Holly Grande: Short and Sweet

I had a job interview this week, and my interviewer asked me an interesting question that caught me completely off guard: If I hired you and in three months Turner Broadcasting came to you with a great job offer, what would you do?

I knew why she was asking—my previous work had been for large corporations. The easy answer would have been to say that I would stay with her company, obviously, but that seemed like it would have rang false. I took a second to collect my thoughts, and figuring that there was no right answer, I told the truth: I don’t know. I would really have to look at my options and weigh the possibilities with both companies.

I told her that, right now, I want a job that I love, and I do love marketing and PR. I also want a job that I can learn from and continue to grow in. As tight as the economy is right now, money would be a secondary factor—but my industry does give me the luxury of that perspective.

I think, ultimately, I would choose the company where I had the best opportunity for growth. Hopefully, three months in, I would know where I fit in her company, and it is very likely that I would stay. But it would be dishonest of me to say that I would not consider going with Turner or that it wouldn’t be an easy choice.

In the past, hiring managers have asked me where I saw myself in five years or what I wanted to get out of the position, but I don’t think I have ever been asked what I would do if a better offer came along. It was a surprisingly tough question, and I hope I got it right.

Posted by Holly at 1:20 PM 2 comments  

Labels: career, interview, job search

Want an easy way to freak me out via Gtalk? Send me an unsolicited link without explanation. Thanks to the days of ICQ and AIM, I will assume it is a Trojan and message you back, “Do you have a virus?”

But if you don’t respond, curiosity will overcome me and I will Google the link to see what other people are writing. If it doesn’t seem like a virus, I might even visit it.

That’s what happened this morning when the boy sent me a link to Michael J. Fox News. I am inclined to believe that his computer is not infected, but I am equally inclined to believe he’s sent me something tasteless and borderline derogatory. Which is exactly what he did.

Michael J. Fox News went viral this morning, and it’s awful—and possibly brilliant.

Once you’ve picked your jaw off the floor, you can make a donation to Team Fox here. They are not behind the linked site.

The real creators behind Michael J. Fox News is Webdemic. They are raising funds independent of the Michael J. Fox Foundation. They hope to raise $15,000 for the organization. I am reserving judgment until Team Fox releases a statement.

It raises a few questions. If the site continues to spread, will we start to see more sites like this? Ugly and offensive, but people will talk about them. Would it have made a difference if Team Fox was behind or supported the site?

So far, Webdemic has raised just under $300, despite the number of hits. Perhaps the low amount of donations is testament to the flaws in their strategy? People are talking, but they aren't taking action.

I think there are lots of ways to create something that people will want to share--look at Volkswagon's Darth Vader commercial. But I have no doubt that there will be imitators in the coming months, hoping for easy infamy and traffic stats, and that worries me.

Posted by Holly at 12:02 PM 1 comments  

Labels: viral, website

So, I earned some geek cred this weekend when the boy dragged me to a Magic: The Gathering tournament.

Here are some things I am: A nerd, a bibliophile, a digital PR-geek, a gamer.

Here are some things I am not: a singer, a trivia wiz, a Magic player.

But we packed up some overnight bags and me, the boy and one of his friends headed off to Alabama for a preview tournament for the new cards that are coming out. As we got in the car, the boy said to me, half with astonishment, “I didn’t really think you’d say yes when I asked you to come.”

Awesome. :)

Magic works kinda like two-player solitaire, but with dragons and mana and wizards. I got a crash course in the game when we arrived in Alabama—we were staying over a second friend’s apartment with his awesome wife and adorable 3-year-old.

Anyway, players have their own decks that they build from an incredible amount of cards that are sold in 15-card packs, like Pokémon. There are monsters and spells and characters with different abilities. You use the cards to fight your opponent and his characters until someone’s life points gets to zero. The way this preview tournament would work is that the players would be given 6 packs of cards, and they would build decks using only those cards. Then they’d fight to the death until there was only one player left.

There is more to it, but that’s the gist. When the boy reads this, he is gonna be horrified at my description.

So we drove to the tournament Saturday morning. With three games under my belt and only a vague understanding of how a tournament works, I was very worried that I was going to frustrate every player they paired me against. I thought, this was a terrible idea: I had no clue how to play Magic. The boy tries to reassure me that the players will probably be pretty patient with me. Probably. Also, I will probably be one of two girls there. This was not reassuring.

The tournament was sponsored by a comic book shop. Since it was Free Comic Book Day, it was pretty crowded, and there were all kinds of people in superhero costumes. The tournament itself was being held in an adjoining building with rows of tables set up. There were signs with directions and labels for tables and a not unimpressive stack of boxes fill with Magic cards.

Okay, imagine the whitest, geekiest guys you know. Do it. Get that picture in your head.

That is exactly who were playing at this tournament.

Yeah.

I told the boy that I would be sitting this particular tournament out, grabbed my book and prepared to read for six hours. I sat at a table that eventually became the girlfriend table as it filled up with a couple of moms (yes, you read that right), girlfriends and sisters. It looked like it was going to be a long day.
And then it wasn’t. One of the boy’s friends dropped out early and asked if I wanted to play at one of the side tables. He had a couple of extra decks and we started a multiplayer game. Another guy joined in, and soon we had a four-player game, and I was having fun.

A lot of fun.

I was absolutely destroyed in the first game. Like, did not have a chance as all my monsters were sent to the graveyard and my life points were decimated in a single swoop. So we played another, and I got a fan in the form of a young 20-something with fantastic hair who began to advise me on what cards to play. It was geeky and hilarious and I was enjoying myself.

I think, a lot of times, we go into things with expectations already in place, and it’s really hard to override those expectations, especially when—on the surface—people seem like they meet them perfectly. But once I got over myself (I play World of Warcraft, do I really have room to judge?), and started talking to people, I had an amazing time. In the end, I didn’t win a single game, and my understanding of how to play is still only borderline, but I have a lot more respect for the players.

Oh, the boy ended up winning the tournament.

He’s still getting his ass dragged out dancing this summer.

Posted by Holly at 4:27 PM 0 comments  

Labels: friends