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http://alyssacarter.wordpress.com/

I have a job, not a blog.

It's been some time since I last posted, about 4 months to be precise. As of June 2nd I've been employed by a recruitment advertising firm, and I've been burnin the midnight oil. Looking back, this blog has kind of been me whining about not having a job...so when I got one, I guess it kind of makes sense that I stopped posting. I haven't decided if I'll keep up with this blog, or if it will become another floating statistic of all the blogs out there that just stopped being updated/read.

I might need a new spin on this blog....might take me some time to find my groove. To be continued...

Check eet out, mon

http://www.damselsinsuccess.com/blogs/blog.aspx?id=293

Damsels In Success. But, sometimes in distress.

This is going to be my first post for a new blog forum I’m joining called DamselsInSuccess.com, a new site launched a couple of months ago for professional women. It has already been featured in The New York Times, The Boston Globe, Forbes, TechCrunch, Investor's Business Daily, Glamour, ABC News, FOX News, and more. Check out the forum, which currently features more than 50 professional women blogging candidly about their professional experiences (or lack thereof, if you’re reading about mine). Enjoy!

I currently belong to two blogging forums: DamselsInSuccess.com as well as Brazen Careerist. Breezing through a few posts on these forums there’s one pretty difficult to miss theme: the “how-to” blogs. Brazen Careerist is full of how-to lists for Gen Y-ers while Damsels is all about empowered women. So where do I fit in here? I guess you could say I’m an “empowered” woman, and I’m definitely a recent graduate. I’d love to say that I’m a recently graduated woman, working diligently at a stellar PR firm, and then I could post hundreds of “how-to” blogs for all the other stellar and empowered women out there.

Sadly, I DON’T work for a stellar PR firm and am lame enough to have been on the job search since February. So to give any advice in some sort of pretentious how-to article would be a little, well, silly. So instead of trying to sound like I know what I’m talking about, I guess all I can really do is relate: relate to all the other present, past and future job seekers out there who thought it was totally within reach…almost…there....

Before I can “relate” I have to give the obvious disclaimer: to all of you who transitioned easily from college to career – good for you. For all of you who feel like there’s a stick taped to your back with a proverbial job hanging ten feet in front of you that you just can’t reach – I get it.

It starts out the same – you’ve got that diploma and you feel oh-so qualified. Maybe you even started job searching before you graduated, and maybe you even did a few internships and you feel like you’ve got a heads up on the graduating class. You crank out those cover letters, you fine-tune that resume and you apply to those jobs you find at Career Fairs, through Craigslist…wherever. You send email after email and….no one emails you back. You make some phone calls and are transitioned to voicemails. Annoying.

Eventually you get a couple of interviews…maybe you even make it to the second or third round, but then the company decides to “move forward with other candidates.” It’s like getting dumped – “it’s not you, it’s me” – the classic lines of rejection. Ouch.

After more unreturned emails and phone calls than you can count and two or three interview rejections, you maybe start to get down on yourself. By this time you’ve gotten a part-time job at Starbucks or maybe selling toothpaste or something equally awesome and you say “I’m so glad I’m thousands of dollars of debt for this.” It’s probably not a happy time.

For me, that’s where the story ends – a book maybe halfway through that I’ve been neglecting. Maybe some of you who have been here can finish the book with a positive spin, with a happy ending where the perfect job finally comes after 4 or 5 months of reading. For any of you who are where I am and want to create some kind of support group or posse or something, I’m down. For any of you who went through it, your comments are appreciated to help get us to the light at the end of the tunnel.

Keeping up in PR...post-grad style

In an attempt to jump start my career (and save some money) I worked my ass off for three and and a third years in college and graduated two terms early. Smart. Sensible. ...Right?

It amazes me how technology is completely revolutionizing the world, and PR is no exception. It seems like every day traditional PR fades a little more and the new digital stuff becomes more distinct. When I graduated, U of O's PR program was just starting to dive into new media. It was in some of my final courses when I began to dip my toes into everything from social media to digital portfolios. When I graduated in December I did what I imagine most recent grads do -- get as far away from the academic life as possible. I spent a month traveling and then put some effort into job searching, but after a couple weeks of rejection I lived the easy life: working part time jobs that took no mental energy and having a fun, relaxed life for once in my life.

Now that I'm slowly starting to dig myself out of my hole of lethargy, I'm starting to realize how much being away from school for the last five months has put me behind. My classmates (well, former classmates) have kick ass blogs complete with resumes full of social media exposure and have been on Twitter for months...something I just discovered last week.

I guess keeping up with PR trends is something you have to do on your own post graduation, but I'm kind of jealous of all the cool info and experience my former classmates (who didn't graduate early) are getting. I feel like I've dipped off the UO PR "network" and am slowly trying to regain stature through blogging and Twitter. I'm sure there are lots of other things I could be doing as well, but not being in the UO PR program OR having a PR job kind of reduces my exposure a tad.

My original thought for the title of this post was something along the lines of "Why graduating early was the stupidest thing I've ever done" -- but that MIGHT be a bit of an overstatement. I can't imagine how different PR might even be in 3-5 years when I'm already feeling like I'm lagging behind after 5 months.

Just read this post after I posted my own below. Kinda wish I'd read it sooner...

I'm a really big fan of to-do lists. If I didn't have them, I don't know how I would organize my thoughts when I get busy or overwhelmed. There's something calming and therapeutic about taking the jumble of thoughts and obligations swirling around in my head and putting them on paper. It makes it seem manageable and tangible -- these are all things now that can't get lost in some obscure nook in the back of my brain. They're on the paper. Complete with detailed timetable (9-9:15: shower. 9:15-9:30 eat. 9:30-10 read paper...you get it).

Now that we all think I'm a crazy neurotic person with OCD, let's get to the point. Every time I hit the blogs there's always a new list. Top ten ways to land a job, or top ten ways to reduce stress, and they all outline these great ways on how we should be spending our time to achieve success -- whether that be mentally, socially, spiritually, or whatever. That's all well and good, but when in the hell do people have time for all of this?

I've been on the job search for a while, which takes a fair amount of time. If I want to land something good, I have to not only apply for open positions but I have to network, land informational interviews, brand myself, keep up with PR blogs (don't forget twitter!), keep up with the news, social media.....ok this list doesn't end. When 9 hours of your day are devoted to working, and then you go to the gym and clean your house...the day's pretty much done. Who has an extra three hours to keep up with blogging and network, I can barely find time to read the headline stories of NY Times, let alone digging through PR Newsweek, BBC, local papers, etc.

Maybe I'm not focused, or maybe I'm just not drinking enough caffeine. If anyone wants to leave a comment, maybe "top ten ways to fit all of this into your schedule"?

Keep me posted. (Pun intended.)

Blogging, 10-10:30 pm. Check.

Job Title: Other

If posting regularly earned me a grade I'd get an F. I know, I've been MIA from the blogosphere lately, but here's hoping for a sexy comeback!

Well, maybe not that sexy. I'm still on the job search and have picked up another part time job in the process. I almost don't want to admit to it, but what the hey. In addition to being focus group recruiter extraordinaire at MDC Research, I'm now working as a barista at a pretty well-known coffee company, which will remain nameless (just in case I decide to criticize this new job...but you probably know which well-known coffee company I'm referring to).

Hmmm....so did I ever think that a college degree later I'd be going through a computer training module teaching me how to empty a trashcan or how to input 'double tall vanilla soy latte' onto a cash register followed by an evening making cold calls for market research?

No.

I was invited to write for a blog the other day for professional working women. They said they'd love to have me, but what was my professional title? "Recent college grad/job searcher looking for a needle in a haystack...?" was my response.

HOWEVER

There are some good life lessons to be learned here. I've always been of the mindset that nothing comes easy, and if this doesn't back up that mentality I don't know what else would. I've been making career-building decisions since the beginning of my college career (internships!) and now, kablooey! I'm working at jobs I could have landed at the age of 16. So is this a giant step back, or is this just a character building time in my life where I realize no matter how much you think you might be prepared for something, it just doesn't always work out the way you thought it would. Do I blame the economy, my teachers and parents encouraging me to graduate early, or do I blame myself for not sealing the deal in my most recent job interviews?

How about for once I blame no one, and just keep moving forward? It's not glamorous dealing with bitchy customers or getting yelled at on the phones, and I never thought that's where I'd be after gaining so much experience and building my resume. I've always been super career driven, so maybe this is just a way of teaching me a lesson. Or maybe I'm being too reflective, and I should just be like "what the hell, why am I working these jobs...?"

I guess if it doesn't kill me it will make me stronger. Or something...

What's in a name?

Be forewarned. This isn't really a "PR Blog" -- but just what my life has been consumed by the past few weeks. If you're looking for inspiration, I'm sure there are more insightful things on the Internet. If you're wondering the steps to a legal name change, read on.


In certain cultures the last name is held precious. In some cultures it's not even the last name, it comes first. The "family name," if you will. Living in Western culture myself, I've never really cared too much about upholding any kind of family honor. In fact, I've kind of had two identities for most of my life. You see, my mother's maiden name is Green, which I donned before she married my stepfather, whose last name is Carter. Upon their marriage I started using Carter, even though my name was never legally changed. I never had a problem until I started college. Since all college information goes through the FAFSA, and the FAFSA goes through your social security number, I had to be Alyssa Green once again. It's actually kind of hilarious looking back -- I called myself Carter yet I was legally Green. There was always a certain amount of confusion, finally resulting in the hyphenation of the two: Green-Carter.

Ok, boring story, I apologize. But that's where this last week sets in. I lost my drivers license (which is under 'Carter,' by the way), so I mosied on over to the DMV to get a replacement. But APPARENTLY there was a new law enacted (February 4th, in case you didn't know) where the last name on your social security card has to MATCH your identification. Well, the only identification I have is my passport, also under Carter. So I was directed to social security to get this name situation sorted out.

UNFORTUNATELY when I called social security, I learned you need something proving a name change to change that information. So I was directed to the courthouse to apply for a legal name change. Now as I read over the forms that I paid $1.25 for, along with everything else, I learn the following information:

1. To apply for a legal name change, you must pay over $100 and schedule a hearing to petition the name change before a judge, which must take place at least 14 days after you file.
2. Then you must fill out social security paperwork to change the name on your social security card (I can't do this until I get the document stating my name has changed).
3. Once that has processed, then I can finally go the DMV to get a new license with the name 'Carter' ($21 for the replacement card).

I'm still unsure if there are fees through the social security office, but either way this is an expensive and stressful little endeavor. So ok, now that we have all the background, let's comb through this situation.

I never thought names were important, and the only reason I'm going through this ordeal is because I realized if I go back to Green, I've kind of lost my identity. I thought about getting a new passport, Alyssa Green. Changing the name on my bank statement, Alyssa Green. Changing my Facebook: Alyssa Green. It's definitely not about upholding family honor since I don't even speak to the Carter side of my family anymore, but I guess I never realized how important one's identity is. How far is this going to go? We already have millions of hyphenated last names (is it a feminist movement? Identity crisis?) and I wonder at one generation some poor little girl's name is going to be Ashley Marie Green-Carter-Smith-Johnson-Rogers.

I guess names have a certain amount of branding too. Did Britney Spears change her name to Britney Federline when she married K-Fed? No, because she's Britney Spears. Who the hell is Britney Federline? Nobody important.

My personal branding has been affected as a result of this chaos. Some know me as Alyssa Green, some as Alyssa Carter and of course, some as Alyssa Green-Carter. My resume has gone from Alyssa Carter to Alyssa Green-Carter, and now Alyssa G. Carter. I've always avoided the Green, but it keeps coming back to haunt me, cropping up miraculously no matter how hard I try to shield it. So, in anywhere from 2 weeks to 1 month, I'll hopefully be back to myself: Alyssa Carter. It'll cost me some serious time, money and stress, but I guess that's what you have to go through these days to appease the government.

Life Transitions 101: What They're not Telling you in School

I'm starting to wonder why there is no class you can take that teaches you how hard it is to transition from college to the real world. Ok, maybe saying that having a class would make it all better is a little naive, but I wasn't prepared at all for the lifestyle change post college life.

For traditional college students, most of us have been in school for as long as we can remember. That's what we know. That's what we do. That's what we have always done. So to strip us of all we've known for 20 or so years with no preparation is pretty weak.

Reading over this I have to interject against what I'm sure critics will read into. What I'm referring to are the people who will comment and say something along the lines of "Well, we're adults, so we have to start taking control of our own lives and we can't expect everyone to baby us along the way and help us make the transition." Duly noted, critics.

Yes, life is all about progression and being thrown head first into the deep end of the pool can often be a great learning experience. My point here, though, is that if everyone is going through the same transitional shock, why isn't there some sort of -- I don't know -- support group for us 20-somethings?

I guess my main peeve with this situation is that I don't feel prepared for the life I've gotten myself into. My parents and teachers always told me growing up that all I had to do was stay in school, get good grades, get a college degree and I'd be on the path to happiness and wealth. A little bit of false hope there, rents? Maybe that was the case 20 years ago, but these days, what do you do with a B.A. in English?

(Aside to reader: I don't actually have a BA in English, but I have to urge you to watch this clip from the amazing Broadway show, Avenue Q.)

So let's create "Life Transitions 101: Dealing with the change from college to the real world." Topics to cover will include finding a job, dealing with working somewhere you'll probably hate at first, adjusting to demographic changes (when you realize you don't know anyone in the town you moved to and are debating moving back to your college town), along with deciding if you really SHOULD get a post grad degree or if that's just your way of going back to what you know.

Ok, ok -- even if this class existed no one would probably take it and it might not actually make the transition any easier, but we can dare to dream, right?