Contributor: Paralith
Woah, I'm behind. Sorry about that guys. I completely missed the whole first job topic. Let me try to make it up.
The First Job ... Will be Harder to Get Than You Think It Will.
The last year and a half of college, I worked as a research assistant in two genetics labs (sequentially, not simultaneously). I was proud of myself for having done so, and after graduation I received so many congratulations and pats on the back and sentiments of confidence that I was sure I would have little difficulty finding a job when I moved out to a big city with my boyfriend (who was moving there for a job he had already procured).
*wrong answer buzzer noise*
Partly, my overconfidence did me in. I applied to some places, and then sat back and relaxed, figuring that any time now, I'd get the call for the interview and shortly after that be offered a job. Partly, my exultation at being DONE with school did me in. I was out! I was free! After 16+ straight years of educational responsibilities, I figured I deserved to spend a few months without having to do SHIT.
The hammer of reality came down on my head when finally, after waiting for nearly a month to hear back from the last place I had interviewed at, I was officially turned down. I didn't have what it took. In desperation to get off my butt and do SOMETHING, I turned to temping, which had the generally nightmarish results that most people report. Don't get me wrong, I met some nice people. And it was probably good for me to get my nose rubbed into the grindstone of menial and irritating labor to really motivate me to get a job in my field. But damn I never want to go back there again.
At that point, I was finally ready to really WORK on finding a job. To search and scrounge and apply everywhere to everything and use every interviewing trick in the book. That's what it takes. And it worked out for me, granted in a way that was kind of a fluke, as I've mentioned before.
In the process of sending my application to about five different postings in a row one day, I missed the fine print of one posting that stated the position was for a postdoc. Oops. After realizing that, I figured I'd just never hear from them. Fortunately for me, shortly after the postdoc position opened, a research assistant position opened at the same place, and my current boss just considered my application for that position. And called me, and hired me. But it's a damn good thing I never saw that postdoc note, or I would never have applied.
I really enjoy my job. I'm doing active research, I'm learning a LOT, the experience will be invaluable for my future, and for the most part, the people I'm working with are really great too (and even if they aren't, their quirks make for greatly amusing stories for me to tell my friends). I do have some complaints, which would be more serious if I was planning on spending several years here - but as an intermediate step between undergrad and grad school, it's been great. (And I've had money and benefits and that's IMPOSSIBLE to complain about.)
Really Good State School (Or, Regularly Scheduled Program Interruption Continued Yet Again)
Is it just me, or does it seem to be a really small-town mentality to assume that if there's a good school in your home neighborhood, and some of your friends and family went there, you're in some way destined to go, and it's a strange and unexpected twist of fate if you don't? I dislike small-town mentalities. The world is not a small town. Shit don't always work that way.
I did go to Really Good State School, but I had my reasons for wanting to stay close to my family at the time. As I was starting college, my father was starting chemotherapy. In such a situation, it's convenient to have a good school in your home town. Plus, I was kind of a wimp at the time and the idea of moving out of state really did scare me (and I have great respect for Speak Coffee and City Girl for not being scared of it!). Either way, every person's needs and desires are different, and yes, I would be kind of insulted if someone implied that it was downright strange that my needs and desires happened to be different than what that person thought they should be.
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3 comments:
Re: college in town
Our parents generation talks about how the deal back then was that if you went to college you went to the nearest school that you could afford. (Unless your family was Old Money.) Perhaps that's where the assumption comes from. But it doesn't really hold water anymore. The trend is to apply all over the country and "go where you feel comfortable." Although between 9/11 and the recession the past seven years of HS grads appear to be looking closer to home rather than farther.
I think what really bothered me about the sitch is just that I was so shocked by what I was hearing I didn't know what to think.
I loved the town where we grow up. I think Really-Good-State-School is an awesome school, and I wouldn't have minded going there. I think I would have gotten a good education and it would have been fun.
But I do think I applied more because it was "expected" (something which Speak Coffee avoided doing, and I probably should have done the same) more than anything else. I was really upset I didn't get into NYU or BU.
But what if I HAD been devestated that I didn't get into Really-Good-State-School? What if it had been my first choice and after I was rejected I was crushed? I think that's what really ticked me off about her questions. How is that an appropriate conversation at all??
People never cease to amaze me.
Hehe - I read "People never cease to amaze me." As People never sneeze and amaze me.
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