To Excel or not to Excel.

As you all know, I've been struggling recently with what I want to "do with my life" and "be when I grow up." Currently, I'm in marketing, but do I want to do that for the rest of my life? I'm unsure.

I've been investigating other career avenues, with finance making the occasional appearance in my thoughts. My boyfriend's brother is in finance, so I decided to speak with him about potential career paths in the industry.

He proceeded to tell me that unless I want a deep and intimate relationship with Excel, I should stay away from finance. This made me sad. Though I understand the inner-workings of Excel, I'd rather not remain best friends with it forever.

Is he right? Is it all Excel? If this is the case, maybe finance isn't for me. Anyone know what consulting is?

Rant.

Feeling depressed. And I'm not a depressed-feeling person. Usually, I'm pretty upbeat and happy. But this feeling of career hopelessness day in and day out is really taking a toll on my emotions. I realize that I'm a "Type A," schedule and check-list, must know what I'm having for lunch kind of person. And I also realize that because I'm this way, it's a lot harder for me than it may be for some people to be so unsure of what I want to do in life. But, I am who I am. And as much as I try and force myself to realize that "everything will work out," I just can't grasp it. I can't accept it. And I can't get ahold of my emotions.

I feel like I'm wasting my time sitting at this desk every day. I am trying to learn, but there isn't much work being done. And I'm trying to enjoy myself, but there isn't much to enjoy. So I watch the days go by and wonder how I've been at my current job for six months. I didn't think I'd be here for one! I thought I'd look for jobs and find another one before I could even adjust to this office. And now, six months later, I'm still stuck at the same desk with no feasible job leads.

Seriously, when will this end? I'm getting sick of hearing myself complain about this and am fed up with feeling this way.

500, but only a handful of options.

I just spent the past hour combing through Fortune's annual "Fortune 500" company list. And apparently, they're hiring!

Finding a job is a lot like finding a boyfriend. You search for the perfect one but many end up settling. I didn't settle with my boyfriend, and I don't plan on settling in my career. But most of Fortune's 500 list doesn't appeal to me! Maybe I'm being just a tad too picky. I'm going to make a conscious effort to broaden my horizons. Starting tomorrow.

212-555-5555

I remember when I was hunting for a job after I graduated. Any time a 212 number popped up on my caller ID, I'd freak. I'd think to myself, "What if someone's calling me about a job?" Then, I'd listen to the voice message, and nine times out of 10 it was my doctor confirming an appointment, or a friend calling from work, or...

The feelings I had back then have such a familiar feel these days, since I'm on the hunt yet again for a job. I just saw a missed call and voice message from a 212 number and got excited. I quickly found out that the message was an automated recording from my apartment building manager informing me that a contract had been reached and our doorman weren't going on strike. Yay for my doorman, boo for me.

Emails have a 10:1 ratio.

For every 10 job-related emails you send out, one will prompt a response.
Of course, this is a theory based upon my own experiences. Please, if you've had better success, send your tips my way!

My fingers are tired. I've sent out countless emails today, following up with people and trying to make new connections. Finally, one of the women I emailed wrote back to me. Awesome!

Do I really have to do work today?

I spend 80-90% of my days doing nothing, so when someone asks me to do something, it's almost as if I'm annoyed. I've spent the past 6 hours staring at my computer screen and trying to find ways to occupy my time, and NOW all of a sudden you want something?

I try to explain to my family and friends what it's like coming to work every day knowing that you won't be doing (much of) anything. The generic reply is, "You're getting paid to do nothing!" But inside, I just feel useless and unproductive in my career. For the first few weeks, I can understand ones perception of how amazing my situation is. But months into it? The few times I'm asked to do something, it's unchallenging and short-lived. We spend so much time at work and away from our friends and family that it doesn't seem right to be doing nothing while I'm at the office.

FWD: Please respond.

Do people just not respond to emails anymore? I sent out a few prospective job emails this week and I have yet to hear back from a single person. Of course, in my despair, I turned to Google, and pulled up this search. Apparently, I'm not the only one out there who feels frustrated when an email of theirs goes unanswered.

You ask yourself, is it me? Did I do something wrong? Not to sound ridiculous, but I think this situation mirrors He's Just Not That Into You.

As a self-proclaimed girl, I tend to overanalyze everything. But, as this movie teaches you, maybe some things aren't meant to be analyzed. Maybe it just "is what it is." Maybe, just maybe, the email recipient didn't care enough to respond. Wouldn't have mattered if I had a different subject line, wouldn't have matter if I lessened the email a paragraph or added on a sentence. Maybe they just didn't care enough to answer.

"We're going with someone internal."

5 interviews. 2 months. No job. This illustrates what just happened to a friend of mine. She was interviewing for a Coordinator-level position at a company while the Director of the department quit/was fired/let go. While the company conducted interviews in hopes of replacing the Director, they still brought my friend in for multiple rounds of interviews.

Then she got the dreaded email about the "internal candidate," who, all of a sudden, "has raised her hand for the Coordinator position."

Just like that? All of a sudden? My friend's been interviewing for this position for months now! She's met with HR, every person on the team... and now you're going to tell her that, after all of her efforts, she's been trumped by someone internally?

Frustrating much?

Writing an email is harder than it looks.

Okay, I literally just spent an hour and change staring at an email on my computer screen. I found a fellow college alum on the networking sight LinkedIn who works at a company that I'd like to work for. So I embarked on another blind-email scheme, and began to draft an email to this woman, explaining who I was, how I found her, and what I wanted from her.

That was the easy part.

The not-so-easy-part, believe it or not, was the subject line. I mean, it's crucial to get this part right. What you say, or what you don't say, can impact whether or not a person ever opens the email! It's truly unbelievable how many emails I have written over the years that have gone unacknowledged. Maybe my subject-writing skills are poor.

I must've gone over ten different options in my head. Do I write, "Fellow [college] alum looking for career advice?" Or, do I say, "LinkedIn referral?" Ultimately, I went with, "Marketing professional / Job inquiry." Who knows if that's going to do the trick?

Only time will tell. Until then, I'll sit here and wait... and, of course, write more fun emails and ponder why no one bothers to respond these days.

What am I meant to do with my life?

I'd assume that, as a woman in her 20s, this question is fairly normal. I know plenty of people who are confused about "what they want to do with their life" or "what their life purpose is." I always thought that when I graduated college, it'd be full-force to my future. But then, something changed it all.

I graduated.

I landed what I presumed to be an amazing "first job." And yet no one told me how hard it'd be to leave an industry once you've entered. No one told me that you may not like your boss(es). No one told me that I'd be THIS lost and confused about my life.

So, what's a girl to do when she's in need of some answers? Turn to Google. I found a multitude of sites that offer "career aptitude tests," aka "please help me find my true calling in life." I plan to take as many as I need to take, if you catch my drift. Below are a few from my findings:

Quint Careers
CareerMaze
MAPP: Motivational Appraisal of Personal Potential
Career Explorer
Live Career

Dream job, you out there?

Thursdays tend to be my favorite day of the work-week, but ever since I've been looking for a job, I've come to love Tuesdays and Wednesdays. It's my feeling that nothing work-related happens on Mondays or Fridays, and Thursdays begin the office slowdown. Therefore, Tuesdays and Wednesday are the "look for jobs" days.

So since it's already Thursday, and I haven't found any reliable prospects this week, I guess another week has gone by where I'm stuck at the job I'm in.

Isn't it tiring and overwhelming when you keep looking, week after week, with nothing to show for it? I'm so tired of being bored here, and so tired of being someplace I don't want to be.

Dream job, you out there?

Eggs on an interview?

My friend Kendall was just telling me about an interview she went on yesterday. It went something like this...

Kendall: That lady was eating hard boiled eggs with her hands while interviewing me
Me: Seriously?
Kendall: Yeah, I was getting so grossed out, like almost asked to open the door for ventilation

Really? REALLY?

Uh...

Every Wednesday morning at 9:30, my department (about 10 people) has a status meeting. We go around a table and discuss what we've been working on this past week and what we have coming up on the docket.

Considering I've gotten a total of three emails since Monday, I'm not exactly sure what I'm going to say.

Wish me luck!

Human Resources = un-resourceful.

I realize that "unresourceful" has yet to find a place in the dictionary, but no other word seems to do this post justice. I have come to find over the years that these so-called "gatekeepers" are, more often than not, incredibly unhelpful.

Take scenario one: I had just graduated from college and was interviewing for a job at Citigroup. Four interviews deep, I was told I'd hear by "early next week." Early next week came and went, as did the next week, and the next. I followed up two times with both HR and the people that I interviewed with, and still, silence.

To this day, I never heard back from Citi.

Imagine my disbelief. And yet, this sort of thing has since become an unfortunate pattern in my life.

Take scenario 150: Back in January, I interviewed for a job at NBC. My dream job. I don't usually get nervous for interviews, but this one was different. I was a ball of nerves, and it showed. Needless to say, I knew it didn't go so well, and I was expecting to hear that I would not be moving on in the interview process.

And yet, weeks went by without hearing anything. I followed up with the woman I interviewed with three times. And as I sit here, three months later, I'm still unknowing about what happened to the job. I never heard back from the woman.

I can't for the life of me wrap my head around these situations. Though it may take me a day or two, I will always respond to an email or voice message. Who are you to deem yourself so important that you feel entitled to ignore me? Are you just THAT busy that you can't find two minutes to email me back with a simple, "Yes" or "No"?

It begs the inevitable question... really? REALLY?

Here we go...

I've been meaning to start a blog for a while now. Given the world we live in today, it only seems natural... right?

I have been living and working in New York City since I graduated from college in 2007. After landing what I thought to be the perfect "first" job and then it turning into a disaster, I decided to write a blog. One post, and that was it.

You could say that this is my second attempt to start a blog, and hopefully this time I succeed. I'm desperately looking for an outlet to vent and commiserate with others.

That "perfect" first job I mentioned above - in hindsight, not so bad. I had the classic evil boss, who publicly berated me and was as tough as nails. However, looking back, I couldn't have asked for a better first boss (though, I could have done without her attitude). She taught me an invaluable amount, looked out for me (the phrase, "Can I buy you lunch?" was uttered often), and truthfully wanted me to succeed. I wish I knew then what I know now.

Through a series of events, I got laid off, though I quickly found another job at a competing company in the same industry. I knew, even before I took this job, that I didn't want it - I wanted to switch industries and try something different. But when you are unemployed in an economy like this, who are you to turn something down?

And that's how I've ended up here.

I'm completely and utterly miserable in this job. Forgetting the fact that I no longer want to work in this industry, the job is just plain boring. I'm still not exactly sure why they hired me - surely they knew that there wasn't much to be done in this position. I spend most of my 8:30-5:30 days playing solitaire, looking for jobs, surfing the net, reading up on my gossip, and talking to friends on Gchat. And while this may seem like the ideal situation - getting paid to do nothing - it's far from true.

I was EXTREMELY busy, almost too busy, at my previous job. However, this kept me motivated, it kept me wanting to come to work, and it kept me on my toes. Yes, my hours were 8 to 7 most days, but I had a purpose in life. Now, not so much.

I'm left every day feeling worthless and empty, and with a desperation to find what I'm "meant to do with my life." Because I have so much free time on my hands at work, I spend hours upon hours just thinking (never a good thing) and pondering the meaning of life and my purpose in it.

I'm pretty sure I'm going through a quarterlife crisis (aka a QLC).