My first Thankful Tuesday post was incredibly easy for me to come up with. Over the past eight months, I’ve worked at a catering company as a server…definitely not the job I wanted coming out of college with a Communications degree. But nonetheless, they were the first company who reached out to me after sending them my resume, so I figured I’d give it a shot until I found something better. This job was only supposed to be temporary, but I found out that finding a job in my field was a lot harder than I previously thought. I soon began taking a Ron Swanson view on life, as seen below:
I tried to stay positive and did everything I could to find something, even if it wasn’t exactly what I wanted to do. I sent my resume to numerous people, only to be ignored or denied by all of them because of one crucial thing I lacked: experience
How am I supposed to gain experience if no one will hire me? I can’t be hired because I don’t have experience but in order to get experience I have to get hired. It’s a catch-22. I spent many days trying to figure out a new approach. I actually found an internship with a company that was all online, along with freelance writing. Now I did both of those for two months or more, and I figured they would help me land some jobs in my career.
I was definitely wrong again. So then I discussed with family members and other people that I’m close to about some different approaches I could take now that my second idea wasn’t working. They helped me realize that maybe going through a staffing agency to find work would be a better idea, and to keep an open mind with any position that may come up.
A few days after I applied for the staffing agency, I interviewed with them and they took me on as a client. Only a few days later did I find my dream job. Communications coordinator. I thought I had a great shot at this position, despite being so young and only having my experience from school to represent my abilities. Unfortunately, I found out that they chose someone else for the position after I felt like I had a very successful interview with them.
David Tennant is me. I am David Tennant. Or I was when I found out the news about not getting the communications coordinator job. I just felt like I would’ve been perfect for said job, but my lack of experience is what killed my chances. But the staffing agency continued to call me about jobs while I was waiting to hear back and actually the day before hearing that I didn’t get the communications coordinator job, I went on an interview at a law firm for a transcriptionist position. So basically my job will be typing.
But at least it’s at a law firm, right? I’ve heard that graduates with law degrees can’t even get into law firms. Plus I’ve always been interested in law; I’ve just never practiced it/took classes (except for one) for it because I’ve always loved Communications more. Regardless, went to my interview looking pretty snazzy and feeling confident in my abilities to type and work well with others, and apparently I nailed it! The very next day I got offered the position.
So once again, it isn’t exactly where I want to be and it’s not the greatest salary in the world, but it’s definitely over minimum wage and I’ll be able to save up money by working there. Also after 3 months I have a good opportunity to get a raise because the first three months I’m technically working under the staffing agency and if the law firm likes me/I do everything well, I’ll get hired officially and probably get a pay raise. (Companies only pay staffing agencies so much for clients so the law firm will most likely pay me more once they hire me directly under them in 3 months…which they already said they would do.) I liked the people who I met with and I’m sure I’ll get along with everyone else in the law firm. I’m very excited and thankful for this opportunity. I’ll have normal working hours (as opposed to the catering job) that will help me structure my days better and get the most done. Also I’m kind of excited to just dress up every day!
But lately I’ve been thinking about how things could’ve been much worse during these past several months of trying to find a job suited for me. I’m thankful to even have had a job, which is more than what some college graduates can say. I’m also thankful that I saved up enough money while working at the catering company to be comfortable in paying off my student loans since December and never having to ask my parents for money. I’m very thankful for being able to get everyone in my family and my boyfriend’s immediate family Christmas gifts, especially since this was the first year I was able to do that. And now I’m thankful for getting a new opportunity at a great law firm where I’ll be able to save even more money and not have to live paycheck to paycheck.
It can only go up from here.
Emily's Pensieve 