How to Monetize Your Job Interviews ;)

I started this blog back in 2005-2006 to share and swap ideas about the job hunt and work life, among other topics, but I rarely post on job-related topics these days (actually I rarely post at all these days, but when I do, it's not about work). This is probably because I'm now officially retired. That doesn't mean that I won't need to supplement my retirement income at some point in these tough economic times. I have worked alongside many a retiree in my career who decided to return to the workplace. But for now ... I'm just retired and enjoying it. I particularly don't miss the angst of the job hunt and the interview process because I tired of the some of the "nonsense" and even hypocrisy of it. But that's probably a topic for another post, which may or may never get written.  So am I the only one who finds interviewing and job hunting frustrating? Probably not. For those of you who may feel similarly, take heart or at least have a chuckle at this little anecdote about a job interview I had in back in 2009 that has taken on a life of its own.


In 2009, I contacted an instructional design company in Indianapolis about a job opportunity. They called me back for an initial phone interview and as part of this first round of interviews, they asked me to complete and submit a quick instructional design assignment on how to insert a drill bit into a certain brand of cordless drill. (Bosch, maybe? It's now 2014 and I don't remember.) Anyway, the instructional design company sent me an email with the instructions and specifications for the assignment and basically gave me the weekend to submit a rough design.

My husband showed me how to manually insert a bit into his drill as I hadn't a clue. He had a DeWalt corded drill. Once I understood how it worked, I did the research on the brand, completed all the steps in the instructional design specifications, and decided to include a sort of rough cut or prototypical instructional video. It was a very rough cut. I filmed it myself holding my little digital camera in one hand and the drill in the other. It only lasted a minute and had no sound, just provided a visual demonstration Charlie-Chaplin-style. I uploaded my video to YouTube (which was a rather unheard of thing to do back in 2009 for employee training - this was just as smart phones and tablets and their apps were taking such a hold on the market and on the culture) and then submitted all my instructional design materials and the link to the video to the instructional design company.

Sometime later, the company notified me that I had not made the initial cut and they would not be needing my services.

I just left the video on YouTube and forgot about it - until a year or so later when I received an email notification that a viewer had commented on my video! I went to the YouTube site to read the comment and to my astonishment saw that my video had around 16,000 hits! =:o

As of this date, October 31, 2014, my video is now up to 78,686 views and has earned me the grand total of about one hundred and seven dollars and ninety-five cents (I recently monetized it). 92 people have cared enough to click the like button and 22 people have cared enough to click the dislike button. But even more importantly, to this day I still get the occasional resounding thank you from viewers all over the world for effectively and quickly helping them solve a simple little problem right on the spot in a minute or less. I have to say it's gratifying.

What made this little video take on such a life of its own? You know what I think? Sometimes words just get in the way. 

watch on youtube

The job hunt and the interview process remain  a frustrating experience for many of us. But in the particular interview experience described in this post, neither the instructional design company nor I ever dreamed this little video would end up actually being useful or getting so much attention! So ya' just never know ... ;)

Happy Job Hunting, or if you are fortunate enough to be already gainfully employed, then Happy Work Life!

JuneBug

JuneBug's Blog