bizMe

June 18, 2008

Two days and counting before I uproot from Denver and start adapting to the NYC pace of life. Next Monday will be a Monday to remember; it is my first day of work. I have been at home for eighteen days, shopping for professional clothing, saying goodbye to all my favorite Mile High spots, and creating more laughs with the family. Suddenly, it is time to join the thousands of other college graduates in our first steps of professionalism, met with new places, new faces, and new routines.

While at home, countless friends and acquaintances have asked me what I am doing next year. The reactions to my answer of “paralegal are more colorful than a bag of Skittles. Some are excited for me, others envious, and yet a few look at me pityingly. Hey, I am not going to dig graves for polio-stricken orphans! It is just a first job out of college, offering me as much experience as most other first-jobs would anyway.

I do not prefer any reaction to my job from friends; however, the reactions of envy always cause me to relapse to my imagination as I create fictional scenarios about NYC. In these fantasies, I am confronted with a client who has a question for me, in Spanish. We work around the language barrier to discover some nuanced solution to the problem, and magically it is 5 o’clock. I head out to my apartment where my roommates are hanging out on the balcony, beers in hand and tales on tongue. I strip down, put on shorts and a t-shirt, and join their commentary of the world below.

This is about when I snap out of my mental creation. What will happen in NYC is uncertain. Will I loathe my job? Will I love it? Will I find that spot where my new friends hang out together three times a week? Will I discover what it is I want to do long-term? I must wait for the sun to set again and again to answer these questions. Whatever the answer is to these questions, and many more to come, I know that this first job in New York will be unforgettable as I live a life that so many individuals in years past have wanted so badly, and only ended up with rejection letters at dinnertime.

I made it to NYC. Some people never made it that far. In a city full of ambition, creativity, inspiration, heartbreak, and frustration, will I learn to love it? Or come next June will I be applying to openings in San Francisco?

Saturday, May 3, 2008

I will be working as a paralegal in NYC this upcoming year. Four years at Cornell, and all I got was this lousy job – professional paper pusher. Despite the cynicism, I am very excited about trading in my collegiate life for a professional one; but that was not the case during the last week of classes. One allergenic evening, I called my mother after a mini-freak out when the realization of graduation hit. I told her that I was not ready to leave college and “work for the rest of my life.” My mother, being the rational and amazing person she is, told me something I’ll never forget:

“Even though you aren’t in an academic setting, you’ll still be learning. You learn for the rest of your life. This is now the time to start asking yourself questions about what you want to do with your life, what you want to be in life. You’ll changes careers, you’ll change cities, you’ll change your life. And it’s always fun to see what comes next.”

So, here’s to jumping into the future with two eyes open and one mouth screaming. This could be so fun, I might just like it – I might just love it. I can’t wait to find out.

Sunday, April 20, 2008

Open up your search engine, type, “perfect job, and hit the search button. Up pops a list of available positions that match your skills and ambitions and require somebody with the work history that you possess. Now go to “File and select DREAM ON! Searching for the perfect job is much more difficult than using imbd.com to look up the first gig of your favorite celebrity. There are countless search engines for jobs, tedious online quizzes to help you decide the optimal career path, and information galore about finding that first-job that fits-like-a-glove.

For kicks I searched “perfect job to see what hits I would get. The first was an online quiz to help me find “that perfect job, and the second was an article from U.S. News written three years ago. Job searching? It’s going to be rough.

The most laborious part of getting that first job out of college is to actually find the opening to apply for – the possibilities seem endless. I wanted a magic ball with which to look into the future to see what my first job would be so that I would only have to apply to that one place…but where’s all the anticipation, headache, and fun in that?

When I began job searching I didn’t have an inkling of to what career path to follow. I casually searched and looked through entry-level jobs posted on my university’s career website, a shoot-off of MonsterTRAK. This may be a good place to begin, but your job search should not rely on daily sweeps through listings calling for candidates with Bachelors and 0-2 years of experience.

Diversity your search engines
Shut down your computer and use something other than your fingertips – use your voice. The best search engines are other people. My first resources were my parents. I spoke with them about their experiences in finding and getting jobs, working in different sectors, and career paths gone wrong. My parents were excited to talk about their own experiences and got me psyched for my first job. Parents also have a treasure-trove of friends with different careers who are more than willing to answer questions and provide tidbits of advice. I contacted family friends in sales, law, and politics and each of them provided something interesting or entertaining regarding job searches. Who knows? You might run into a family friend who is looking to hire a recent college graduate.

Talking with somebody about careers and jobs made me excited about job searching, being bombarded by electrons was rather lackluster. It was talking to friends, family, and colleagues that encouraged me to look into paralegal positions. Several friends (graduates and other undergraduates) told me that I would do well in and enjoy law school, so I looked into paralegal positions. I specifically looked into firms that specialized with international law and/or clients because I am interested in international relations.

Another piece of job searching advice is to read about issues that interest you. Newspapers, magazines, papers, etc. – read them all. When you read, pay attention to the actors in the literature (universities, corporations, individuals, start-ups . . .) and write them down as you read. If these actors are engaged in something of interest to you, Google them. You will either get their website or another site with information regarding the actor, including contact information and job openings. Even if you don’t see any job openings that you are qualified for, e-mail the organization and tell them about your interest in their focuses and ask them about future opportunities. I had great success in establishing contacts at several organizations using this method.

I honestly don’t remember where I found the job that I’ll be starting in June. I know I had a series of searches for paralegal positions in NYC with firms working with international clients or relations, but I am at a loss to tell you the step-by-step process. However, it should be encouraging to know that there is no institutional way to find a job. You can wing it and still have the success rate of somebody with a strict routine.

My final point of advice is to keep track of all the places which you have contacted and applied. Record the position name, a brief description of the position and company, the company contact, and the location of the job. This will help jog your memory when you go back and see who you have/have not heard from, as well as prevent any repeat applications (employers may not look too favorably on somebody who doesn’t remember already sending in an application). I used a simple Excel spreadsheet saved to my desktop to keep myself organized.

I devoted an hour or two each day to job searching and writing cover letters – sometimes in one chunk of time and sometimes broken up throughout the day. I would fit it in between classes, before bed, during breakfast. Not every hour is fruitful, but in the end the experience you will gain from drafting cover letters, contacting companies, and researching jobs will be beneficial.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

In 1986 I was born 5280 feet above sea level. No, I was not born on a plane (average cruising altitude 35,000 feet) or atop a mountain—I am a native of Denver, Colorado. I lived in the Mile High City for 18 years and my first extended stay away from home was my freshman year in college. I am now a second semester senior at Cornell University in Ithaca, New York. Denver and Ithaca are dramatically different—the first a sunny, mountainous region and the latter an overcast gorge-filled area. I love them both.

My family is tight knit and I certainly fall into the category of “family-oriented. It was a difficult but great decision for me to attend school halfway across the country from home. I chose Cornell because I wanted to attend college on the East Coast, meet new people with different experiences, and avoid the temptation of going home to do laundry every weekend. Although I still miss my family, learning how to get through college on my own has been an invaluable experience. Removed from my familiar settings I have come to understand myself better and get a feeling for what independence is. And, of course, college life is absolutely fabulous.

The academics at Cornell were better than I had anticipated. I was challenged and given great feedback on writing assignments, something that didn’t always happen in high school. I am double majoring in Anthropology and Italian with a concentration (akin to a minor) in International Relations. It took me two years of undergraduate indecision to hone in on specific areas of study partly because I am interested in a variety of subjects and partly because I do not have a 10-year plan (like the pre-meds). I found the professors and courses engaging and provoking in these departments. My fields of study have challenged me creatively and academically while improving my writing, critical thinking, and foreign language ability.

Of course, college is not all about the grades. I am actively involved in the Women’s Club Ice Hockey Team, a sorority, and the Upward Bound tutoring program. In high school I was always involved in several extracurricular activities, and I continue the trend in college because it keeps me focused and organized.

Now that April has begun, I am one of the few, and very relieved, seniors that nailed down a job for my unavoidable departure. Starting this June I will be working as a paralegal in New York City! I am excited for this job for several reasons: (1) It is in NYC which I love and am familiar with, (2) the law firm works with international clients so I will be using my Italian and learning Spanish this year, and (3) the firm is small, which means less than 70 hours of work a week and less paper pushing.

This paralegal position is an incredible first-job opportunity because it encompasses many of my interests: foreign languages, international relations, problem solving, and cross-cultural exchange & communication. Many of the other positions I applied for would not have offered the same experience coming right out of college.

In my ensuing entries I plan to take a retrospective look at my own job hunt, the successes, the failures, and write down my insights for job searching. I also want to impart advice that my friends and family gave me for writing cover letters, drafting a resume, and interviewing. Job searching is a full-time job, sacrifices will be made and frustration is inevitable. News reports tell us that the job market is hitting millennium lows and that some people have just given up trying to find work. Despite the dismal outlook of the job market we seniors are about to plunge into, there are surprisingly many jobs out there waiting to be filled by young professionals. You probably won’t get your dream job after your first try, but you will certainly succeed in getting a great foothold to begin your career if you job search with perseverance and optimism.