The cab was floating at around 80mph at the ripe hour of 3:30am, as any good Philly cabbie would be on I-95 towards the airport. It was time. The real world was beginning after 3 months and 17 days of unpaid, unadulterated summer. I was en-route to Orlando for 2 weeks of training, before I’d spent anytime in my base Philadelphia office. Admittedly I was feeling a bit nauseous; perhaps it was the nerves finally striking as I metaphorically drove into my future; more likely though is that it was those hot dogs I’d been grilling up until about 12:30am the night before, struggling to live out the last crucial hours of freedom before I suited up.
It is truly a surreal experience, so far, as I attempt to take in all that is going on in this stage of my life. Blogging on my experiences as a new-hire will most likely ponder around the emotions and thought processes that surround this position in life, so lets get into it. I think there are two possible thought processes that occur as someone graduates into a career potential job. Type-A is the person that is excited to have worked hard and acquired a job immediately. They are anxious to enter the work force, not as concerned with what job they had landed, but generally just happy they’d landed one period.
Type B, on the other hand, is a little worried as they enter into what they imagine might be comforting numbness of a decent job and an adult life - settling down as they like to call it. They’d worked hard and gotten a job they wanted, but are now having trouble coping with the fact they’d arrived to what they’d been striving towards for a few years now. Or maybe that’s just me? As crazy as it sounds, I somehow was picturing myself turning to some type of robot. The friendly teasing from friends and family about getting old were starting to hit home.
Well upon arrival to training, all worries of becoming thoughtless were quickly put at bay. I suddenly found myself surrounded by 300 recent grads from across the country. They too had worked hard, gone through intensive interview processes, and eventually arrived at the exact same hotel I was at, eager to take on the world. You could tell all the little things that every single one of these kids did subconsciously that had gotten them there. Shoes shined, clothes proper, eating mannerisms proper, eye contact and social skills of second-nature - they were the little things that the normal eye wouldn’t necessarily pick up on, but I know for a fact it was no coincidence that all the new hires possessed these qualities. I was getting into something intense, and whatever it was, I don’t think transforming into any type of mindless robot was happening anytime soon.
Jena joined the CSPD as the Assistant Director of Recruitment and Professional Development with over 4 years career services experience including a background in corporate recruiting. She is excited to work collaboratively with the Fox School students regarding career search strategies and hopes students gain some additional insight into the job search through “Opportunity Knocks”.
Kel is an undergrad majoring in Management Information Systems, graduating in 2010. He is very involved and hopes to share some of his experiences with other students. His goal is to motivate others to do their best. He believes that with a little inspiration you can get where you want to be. Through this blog, he wants to show you that opportunities are out there.