When I imagined my first job out of college, I pictured myself at an advertising and public relations agency, much like my Imagewest experience, where I would collaborate with a team to produce creative copy, brainstorm on awesome campaign ideas and, maybe, have the opportunity to explore a new city.
As teachers and parents guide college students in their career preparations, they forget to tell them that walking across the stage to receive their diploma is not the end of their hard work, but only the beginning of starting at the bottom of the next hill of life. They leave college on a wave on euphoria and high expectations and find themselves crashed on the rocks of reality. They're devastated when they receive their 335th letter of rejection from an employer they really felt was "the one" and beyond frustrated when they have to lower their inhibitions and start applying for jobs at a lesser level than CEO.
I say all of this from my own personal journey after college. Although I may have been at the top of my game in college, I had to realize that, in the real world, the competition is fierce and no one ever plays fair. I learned quickly how important networking was, how useless your degree was in comparison to experience and, sadly, how your dream job wasn't always what you started right away.
Currently, I'm working as the Digital Coordinator for the corporate office of multiple car dealerships in the same little college town I've been in since childhood. Never in my life would I have pictured myself working in the auto industry, but you have to take what you can get to gain the experience needed to move up in the world. I can't say that I enjoy my job. In fact, while I'm being completely honest, I'm absolutely miserable.
Don't get me wrong, I'm beyond appreciative for my position and I always give 110% into everything I do. The thing is, I don't have anything to do. My day consists of reviewing and updating the social media content and websites for the different dealerships and maintaining their online reputation through sites such as Yelp. This sounds like it would take a long time to complete, but I have everything finished in an hour and have another seven to go. For some people, having an entire day to get paid to play on Facebook and browse cat videos would be a dream job. However, I'm way too ambitious, creative and energetic to spend thirty-five hours each week twiddling my thumbs.
To cap off my long-winded whining session that I've been holding in for a solid month, I have to say the worst part of my job is the eerie, overwhelming silence. Outside of the sound of faint clicking of mouses and subtle coughs from the neighboring cubicle, the only sound I hear in my office is ringing in my ears. I just have the impulse to jump up, knock over my chair and climb over the wall and make a run for it. Am I alone? I think not.
I realize that, with my lack of experience, I have to just suck it up and deal with the grunt work until I've made my mark in the industry, but that's the problem--this job offers me no way to gain experience in the first place. As a colleague of mine so wisely put it the other day, how can a lawyer get a job at a law firm if the only prior experience he had was working as a janitor? Being in public relations, I can, of course, put a nice spin on things when talking about my experience with a possible future employer. The problem is not that it doesn't "count" as experience--in the long run, any experience helps a little--it's that I know, deep down, that I'm not gaining anything from sitting here, staring blankly at my cubicle wall, waiting for the clock to roll around to 5.
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