despite not having a college degree, i’ve managed fairly well in life. (yeah, i know it’s easy to say NOW that another person is practically supporting me.)
the wolves set me free at age 17 and prior to my *now* situation i was 100% financially responsible for myself for 18 years. i have worked two and three jobs at the same time just to pay my bills.
NOTE: I WOULD NEVER ADVISE A PERSON TO OPT OUT OF THE COLLEGE PATH. (trust me on this, life doesn’t have to be as hard as i’ve made it.)
it is smarter to get the degree. if you have that, in combination with good work ethic, honesty and integrity you could probably become the leader of the free world.
god knows, we need it.
when trying to find a job/career, it’s good to try to match your god given likes/skills/abilities to something that you could enjoy doing for long periods of time.
i have always thought bartender was a good job for me b/c you can indirectly be of service to people, a sounding board. believe it or not, i have bartended in sobriety (working a part time job at fancy hotels whilst in college), but sooner or later i’m certain i would end up drinking the profits and i am not willing to risk that.
over the years i have often wondered how some people get nice, fat, cushy jobs and then lose them almost as quickly as they get them. i’m not a good first interview, i know this to be true. i think it runs along the same lines as my failures in test taking. i’m trying to harness this weakness to overcome but so far i haven’t found the loop.
part of my problem is that i am honest, genuine and authentic TO A FAULT. in first interviews, i think it pays to be a little snarky and fake-ish. this is just my opinion and you may disagree with it. i don’t care.
for the long run, i’m your gal. i’m the keeper.
time and time again, i’ve proven that to many “higher-ups” and have been compensated very nicely.
in short, to keep a job:
- be honest,
- be a hard worker,
- go the extra mile, learn as much as you can about your job.
- take it home, to bed, to the bathroom, make it something you personally are passionate about (you won’t have to do this the entire time, just in the beginning to prove yourself). even if you hate your job and you cannot quit b/c you have no sugar daddy, you CAN find threads within it that match your likes and god-given talents. (trust me, as a credit collector person i found ways to make it ok until i found the next career step. collection/ar/credit work can bleed your soul dry and i actually made friends doing it.)
- i’ll mention the BE HONEST part again, b/c it’s THAT important. start with being honest with yourself, then it gets easier to do with others.
give yourself a pre-determined amount of time to stay with the job. 30/60/90/120 days, don’t quit just b/c someone slights you, is mean to you or they are smelly.
people die all the time and maybe the one you have a problem with is on their way out. committing to something builds character in a person, which is a great quality to have if you wish to KEEP A JOB.
you know what they say, “winners never quit and quitters never win”. this is a completely 100% true statement. the downside is sometimes it takes time for it to catch up with the quitters (thereby creating a cycle they don’t recognize as unhealthy), usually it’s too late for them with a mass of wreckage in their path.
quit whining about what this person does, what that person doesn’t do, focus on yourself and doing a good job. i often wonder how in this age of oprah and dr. phil how so many people continue to BLAME EVERYONE ELSE FOR THEIR PROBLEMS. it really annoys me.
if the same problems, types of people, etc seem to follow you no matter what job you do, what state you live in, get a clue.
the common denominator here IS YOU.
you cannot change others, you can only change yourself. if this makes you mad, it could be b/c you are this type of person. take your anger, channel it and fix yourself up. life is short, don’t spend it being a big ass cry baby that has the worst luck in the world.
good luck.
p.s. buy new skivvies for a job interview, it WILL make you more confident.
January 29, 2008 at 9:20 pm |
You’re 35???!!! I thought you were like 28. Tops.
January 29, 2008 at 9:26 pm |
close. i’m 38, but have been partially supported for three years by the sugar daddy. (see how i have to admit “partially” i’m hard core.)
January 29, 2008 at 9:46 pm |
Glad you clarified… I was afraid I was going to have to add Simple Math to the ever-growing list of abilities I’m losing…
By the way, this is a great post.
Hard core? I might have said semi- There’s nothing hard about Piglet.
January 30, 2008 at 12:30 pm |
In my experience, the ones who get and lose the cushy jobs are the ones who talk a good game with nothing to back it up. They eventually get found out.
I would expand your “go the extra mile” to include “be a team player.” It is totally cliche, but true. Pick up slack where it needs picking up. Do things because they need to be done, not because they are part of your job description. Those actions get noticed. The people who only do exactly what is in their job description but not a bit more rarely get far or stick around for long, at least not in a rapidly growing company like mine.
January 30, 2008 at 9:39 pm |
one wink: math is not my favorite either, thanks.
pm: thanks for adding to this, you have a way of bringing class and prettying things up