Roman Mittermayr: On My Way

Part 2: How to Nail A Job in New York City

So, the other day I wrote about how I got my first job abroad, in London. It was easier than most other countries, first off, it’s within the EU, so I didn’t need a particular work-permit or visa or such. Secondly, it’s an English-speaking country, this makes things a lot easier, compared to France or Spain. But while I fell in love with London, I felt like I should step up a bit and try how far I could get with my everlasting dream: New York City.

How would I approach it? Well of course, as Frankie said, I did it my way. I started collecting company names again. This time, I was taking a slightly more professional approach, I had a nice Excel spreadsheet (don’t ask me for it, I don’t have it anymore) with fields including the type of business, industry, size, a “how badly do I want to get a job there”-factor, and a contact e-mail address. I started collecting company names for quite a few days, probably weeks even. Some of them were very popular, fascinating companies, others were absolute nonames. I updated my CV again, made sure it was clearly visible that I did serve my time abroad in the UK already, twice and I knew my way around a new city, far away from home.

I then started my evil send-out. I thought I should start slow this time, taking notice of any replies and then re-shaping my e-mail and cover letter again. So I just sent 10 e-mails, and within a week, I received a very interesting reply (among 5 or 6 rejection answers). A web-design/brand marketing company from New York City, they wanted a chat over the phone. Oh no, not again. I just hate these kind of things so much. Despite my London background, I was worried. I figured out a nice way of getting back into talking English after a while and keep recommending this since then. I went on Google and searched for a couple of hotels in New York. Then, I bought myself a $10 SkypeOut charge and started calling these hotels. I asked them pretty much anything; if they have a free room for a specific date, if they offer laundry facilities, if there is a good public transport connection, all these questions. It felt very, very awkward at the beginning, but totally got me into speaking English again. Calling a car-rental company, a library, a public service information, like public transport, a museum, just any place will be helpful in getting up to speed again.

So I called the company and we talked for about an hour I think. They wanted me for my developer skills, I wanted to work there in Marketing. So I desperately tried convincing them to hire me for my marketing skills, they asked me questions on my development background. I finally realised that this might be the only chance to get to New York and decided to give it a go, as a developer, despite my lack of interest in it and told them what I think I can do. It was a very good interview, I had another one with a group of developers involved and we talked straight business, including a particular project they already tried to test on me. I offered him to work on a couple of things beforehand, while still being in Europe, so he could see if I would fit. We arranged a few, small tasks from home and I started working on some of their projects. I eventually got the job.

But, how did I get the visa? The number one question of all times. They didn’t pay for it, I did. There is an organization called “ciee.org” and they specialize in getting J1-visas for students who are going abroad for an internship. They are the so-called legal sponsor of the visa, and the company willing to hire you just needs to proof that they will offer you a training (i.e. internship) during your stay. In my part, it was important to proof that my university wants me to do this kind of internship abroad to continue with my studies, it’s not necessary though I think.

Important: Every country has its own representative organisation for CIEE. In Austria, you can find them here: http://fsts.at/internship-praktikum-usa.html — This is how I did it. It cost me about 500 euros, if I remember correctly, all fee’s included. But it was worth it, in every way. I earned about a $1000 a month in New York, which is barely enough to pay rent and food. But I went back home with almost no negative balance and that investment, again, paid off with my next jobs, big time.

So, lessons learned or confirmed again in New York: (1) You might need a big list of companies, but the more time you already spent abroad, the easier it is to nail an internship. It gives them some certainty that you are actually able to survive away from mum and dad and that you have the motivation to go through such a placement. (2) Also, sometimes, it might cost you money to get what you want, in this case, I shelled out quite a bit of money, 500 EUR for the visa, another 600 for the flights, plenty of food, and a hell lot of rent. (3) Make sure you know what you are doing. If you are going abroad, it can be a very intense experience. You should not be afraid, but you should be aware of the motivational aspects, when you find yourself alone in a huge city, in a different time-zone, with nobody to talk to on a Friday night, then a Saturday night and just another lonesome Sunday afternoon. It might happen that way, you need to be strong to not go down in such a time, so be prepared. (4) Never stop trying. You need to be crazy about reaching that goal, or internship in particular. It must be the first thing you think about when you wake up, and the last thing that keeps you from going to bed. If you really really really want to go to New York City, then go. But make sure you want it bad enough to come up with enough motivation to pull this off. It can take you up to 500 applications or more. But you’ll get there, if you want it bad enough.