(February 14, 2012) Einstein famously defined insanity as doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results. Aaron Vargas took it to heart. When Vargas was having no luck in the job market, he changed things up in his application approach and the results were immediate. An STAA client, Vargas has been hired as a broadcasting and media relations assistant with the Montgomery Biscuits.
The Biscuits are the Tampa Bay Rays AA affiliate.
“I was flying pretty high when they called me,” Vargas says. “It’s an awesome opportunity for several reasons. My foot is finally in the door [in minor league baseball], it is at the Double-A level, and working with Joe Davis – he is a talented guy and knows a lot of people in the business. I don’t think I could have written a better script for my first job in baseball.”
Vargas graduated Magna Cum Laude in 2011 from Carson-Newman College in Tennessee, where he was a captain on the baseball team. In addition to broadcasting on the campus radio station, his baseball play-by-play experience includes the past two summers in the Florida Collegiate Summer League.
Vargas joined STAA in March 2011. For the first nine months of his membership, he applied for many jobs but never received anything more than a form letter in response. That prompted him to call STAA CEO Jon Chelesnik. Together, they reviewed how Vargas was going about the application process and where his presentation could be stronger. Within 10 days of that conversation, Vargas applied for and was invited to interview for two different positions, including Montgomery.
“I felt like I was kind of stuck in a rut,” Vargas says about the job market. “I didn’t know what I could do because I didn’t know what I was doing wrong. That’s when I contacted Jon Chelesnik and learned there were several changes I could make in the application process.”
Among the changes Vargas made were to his resume, demo and follow-up strategy.
“I made my resume much more concise. I had many things on there that employers wouldn’t care about or need to know. I also changed the order of where I placed things on my resume. On my demo, one of my audio samples took almost a minute to get into my play-by-play. With all the samples employers have to listen to they aren’t going to listen that long to get to the play-by-play. I also changed my follow ups and started calling one week after [applying].”
“I really do appreciate all of [STAA’s] help. It was definitely essential in getting my foot in the door in the business. I appreciate everything they have done for me.”
(Visit Aaron’s STAA Talent Page.)