I’ve been looking for a big girl job since March. When I first started looking, I had the ideal job in mind — something in public relations, something in the healthcare or nonprofit field, something fabulous. When I found that I was either lacking the years of experience for these jobs or learned that “promotional marketing” and “actually using that multi-thousand dollar degree in a field I love to use” actually meant “selling worthless crap to people who don’t need this,” I abandoned the idea that I would get my dream job straight out of college. Because, hello, it’s been almost a month, and I am still unemployed.
That’s still the job I want. That’s still what I want out of life. But it’s not what I’m going to get right now. As unfortunate as that is, it’s just not probable at the moment, and that’s okay. I switched from my dream job to something more glamorous and involving more travel. I convinced myself I wanted a job that would allow me to spend as little time in an office as possible, something that would be fun and exciting and not the same every day. I mean, I applied for flight attendant jobs with three airlines. (And if the job hunt is still not faring well, I am totally going to a flight attendant open house in August. I have the application all filled out and ready to go.)
The more I think about it, though, the more I want the stable office job. I want a desk with a phone and my own extension. I want somewhere I can put pictures of me and my sorority sisters. I want a job that lets me go home at five o’clock every day. I want a job that will let me live in my apartment. I want a job that has a schedule that would allow me to have a puppy.
I still want to see the world, but how much time would I really get to explore the finer points of some fabulous new place if I’m working? Or if I have an early morning flight out of town? And how much fun would I have if none of my friends were there with me?
I’m not expecting Dwight Schrute to be my coworker, but there’s really something to be said about working in an office … and very strangely enough, I’m very confident that that is, in fact, what I want. For now.
