting director at a dinner party in Santa Fe.
My parents and I were on vacation there, and I initially didn't want
to talk to her, because I thought that would be selling out, just
talking to her, but I ended up talking to her, because you know,
ambition will get you a lot of places. So she said come on in and read
and I thought I should go through the process before I went back to
school. I went to training at North Carolina school of the Arts, and I
thought I was going to go back there, and do stage work you know... so
I went through the whole audition process, and by the end of it, after
the third audition, I really did want it, I genuinely wanted it. I
wanted to see if I could get it I guess, some sort of competitive
edge, and you know being an actor you want to be liked, and you want
to be accepted, and that's something that you have to drop pretty
quickly. But at that point I really needed it, and they asked me, they
said "now, at one point your character needs to put the reins in his
teeth," it was a western, "put the reins in his teeth, ride down the
middle of the street, shooting guns off, there's gonna be stuntmen and
explosions all around you, do you think you can handle that?" Yes, yes
I think I can handle that. I've never ridden before so (laughs), but
we shot it, and that was my first job.
Castle Lane Video: The Business of Acting
http://www.castlelanevideo.com/BofA/quotes.html
7. Christa Quinn, of WTVG News in Toledo, Ohio, describes how she went
from playing the French horn to being a television weathercaster:
Although french horn was my original passion, I decided that I didn't
want it as a career. After being inspired by my first journalism class
and a trip to the local television station, I was granted an
internship with that station. Six months later, that station, KOB-TV
needed a Saturday morning weather anchor. So, with no on-air
experience and little knowledge of the weather, I took to the airwaves
for my first job in TV. Admittedly, my performances were rocky at
first to say the least, but luckily the station was patient with me
and before I knew it, I was doing live shots and filling-in on main
newscasts. After finishing school, I wanted to report, so I went to
work as the anchor, reporter, producer, videographer, editor and
writer for KOBR-TV in Roswell, New Mexico. I realized very quickly
that alien stories and the desert was not what I wanted, my new
passion was weather, and I wanted to do that again. I went to one of
my favorite places on earth, Traverse City, Michigan to be the morning
weather anchor and reporter for WPBN-TV. Then it was on to Toledo in
1997 for another weather job before I came here to 13-Action News.
13 ABC News: Christa Quinn
http://www.13abc.com/index.cfm?Article=423&SecName=86
8. Frannie Ruch, former art director for Elle and Glamour magazines,
describes some of her experiences as she worked her way up:
My first job in the city was at Esquire magazine in the fact-checking
department. I actually had been an English major at Georgetown
University, and I worked for a service editor getting caption
information for products (like) boys' toys.
Then I kind of decided that I liked the people in the art department
the best. I thought in an odd way that they were the most articulate
people there with the least amount of arrogance and hubris. They had a
gentle sense of humor and it was fun to be around them. The art
director there was named Margerie Peters. She let me do some styling
for her, so I'd run off and get little outfits for people. And when I
worked for the service editor, I'd do some of the production stuff
that a stylist would do, getting clothes and props...
I have always been lucky to be around interesting vital art directors.
Robert Priest, who has really helped Esquire's recent comeback, making
it very visually alert and smart. When I worked with him at Esquire,
he loved his contributing artists, he loved the illustrators and he
understood what different photographers could bring to each
assignment. The learning process for me is being around an art
director who knows what he is doing, which is sometimes as unusual as
being around an editor-in-chief who knows what they are doing. They
are decisive and their decision process is weighted, calibrated and
informed. So it's almost fun to watch some editors make choices.
I worked for a book-publishing company called Workman Press, and I did
freelance photo research for them through which I met some people at
Elle. I started working for Elle about six months after they started,
and at that point I had never worked for a magazine that was
considered "hot."
In Charge - Frannie Ruch
http://www.photobetty.com/frannie_ruch/1.htm
9. 24-year-old comic book artist Ryan Sook says that he "harassed" his
way into a job:
The editor at DC... His name was Dan Thorsland, he gave me my first
job, and I guess [Mike] Mignola had mentioned my name to him, and then
I met him down in San Diego. I was showing my portfolio to my current
editor, Dan Raspler, who did not like my stuff at all, at the time…and
[Raspler] sent me over to Thorsland, and so I went over to Thorsland,
and he said, "You know, I need a fill-in guy for Challengers, maybe I
can give you a job." And so I called him and harassed him for about a
month until he sent me a script, and then that's how I got my first
job. I mean, every step of it was really that. I mean, you get a check
in the mail that has Wonder Woman on the front of it... I'm pretty
sure I have a photocopy of that sitting around somewhere.
Savant Magazine: Ryan Sook
http://www.savantmag.com/extra/extraryan.html
10. Nathan Naverson, one of the Walt Disney Corporation's
"Imagineers," dreamed of working at Disneyland, and he didn't want to
take "no" for an answer:
I got a call from my good friend, Will, who was then attending
Washington State. He told me he had just been accepted into the
Disneyland College Program, and that he would be spending his summer
down in Anaheim working at Disneyland... The following January I
attempted to get into the Disneyland college program. Right off the
bat I ran into a slight problem, though. You see, I went to the
University of Colorado, but Disneyland only recruited in the Pacific
states. It took a little doing, but soon I was able to convince my
parents to help me to purchase a plane ticket from Colorado to
Pullman, Washington where Disney recruited (and my friend Will could
house me for the weekend.)
Will warned me that the odds of being accepted into the Disneyland
College Program were very slim, as only 10% of the applicants were
accepted into the program. "Hmmm," I thought, "Maybe I was better off
going for that Air Force fighter pilot slot?" Nonetheless, I had made
up my mind about what I wanted to do: get Disney to hire me... Well, I
went to my interview that morning on the Washington State campus,
having gone to great lengths to make my appearance perfect for the
recruiter... I really couldn't tell you how well I answered the
interview questions. I was too nervous. The one thing I do recall was
the interviewer asking me what job I would like to do at the Magic
Kingdom. I told him that I just wanted to work there that summer...
that I would take any job. "Give me the job as the custodial
sweeper," I exclaimed. "I'll take anything!"
When I got back to Boulder my wait was finally over. The answer I got
from the Disney company was not the one I was hoping for, but it was
just the answer I was expecting after what my roommate had told me. It
was one of those typical form letters stating, "You are very
qualified, but were not chosen, we will keep your resume on file,
etc... "
But in the midst of my disappointment I got an idea. . . a glimmer of
hope to hang on to. I put myself in the shoes of all the other college
students in my position and asked myself what would they do when they
got a thin envelope? Well, I figured they'd do what any sane person
would do. . . shrug their shoulders, say, "Oh well, I tried," and go
find another summer job. In my thinking, 900 people just took
themselves out of the competition.
But the competition was not over yet in my mind. I assumed that of the
150 that made it at least 5 or 6 would change their mind and take
another summer job. After all, Los Angeles is a scary, far off place
to those coming from places like Pullman, Washington or Moscow, Idaho.
Surely someone would change their mind? My goal was to get the spot of
the person who changed his or her mind.
So that was my new strategy. . . to nab one of the last 5 spots I
assumed would be there. That very day I sent my second thank you
letter to my interviewer, Jay. (The first thank you was right after
the interview) And thus my letter writing campaign began. In my mind,
keeping in contact with the interviewer was one of the keys to my
success in this matter.
I wrote one letter each week. Not enough to be a pest, but enough to
stay in the back of their minds given the few short weeks until
summer. I wrote the letters attempting to be as upbeat and excited
about the college program as I possibly could without sounding too
obnoxious. I stressed my commitment to Disney as a career goal, my
personal assets (like good attitude, work ethic, being able to work
with people, etc...) and the fact that I wanted the spot of the person
who changed his or her mind. Stressing those characteristics, I sent
my letters, saying a silent, and somewhat silly prayer before dropping
each letter in the mailbox. If nothing else, my letter writing skills
improved dramatically in those few weeks. Later, I decided that God
listens to even silly prayers, and sometimes He blesses people not
because they deserve it, but just to demonstrate how good He really
is.
Three weeks from the end of school, I had not heard a word from
Disney, and had all but given up all chances of getting the job. So I
prepared myself to go back to my old job at the pool. And ironically,
it was the day after I had given up all hope that I got the phone call
that forever changed the course of my short life. Bridget Lindquist
was her name, daughter of then Disneyland President Jack Lindquist.
She said, "Hello, Nathan, how would you like to work on the Jungle
Cruise?" My heart leaped for joy. I don't remember what happened
after that, but I obviously told her "Yes" before I hung up, because I
actually did end up at Disney that summer.
Themed Attraction: Earning My Ears
http://www.themedattraction.com/earning-ears.htm
Here you will find interesting employment-related accounts of five
people who hold high-tech jobs:
Computerworld: Extreme Techies
http://www.computerworld.com/news/1999/story/0,11280,42794,00.html
Four employees of "Cosmopolitan" magazine talk about how they got
their jobs here:
NineMSN.com:
http://lifestyle.ninemsn.com.au/cosmo/cosmocareers/meettheteam.asp
My Google search strategy:
"how they got their jobs"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22how+they+got+their+jobs
"how he got his job"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22how+he+got+his+job
"how she got her job"
://www.google.com/search?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&q=%22how+she+got+her+job
Thank you for asking an interesting question. If there is anything in
my answer that is unclear, or if any of the links do not function,
please do not hesitate to ask for clarification.
Best wishes,
pinkfreud |
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