Welcome to our new series, “Hey, How’d You Do That?” walking you through how those in the media industry navigated key professional junctures, achieved career-making coups, tackled spur-of-the-moment scenarios and made the decisions that furthered their work. This time, the coup belongs to Meredith Peters, who’s made speedy headway in her music industry career. By the time she graduated from Syracuse University with a communications degree, she had five music industry internships under her belt, countless business contacts and multiple mentors. She was thrilled when The Agency Group — a full-service booking agency that handles bands including The White Stripes, as well as comedians and more — offered her a full-time position fresh out of school, but was disappointed when she learned the job was for a receptionist. Here’s how she gunned for and got a promotion mere months later.
You took a job with a company that you loved, but the position wasn’t exactly what you were hoping for. What did you love about the company so much?
I’d interned at The Agency Group the summer before my senior year of college and saw that the company is very much based on team work, communication and integrity. Those things can be rare in the music business. For example, the agents at The Agency Group have their own roster of bands. [The agent] is responsible for those bands nationally and worldwide, meaning they handle all of the tours and shows. It gives them the ability to pay much more attention to their individual roster. At other companies, agents can be organized in many ways — often regionally. This means one agent may handle a band’s tour in the Northeast, while another agent handles it in the Midwest or Southwest. A third agent might handle their college shows.
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Another thing that’s different about The Agency Group is that each agent designs their own roster, which allows them specialize in a specific genre. That being said, some agents have eclectic tastes and they work with a wide range of bands. For example, my boss’ roster has some hip-hop groups, some indie rock and some punk. I love that the company gives agents the freedom to work with bands they love.
| I had to make a very quick decision, but I knew this was something I couldn’t pass up. It was my chance to show the company I could shine in the role I told them I wanted. |
After so much experience, I’m sure you didn’t see yourself as a receptionist! Why did you decide to accept the offer?
It can definitely be tough to get a job in the music industry — I think a lot of it depends on your contacts, the connections through your school and internships you’ve had in the past. It’s also a lot about luck. We’ve had interns at our company who have stayed for months or even close to a year, hoping for a job. I saw the offer as an opportunity to get my foot in the door, impress the bosses and show them I had great attitude and could work hard. I loved the company so much I was willing to take a chance.
After two weeks on the job, the person who assisted one of the top agents at the company left. The agent needed someone to step up immediately and he asked me to fill in. Even though it was a temporary gig, I knew it would be a lot of responsibility. I’d be working much longer hours, handling contracts, dealing with band payment, promoters and band managers.
I was nervous. If I didn’t do a good job, or he didn’t like me, nobody else would want me to be their assistant! I had to make a very quick decision, but I knew this was something I couldn’t pass up. It was my chance to show the company I could shine in the role I told them I wanted. Within two weeks I was asked to continue working as an assistant permanently. I was absolutely ecstatic!
Were you worried it would be difficult to transition from receptionist to the role of an agent’s assistant?
To be honest, not that much. I think the fact that I started as the receptionist was more of a surprise to them than when I became an assistant! I’d gotten a lot of good feedback from [my coworkers] during my internship, and after I went back to school, I did a pretty good job of keeping in touch with a lot of them. I believed people liked me and knew what I was capable of.
I’d also made it clear in my [initial] interview that I wasn’t taking the receptionist position at with the intent of being a career receptionist. I told the vice president, as well as the office manager, that I had every intent and confidence that I could thrive in an assistant position.
When I accept the initial temporary assistants’ position, I put a lot of time and effort into the work, not only do what he needed in to order for him to do his job efficiently, but to impress him. I was working 11-hour days, asking questions, really focusing on internalizing everything I was learning from him and one of his former assistants. In those first two weeks, I learned more about time management and efficiency than I did in college. It was worth it because within a month of being made a permanent assistant, I’d helped sign [a new band] to the company.
Ways to parlay the job you’re offered into the one you really want:
1) Don’t be afraid to try out a job that isn’t 100 percent what you had in mind. As Peters puts it, “You never know how things will turn out.”
2) Be upfront about your goals. “During the interview I said, ‘If I take this job, I’m taking it with the hope that I’m going to move on and do other things with the company,'” Peters recalls.” The people I spoke with were encouraging about making that happen.”
3.) Don’t get overly comfortable in any one role. “Never stop trying to learn new things within and above your current role. When I was hired as the receptionist, I asked about taking on more responsibility. I still do that now as an assistant,” says Peters. “I want to learn and do as much as possible, and I always try to maintain a hardworking attitude.”
4) Network to create opportunities for yourself. “Intern as much as possible and stay in touch with everyone and anyone you meet along the way,” Peters advises others new to the workforce. “The trick to getting a job is forming and cultivating relationships.”
Stephanie Burton is a New York-based freelance writer.
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