End of Week One

The ITMI course is divided into two weeks: the first week concentrates on tour guiding, the second week on tour directing. Week one ended with both a written and oral "tests." After driving the LA city tour route four times, it wasn't difficult passing a 50-question fill-in-the-blank test or actually guiding the tour twice; the first time we talked about landmarks, the second we concentrated on "fillers." What do you talk about when there is nothing to see or you are stuck in freeway traffic? That's easy: food! What else would a foodie like me talk about? I love to tell people where to eat, yet, ironically, with perhaps one exception, I haven't had a great meal in LA yet. What is interesting to me is as much as you think about what you would like to say, when you are actually on the mike, somehow it comes out differently.

On my second night in LA my son's college roommate took me on a shopping tour of Melrose Avenue. We passed a little hot dog stand called Pink's with perhaps an hour wait outside. Who waits an hour (I heard people wait even longer than that)? Nothing is worth that wait, especially a hot dog. Besides, could it really be better than Ben's Chili Bowl.

This weekend we also worked on our resumes. ITMI uses a very specific format; one of the advantages of using their format is that your resume is immediately identifiable as an ITMI graduate. It looks so different than what I would present, but I trust their expertise, and what is important is getting into that first door. We keep getting told that the best way to get a job is through networking and referrals. A tour director gets a call for a job she cannot do; she says, "although I am not available for that tour, I know someone who would be great..." My greatest chance of getting hired is having an experience tour director to recommend me.

The other way is to get that first job and knock it out of the ballfield. Now, where did that cliche come from? As soon as I get home I am going to start knocking on doors (the old way of saying I will e-mail my resume), concentrating on student tours since that is where I can bring the most expertise. My goal is to get one student tour this spring.