When I graduated from Worcester State University in May 2020, I thought there would be a short window from getting my diploma to starting my first full-time job. Unfortunately, it ended up taking a little over a year until an employer would say “you’re hired.” After a ride of applying for more than three dozen jobs, I’m happy to say that I’ve accepted my first true full-time position. The journey to getting the offer took lots of determination and not giving up.
On June 20, 2020, I applied for a multimedia journalist at Spectrum in Worcester, Massachusetts, the first of 39 jobs I would apply to for my job search. During that summer, I applied to a few journalistic editor positions at nearby stations and media entities near where I live in northeastern Connecticut. At the same time, to keep bank account from dropping, I made money as a DoorDash and Grubhub driver.
Although driving for DoorDash and Grubhub was fun and I made cash doing it, my end goal was finding a full time job. In early September, I had an interview with Ernst and Young (EY), to work in a position for their neurodiversity program. The HireVue process wasn’t extremely stressful, I was given an Excel assessment, where, even though it was challenging, I could find the time to learn the ins and outs of Excel for the job. However, there also was a VBA assessment, and I’ve never had any experience with code. It’s through their hiring process that I learned that you needed a strong skill set in coding and that my true passion was to find a position working in sports statistics.
Not long after I went through the EY assessments, my recruiter found a potential job that would be a compatible match for me — a two-year journalistic fellowship program with Hearst Media. The program would give me insight into all aspects of the journalism business (writing, editing, producing), and the proper techniques to cover stories. They had positions in New Haven, Connecticut, and Albany, New York, and with both of these locations in close proximity, they seemed like a great match. After having two letters of recommendation and three work samples sent in by the deadline over Presidents Day weekend, I was unable to land a spot in the competitive fellowship program.
Over the course from September from to March, when I was in contention for the fellowship program, I applied for many other editing and writing positions at local TV stations and newspapers, and even ESPN, to have as a safety net in the event something wouldn’t work out. The hardest part was never being called for an interview. I knew that if given the chance to share my skill set with the hiring manager I would have a better chance of being hired. My parents’ positive attitude kept me motivated and encouraged me to keep going and something will work out.
I started with the Best Buddies job program in the fall of 2018 while I was looking at potential internships, and I reconnected with the job director that helped me then. I had been primarily looking at writing and editing positions, but my job director and two consultants helped me look at jobs that were part of my true passion — following and recording sports statistics. Following sports stats, especially football, has been one my passions since I was eight, and I’ve been so fond of watching games and watching the numbers of teams and players change over time. I worked with football statistics in high school and college, and when sports returned in July 2020, I’ve kept a daily tabulation of all the scores and statistics from every major professional sporting game.
On April 27, I was presented with a job lead from the job director that stood out above any of the others I received since I started my job search — a GSIS (Game Statistics and Information System) Statistics and Support QA position at the NFL. I figured it would be worth a try because I was eager to apply and the job felt right up my alley. The very next day, I got chosen for a HireVue video interview. When I picked my time slot for a few days after, I had to answer eight traditional interview questions (i.e., “why are you a good candidate for the job?”), as well as some football-related questions. I wasn’t expecting the football questions, but I was pleasantly surprised they included them to test my football knowledge. It was stressful because I only had one attempt to answer each one, and I took my time and made sure I thoroughly answered them all.
The following week, I got selected for a face-to-face HireVue interview. I was very excited that I was moving on in the job process, but I was a little anxious going in because of making a great first impression. When I signed on to the interview, I met two executives at the NFL. They were very nice and gave me an overview of what to expect on the job. They asked me more questions about football and game situations, and correctly answered and gave knowledgeable insight answers to the questions they asked me. We ended with that they would be in touch with more information over the next few weeks, and I thanked them for their time. I sent a follow-up email to them, as well.
I got the call from the NFL offering me the job on June 22. I enthusiastically said yes and I was over the moon for this opportunity. I'll be starting the job on July 19, where I’ll be working 40 hours per week, with more hours on weekends during the football season. On the job, I'll be ensuring accuracy and confirmation with the statistics of NFL games. I'll review games for the correct number of yards, who made the tackle or sack, as well as the number of helmet hits players make. The job is not remote, and I’ll be moving to New York City for it. The job also presents a new challenge for me — independent living. I feel ready to take it on, cooking, cleaning, doing laundry and keeping on top of chores that will keep my apartment clean and tidy.
I’m so thankful for the help of the Best Buddies job program. Thank you to Tom Brady for featuring me on your Instagram story, with the video of my catch playing with a congratulatory message welcoming me to the NFL. Moreover, Best Buddies also arranged for me to be featured on NFL Network’s “Good Morning Football” on June 30 to talk about the new job and my role with Best Buddies that dates back to high school. I also was featured on the ABC station in Boston, WCVB, with some help from one of my favorite PE teachers of mine from high school, and I was part of an update feature on NBC Connecticut as a follow-up to my story on there from World Autism Day in April.
I can’t thank everyone who helped me make this job happen enough for their support and encouragement and everything they did to make my dream a reality. Most importantly, I super appreciative for my parents and sister for having my back the whole way through and always supporting me in all I do. I’m going to miss them a lot when I leave the house for New York, but I know they’ll coming visit very often and I’ll be communicating with them every day through phone calls and texts. I’m super excited to start work at the NFL, and live out my passion for working with something I love.
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