Tom Dixon

I got an interview with Tom Dixon who is a high end fashion furniture designer. Yea... I didn't know they existed either. He designs weird, artsy fartsy shit welded out of metal and charges absorbent amounts of money for it. Google his name to find his Web site.

I get to his flat and it's this studio style place decorated in all his shit. His publicist comes over to me and the other people interviewing for the job. I'm thinking it's giong to be a very casual interview, not too serious and I'd be doing some busy work and a little bit of actual PR stuff.

The guy calls us one-by-one to get interviewied by him and his personal assistant. He sits me down and immediately asks me what kind of education I have and what sort of work experience I've had. He's basically like " ready... Go!" So, I ramble for awhile pushing how UF is top ranked for PR and blah, blah, blah.

He then sees that I know how to use photoshop and quark. Thanks to the Pearl and says to me that I will have to learn how to use Illustrator and InDesign. So, I'm like yea whatever it shouldn't be hard.

He then asks me what kind of PR classes I've taken. I spit out all the course I've taken and I even caught myself saying some I haven't even taken yet. He then goes on to explain my title as "intern." I use the word "intern" lightly because here it's more than just bitch work. It's more like a fucking job.

He proceeds to layout what my job would be if I decided I wanted the job. He starts by saying that it is vital that I know what the companies image is and what it stands for. That I learn how to speak the "cheeky" language they use in all their print ads, press releases and any other collateral with the name Tom Dixon on it. I'm like OK I can understand that as a PR major how important consistency and imagery are to the industry and a name. Nothing new.

He then says he's leaving for China for 3 months and that the person who starts will have massive amounts of responsibility. That they'd basically be running the publicity from the office so that he's gotta have a huge amount of trust in the person, and the person has to have good communication skills on top of organization. He says that he wants the "intern" to be in the office full time and that there will be some points when it will get hectic. He explained that fashion week in Milan, Italy is sometime in April and that the intern will undoubtedly be flown out to Milan, all expenses paid, to help set up and run press junctions etc.

To me this job sounds fucking amazing. It would be dream job out of college and it has every aspect of a job that I'd ever want. He really stressed the importance of creativity (which I really need in a job) and the fact that image and design are important aspects of the company. The place was really laid back and it was filled with tons of young folks working. It was a great environment, very free spirited and I could really see myself working there. I wanted the job so badly, because I knew that an opportunity like this doesn't come often. Especially with all the aspects that I'm looking for. I was more than qualified and I knew it.

He asked me to write a mock press release and gave me a ton of material to draw from. He gave me the names of four new pieces from this year's collection and told me to sell them to the public within the press release. He was looking to hire someone this week.

Unfortunately, I'm in London once in my life and school is my priority here. He seem to understand that to an extent. You see the education here only holds one exam the entire semester at the end. They have trouble comprehending that we have midterms. Also, the fact that he wanted me there as much as possible working in the office really worried me. I didn't want to spend my semester abroad working the entire time. I really wanted to have time to check out the sites and if I wanted a day off I could have it. I know that other people doing internships have to go in 2 days a week and that's it. They are all good experiences as well.

I didn't do the press release and looking back I wish that I had more time here in order to take that position. It was seriously perfect.

Talking to other people doing internships here from UF and other schools I realized how fortunate I am to be a PR major. It seems that I can seriously get a job anywhere and it gives me a shit load of hope. At first I really didn't think that my job was serious and that a lot of people look at it as bullshit. However, students who's majors are marketing, telecom, communications and general business are all finding themselves interviewing and interning for PR firms here in London. It's awesome.

If nothing else the interview at Tom Dixon was an incredible experience. I was in the actual offices of Tom Dixon where he creates his works, designs his things and has all his shit in. It was an amazing experience that I can look back and say I did even though I didn't take the position or pursue it any further. His company is really a PR persons dream considering the amount of publicity he's been getting recently and has gotten in the past. Just recently he was in London newspapers because his works are featured in central parts of London.

Good or Bad, Everything is an experience. I'm OK with that.