I was hired as a Creative Recruiter at Nickelodeon Animation Studio immediately after graduating in 2008. I was asked to interview for the position following a two-month internship within the Recruiting & College Relations department at Nickelodeon. This job involved me staffing all production-based roles within the studio. I later also took on the role of co-managing their award-winning internship program. I stayed with Nickelodeon for almost four years. 

Maybe, rather than the classes I took while attending UCLA, it was the people and their motivation to take charge of my career. I can vividly remember during orientation for the CS department, a speaker telling us “you’re already behind” if you haven’t had any internships. I was floored. I figured I was ahead because I had been accepted into a prestigious university and admitted into one of the most exclusive majors on campus. Not so. His words affected me. I immediately knew, no one was going to give me my future. I had to get it myself. It was situations like this and having classes with incredibly smart, motivated women that helped me go after what I wanted in life. 

Working in college relations, I am obviously a firm advocate of internships. To quote a former boss, “you have to kiss a lot of frogs before you find your prince.” Amphibians aside, it can take someone several interviews, internships and jobs to finally realize which calling is right for them. Internships are the best way to do this. At worst, you have a crappy semester and find out what youdon’t want to do with your life. What have you lost? Three months of your life? No biggie. But at best, you discover something you love and can continue to climb that jungle gym called a career.

Before I started at UCLA, I assumed Public Relations was the field for me. So what was my first internship during school? A winter quarter at one of LA’s premier PR Agencies. Almost immediately, I realized this was not the place or field for me. I am so grateful that I grasped this notion while still safe in school and not after graduation, desperately looking for work in one of the toughest job markets around. I shudder to think how my life would be different if I waited until after graduation to start figuring out what I wanted in a career.

As a recruiter, your job is to anticipate the needs of your client and deliver results as efficiently as possible. Results could be talented designers, numbers-based information or advice grounded in what you’ve seen in the field. To be a valuable recruiter, one must be an advocate for their candidates, a solid communicator and an ambassador for their brand. If you do not believe in the product you’re selling, neither will your candidates. 

Specifically with the design team, we look for a builder mindset. This includes interaction ability, visual touch and thinking about the design of products from the perspective of using them socially. Our process involves reviewing prior product work, one-on-one interviews with our current product design team, as well as a presentation of the designer’s work.

Too many to name. What I will say is, you never know who will help you or whom you can help. Treat everyone as you’d like to be treated. 

A tremendous opportunity at what has become the coolest place I have ever had the pleasure of working. That and I am originally from the Bay Area. This has been a coming home of sorts. In what is the understatement of this interview, my parents are over the moon about the shift north.

My day always begins with making my to-do list for the week (long term goals) and the day (short term). Once I have established the day’s events, I feel energized and prepared for the day. I then head over to our cafeteria and stock up on fresh-juiced veggies and other breakfast treats. The rest of the day will follow a similar pattern. Me eating way too much of Facebook’s gourmet free food and checking items off my list. There are also meetings and surprise tasks peppered in here and there. This agenda with semi-regular trips to my partner universities keeps me quite busy and terribly over stimulated. It’s a beautiful thing.

It is incredibly rewarding to work with students. To them, this isn’t just a job or an internship to help leverage their salary or get a shiny new title. This is the next big phase in their relatively young life. To help them in this process is tremendously gratifying. What’s challenging is finding top talent before any of our competition does. There’s a small group of designers out there and everyone else is looking for them, too.

Trust what makes you happy and be patient. You will not figure everything out right away. Pay attention to what you get excited about. When something makes you want to put in the extra hours or keeps you thinking once you put your head on the pillow, that’s what you should do. 

EDITOR'S NOTE: Josilin is now a Career Contessa Mentor! Click here to book personalized career advice with her.