Wednesday, September 22, 2010

An Insider's Look: A Day in the Life of a Recent Grad

Well, as you can see, I will be posting on here whenever I feel the urge to vent / find something cool to talk about. Today I just wanted to give an insider's look at what a day is like when you are working part-time and on the full-time job hunt. Enjoy!

Occasional shifts at your "temporary" job (Note: Any job you don't want to have, but needed for the money is temporary no matter how long you work there):
7:30 a.m. - Wake up. Put on coffee. Shower.
8:00 a.m. - Stumble around for awhile. Don polo shirt and khaki pants with matching shoes and belt.
8:20 a.m. - Realize you still need to eat. Gobble down some food and get to the car and DRIVE!
8:55 a.m. - Clock into your shift (generally between 5 - 8 hours depending on season).
9:00 a.m. to 4:00 p.m. - Work.
4:00 p.m. - 1 a.m. - Promise yourself you will find a full-time job that you actually enjoy as soon as possible.
Note: If working a later shift (starting at 2 p.m., etc.), just interchange the order of these things.

Days you don't have to work:
10:00 a.m. - Try to wake up. Realize that you don't have a reason to wake up at a set time. Sleep another 30 minutes.
10:30 a.m. - Try to wake up. This is successful about 50% of the time.
11 a.m. - SUCCESS! You have to enjoy the little things, right?
11:30 a.m. - Hopefully check e-mails. See the dream job you wanted currently isn't hiring, but appreciates the application nonetheless. Browse The New York Times, USA Today and Wall Street Journal websites. Go on Facebook and be sad if someone is more successful than you / happy if someone seems more miserable than you on his or her job hunt. Check other favorite websites.
1:00 p.m. - Realize you haven't eaten anything today. So go eat you fool!
2:00 p.m. - Check your bookmarks of job sites. Try to find some cool sounding jobs you would enjoy (doesn't matter where, as long as it's bigger than anywhere else in Iowa, and if in Iowa, preferably Des Moines or another larger city). Find a few, apply to a few. Write cover letters.
5:00 p.m. - Go for a jog / bike ride. This is successful about 50% of the time, but a great stress reliever!
6 p.m. - Eat dinner with the family. Realize you need to get out of home soon, this feels like high school all over again.
7 p.m. Play Halo Reach / other videogame that is currently out. Realize this truly is like high school again, without the school.
11 p.m. - 3 a.m. - Try to go to bed sometime in this range. Repeat if don't work the next day. If work the next day, see original schedule.
Note: The weekend does not exist until you get a full-time job. So this works for pretty much any day, although you will likely socialize more on the weekends and sleep-in later, unless you work at your job, which is likely, because it's probably in retail / some other thing that has you work long weekend hours.

I know this schedule seems bitter, but it actually helps to vent, and I exaggerate some of it of course. But I do hope I will land a cool gig sometime soon! I know I have the talent, just need to find the right place!

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