Tag Archives: Frustration

Apply for Everything, Everywhere.

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PSA – Do not ask a college student about their job search. It’s basically impossible for us to know where to start with this nonsense, let alone secure a job.

Do I apply for…

  • One job at a time?
  • Only things I’m qualified for?
  • Positions I’m overqualified for?
  • Opportunities that I feel under-qualified for?
  • Every. Single. Job. I see on ClaremontConnect in a field vaguely related to mine?
  • Anything my parents want me to apply for?
  • LITERALLY ANY JOB THAT WILL LET ME LIVE IN SAN FRANCISCO?!?!?!
  • Only jobs with office dogs?

As I searched for internships last year, these are questions I pondered on a daily basis. TLDR: Apply for all of them. (Ok, you can skip the parental suggestions, maybe. Also if you have a dog allergy, you can avoid that one too.)

If you have more time, here’s how it worked out for me:

I had a perfect internship in mind last spring: a perfect title, a perfect company, a perfect description. It was rare, but it existed.

… and I didn’t get it.

So, I applied to another, and got denied. Then another, only to be rejected once again. Finally, I started applying for any job that I felt even vaguely qualified for. I stopped waiting to hear back from one company before applying to another. In one week, I sent out 15 different resumes.

I wasn’t just applying for my dream job anymore; I was applying for anything and everything. I applied to be a communications intern, a marketing intern, a blogging intern, an event-planning intern, an HR intern, and operations intern, and probably other things I don’t even remember. I just needed to get IN any way I could.

I didn’t end up with that “Perfect Internship” I originally envisioned. It worked out better. Once I had my position, I made it what I wanted it to be. When my boss asked me what personal projects I’d like to work on, I assumed that there was something he already had in mind. After some time, I realized that getting to design my own projects was a huge opportunity – one that could shape my future career. I needed to take advantage of that because I finally had my IN. I had my chance to do exactly what I’d always wanted.

The internship may not have had the perfect title or description originally (though it was pretty close), but that didn’t mean that I couldn’t make it into what I wanted. (Except I never managed to talk them into an office dog.)

From my internship search, I learned that you just have to keep going. Don’t look for the “Perfect Position,” it might not exist. Just start applying for things! (And don’t apply one at a time… it’s exhausting and disheartening.) You’ll take charge and make it perfect when you get there.

Summer in Somerville

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This Friday, June 27th, is going to mark a tremendous feat: I will have officially survived one whole month of my summer internship “canvassing.”

Many of you will probably think to yourselves, “what in the world is canvassing, anyway?”

To be honest, when I first accepted this job, I didn’t really have a clue myself. I knew I would be working for a nonprofit, that I would be doing something with different campaign issues, and that I would be working with other like-minded youth. What’s not to like?

It wasn’t until several months later, after completing my first day, that I realized what my job actually consisted of.

The organization I work for hires youth between the ages of 18 and 30 to work as “canvassers” for the different campaigns they support and want to promote in the community. One might elaborate on our work by describing it as working to produce change by raising awareness of societal issues through informing the public, recruiting campaign supporters and advocates, and playing a pivotal role in the raising of campaign funds.

A more blunt way of putting it is that we are salesman trying to persuade people to donate for our cause. We go to door to door in various communities across the state, trying to have as many conversations with people about our campaign as we can, and ultimately ask for their monetary support in backing up the campaign.

If there is one thing I’ve learned over the course of having this job so far, it is that it is really, really hard to ask people you barely know to give you money.  It feels unnatural and innapropriate to walk up to a stranger’s home, interrupt their lives, and try and convince them to write a check on the spot for a hundred dollars to an organization they sometimes have never heard of. Discomfort is something the canvasser is forced to become accustomed to.

My day typically begins at 1:00 pm and goes to 10:30pm, Monday through Friday, including my commute. After a series of difficulties commuting from my parents’ house in Rhode Island to the organization’s office in Boston— my car breaking down on the highway several times,  me nearly falling asleep on the midnight drive home, and being so tired from the two hour commute there and back that work was too difficult— I decided to sacrifice some of my pay to invest in an apartment closer to work, which is what lead me to Somerville, MA. I was bummed to not be able to save all my earnings, but supporting myself alone in the city while I’m working has been a really cool experience that has taught me a lot about independence and self-reliance. Not to mention, I’ve been able to meet a lot of cool new people here in the city along the way, such as my three current roommates (more on my living situation to come later!)

Each workday begins and ends in essentially the same way. The staff gather round in a circle to discuss goals for our campaign, applaud outstanding work done by canvassers the night before, and to announce canvassing “teams” for the afternoon. We blast music to pump ourselves up for our long evening of work ahead of us, and each announcement time is ended with an enthusiastic cheer, similar to that of sports teams. A few days ago it was “Money Monday!” This is actually one of my favorite parts of the day. It’s incredibly brief, maybe 15 minutes at most, but there is so much energy and excitement from all of the working students about the work we are doing and it is really inspiring to see our generation step up and take action all are on our own (most of the staff are in their early 20s, including the campaign directors).

From there, we head off to our prospective vehicles to get to whatever town we are assigned to, sometimes driving as far as an hour away. We stop for lunch and to look over our maps and the turf area we have each been assigned to, and then we are dropped off at various streets where we will roam for the next five hours. At 8:30 p.m. we stop, drive back to the office, cash out our donations, and get debriefed by a director about how successful we were with the campaign that day.

They are long, difficult days, and each one presents a new challenge.  Whether it be walking around in the blistering heat or the cold rain, struggling up winding mile long private driveways, or cranky people who slam the door in your face, I find I am learning a lot, gaining many life experiences, meeting some new, wonderful people, and (I’m so happy to say) not serving people french fries anymore!

There is so much more I have to report back on, but this will have to do for now! Stay tuned for next week to hear the nitty gritty of my canvassing extravaganzas!

Embracing Uncertainity and Other Good Life Choices

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I don’t know what I’m doing with my life, which will come as no surprise to my roommates, friends, parents, professors, and anyone who has ever had the misfortune to ask me my major when I’m in a talkative mood. There are roughly two schools of thought in regards to career and major advice:

1) Do what you love and 2) Do what is practical

I’m not particularly satisfied with either. I love doing lots of things: reading (fiction and non-fiction), baking, talking to people, dancing, taking long walks, and explaining concepts. I am interested in many subjects: politics, economics, literature, philosophy, anthropology, mathematics, and history. And I know that challenging my brain, and then moving past that challenge into a peaceful flow of work, makes me happy regardless of what I’m doing.

I think I could love any career in which I had the opportunity to engage with meaningful problems, work alongside other people, and feel capable of success.

I could just try to choose, then, the most lucrative field with the greatest projected growth, assuming that I would grow to love anything that I grew to be good at.

But at the same time, the values I grew up with, and that pushed me to attend Scripps that I should use the resources at my disposal–my intelligence, my skills, my access to education, and my energy–in order to nurture my community and work for justice.

I used to think that the way to do that was through politics. I’ve always read obsessively about politics, and it felt like a way to make a large impact on serious issues. But when I got involved in politics, both as an intern and as a government appointed official on a youth advisory council, I found myself frustrated with the slow movement, inefficiency, posturing, and constant tradeoffs of the political and governmental system. My idealism and my introversion were not ideal–I could only ever fake schmooze, and I found myself often straddling both sides of an issue in my heart, uncomfortable with the existing political alliances in city politics that pushed me to outwardly adopt one stance.That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy my time–I developed facilitation, public speaking, research, analysis, and communication skills that serve me to this day. I felt like I was a part of some truly important and successful grassroots community efforts, such as Free Muni ( local transportation system) for Youth and stopping the SF police from getting tasers.

(That last link is a great, um, example of, like, the importance *touches hair* of, um, figuring out your, like public speaking *touches hair* tics)

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My time and frustration in San Francisco politics made me more interested in economics, because, as a field, it promised a reasoned and often quantitative approach to public policy decisions, in contrast to the emotional, sometimes misleading rhetoric and side-choosing that had frustrated me in politics. I loved AP Macro and Micro as a senior in high school, and Economics is the major I put down on my graduation announcements. It’s still tentatively the track I’m on, since it lets me blend math and politics and psychology and after graduation, gives me a fair amount of wiggle room.

But I’m not sure, still. Who knows where I’ll end up? I would have never guessed, in my high school politics nerd phase, that I would be learning about software development frameworks and working on data migration and executive metrics. My current perspective, though, is skill-focused, inspired by the excellent blog of Cal Newport (who advocates for a skill based, “career craftsman” approach to finding a career). As long as I’m building skills and not doing anything evil, I can just explore, and be ok with uncertainty in terms of my long term career plans. I’m a planner–a really obsessive planner–but when I Wikipedia stalk my career role models, it’s clear that most career paths zigzag, and cannot be charted out in neat 5 year and 10 year plans. Focusing on skills and exploration, and being open to opportunity feels like the best plan I can make.

Lessons Learned: Salary Negotiation

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Just the day after graduation, I sat at the computer lab in Clark, frustrated and crying. I had just received a job offer two days before, and I was writing a response email to tentatively accept the position and negotiate my salary.

The email had started off easy enough—say thanks, express excitement, ask for some things in writing. But when it came time for me to ask if there was any flexibility in the financial package I was offered, I froze. It felt as if someone had pushed a button that made me suddenly unsure of all my skills and accomplishments. The act of asking for more money put a spotlight on my own insecurities, and I did not like being in that limelight.

Additionally, I felt like I should just be grateful for what I was offered, although I knew it was lower than what I expected. Asking for more felt pushy and unreasonable—why wouldn’t they give me their best offer first? Although I couldn’t deny that I wanted a higher offer, a strong part of me just wanted to keep things easy and accept the offer as it was given.

When these  two emotional nerves were hit, negotiating my salary suddenly seemed like a horrible idea. I continued forward because of two reasons: previous trainings in salary negotiation and in-the-moment emotional support. As much as I wanted to not negotiate, I couldn’t forget the reality of the wage gap and trainings I had gone through. I relied on resources from The WAGE Project and CP&R to make sure I said the right thing in the right way, using the right numbers. My parents and best friend comforted me in my emotional trauma, edited my email, and consistently assured me that I was doing the right thing.

Finally, with great trepidation and a slowly emerging confidence, I hit send.

Conveniently, I spent the next week at a retreat with no internet access. So after informing my potential employers that I would be out of touch, I breathed a sigh of relief and got on a ferry to Catalina Island. When I returned, I intentionally waited a few more hours to check my email, then I nervously looked through my inbox.

Nothing.

A fresh wave of panic shot through my body, as my initial fears resurfaced. Those fears had grown even larger when I still hadn’t heard from them at the end of the week, so I did what any freshly-minted alum would do—call CP&R.

Per Lesley Bonds’ advice, I sent a short follow up email that focused primarily on my excitement to start working with them and less on my desire to tie up the “loose ends” required for that to happen. This second email did the trick, and I they apologized for the delay in response. I was told that they were also looking forward to have me start, and would be checking that day about my request for “additional compensation.” The countdown was on.

The next day, I received another email, this time with an attachment. The offer. To be honest, I think I closed my eyes as I opened the PDF. When they finally opened again, I frantically scanned to find a number at the bottom of the first paragraph. A smile spread across my face as I realized that this number was significantly higher than their original offer. $4,000 higher. As the reality of my successful salary negotiation sunk in, all my previous fears and insecurities became a vague memory as they were replaced by a new confidence in myself and my abilities.

In short, here are some valuable lessons I learned from this experience:

1)      Salary negotiation is about YOU, not your circumstances.

When you ask about flexibility in your salary offer, it’s tempting to shift the focus off of yourself and onto external factors: student loans, high cost of living in the area, etc. But the truth is that you are enough of a reason to earn more (as real as those other factors are). Think about why you are such an asset to their company, and gently remind them of that truth. I said something along the lines of “…because I bring a strong and unique skill set to the position.” Simple, and about me, not my circumstances.

2)     You have support and resources – use them!

Going to salary negotiation workshops and using online resources are vital to being successful in this process. Especially take advantage of opportunities to have a mock negotiation, because it’s good training for the real thing. I didn’t have to negotiate over the phone, but I would have been prepared for that if it came up because of the training I had received. Don’t know where to start? Drop into CP&R and check out resources online, like The WAGE Project, to get informed about what you’re worth and how to ask for it.

3)     You’re not being mean, you’re being smart.

As much as it feels like you’re trying to rock the boat and be pushy, asking to negotiate your salary is a normal part of business. The reality is that they want happy employees, and if they’ve already offered you a position they see you as a valuable contribution to their business or organization. As long as you use respectful language and communicate how much you want to work with them to find something you can both agree on, you have every right to ask for more.

4)     Don’t wait to negotiate.

Although it may seem easier to put off negotiating for when you have “more experience” in the job market, not negotiating will have continued negative effects on your earning potential. Since raises and salaries in new positions are often based on your current pay rate, asking for more now will exponentially increase your earnings over the course of your life.

The Best Piece of Advice I Can Give You

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There’s less than one week left until summer break! Whoooooooooo!!!

I hope you’ve found my blog posts helpful this semester and that this last blog post inspires you to not quit during your career search, despite how tough it can be.

Two summers ago, I had my very first internship at a governmental agency. After the day was over, I went home and cried all night because I thought that everyone hated me. Despite being too scared to return, I managed to get on a train to Downtown LA the next morning and act as if nothing happened. The rest of my internship experience was phenomenal.

Last summer, I didn’t end up crying after my first day of work, but I was extremely worried that I set a bad first impression with my boss because I was being too annoying. I did end up crying during in my office during one of my lunch breaks one day because I had made a really huge mistake, but I made sure that no one saw me and that I continued doing my work after lunch was over. One of the assistants came over to talk to me later and asked if I was okay because I looked as if I had been crying, but I assured him that I was completely fine. It worked.

As an intern, I try not to make mistakes. Ever. And when I do, it’s often very dramatic because I don’t know what to do. Sometimes I don’t how the work assigned to me is meant to be done, I’ve made a huge mistake, or I behaved in a way that didn’t accurately represent who I was. In the future, I’ll probably still freak out over mistakes I make, but I’ve always laughed at how dramatic I acted when I thought I’d be fired on the spot for my mistakes.

The point is that one bad day won’t define your entire internship or job experience. I never gave up on any internship I’ve had, and I wouldn’t be where I am today if I had listened to my overly dramatic self many months ago.

I hope you have a great summer!