And the winner is...

This past week has been a whirwind of chaos, but in a very good I-can't-believe-this-is-happening kind of way. Andy participated in an extra-curricular case competition sponsored by Union Pacific and with long hours spent crunching numbers in the library came a spot in the top three! The top three finalists had to present their findings to a group of board members from the marketing advisory. Andy and his team had the best presentation. It was well put-together, thought out, and funny (well as funny as anything with a ridiculous amount of numbers can be).

The other teams did great too, but we were ecstatic when Andy and his team were announced as the winners. They won money and the chance to network. That evening we were able to attend a banquet with 40 top executives from companies like eBay, Amazon.com, Proctor and Gamble, Union Pacific and others. Andy made some excellent contacts, so we'll see if anything comes from them.


Andy and his group posing for their "win" photo

Wednesday greeted Andy with a call from the VP of Sales for Paramount Pictures. They set up a time to meet for lunch on Saturday in between conference sessions. We couldn't believe it. So we prepared what he was going to say, we updated his resume and got some business cards together. They met at Wendy's and bonded over spicy chicken sandwiches. The meet-and-greet turned into an interview and Andy came home bursting with excitement. Though Paramount has had to cut back personnel, it came down to this: Andy has a lot of work to do. He needs to research the industry and come up with some good ideas. If he can do that, a real interview with the hiring manager will be a realistic probability.

He's never been closer!

And though nothing may happen, it's been nice not being in a stand-still regarding employment. We're going to encounter lots of "no's" for sure, but we're making contact and we couldn't be more hopeful.