From the way that I grew up, I now constantly need new stimulation, new faces, new situations. For the first time in my life, I am sitting at a desk all day long, expected to do work for the most part of the day. At first during K-12 schooling, I sat in a desk a lot, being talked at (and taking some notes from that). Then in college I sat in any given class for no more than two hours at a time. I also made an effort to schedule my classes in the afternoon, since I knew I wouldn’t make morning classes. I’ve always been a night owl, feeling most calm and productive late at night, when the rest of my community had gone to bed. So one of the ways I retained my freedom was by staying up as I pleased. In my housing segment, I was well-known for being up reliably late. Queen of All-Nighters, even.
So back to constant new experiences. Of the ten jobs I’ve held prior to this one, three required sitting, but for no more than 4 hours. I don’t know if it’s because I’ve never had a conventional full-time job or what, but I certainly can’t sit at a desk and concentrate on my work for a full day. I need breaks to move around, or rest, or do something else. Anything else. I’m not used to this office atmosphere, as casual and welcoming as it is. That then begs the question: what type of work can I do? Well, I need a lot of variety. I need to go out and meet clients or visit sites. I need to be able to write a proposal one day and do research the next day. I’ve found I have trouble spending two days in a row doing the same thing if it requires a lot of energy.
Not only is my preference for how I work a bit… distracted, the way that I go about getting these jobs also tends to be rather unusual. Let’s explore:
Job #1, waitress/bus boy at Home Bon Buffet: asked the manager if he needed anyone to work there when my parents and I were eating there one night. Left my number and got a call a couple weeks later and started work.
Job #2, swim instructor at local YMCA: got stopped while swimming laps on April Fool’s 2002 and asked by manager if I wanted to work there. Thought it was a joke, but he followed through and ended up teaching Polliwogs and Guppies.
Job #3, production intern (<–check out my IMDb listing!) for an independent film company (No Matter Productions): got an e-mail saying I was referred from another internship I had applied for that was already full. Went in for interview and started working that day.
Job #4, textbook reader for blind students through UCLA Office for Students with Disabilities: saw the ad through classes I was enrolled in, e-mailed, can’t remember if there was an interview, and started to get work.
Job #5, financial intern at Smith Barney: found listing on myUCLA, e-mailed, interviewed, and arranged summer hours. The most standard and normal as it gets, I guess (except not one of those with multiple interviews).
Job #6, product demonstrator for Natural Selection Promotions: bugged one of my fraternity brothers about taking a job I wanted that another brother had told us she was leaving. He then told me his friend had a contact, so I e-mailed with resume and was soon told to arrange time for training to start.
Job #7, marketing intern for UCLA Live!: heard about it through a fraternity brother while studying abroad, forget if I e-interviewed or called on Skype.
Job #8, computer lab concierge for UCLA Office of Residential Life: another opportunity from a fraternity brother, though I was aware of it from my Resident Assistant the year before. MSN interviewed while in England.
Job #9, “Scribe” (campus rep) for Livescribe: and still, something from my fraternity, happened upon their Scribe program when looking at their Facebook page. Filled out form to apply, got phone interview.
Job #10, Orientation Counselor for UCLA Orientation Program: saw a flier, was reminded of a dream I had my entire undergraduate career, and applied. Also rather normal, did one interview, a group interview, and a follow-up.
Job #11, Assistant Manager for Caelan & Sage: Marylin was working there and felt that I should too, so she proposed it to the boss and it was cool. Had a Skype meet-up to solidify things and meet each other.
I don't mind corporate wear, but corporate culture? Not so much.
So generally, I didn’t go through the “normal” process of career fairs or online job listings and most of them, though requiring interviews, were quite simple and straightforward. Of course, I simplified a lot of this and it was just like the jobs were handed to me. Usually my resume spoke for itself and some other e-mail or phone interactions cemented things. But overall, it was a whole lot less complicated than the convulted things you need to do these days… attend job/career fairs like mad and suck up to the recruiters, send follow-up e-mails and maintain a relationship, get an internship in hopes of being invited full-time when you graduate or apply and go in for behavioral interviews, one after another. Me? I have no patience for any of that. I attended one career fair and hated it, so thereafter I swore I’d do things on my own terms.
I guess that’s why I want to be an entrepreneur and do consulting! It offers much more interesting new work and opportunity to do things my way.
Finally, they would start to settle their worries and would then wonder… uhhh how are you going to get it? Well, that’s the beauty of a mother in the right country. 😛 She helped me bid on it as I slept and she’ll help me mail it out when it arrives. I’m quite pleased, since any Apple product sold internationally is dead expensive (in Singapore the 32GB goes for about 468 USD, whereas in the states it’s a cool $399)! I may not have gotten the absolute best price, but it was close and still saved me tons for what I wanted. Plus, I got it pretty much the day I decided I was going to go for it. But it made me wonder: do people feel wary of using eBay?
