Entry Level Exasperation: Getting a Foot in the Door...

25 days and counting until I wrap up my first agency internship--It's that special time of lost sleep, sporatic sweating and anxiety eating that I wish I wasn't so familiar with. As each day flies by faster and faster than I would like it to, I'm running out of time and John WM Macy's Cheese Crisps.

So for all the post-grad, job-seekers out there, here's a few links that might be helpful:

For the job search...

• Top 25 Entry Level Jobs for College Grads
• Top 10 Best Paying Jobs for College Grads
• Top Entry Level Employers

For when the job search isn't going well...

• Comfort
• Relaxation
• Distraction

Happy hunting!

Interning: Week Five, Stayin' Alive



One month of answering phones, compiling media lists and commuting by foot, car, bus and train later, I've reached that terrifying point where I realize that I have no idea what I'm going to do next.

Going for a $10/hour internship would mean committing to a life of interning at a firm for at least six months, although the experience I would gain there would be invaluable in furthering my career. If I look for a real job, it might be great for a few years (and I could expedite the move out of my parents house!) but I'm afraid I'll end up getting pigeon-holed into a position that offered few opportunities for advancement.

While thoughts like this have kept me tossing and turning the past few nights, I think the best thing to do is to let things unfold organically and to not stress out about it...until I have absolutely have to. And to help me with that process, I'm going to drink less coffee, look into evening yoga classes, live out my big city dreams at the only cocktail bar in Kent and pray that providence decides to step in soon!

New Year, New Clothes, New Job

This week, I broke in 2011 with a new, intern-appropriate wardrobe (lots of sweaters and low heels), a commuter rail pass, a fresh-off-the-printers diploma and a brand spanking new internship at a public relations firm in downtown Seattle!

One week of 6 a.m. alarms and 9 to 5 work shifts later, I'm still reeling from culture shock!

While in college, I would wake up at various times between 7:30 and 10 a.m., throw on a pair of jeans and the least-wrinkled sweater I could find and walk the scenic trails of the Bellingham arboretum to go to class...nowadays it's a much different story...

I'm up at 6 a.m. every single day, my outfits are stiff and unyielding-ly "workplace appropriate," and instead of walking through gorgeous woodland scenery, my daily commute is full of battling other drivers for prime parking garage spaces, running for trains, running for buses, running for crosswalk lights and running for coffee. Overall, it's a lot of unexpected running.

The strangest part of the whole commuting experience is being a part of the crowd. The special group of nine-to-fivers all traveling together at the same time from our small Seattle suburb into the big city in the morning and back again in the evening. 

Everyday I'm reminded of that scene in Edward Scissorhands when all the fathers leave the neighborhood at the same time (in one pastel-colored line of cars) and file back to their homes, in the same uniform, just in time for dinner. It's a very surreal experience.

As for the internship itself, I am enjoying it immensely and will post more soon!

...Aaannnd we're off!

As Fall Quarter gets underway, my days as an undergraduate are officially numbered (literally, check the upper left hand corner!). The panic among my public relations peers is practically palpable (I couldn't help myself) and everyone is in a frenzy trying to prepare for life after college.

Wherever I go, I see seniors packing away mini skirts, flannel and artfully torn jeans and dusting off their interview suits. While the sophomores and juniors are playing beer pong, we're frantically sprucing up the old resumes, updating Linkedin profiles, retweeting and tweeting to potential employers and posting our availability and desperation for work to the masses! The race is on ladies (and the 15 percent of the PR field which is men) and may the best grads (from Western!) win the unpaid internships!

First Steps: Internship!

Today was my very first day at my very first public relations internship, and it was awesome!

I am working behind a desk at a local nonprofit, answering phones, making promotional materials and trying not to screw up too badly! It's so nice to feel like I'm finally getting my foot in the PR door, instead of being stuck on the front stoop without a spare key.

Even though the positing for the position came along way late in my search for a summer internship (right when I thought that all was lost!) as soon as I read it, I knew that it was the one

I had been waiting for. It's marketing, it's event-planning, it's social media--it was everything I was interested in and looking for and it's for a good cause!

I think that if you are working for free, there could be nothing better than doing work that means something and will have a positive impact on the community.

I can sell my soul when I have a mortage payment.