Regardless of who you are or what life situation you find yourself in the midst of, there are bound to be some misery-infested moments. School, work, and just plain day-to-day life have wretched bits that bring on the urge to shake your fist at the sky and demand some answers.

If every day, all day is like that for you, then I would suggest some changes. But if the unpleasant moments are just threads running through a solid, generally happy and contented life, you’ll be fine and can take the advice of Sergeant Felipe Perez (Williams College ’99) to “Embrace the Suck.” You can read his post on his blog, The Accidental Soldier, at his Alma Mater’s blog, EphBlog, or below.

Army port-a-potties the world over (I can speak to the US, Germany, Kuwait, Qatar, and Iraq, at least) are full of some of the crudest, funniest, and wisest graffiti ever. My personal favorite, scrawled or scratched into at least one potty in ever place I’ve ever been, is “Embrace the Suck.”

“Army Strong,” “Army of One,” “Be All You Can Be” aside, “Embrace the Suck” is the real Army motto. The wisdom is simple and powerful. War sucks. Soldiering sucks. The Army sucks. Deal with it. Get over it. Accept it. Embrace it.

I think I’m close.

Just came back from 5 days in the woods. Slept in the dirt. Got rained on. Tore my hands up taking machine guns apart in the dark. Got real stinky. In short, it sucked.

But on day three or four (we lose track), we had hot chow trucked out to the woods. It had stopped raining. The sun was setting behind the North Carolina woods, through a break in the rainclouds. The truck was blaring 80’s R&B as they pulled up, and we convinced them to open the doors and turn it up. Before long, plate full of lukewarm spaghetti in hand, funky buddies at my side, and bad music in background, I was as happy as can be. It wasn’t long before our pint-sized First Sergeant started screaming about something or other, but it was wonderful while it lasted.

Better yet, last night, our field days over, we rolled back into the FOB. I’ve never been happier to see broken showers, a crowded tent, and a dining hall full of bland food. I’m learning to embrace the suck.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

image: Bryce Muir

Catch-22 is safely ensconced in my top ten books list; it’s been there since I read it over a decade ago and I can’t imagine that it will ever be demoted. It’s such a perfect, perfect description of being caught in some bureaucratic, red-tape moment wherein the powers that be are unmoved by your pointing out of the obvious, utterly effed-up impossibility of your situation. You’re screwed because you’ve managed to find a special little corner of Rule Hell in which the guidelines contradict themselves and now there can be no forward or backward motion that might enable your extrication from the situation.

The job-hunting process can definitely be heavy on the Catch-22 nuances. This is especially true for the newly graduated. Your brain is packed full of (mostly) worthwhile information, but you lack any real job experience. Employers would prefer not to hire someone who has ridiculous amounts of knowledge but few real-world job skills. This realization usually makes the young job applicant scream (on the inside) something along the lines of How can I get any job experience if I can’t get an effing job, you freaks!

And there it is: you can’t get a job without experience and you can’t get experience without a job. Right out of college, you pretty much have a diploma and some summer job experience to bullet-point on your résumé.

And that is why god created the internship: the unpaid, coffee-fetching rite of passage that won’t make you much money but will teach you how to do the job you want so badly that you’re willing to work for free to learn how to do it. Internships are also invaluable networking venues; connecting with pertinent individuals in your field will be beneficial to future job searches and career moments.

Searching for internship opportunities is pretty similar to the job search process: search for “internships” on any job search site and a list of possibilities will magically appear. Alternatively, you can apply for an actual job, and note on your résumé that you’d like to be considered for the little- to no-pay internship version of the available position. What fool employer would turn down someone who’s willing to work for free? (This may not work in the law, medical or air traffic control fields).

If you’re still in college and are financially fortunate (or are really good at being poor) you can use the summer to do an internship. It’ll give you an extra bullet point on the résumé and will give you a better idea of what a job in your chosen field entails and whether you actually want to continue pursuing this career. Colleges and universities always have some informed person (librarian, career advisor, department secretary, etc.) who can hook students up with internship links, info, ideas and lists.

Further reading:

Internships a ‘win-win’ to help get job

Resources:

The Benefits of Volunteer Work
Top Eight Tips for Finding an Internship
How to Become a Volunteer to Gain Work Experience
Idealist.org

Posted by Alexa Harrington

Mindless food service industry jobs have only two redeeming qualities for a college student: nearly unlimited access to free food and a meager paycheck. To avoid smelling like a greasy steamed hot dog and getting paid not nearly enough to smile at horrid customers, please consider a fall internship.

There’s a good chance you’ll make some money (not all internships are the work-for-free variety) and you’ll learn something. It might be valuable knowledge pertaining to your future career, or it might be the priceless realization that, when up-close and ankle deep in what you had imagined was your dream job, it turns out—not so much. It’s always better to know these things in advance.

I myself had a sweet, romantic notion of ornithology (birds and stuff) until I was given the opportunity to replicate the bird population study my grandfather had done 60 years previously at UW’s Friday Harbor Marine Labs. It was when I started seriously considering the use of napalm to decrease the foliage so that I might actually be able to count the damn birds that I realized perhaps ornithology was not something I should pursue.

Internship Resources:

cbCampus.com
About.com: Top 8 Internship Sites
SimplyHired.com
Indeed.com
idealist.org

Further Reading:

Employers Seek Experienced Workers
Fall Internships at Washington Post, CNN, etc.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

Does anyone have summer jobs any more, or do the learning opportunities, résumé-building bullet points, key letters of recommendation, and invaluable experience of the summer internship far outweigh table-waiting wages? Summer’s half over; if you’re in the midst of your own personal interning adventure, here are some beneficial words of wisdom to assist you in milking your internship for all it’s worth:

Top 10 Tips for Interns
Tips to Make the Most of Summer Internships
Summer Internships—Making the Most
Internships Are More Important Than Ever
Inside an Ad Agency Summer Internship

And if this summer’s internship wasn’t all you had hoped it would be, you can start dreaming immediately of landing one of the most coveted internships next summer.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

Catch-22 is safely ensconced in my top ten books list; it’s been there since I read it over a decade ago and I can’t imagine that it will ever be demoted. It’s such a perfect, perfect description of being caught in some bureaucratic, red-tape moment wherein the powers that be are unmoved by your pointing out of the obvious, utterly effed-up impossibility of your situation. You’re screwed because you’ve managed to find a special little corner of Rule Hell in which the guidelines contradict themselves and now there can be no forward or backward motion that might enable your extrication from the situation.

The job-hunting process can definitely be heavy on the Catch-22 nuances. This is especially true for the newly graduated. Your brain is packed full of (mostly) worthwhile information, but you lack any real job experience. Employers would prefer not to hire someone who has ridiculous amounts of knowledge but few real-world job skills. This realization usually makes the young job applicant scream (on the inside) something along the lines of How can I get any job experience if I can’t get an effing job, you freaks!

And there it is: you can’t get a job without experience and you can’t get experience without a job. Right out of college, you pretty much have a diploma and some summer job experience to bullet-point on your résumé.

And that is why god created the internship: the unpaid, coffee-fetching rite of passage that won’t make you much money but will teach you how to do the job you want so badly that you’re willing to work for free to learn how to do it. Internships are also invaluable networking venues; connecting with pertinent individuals in your field will be beneficial to future job searches and career moments.

Searching for internship opportunities is pretty similar to the job search process: search for “internships” on any job search site and a list of possibilities will magically appear. Alternatively, you can apply for an actual job, and note on your résumé that you’d like to be considered for the little- to no-pay internship version of the available position. What fool employer would turn down someone who’s willing to work for free? (This may not work in the law, medical or air traffic control fields).

If you’re still in college and are financially fortunate (or are really good at being poor) you can use the summer to do an internship. It’ll give you an extra bullet point on the résumé and will give you a better idea of what a job in your chosen field entails and whether you actually want to continue pursuing this career. Colleges and universities always have some informed person (librarian, career advisor, department secretary, etc.) who can hook students up with internship links, info, ideas and lists.

Further reading:

Internships a ‘win-win’ to help get job

Resources:

The Benefits of Volunteer Work
Top Eight Tips for Finding an Internship
How to Become a Volunteer to Gain Work Experience
Idealist.org

Posted by Alexa Harrington

Good News for College Interns

Summer is upon us: the season of the intern. Thousands of eager college students and some overly aggressive high schoolers will flock to New York, DC, and maybe some other cities to surf the web for eight hours a day, attend some meetings, and hopefully learn a trade.

Though there can be a lot of pressure on people to secure the best internships (people even pay for them now) and get noticed by their superiors, being an intern is one of the great joys of growing up. Whether 15 or 23-years old, I encourage everyone to make the most of “working” in a professional environment without any real consequences. Of course, you should soak up information like a Downy kitchen towel, “challenge” yourself, and maybe attempt to secure a couple “connections.” But do me one favor and remember the Golden Rule of Internships: No one will ever entrust you with anything that actually matters.

Take it from me, I’ve done my fair share of internships. Hell, who am I kidding—I’m still an intern!!!!

Anyways, for anyone planning to intern in New York City this summer, good news doth abound. First, there seem to be some really nice summer music festivals taking place, so that should be a breath of fresh air for everyone. And second, there is a new service hitting the ‘net (and also regular-sized paper) that caters directly to you.

Educatednation.com is no Gawker, but we’re hot off the presses with news of the Intern Memo, a free newsletter that promises to be hilarious and also pretty informative. Here is the press release:

Coming on May 28th, 2007, The Intern Memo is a free email newsletter sent out three times a week with a mix of event listings, comedic vignettes and career advice for interns working in New York City — basically all you need to get you through your summer internship.

To sign up just give your email address at www.internmemo.com. Enjoy the summer!

Posted by Chris Schonberger

Competitive Advantages to Paying for Work Experience

Internships have become so important for college students that many are willing to pay to get one. Gone are the days of summer jobs to help pay tuition. College students are finding that spending your summers working for free is the best way to make your college degree count. NPR did a story on University of Dreams, a for-profit summer internship, education, and travel program for college students. From the University of Dreams site:

The program exists to help students in the pursuit of their career goals by providing a comprehensive experience that enables them to obtain an internship and live in exciting cities domestically and internationally. We seek to provide real-world career education for students through internships and our Summer Intern Seminar Series. We also seek to provide a fun and enriching experience by coordinating activities and weekend excursions that give students an excellent picture of what each of our host cities has to offer. By hosting our programs at universities, hiring on-site staff, and hosting large groups of students at each of our programs, we are able to provide a safe and familiar environment that mirrors students’ experiences at school during the academic year.

From the NPR story:

[Lauren] Liebes was willing to explore any angle to get an internship in the music industry. Even seeking out a service that charges thousands of dollars to help. For Liebes, it paid off.

LIEBES: It totally changed my life. The music industry is so hard. So you really just need to get your foot in the door.

Liebes got an unpaid internship with a music production company, which turned into a part-time job during her senior year and then helped her get her first job after graduation.

She believes she never would have gotten into the industry without the help of the University of Dreams. That’s one of a growing number of private, for-profit businesses created to respond to the new reality in higher education: that academic work is only part of what a student needs.

ERIC LOCHTEFELD: And really, it’s all just come down to outstanding service. I mean, if you charge a premium, like we do, you know you really have to deliver on that service.

Lochtefeld says the company delivers coveted internships because it has an ongoing relationship with sought-after employers, like BMG music.

BMG’s human resources manager Cheryl Allison.

CHERYL ALLISON: They do a lot of that initial grunt work for me. And so there’s a level of professionalism that I haven’t gotten sometimes in just even unsolicited resumes from college students.

Allison says she gets all her summer interns from the University of Dreams now. But she also takes on interns the rest of the year through local schools.

How To Quell the Fear-of-Change Demon Inside You

I love the Seinfeld episode where Kramer traipses off to a baseball fantasy camp and George, in a moment of nostril-flaring frustration says, “Kramer goes to a fantasy camp. His whole life is a fantasy camp! People should plunk down two thousand dollars to live like him for a week. Do nothing, fall ass-backwards into money, mooch food off your neighbors and have sex without dating; that’s a fantasy camp.”

If your body came equipped with a soul, chances are you’ve got some rosy-hued ideal career stashed away in your noggin. You dream about it while watching the fleck of doughnut glaze caught at the corner of your boss’s mouth move up and down while he yammers on and interminably effing on about something you have long since ceased to give a rat’s ass about. And while he’s telling you and your coworkers exactly how badly your performance has been this quarter, he’s got part of his brain re-playing the reverie he has of himself in his own dream career.

Is it that humans feel compelled to be responsible? Is that why most people are miserable 40 hours a week? Do we think being happy while we’re earning a living is tantamount to being flaky and imprudent? Why? What in the hell’s wrong with being happy? Someone once said, “Humans have an immense capacity for misery.” Life is not as long as you think, and the jury is still out on there being an afterlife. So be happy, damn it.

Here’s how you can get a hands-on preview of your dream career (also known as traipsing off to fantasy camp) while continuing to be responsible. Keep your day job and take a Vocation Vacation. It’s not free (neither are volunteering or interning) but it can answer a lot of questions for you and you don’t have to jump ship and turn you whole life upside down to figure out if being a pit crew member is really what you want to do with your life. Sometimes I cannot decide between auctioneer, sword maker or forensic pathologist. I’m trying to narrow it down.

Posted by Alexa Harrington

Career | Work