(Let’s back up for a second. It was about 11:06pm when I received the call. I had fallen asleep eight pages into A New Earth. When the phone rang not only did I have no idea where I was even though all the lights were still on but it took me some time to figure out what was making noise. Tell me, am I not the oldest twenty-three-year-old you’ve ever met? I guess my only saving grace is that evenings like this aren’t the norm.)

Anyway, I don’t usually receive calls that late so I had a feeling something was wrong… and unfortunately, I was right. My friend called to tell me she had been let go from her job.

If you had asked me a year ago if I would be counseling friends who had been laid off, the idea probably would have been inconceivable to me. But, sadly, it’s become all too real as the number of friends who have experienced this continues to grow.

To be honest, there’s nothing to be said that the person hasn’t already heard or told themselves… There’s the trite “don’t take it personally, it’s just the economy” and “look at this as an opportunity to re-evaluate what you want to do”. While both those statements are true, they don’t do much to reassure someone who is just worried about where they’ll get the money for their next rent check.

(And for this person specifically, I think her former employer handled the situation extremely poorly. Not only did they wait until the end of the day and  fail to offer her any type of monetary assistance – at least pay the poor girl through the end of the week! – but also they didn’t volunteer to reach out to their contacts or offer to act as references.)

What I kept hearing during our conversation was how ashamed my friend was – she had never been fired from anything previously. This is the one thing I wish I could convince her of: getting laid off is NOT the same as being fired. Especially in this deep, widespread recession, lay offs continue to occur and I don’t think that anyone views it as a reflection of personal ability (at least I hope they don’t)! Unfortunately, I know this is all easier to say than to believe…

The only thing to be thankful for (why must I always look for the silver lining?) is that my age group doesn’t yet have inflexible responsibilities like children (and spouses) and mortgages. We really only have to worry about ourselves at this point and if times get really bad, we know that we could always give up our apartments and move back in with our parents… Not the best case scenario, but a safe option for weathering this uncertain financial storm.

Hopefully, things only get better from here…

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“The new technologies will help companies empower workers, pool expertise across departments and geographies, and attract young workers who grew up with blogs and social networks. But critics of social networking in business applications cited the dangers of relaxing control of in-house communities… However, companies cited competitive advantages they’d gained from new collaborative technologies.”

 
In my previous position, I created a screen name for my boss so that we could talk through instant messages rather than those annoying 1 line emails. And I’ve always said that there’s something missing from the workplace in terms of a tool for getting to know your employees. As a new employee at a big (or even small) company, all those new names are hard to memorize, especially for someone who a visual learner. (If I see a picture with a name below it, I’ll remember that person’s name forever. If I meet someone and their name is said out loud, I’ve gotten worse and worse at being able to recall what I was told.) I tried to organize an employee cookbook in the past. The premise was that everyone contributes a recipe, which is then included in the book along with a picture and some basic information. The cookbook is then given to new employees when they begin.

A social networking site like MySpace or Facebook for businesses would allow employees to get to know each other – better and faster.

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While the young professionals interviewed were disillusioned because their ideas were not adopted or because they did not have work to challenge them, my qualm is because I feel like my career hasn’t really progressed.

I currently hold a position that is very similar to those I’ve held for the past four years. Now, this isn’t my employer’s fault – I think it’s a result of the fact that although I’ve held internships during college, I haven’t had any full-time experience. I’m over-qualified for entry-level positions, but under-qualified for the next step…

I’m working to carve out some responsibilities for myself and take on projects that interest me. This way, not only am I challenged, but I am growing my skills at the same time.

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I really don’t remember why I stopped posting during the summer. I can imagine I got burnt out. I was working almost 40 hours a week, going out almost every night and probably fighting with my mother constantly.

At the end of August, I returned to school for my fall semester as a junior. I took a variety of classes – Introduction to French Literature, Business Writing, International Economics, Business Law – and only one that had anything to do with Marketing: Consumer Analysis.

Now consumer analysis is, understandably, very important to those in the Marketing field. I wrote a analyzing the commercials during Apprentice, I wrote a paper analyzing generational values, I wrote a paper analyzing different ad campaigns and their marketing approach… (See where the analysis comes in?) But really, did I learn anything worthwhile that I’ll be able to apply to the real world? It’s doubtful. Not that I’m complaining or anything… I got an A in the class.

Well, now I’m back home. I’ve been doing projects for three different start-ups; all are places where I’ve been previously employeed. I working mostly for the company I worked for this summer, plus doing small things for the two others on the side… and I’ve got lots of interesting stories to share!

More to come…

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They are doing a new type of training in a couple weeks and I usually handle cover artwork creation and editing (grammatical and spacing) the manual itself. Because of the fourth of july weekend, our goal was to get the manuals to the printer, cover and all, by noon.

I arrived at about 10:00am and started frantically trying to get everything done. I use an old computer, and at one point, when I was opening up the manual document – 80 pages, full of heavy pictures – the computer froze. I went to restart the computer, but when it was shutting down, it froze. So, I pressed the power on button to get it to restart that way. Imagine my horror when I got a blue screen saying something was really wrong (don’t remember exactly what- the registry?) and to get the administrator.

I was literally shaking when I walked over to get our network administrator. It brought back all the memories of being a little kid and breaking the laptops my step-father gave me to use (which he brought home from work and were probably not doing well anyway). Anyway, the administrator, who is a really nice guy, but who I’m afraid to ask for help, told me that the data on the computer wasn’t lost… so I relaxed, a tiny bit.

But, let’s put it this way- my boss was not a happy camper (completely understandble). My boss had herself admitted that she does not handle stress well. I, on the other hand, being a college student, finishing assignments last minute, and dealing with my mother, have learned how to be cool, calm and collected in a stressful situation.

Friday before fourth of july, everyone trying to get out of the office, and having this crisis was very bad timing. The computer I used at work had all the company’s website stuff on it, all the special application, Adobe Suite, you get the idea…

Long story short, the manuals and cover were done by 8pm Friday night. The computer is now up and running. Hopefully, my boss will be in a better mood next time we talk. Hey, at least it was an interesting day, and as I told my boss (who was not amused), it makes for a good story.

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On a side note, I understand that rioting is both disruptive and destructive. But, I think of it as a giant pep rally, something we didn’t have in high school. As a former high school cheerleader, I love school spirit and it was one of the biggest things that attracted me to Maryland. My school has cracked down on it so much that it’s become almost nothing more than students running to the “downtown area” and chanting phrases like “ACC champs!”, “F*ck Duke!”, and “over-rated!”. Yes, we stop traffic, yes, there are people who light fires, and yes, it costs the university money to staff the police officers and then clean up afterwards. But, I don’t think the university is doing anything to help the situation. If there was a designated place for students to go, like frat row, we wouldn’t crowd the streets, we’d celebrate together on that field. They could block off a space for fires, and that way keep everything in check. Students would still have a sense of being wild and crazy, without doing damage to the town’s property.

Anyway, after I made the comment that rioting would be worth getting arrested, one of my co-workers told me that I needed to mature a little (or grow up a little? something to that effect). That’s where he’s wrong. I need to stay as immature, as young, as possible.

I’m nineteen. This is my summer. Most of my peers are spending their summers sleeping until 12 or at summer camps or waitressing. I go to work every day, I dress like an adult, I try to sound like an adult. There’s no one here under the age of 25… Most of my friends go out partying with their co-workers; that’s something I wouldn’t ever thing of doing with mine. I spend my days talking about networks and tradeshows and collateral and leads and websites and analysts and partners and territories… you get the idea.

In some ways, I’m missing out on being “my age”. So, if my thinking is a little immature, that’s because it’s supposed to be!

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I hope everyone enjoys my version of the saying. Good thing I have friends like Andrea who also sit online all day to help me figure out what I’m trying to say. I was telling her that my boss and the other person in my department are both out on vacation today and all of next week, so I feel like I should somehow take advantage of this situation. The thing is that I’m really lucky and work independently even when they are here, so it’s not a major change. But still, it’s that same feeling as when your parents go out of town and you are dying to have a huge party because you can, but people aren’t around, or there’s something else going on. And it feels like a wasted opportunity. As a result, I’m updating this from work, which isn’t something I would usually do, so at least I’m doing something.

The other thing that’s been making me laugh recently is the AIM and internship relationship. I have friends who are scared to sign online, and others who literally just sit at work and have conversations all day. I’m somewhere in between. I believe in the philosophy of, “it’s better to ask forgiveness, then permission”. If they have a problem with it, they’ll let me know. At my old job, everyone was always online and it was a good way of communicating rather than sending a thousand short e-mails. Here, I just found out one of my co-workers’ screen name yesterday… It’s a little embarrasing when a IM pops up while someone is at my cubicle, but hey, it happens.

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this is my life this summer. when did i become boring?

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kind of like this

Now, I understand that the “management” or whoever decided the office temperature, doesn’t want the employees to be dying of heat during the summer when it’s ninety degrees outside. BUT: Today, it couldn’t have reached more than fifty-five degrees, so heat might have been more appropriate. And even when it is hot outside, there’s a difference between making the office a comfortable temperature, say seventy, and making the office freezing! I literally had to put on a sweatshirt today, with my sorority letters on it no less (completely unprofessional) and my teeth were still chattering away. My boss has a portable heater she has in her cubicle; maybe I should consider investing.

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