Driving Question

”How can I effectively market myself to employers?”

PSST! 

PSSSSSSSSSST! 

Hey! 

Yeah, I’m talking to you over there! You on the other side of the screen! 

Yes. I’m breaking the fourth wall. So what? 

Are you hiring? Because you should totally hire me! I’m perfect for your business! I consider myself to be extremely qualified, and if you hire me, I’ll guarantee your productivity rates will fall 99%! 

What a deal! 

Here, I’ll tell you what. Have my business card. 

Hello there everyone! How are y’all doing out there tonight? Welcome to another episode of Ava’s Journey through High School™ –featuring the occasional life crisis– For today’s show, we’ve got a real doozy folks; ME trying to market ME to people (who are not ME!) 

Expect daring thrills (me talking to literally anyone but my reflection) and epic quests (me trying to record audio in the seemingly quiet school hallway, until I press record and literally everyone decides to be as loud as possible), the adventures never end!

Now for a quick ad break…

Did I just write over 150 words of unnecessary comedy that only I find funny? Yes… why yes I did…

Let’s get started, shall we? 

After ensuring that we had good work ethic and a personal management system, we were ready to move on. This time in Careers, we started to look at our future… future employment. This scared me, because I’m unemployed. Besides the occasional babysitting evening where I sit on babies professionally (that was a joke, I don’t actually sit on children. Please hire me), I didn’t have much work experience either. 

Anyways, I will begin with an age old question: Am I qualified? Well, when I created my resume, I sure discovered the answer to that… (it’s no.) 

In fact, when we introduced resumes, I had no idea what went into one. Sure, I’ve heard of a resume, but WHAT DO I PUT IN IT? Luckily for me, this is a Careers class, which means I will learn. That is the literal purpose of the class. The purpose of the education system. To… learn… this is the reason. Do you understand the words that are c omi ng ac cross yOur screennn???

*That one rewind sound effect from iMovie… yes, you know which one

If you haven’t noticed, I drank a cup of coffee this morning. It is now the afternoon and I’m still under its wonderful… w o n d e r f u l… effects. Now is blog post time, so I guess I’ll just have to deal with it… and you will have to deal with my impeccable sense of humour.  I see that as a win/win… or a lose/lose… depends on how much you like me. Now, onto the show, shall we?

Well, as I opened Canva (the best) and scrolled through its many templates, I soon discovered that I might just like this resume thing. We made 2 versions; one with a headshot and one… without a headshot (I bet you didn’t see that coming).

It was difficult at first, because again, no work experience. I found it worrisome that I didn’t have too much volunteer or work experience. Sure, I dedicate myself to the necessary things I apply myself to, but I never thought to do work experience yet. I guess it was a “wake up call”.  Childhood’s over, maybe it’s time to grow up? 

Though, as I started to create mine, I’ve realized that maybe… maybe I actually accomplish things. 

It was kinda surreal (or Sarreal, get it, my middle name) to realize that I’ve accomplished a lot of stuff with my little monkey life. As I searched through boxes of old awards and certificates, I learned that I actually had a lot of stuff to put on that resume of mine. Heck, I was dancing for like 12 years, that’s gotta count for something! 

In the end, I’m proud of my resume(s). Looking back, I definitely like the one without a headshot more… but I’d apply both these babies to companies. They’re… B E A U T I F U L (maybe getting a little too emotional here, they’re just resumes.) 

Here’s mine: 

Next up is the business cards… the business being ME. I thought to myself, “hey, a business card. That sounds rather straight forward.” Well, it wasn’t. Where I succeeded with the many resume templates, I would fail with the many business card templates.

Seriously, how many business card templates can Canva have? Unlimited. U n l i m i t e d. YET it took me an hour to find one that I liked. I’m too indecisive. In the end, I discovered that in that hour I spent roaming Canva, my classmates made multiple versions. SO I MUST MAKE MULTIPLE VERSIONS TOO, though I took like, ten minutes on the other two. 

In conclusion, I’m very happy with my business card…s. Yes. Cards. Plural. I mean, I don’t have favourites. Why would you think I have favourites, huh? ANSWER ME.

Here’s my gorgeous, my incredible, my beautiful business card that I spent a whole hour PERFECTING. Que the choir music: HALEIGHLUYAaa… oh no, I can’t spell.

And here’s the rest…

This is the time of the blog post where I realized I’ve written too much (yet again), and it’s time to speeeeed. Moving on to the “templated email.”

This step was supposed to be easy… but guess what… it wasn’t (plot twist of the century) Turns out making a generic email to send to potential job opportunities is my nemesis in life. Truly, if I go to hell, this is what I’ll be doing… alongside listening to baby shark 24/7 with no ad breaks. 

Ok, ok, I’m exaggerating a bit. Baby shark isn’t that bad- 

I struggled with writing this email, because writing emails scares me. Especially if you throw employment into the mix. In the end, I wrote one. I HAVE ACHIEVED THE IMPOSSIBLE. 

(Click here to read)

You may think that this is the final step in my goal to MARKET ME. However, you have been deceived. It was time for the last, ultimate quest: The Interview.

I teamed up with Sabrina, my “pawsome” friend, and we were sent off to make our very very professional interview. Rookie mistake, because I am ✨extra™✨ when left unrestrained, and professionalism is… not my thing.

…And the next day, I brought un-inflated balloons, so you can guess where that went. 

OK OK. We did make a professional interview… if you cut out the balloons, dramatic cuts, and you know, the occasional fake moustache. 

In the end, I wish we had more time, because with all the ✨extra™✨ stuff, we had to rush through some things (ie: some shot angles, funky audio…seriously the whole school decided to slam doors and walk really loudly whenever I pressed record). Though, we were only required to film a professional interview, not a complete anime villain arc… so I guess, I don’t know what I was expecting. 

You can watch the original version at the top of this post. 

We also got some critique from Faith and Fraser, and made a revised version as well…

AND that’s the real ending. 

Now, overall, what have I learned from this marketing experience? Well, I guess I learned that marketing yourself is apart of life, and that I would have to learn these skills eventually. How would anyone hire me, if they don’t even know who I am? Maybe… just maybe… it’s ok to let yourself shine every now and then. 

I also got to do some neat stuff, like making my first resume and designing some business cards. 

In the end, I learned a lot from this project, and it’s time for the next!