so tell me a little about yourself…
Let me preface this by saying: I don’t know what I want to do with my life. I have a masters degree in English, dreams that didn’t come true and almost no direction whatsoever. So when I say I’m interviewing for jobs, it means that I’m taking a shot at some stability as well as health insurance and weekends. If that means I’m selling out to the man, I honestly don’t give a shit.
I had an interview today through a hiring service which helps people to get jobs in offices as secretaries or paralegals. Gigs that are (for the most part) 9-5, Monday through Friday and paid vacation time. Kind of nice, right? I thought so.
It was wonderful to have someone interviewing me that didn’t expect me to have an absolute passion for what I would be doing. I didn’t have to have a life-long dream to be a secretary, nor did I have to act like this is what I want to do for the rest of my life; I could be honest and say that I’m not sure about my life, that this would be exactly what it will be, just a job. That doesn’t mean I won’t work hard, it just means that it’s not my passion. She understood this and it was wonderful.
After my experience interviewing for a secretary position at the URMC, where the woman wanted me to basically gush about how much I wanted to be a secretary, this was a refreshing new perspective. What I do doesn’t have to be who I am. I can be a hard worker, a fast learner, but I don’t have to be Kristen the Secretary or Kristen the Paralegal. I like that. It’s a new sort of freedom, as I’ve been Kristen the Student for so long. And I think that the interviewer got that from me and I appreciate that.
Granted, I keep thinking I have homework to do. I have this fear that I’m going to wake up some morning, thinking I have a paper due when I’m not even in school anymore. And people say tobacco addiction is rough; I think this college hangover will be worse.
