It’s my sophomore yr of college, before the age of Goolge dominance. I’d completed an internship the previous summer w the Jets & was on the lookout for my next oppty. I did what we all did back then- went to the School Store, & bought a book called “Internships.”
It was a THICK book, contacts for many diff industries, sports being one. I got back to my room, got on my word processor , & started tweaking my form letter to address it to the various contacts listed. Mets, MLB, Wasserman, & “IMG” (International Management Group) amongst them.
W/ slight tweaks, I used the same letter & addressed them individually, printed them, got envelopes/stamps, & mailed them. After months of not hearing back & getting rejection letters, I was shocked to get a call from IMG, requesting a face-to-face mtg. They had offices all over, but this was to be in their NYC “Corporate Partnerships” office.
1st major mistake (hot day, end of April), I wear a dark blue button-down under my suit. W/ my nerves & the weather, it looked like I’d stepped out from a waterfall. I stood on a street corner where there was a breeze, opened my jacket, & dried off best I could. Walked up to their 5 floor brownstone office, checked in, & waited for my mtg.
Get called in & I’m being interviewed by 2 woman: Global Heads of HR. 1st question: “How do you know Mark?” Me: “I’m sorry, Mark who?”
“McCormack”
“I’m sorry I don’t know who Mark is.”
“You don’t…Wait, I know what happened here. Mark’s our Founder/CEO. He’s based in Cleveland. He opens all of his mail – everything. He must’ve saw your resume, didn’t know why he got it, & interofficed it to us. We thought he sent it bc you knew him personally. Well now that you’re here, you have 15min to tell us why you should get this internship over thousands of other applicants.”
That summer I got to work for IMG & will never forget it. I made a big error. Didn’t do research/look at who I’d sent the letter to. It’s an error I don’t recommend, but one that worked out FOR me, bc I rushed to get wide w the outreach. Getting wide, you make mistakes. But you have more opptys for things to work out in your favor.
