Can E.T. Get Me a Job?

As quickly as it arrived, reading week has quickly gone, and I have absolutely nothing to show for it. Except for this awesome video game I bought called Uncharted 2, but that’s beside the point. Actually, now that I mention it, I have been applying to various jobs for the summer in Banff, Alberta. Myself, along with three of my friends are planning to head out west to experience the beautiful Canadian scenery, and make some money while we’re at it.


Most jobs in the area offer accommodations (much like first year residence, including food!), so why the heck not, right? Well, I finally got around to sending in some applications and e-mailing away my resume this reading week, when I got an e-mail requesting a phone interview! “Awesome Phil, you did great!” I said to myself as I replied back expressing my enthusiasm. What does this all have to do with the subject of our course, you ask? Well, I’m getting to that. So be quiet. But in all seriousness, soon after getting this e-mail, it hit me that these are the first jobs I’ve ever applied to online, where I’m unable to be there in person for the interview. What this leads me to believe is that these employers are likely going to attempt to find out as much about me as possible (or this is the conclusion I’ve jumped to). It’s as simple as typing my name into a search engine and clicking on the results.

So that’s just what I did, because I’m paranoid. In doing this, I discovered that employers would see that I make videos of myself singing and playing guitar on Youtube. They would see that my friend Sheena and I had a radio show last year on Radio Laurier called “Phil and Sheena’s Infinite Playlist”. They would also see that there is a Phillip Maciel living in California who has Twitter (and I always thought I was the only Phillip Maciel in the world. Damnit.) Lastly, they will see my Facebook profile, which I’ve set to private. But then I got paranoid about my display picture and wondered if it showcased me in a positive or negative light. I considered changing it to something that made me look more sophisticated, intelligent, and mature than this did:


But then I changed my mind. Obviously I have nothing to hide from employers – none of this is really embarrassing or incriminating. It shows I have a sense of humour, I have a passion for music, and I have a doppelganger living in California. But I honestly couldn’t believe how insane I started acting when I realized that so much can be assumed when my name is googled. I suppose this is the world we live in now, and I need to get used to it. The majority of us are all over the Internet, and all it takes is a quick engine search to find out more about a person. It’s a scary thought, but Web 2.0 is now our resume. Yet the question remains: do I really want to be remembered as the kid riding a bike with E.T.?

Note to Self: Do Not Underestimate Glamberts

Before blogging, I chose to start putting up videos of myself singing and playing the guitar on Youtube. It’s something friends told me I should do a few years back, and I assume this is because the popularity of Youtube was growing immensely. “You can get famous!” some friends told me, bringing to mind artists like Esmee Denters (Justin Timberlake discovered her videos on Youtube), and I laughed in their faces. Although I’m nowhere near famous, I did however have an interesting experience when I uploaded one of my most recent videos.

I covered American Idol runner-up Adam Lambert’s first single off his debut album (of the same name) titled “For Your Entertainment”, putting my own acoustic spin on a song that’s originally quite dance-y. Shortly after uploading the video, I began getting a fair number of comments, views and subscribers, but since I've uploaded 17 videos, this has happened before and I thought nothing of it; sometimes the popularity of the song gets you a fair number of views at first, but the rush slowly dies down. To my surprise, I got even more views in the coming weeks, first breaking a thousand, two thousand, up to five thousand. My sister and I were quite surprised at this, so we began to Google. Soon we found that people who had watched my “For Your Entertainment” cover had tweeted (using Twitter) about my video, ensuring that their friends watched my version of the song as well. Not only was it on these Adam Lambert fan's Twitter page (in which they ingeniously call themselves ‘Glamberts’), but my video was the talk of numerous American Idol forums and fansites. One comment that stands out: “I think he's Canadian! He has Wilfrid Laurier University tags - a university in Waterloo, Ontario (Phillip Maciel). Go get him ladies and/or gents!” (BlueIndigoSky, idolforums.com). My sister and I found this extremely entertaining...If you actually click here, a website called “Ubervu” compiles a range of reactions and feedback for my video, and even organizes them into a line and pie graph displaying how often Twitter and Youtube were used to discuss the video. Crazy!

Not only did I underestimate the loyalty of Adam Lambert’s fans, but so too did I underestimate the networking capabilities of the Internet, specifically participatory media like Youtube, Twitter and forums, at least in regards to the way it could affect me personally. Check out some of my videos, and let me know what you think in the comments!

Have any of you guys had a similar experience with Youtube or any other form of participatory media?

Phil's Youtube Homepage
Phil's "For Your Entertainment - Adam Lambert Cover"