From Pageant Experience to Job Opportunity

Oh friends and family please bear with me! I am so late on a number of posts, but there are only 24 hours in the day and 7 of those go towards sleep, and another 9 hours of my day is dedicated to work. WAIT! What was that? Megan has a job??? Yes people, this beauty queen FINALLY has a job other than catching up on her beauty sleep and trying to find a job. This post has very little to do with pageantry and yet has everything to do with pageantry.

I have been searching for a job in interior design tirelessly for quite some time. Let me tell you that not even a week after winning the pageant I already had a job interview! The only thing to change on my resume was the addition of "Miss Hudson Valley 2012" under the "Honors and Awards" category. While that first interview came with no reward besides interview experience, another job opportunity came knocking on my door very soon after. Everyone seemed so curious about my pageant experiences and seemed to see something about pageants that most don't. They realized how much courage and confidence it takes to compete in pageantry; they understood that the interview and public speaking skills I developed are actually an asset to their companies. Knowing how to communicate in a professional manner with co-workers and clients is an essential quality to have for any job; being confident in yourself and the work you do is imperative as well. People place horrible stereotypes on pageants and pageant contestants/beauty queens, but what I have found is that because of my pageant experience I have assets that others may lack and employers are looking for. In these hard times I was able to nail a job on my second interview. Say what you may about pageants, but they have changed me and my life for the better.