What do you want to be when you grow up? Uhh... an adult?
Yeah, that was always my answer to that question when I was little. Always a smart-aleck, always indecisive.
I took most of the summer off, or at least with very part-time hours doing jobs that I could do from home, just to give myself a break from school and try to think about what I want to do next. Now that I've gotten back from Janice's wedding, I've hit the point in the year when I'm supposed to be aggressively looking for employment. Right now, I'm looking for administration-related jobs, some in educational institutions, some in goverment, some in random places advertised on job agency websites.
It's strange, because as much as I liked school and kicked ass at it (summa cum laude, woot!), I'm not sure how well it prepared me for the work world. It seems like cover letters are the hardest things in the world to write. I can write an analysis of verb movement in Old English, but you want me to convince you in under a page that you're going to like me and I'm going to rock at your job? That's a tall order. I'm looking at ads for jobs like being a Financial Aid Officer, and thinking, 'Man, I could totally do that! But how to convince someone of that with my zero financial aid experience and my linguistics degree?' I'm sure I'll think of a way to pull all my related experience and skills together into something convincing, but it's a daunting job.
And is this what I want to do? Well, of course, the question is what do you LOVE? I love:
- the Grange Park
- teasing Christopher
- crocheting, DIY stuff
- ranting about feminism
- poking holes in theology
- finding that one thing that makes a person's face light up when they talk about it
- Spider Solitaire, Mancala, Speed Scrabble
- constructing a tasty salad
And so on. I would like to have a job that had something to do with social justice, women's rights, access to birth control and/or sex education, anti-poverty groups, environmental issues (e.g. re-introducing the "reduce, re-use" part!) etc., but I'm not sure how to get into those things without either a degree in Social Work or Urban Planning or Nursing of some kind. Surely those organizations need good administrators too? I'm going to have to do some hard research in the next few weeks.
I can do research. I can catch the small details while keeping the big picture in mind. I learn quick. I work hard. I just need to learn to ferret out the good jobs and how to write a kick-ass cover letter.
posted by Heather Ann @ 5:58 PM
5 Comments:
This is my problem *exactly*. I have two big fat degrees, tons of potential, and nothing to show for any of it.
My plan is to create a therapeutic writing group for the local women's shelter. I will share my story, teach some basic writing/editing skills, and then the women will write. Eventually we will self-publish, and each woman will get a copy of the book that contains her own story.
Having a young baby at home means my plan has been thwarted (for now). Let's hope not for good.
you know in two short years you could have your masters in social work. And Carleton is renowned for its feminist and strucural approach. (i'm recruiting for the beast that leaves me poor every september)
i HATE cover letters.
p.s. I steal things from you rblog and put it on my xanga site all the time. I havn't been linking them back to your site because I wasn't sure if you wanted the bible college traffic, but if you like I can start linking back now whenever I steal stuff from you!
Take the first three sentences of your last paragraph. Flesh them out. Just a bit.
That's your letter.
In other words, concentrate on the skills you learned rather than the name of the courses or the majors. It's what I tell my students who want to know what to do with a history degree.
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