Low Learning Curve
This weeks guest speaker was James Levin a heavily decorated Creative Service Provider, Digital Photographer, Career Coach and Talent Acquisition Specialist. He has worked with brands such as:
AQQA, BBDO, CANNON, CBS, DDB, DIGITAS, FCB, GOOGLE.
James is a brand builder, comes from commerce, at one time he provided content but now he provides talent. James lived his dream and became a photographer in New York City starting as an apprentice working his way up to studio manager and now owner of WWW.JOBSEARCHTHERAPY.COM. He recently graduated with a B.F.A inPhotography and was in the business for a 27 year run. That all changed when he had a career ending eye surgery. So he took a year off reaccessed, revalued, retooled himself. Under normal circumstances most people would panic but James took a different approach. He took his strengths such as understanding the creative process, knowing “GOOD” talent, managing people, time, a keen vision as to what a company wants and needs and applied that to his new career direction which is currently Talent Acquisition.
He said ” Change is not to be feared, but be embraced, it is essential for you to grow”.
He then moved on to Career Sequencing. We need a strong foundation in order to move forward. He referred to our education, cover letters, resumes and most important our networking skills. Career sequencing is experience that you acquire through out your life that will help in developing your career. He mentioned how our first gig you might encounter a situation were you learn a lot or one were you will learn nothing at all. Both are experiences on one hand you gain technical knowledge and on the other you gained knowledge of a different kind. Most people would only take the negative out of the situation but James urged us to put a spin on it. If they have staking boxes all day you can turn that into “logistical management”. He then talked about our cover letters, resumes and the importance of going out to industry shows, get togethers, with business cards in hand ready to distribute.
After listening to that I then looked at myself and saw how we had something similar. I also had a massive career change. I was also retooling, revaluing, rebuilding myself. I looked at my own personal experiences differently. I stared to sequence my experiences in my head and reworded them into a resume. In that moment I saw the light at the end of the tunnel and I am optimistic of my future.
Thank You James Levin!
