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Lunch is long, and thoughts abound. |
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A place to put my thoughts as I embark on my new career as an editor. |
I was thinking during a lull at work today, and decided it would be nice to write a review of the company I work for. Whenever I was job hunting, I always went to sites like Indeed.com or Glassdoor.com to look up average salary information and reviews from employees for each position. Those sites are useful if you want to know what you might be getting yourself into when you work for a company. For instance, I could have avoided dealing with terrible upper management in my last job if I had just listened to the reviews of the company. Everyone said that management was ineffectual, stuff never got done, etc. But I took the job anyway, and, sure enough... So, if I were to write a review of my new company as of now, it would go something like this: This is an excellent company to work for. It is perfect for entry-level writers, editors, and sales/marketing persons looking to get a start in their career. The starting pay is reasonable, with plenty of room to advance and frequent re-evaluations. The ability to earn commission is an added bonus. This is a small, online company, with only nine people maximum in the office at any given time. Because the company is web-based, dress code is casual, as is the atmosphere in the office. The CEO and founder of the company works in the office with you. He is extremely personable, friendly, and business-oriented. He cares about his employees' happiness and well-being and will even side with you if a client is being unnecessarily rude (a rare thing in sales!). He is forgiving of mistakes, and will give you constructive criticism personally if he feels you don't quite get something, which is very helpful. He is approachable, and open to suggestions about how to improve business. He is more of a partner than a boss. He makes sure to take the time to touch base with every employee, taking them out to lunch, talking to them, or having meetings. Additional incentives are provided by the manager, such as contests wherein the manager will match all commission made, or a company party/pirate cruise in the bay. The office has treadmills for your health, and you are provided with your own computer/equipment and desk. The break room has free Keurig coffee and Soda Stream, and sometimes food items. As an employee, you are in charge of your own clients, which are assigned in a Round Robin spreadsheet as orders come in. No one employee is in charge of only one task - tasks are rotated hourly, and include inbox duty, phone duty, and chat duty. Thus, you will never be stuck with one unpleasant client/job. You work independently, but collaborate with coworkers to divvy up clients and tasks. Coworkers are always friendly and available to help you with questions or problems. The shift is Mon-Fri, 10am -7am, not too early, with weekends off, and a full hour lunch break. The manager is very flexible about using sick days, leaving early, and vacation time. The workload is reasonable, heavier in the beginning of the week, and growing lighter towards the end of the week, which is nice if you get tired after a few days. No one person has more work than another, every task is evenly distributed. |
It's not lunch time, but I thought I'd write anyway. When I was unemployed/working in retail, I would find myself wondering: how do people get into their career? What's the trick? I'd Google career advice, read stories about how people got into their desired work field, go to career websites... It was baffling to me that other people just seemed to be able to grab life and live it, while I was stuck in that fateful Catch-22: The fact that if you're inexperienced, the only job you can get is Entry Level, but Entry Level jobs want experience. It turns out, there is no trick. One moment, you're that sad pizza guy begging your customers for a real job when you deliver their pizza - the next, you're the person in the office ordering the pizza. There's no secret to getting a job. Most of it is just luck. Being the right person in the right place at the right time. It's hard to find that moment. That's why there's nothing you can really do except keep on keeping on. Apply for jobs until one of them finally picks you. It's like entering for a raffle: the more tickets you buy, the greater your chance of winning. Of course, you always have a chance of winning or losing. You could buy just one ticket and win. You could buy 100 tickets and lose. That's just the way it works. It took me two years to finally win. But it was worth the time spent. The day I went in for my interview, I was the right person at the right place at the right time. One of the editors was leaving that week, so a replacement was needed. The manager was leaving on vacation the following week. So he hired me immediately so as to get me set up before he left. He didn't have any time to interview more competition, and that worked in my favor. If I had applied the week before, would I have been hired? Maybe not. If he had had the time to interview more people, would I have been picked? Maybe not. There were almost certainly people with more skill and experience than me. It just so happened that I was there when they needed me. It wasn't all luck - I did my homework. Every little bit counts. While most of it IS luck, what little bit you can contribute, you'd better make sure to perfect. I had a decent enough background, and I wrote my resume to make what little skill and experience I had stand out. I made sure to word my resume and cover letter according to the job description. I made sure to answer directly each question asked on the job posting in my cover letter. I followed all the instructions for the application, edited everything to make it look professional, and added some extra effort to make it look like I really cared about getting the position. Before my interview, I researched the company, what customers thought about their services, and my manager's background. I took notes and made a point to mention the fact that I'd looked them up in the interview. I complimented the manager, told him what I liked about his company, why I wanted to work there. It's important during an interview to interview the company just as much as the company is interviewing you, 1) to learn whether you really want to work there or not, 2) to show that you want to work there enough to do the leg work, and 3) to show genuine interest in the company itself. No manager is going to hire you if all you do is submit the same copy of a resume that you've submitted to hundreds of other places. They don't want spam. They want to see that you care enough to customize your application to the job you are applying for. I also made sure to put a personal touch to my interview. I noticed the decorations in my manager's office and complimented them. I let him know that I liked him as a person, and that I would not only be a great employee, but a great friend and coworker. My manager is a bit of a nerd - I knew this because I looked up the company and noticed a blow-up Dalek (from Dr. Who, for non-nerds) in the office photos. So when I came in and saw it, I said "nice Dalek" to let him know that I was exactly the kind of nerdy, fun-loving person he'd want to hire. It also helps a lot if your new prospective boss can sympathize with you. In my case, my boss was also a Creative Writing major, so he could sympathize with my struggle to find a real job in what many think of as a dumb, non-paying field of study. He knew, personally, how hard it was to get started with Creative Writing as your only experience. I think that me getting this job was probably 75% luck, and 25% resume, cover letter, and interview. Luck got me most of the way, but I wouldn't have gotten the rest of the way without that other 25% of work. Like I said, you have to buy a ticket to win. Just buying the ticket doesn't guarantee a win. But not buying the ticket at all will result in a definite loss. All a ticket costs is your time - each personalized resume and cover letter you send is an entry. Then all you have to do wait for your ticket to be picked, and be there in time to claim the prize. |
I was talking to my best friend in California (I'm in Maryland) about my sudden, new-found career last night. She was frustrated because she has applied for 2-3 jobs every few days for the past 2 years, and hasn't even gotten a call back. That's just the way it is in California. I remember coming home one summer and looking for a job- I must have applied for 20 jobs, and didn't even get a rejection, much less an interview. My friend told me how her friends and family were saying she should just cut her losses and move on because she was doing something wrong. I told her that wasn't true- getting a job is 75% luck and 25% who you know. If you don't know anyone who can get you in, you just have to keep trying and hope you hit the lottery someday. She made me feel sad because I am so happy- finally - but my best friend is still where I was a week ago, desperately searching with no results, feeling the pressure on all sides. Before, I could at least sympathize and reassure her by saying I was in the same boat, and we'd get through it. Now, I'm ahead, and I've left her behind. I wish I had a job to give her so we could be happy together. I also called my mom last night. I was excited thinking about using my new-found vacation time to visit for Christmas, so I called everyone to make sure nobody would be away this year so I could buy a cheap ticket ahead of time. It's funny how different my parents are. Hard to believe they were ever together. My dad is a businessman, owns his own small business, so he treats his children (and most of his friends) as a business connection. Which is useful sometimes, but not to a child who wants someone to be their dad, not their boss. Anyway, my dad was happy for me, gave me advice for the new job, and wished me well. My mom, on the other hand, was underwhelmed. My mom was happy enough for me, but when she heard the salary I was making, she told me not to be too excited, that it wasn't very good. Now, the salary I'm making isn't terrible - I make more than a teacher makes, and do less work - but it's my first job, there's room for promotion, and my expenses are so little, most of that money will go straight into savings. My mom spends money impulsively, so I don't think she has the right to compare my job to hers. My salary will go a lot further than hers, because it's all profit for me, while she has to pay bills, rent, insurance, etc. When I told my mom I wanted to visit for Christmas, she wasn't as excited as I thought she'd be. She merely said, "that's the worst time to visit" and worried about the weather. I haven't seen her in over a year, and she's worried about the weather? My mom is definitely more of a pessimist. I hope I can cheer her up when I finally do visit. |
I am not used to having a whole hour for lunch. It only takes me about 15 minutes to eat, so that frees up 45 minutes to write notes here and get my thoughts in gear. Firstly, I am SOOOO happy to have a real job. As I expressed to my boyfriend last Friday, now I feel like I can live my life instead of just existing in it. I have a reason to be excited and call my friends and family. I was out of touch with everyone for so long simply because I had nothing to say, nothing interesting to report. I found MYSELF too boring to bother anyone else with an attempt to interact. Now, I find myself wanting to call everyone, wanting to visit, wanting all my distant relatives to come and ask me about my career. I always used to dread holidays because, from early high school onward, the only thing anybody would ask me is, "what are you doing with your life? How is your career going?" and I never had any decent response. Nobody takes a Creative Writing major seriously. They'd say, "oh... That's nice. But how are you going to make a living?" Even if I gave them my game plan, they were still doubtful. Nobody really believed I would be successful. I constantly felt regret and wished I'd gone the hard science route, just because it would be easier to explain. Nobody ever questions a doctor or a scientist. But now, it's finally happened for me: I got my break. Now I can own my ambitions. Now I can prove my success. I'm in. I made it. It feels amazing to work in a place where I can use my skills daily. People appreciate my expertise. People thank me, personally, for my knowledge. I'm not some anonymous retail employee. I'm an editor with a name, a face, a skill. I can be ME again when I work. I don't have to put on a uniform. My soul isn't being slowly sapped by corporate America. It feels fantastic. |
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