Frontline Vol 6: BACK IN THE WORK FORCE

So six or seven months back from Korea and I finally found myself a job. There is a saying that has been around for years or so that goes, “Desperate times call for desperate measures” and they are right, but I think that sometimes people lose sight of what that really means. My family, whom I love with all my heart honestly would have been content for me to work at a fast food restaurant. Under the guise of the above mentioned ideal.

Seriously, WTF

This is what I know:

I am smart, ambitious, industrious, and patient. I have a wealth of experience in real world and academia and I have a real world understanding of myself worth.

What all that means is that there are just some jobs I am not going to do because on the hiring end I would be considered “Over qualified” and on my end I would consider myself “above” it. Now, don’t get me wrong, I love my peoples working at such culinary nexuses such as Burger King, McDonalds’, and Wendy’s, and I support them by purchasing items off the 99 cent menu whenever possible.

But I am not going to work for you.

I think that even in this economic downturn a person should choose wisely the odd job they take. Unless you have a plan, you can probably see yourself working at a job of your own choosing for at least 2-3 years before you decide to move on to something else. So I would suggest that you find something that you would not resent showing up to work to. After all, if you cannot come to work with the plan to do the best job possible, then you should find a job that you do.

Let me switch gears, now I know what I said about not working for food service, but sometimes life makes you a hypocrite and I recognize that as well as anyone. I almost went back to Airtran. Now, I left that company to seek my fortune elsewhere, I left people that I know were happy to see me leave, people that were sad to see me go, and people that were envious of my ability to get up and leave the country. Oh, there are also the people that could have given two shits.

But if I went back to that place, what would have been the point of leaving in the first place? So even in the face of personal financial disaster, you have to push forward. I can’t work any old job, and I know there are hundreds upon thousands of people that feel the same way about their resume’s and work history.

I say to these people, “Keep your head up”. Take a day here and there to lament to yourself your woes, have a good cry every now and again, it cleanses your soul. Hell, take a day off from the job search. But don’t give up.

Am I doing what I want to be doing? No I am not, but now I have the ability to continue looking for what I really want to do with the comfort of a paycheck, without the resentment of working a job that I believe to be “beneath” me.

Go figure, I guess you can have your cake and eat it too…eventually.