2016 was a terrible year. the year of the cute little havoc wrecking monkey. work, clients, family, health and mo money, mo problems problems galore, let alone the politics and the whole global state of WTF. it was certainly time for change big time. i let some clients and colleagues go, bid some farewell and as always, told some to fuck off. after 10 years, i finally killed off my little pet project turned fashion imperium WASTED GERMAN YOUTH. shutdown the facebook page. i deleted the online shop. very marie kondo indeed. a good feeling meant it was a great decision. it was planned that come february 2017, i would have no clients, no jobs and a fearfully fantastic adventure of a big black vacuum ahead of me. oh yeah.
that all said, in 2016 in moments of franticism, i hustled for work, did stupid design, started painting and started writing a book that i really have to finish. i did alot of experimenting. i applied to as professor position at the bauhaus university and aimed for bigger jobs at amazon, nike and zalando. yup caus secretly i’m a real yuppie.
i oh so love amazon, i’ve worked heaps for nike, and being the deep down true fashion whore i also am, i also saw zalando as somehow the next step in my life. explosive, dynamic, conveniently berlin based with alot of potential despite extreme orange over bronzing. i decided i wanted to work for zalando. i connected to the the ECD thru contacts on linkedin. check. i sent him a tshirt as a thank you. check. i saw on the zalando job portal online i saw nothing really that tickled my fancy, but it said i could apply for my “dream job” and so i did. check. that was end of august 2016. here is my cover letter, my application and my cv:
i uploaded that thru the zalando job portal and made update here on linkedin. since linkedin, (with which i have a complete like vs. total burning hatred relationship) doesn’t show any updates older than 2 weeks, you can see it here. (profi tip: if you are looking for super old updates, search thru your emails for notifications on your update, i.e. someone commented on something, if you are lucky to still have these emails and notifications active)
i got an answer 6 weeks later:
“After reviewing your application carefully, we regret to inform you that your application was not selected for an interview round for Can’t find the right job? / Nicht den passenden Job gefunden? position”
pity about that. but a day before that email came, i applied for yet another job at zalando as senior art director:
the no cigar email came inside 2 weeks this time:
“Unfortunately, the vacancy you applied for has already been filled and we cannot consider your application anymore for this position.”
whatever.
2016 was drawing to an end. i made one more update (possibly last ditch attempt at rebooting my internal graphic design flame i.e. career) on linkedin.
life moved on and come end november i urgently flew to australia to see my stepfather 2 days before he passed away. this was so sad but despite the tragedy, me the pisces i am was surrounded by the power and magic of the ocean was very therapeutic. i was back in berlin with my wife and daughter for christmas and super ready for retirement. i finished my final branding for my last client - my wife’s new venture. i proudly posted the logo on my instagram and declared my exit from graphic design after 23 years plus in the game.
2017 arrived. i started learning french. i saw yet another position was available at zalando. i love numbers and know all good things come in threes. my applications were certainly getting a whole lot rougher with a even bigger dash of more whatever:
i got a email:
“We receive many applications for our jobs at Zalando, so please be patient while we process your application. Inspecting and processing your documents might take some time. We hope you can appreciate this.”
since no one downloaded the portfolio download link, i resent it after one week.
1 one week later i got another email. not from HR, but from the team assistant creative department, the ECD was in NYC but would like to schedule a video chat with me. friday came and the chat went well. i was called in on wednesday to meet chang lin personally and that went very well. we got on great, chang believed zalando would be too corporate for me but zalando’s next level fashion trade show “bread & butter” is more rock and roll. more me. more paul. ok!
a week later i sent chang off a email to check on up. someone should of been in touch came the reply. ok. i was called in again, chang was sick but i had a good talk anyway.
the year of the rooster arrived! cock-a-doodle-doo!
the following thursday i was called once again. i was already thinking if this keeps up, i gonna charge you for interview #5. but that wasn’t necessary. all my questions were answered. the vybe was good. i accepted the offer and start on monday the 13th one week before my 47th birthday as creative director of the bread & butter. test drive. lets see.
in my brain, i can justify my un-retirement with the fact creative direction is a bit more than just graphic design and its a kind of “how high shall i jump?” and a once how in a lifetime wtf. i’m really happy and excited with a healthy touch of fear, ahem respect, about my new life with zalando with 10,000 new colleagues and doing bread & butter until it goes live.
despite all the love for fashion, chang never got that tshirt. despite my awesome applications, he never saw #1 & #2. and despite my awesome design, no one ever downloaded my portfolio. i hope to see you 1st of september here in berlin.
the bottom line in 10 bullet points:
never give up
stay true
really try to really listen to your self
always believe
life goes on
hail to the crazy ones
there is more to life than graphic design
stop but don’t really really retire
just do it
allons-y !