Pick Yourself Up --- Interview With Ogilvy

For this huge day to happen, I spent more effort and time than I had ever for anything in my life. For the application, I worked on it for a week straight (during winter break), day and night, even on the car, on a computer that had a broken spacebar. I wrote and rewrote it at least 3 times, and used all the resources I could find, including finding an ex-associate and asking for her advice.

After I got the interview offer, I read 5 books on Ogilvy and advertising to prep for the interview. At the airport from Dallas back to NY, I read for 7 hours straight, and prepped for my interview in an overnight flight.

The day before my interview, I took work off to rest and got a haircut to gain some fresh air and good luck.

Today was my interview, and I woke up at 10:00am. My interview was at...10:00am. FUCK. FUCK FUCK FUCK. For some reason, my 2 alarm clocks had failed me/I had subconsciously turned them off without knowing. I threw my clothes on, tied my hair in a ponytail, forgot to brush my teeth and put on my glasses, and ran out the door at 10:02am. Record time.

Getting out of my apt, I jumped on a cab and begged the driver to get me to union square ASAP, explained my situation, and said a few more words my mom wouldn't have wanted to hear.

I got to the interview at 10:25am. My interview was only supposed to go until 10:30.... After apologizing my head off, the interviewer sat me down and gave me 15mins for the interview. I knew I fucked this one up reallllll bad. However, I did my best to answer the questions (which was a case study) and received some positive feedback. The question was based on Accenture's crisis with Tiger Woods and his scandals. I was lucky because I had thought about this prior to the interview, so I knew what I was talking about. At the end of the 15mins, I was guided out the door. Without my glasses, I somehow got home and cleaned myself up. Sad and angry, I did not wanna give up, I knew this was a test to see how much I wanted this, and I am a firm believer in the process of getting up after you fall.

So...I ended up deciding to go back to Wasserman to see the interviewer again. I knew he had interviews until 6pm, but I was afraid that someone would take his shift earlier on and that I would miss him. So, at 1pm, I went back to Wasserman, gulped down half a slice of pizza, and waited for him.

5 hours later, he came out. I could tell that he was pretty shocked to see that I had waited for him. He then sat down with me for a few mins. I got to hand him my updated resume (with BBDO in it) and talk to him on a more personal level. At the end of the convo, he shook my hands and gave me a positive remark. That was when I knew that I had made the right decision. He said, "these kinds of things happen in life (eg, sleeping through an important interview), but it's about how you go on from there." I made it clear that I really love advertising and I really want to work at Ogilvy. We parted, and I smiled for the first time in the day from the bottom of my heart.

2 Lessons I Learned:

1. SET 10 ALARMS, all at different times, and never interview in the morning if you're not a morning person. but more importantly...

2. It's not about how you achieve, but about how you pick yourself up after you fall. Thats what creates character.


~ nanz