THE FIRST RUNG OF THE LADDER: ENTERING THE WORK FORCE AS A 20-SOMETHING

“Why, hello there. How are you today? I’m here to staple your documents, answer your phonecalls, and make photocopies. How Do You Take Your Coffee?”
One of the latest rites of passage in the life of this blogger has been entering the workforce. As a normal 20-something, it is only natural that I would graduate college and then proceed to get a crappy entry-level job wherein I fail to utilize any of the tools of my education.
So after a summer of tedious job applications, I was offered a job as a legal assistant at a law firm. My first two weeks have offered me the following insights and observations.
Being a lawyer is not an appealing job.
A lot of lawyers never do anything exciting like go to trials or perform depositions (I admit I have no idea what a deposition is). Instead, they sit around reading the fine print on documents and then explaining that fine print to their clients and making sure that there are no typos in the fine print that will cause them to get sued and have to make use of malpractice insurance. Several of the lawyers in my office are visibly unhappy with their work and yet they have to rationalize it and perform “happiness” because otherwise they would realize that their law school investment was an enormous waste.
Being a lawyer requires selling your soul/selling out.
The reason why lawyers are paid so well is because virtually their entire lives are devoted to their work. In law school, you are forced to study your brains out and then once you graduate you have to prepare paperwork and prepare depositions for hours upon hours on end. Also, being a lawyer requires you to be incredibly accurate and constantly deny yourself your human flaws… if something is messed up on your watch, then you are ultimately held responsible and finding someone to blame is a major part of daily life in a law firm.
What is the right job for a post-bachelor’s degree 20-something? Especially one with a liberal arts degree?
I have determined that most job hunters in my age group resort to the following:
Primarily: Craigslist , Monster.com , Idealist.org
Secondarily: Go to “Career Counselor” Who Will essentially lead you to Primary approach
Finally: “Networking”, ie asking if mommy and daddy have any friends that can help
Do these approaches offer results?
Is everyone reading fine print?… or doing the photocopying for the people reading fine print?
Is The Office the new Jungle ?
And more importantly, has anyone found the dream job?
When is the rat race over? Did I win?
LOL.
One of my co-workers looks like a muppet.








