Extraord*nary happens.
A few months ago I wrote a post about how I was about to leave Boston with an unforgettable summer ahead and absolutely no idea what I was doing this Fall. I was planning on going on my third co-op but I was having a hard time self-developing a position outside of Northeastern’s network. I wrote about “not [being] too worried about it because life had taught me that no matter what, no matter how, things just have a way of working out.”
They just do.
While traveling Southeast Asia, I was also devoting some time to apply for summer/fall internships that would qualify as a co-op. Using LinkedIn as my main source for postings, I would scout through their entire database and submit as many résumés as I could. I was applying to an average of ten job postings a day. A few days into my travels, I stumbled upon an Inbound Marketing Internship position at HubSpot and one of my friends whom I was traveling with happened to know the company pretty well. He got me so excited about what these guys do that I devoted ten solid hours on crafting the killer application. At the Suneta Hostel in Khao San Road, at around 11PM that night, I clicked submit and went to bed.
The morning after I woke up to yet another email stating that “my background and qualifications had not been suitable for the role at that time.” As you can probably imagine, I was overwhelmed with questions, but just like with every other rejection email, I hit the archive button and moved onto the next application.
In a matter of weeks I had prospects with companies like Google in SF, Twitter in NY, Airbnb in Miami, TechStars in NY, Transferwise in London, SorryAsAService and DoSomething.Org — most of which had me go through multiple rounds of interviews, in some cases even five. But none of them worked out either because of timing, schedules or I was simply not qualified enough.
I flew from Vietnam to London ready to take on a summer internship at CoderCourse. It was a life-changing experience where I immersed myself in sales, strategy, event planning and the realm of start-ups. I was involved in a couple of different projects including putting together HackTheHouse, a hackathon along with Founders Forum and The Unilever Foundry; and a personal side project called ENTP.
But without real options and a bucket of sparse hope, the feeble prospect of staying in London seemed unattainable and it was time to consider going back to Boston and look for opportunities there.
This is when extraordinary happens.
A few days before flying back to Boston, a recruiter at HubSpot stumbled upon my LinkedIn profile and thought I’d be a great fit for the Inbound Marketing Internship position. It turned out that either because of the unstable internet at the hostel, or a minor glitch in the system, my résumé showed up as a blank document, hence why my application was rejected in such a short turn around. I quickly jumped on a Skype call and was then invited to a few on-site interviews the following week.
****
Today was my first day at HubSpot. In a very surreal way, everyone in the company has a very familiar face. It is as if I’ve been there before, met them before, worked there before. I feel I will be doing what I love in a place that nurtures unconditional passion, judgement and integrity. This week I’ll be going through new hire orientation, the next I’ll be staff at #INBOUND15 (it’s like Disney World for Marketers) and the following I’ll be joining the Sales Enablement and Lead Nurturing team as a full time co-op.
As if unlimited vacation, Kindle books, gym, nap rooms, a new MacBook, and all the drinks, food, snacks, perks and swag in the world wasn’t enough, I now get to work and learn with the most talented people in the world, do stuff that matters and open doors around the office with computers on my wrist.
I’d like this post to serve as a reminder that no matter what you’re going through, or the many rejection emails you’re about to archive, or how much of a downward spiral it may seem, life just has a way of working out.
