Today after work, in the midst of job application chaos and an intense tag-team Google doc resume editing session, my good friend Jake asked me if I had done any volunteer work in college. So I started to edit the Google doc and fill in my volunteerism. As I went back through my memories of undergrad, I reflected on my choice of study and remembered things I had forgotten about while focused on getting ahead at work.
I read a quote that is somewhat generic but really spoke to me on this day in particular…
Be strong when you are weak, brave when you are scared, and humble when you are victorious.
Frankly, I read this quote off an image I saw on Facebook and have not the slightest idea who said it first. Nonetheless, this might be the motto I have always lived by but was never able to articulate. Well right now I am weak, scared and humble. So how about them apples.
I moved to Chicago after graduation and year of contemplating law school while traveling for 5-6 to six different countries and living in three different U.S.-based apartments. I wanted to put my roots down somewhere. Make friends. Buy furniture. SIgn a two-year lease.
I had high hopes and dreams. I started a graduate program at DePaul that I later found to be completely irrelevant to my professional goals and eventually fell my way into a job in a field that I genuinely enjoyed. Things were working out.
But then a funny thing happened. I started to outgrow my current position and realized that this was about as far as I was going to get. So I did what any normal 25 year old would do… I explored, networked, thought about changing fields, volunteering in Africa, marrying someone rich or wrinkly (or both), had an emotional breakdown, called my parents, did volunteer work, drank myself silly, signed up for a marathon… finally I scoped myself up off the floor and started the application process.
It was at this time that I realized… being in smack-dab in your mid-twenties kind of sucks. I could no longer apply for those cool, easy-to-get, prestigious looking internships. I was somehow over-qualified and besides, now I need to get paid. And in the competitive race for the entry level jobs I was often up against 10 or 20 very qualified and competent individuals.
The process was a slow breakdown. Week 1 I was picky. I want to work in communications… social media… PR… maybe in politics… maybe for a not-for-profit or other feel good cause. By week 2 I was ready to add any kind of “account executive”/”project manager” position to my list. Week 3 I became open to analytics and sales. Week 4 I gave up and just started applying, applying, applying…. with no calls… no calls… no calls.
Today the phone rang, it was a job I had applied for but not really on my week 1 wish list, more like week 8. And in Colorado nonetheless. “It’s just an interview” my former colleague and friend pointed out to me but knowing me and my galavanting ways, if I interview and, God forbid, get an offer, it would be hard to turn down.
So my mission to get roots in Chicago will have failed. I will move… again. Only to maybe and possibly hopefully move back in God knows how long. Tomorrow when I make this call to possibly schedule this interview, I hope Chicago knows that I tried to not let the wind blow me away from the Windy City… I really tried.
In a discussion on Friday with two close friends on the verge of changing/starting their careers, I snuggled up in bed and dished out some rather brilliant advise. After three minutes of laying out my one friend’s immediate career path and ways to achieve his long-term professional goals, I moved on to my next 2 minute discussion with my other friend where I strategized how to start, develop and market his hypothetical new business.
After I finished rambling their response, while fairly innocent in nature, shook me to my core…
After doing 4 years of college papers that are fricken 15-20 pages long you develop a very specific, lame, arrogant voice to your writing. You find yourself using words like “respectively” and “adheres to.” Then you graduate and get a job where you have to write simple emails or letters. So you start with…
When I was a sophomore in college at Michigan State, I went to my college adviser to declare my major. I had a few ideas about what I wanted to do but not knowing what career I would actually be heading towards gave me anxiety. I made it clear that I wanted a job I liked. I wasn’t going to major in business or supply chain. I wanted to follow my passions! Save the world! Help people! So to figure out how I could best do that we went through my transcript.
