Tuesday, December 7, 2010

Photos from St. Kitts!

Hi Friends,

Sorry I've been really bad at keeping up with my blog since my last job started in May, but I'm currently residing in New York's Upper West Side, and am going to start my new part-time job as a Specialist at the Fifth Avenue Apple Store.


The application process was pretty intense. After getting a recommendation from my friend's fiancee who works at the Apple Store in San Francisco, it was 2 weeks before getting an email to attend a recruiting workshop at a Residence Inn Hotel conference room. After about 2 hours of group activities, lectures, and questions, I was left to wait another two weeks before hearing that I got another individual interview with the folks at the corporate headquarters. That interview was one-on-one with one of the HR managers, and he said he'd let me know by the next Friday.

Next Friday I was anxiously awaiting a phone call, and when Saturday morning came, I assumed I didn't get it. The following Monday, I got a call for another interview the next day. Talk about short notice, but I was just happy that I made it for another interview, especially after not hearing from them last Friday.

That third interview was with a manager from the Fifth Avenue Store, and he said they'd let me know tomorrow. Once more, tomorrow came and went without hearing back from Apple. Thursday came, and I busied myself with another important interview I had that day for a well-paying job with good benefits and a perfect work-life balance, but doing mindless work with no opportunities for advancement. Walking home that afternoon, I checked my messages to find that one of the HR managers left me a voice mail to call him back with "exciting news". Arriving in my apartment, I called him back to hear that I got the Specialist Position! I was psyched about the possibility of working for Apple, arguably the most successful company of the past ten years. He asked if I was available to start that Saturday, November 20th, but I already had plans set to go to St. Kitts on a photography gig (more about that later). The alternative was to start on December 11, well after the Thanksgiving Holidays and the week after my trip to the Caribbean.

Now I'm back in New York after my little work trip as a photographer. I went to photograph some shots for an upcoming Newsweek article that one of my college room mates, Jerry Guo, will be writing soon. Here are a couple of pictures from the trip:

http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=2213155&id=310721&l=b93a42737a


We stayed in a former sugar plantation the first night, and then in bungalows on the beach for the rest of the trip. We also learned how to sail Hobie Cats and did some great snorkeling. The food was, of course, amazing, and I ate lobster and conch at least once every day. Check out the pictures, and hopefully I'll write a bit more in the days to come.