My First Job After Graduating From College Had Nothing To Do with My Major

As with all first jobs, they teach you a lot about the harsh realities of adulthood, and starting at the bottom. It was doubly challenging for me, because I had no interest in doing anything involving writing. I was so burned out of all my writing classes in college.

So, even through I graduated with a Bachelor's Degree in journalism my parents informed me that I needed to find some gainful employment. It felt kind of harsh at the time, but down deep I knew they were right. I understood that a key component of my true independence, especially since I wanted to live by my own rules, was making my own money.

Unfortunately for me, I didn't have a lot of job leads lined up after college. I learned about temporary placement agencies, so I called up Manpower, one of the largest, and set up an interview. I completed a skills assessment test (typing, grammar, basic math and computer literacy) of which I passed. Additionally, my disability didn't seem to be an issue. Within days of applying, my job placement specialist called and said there was a job opening in an accounting office at a company that builds and designs trade show exhibits. To be honest I couldn't have cared what the company did. As long as I could do the job at a desk, and they paid me for it, I was open for anything. Did I mention my parents had cut me off and I had rent to pay?

The accounting office at Displaymasters was located upstairs overlooking the warehouse. As I came to learn in the few years I worked there, it was the most quiet, and dare I say, boring, office in the whole building. But I had no point of reference for that insight at the time. The three ladies that I shared the office with, Penny, Lynn, and Pat were all really kind and patient with me as I learned how the office functioned and my responsibilities.

The assignment was supposed to last a couple of months. What I came to realize, however, was that this time in accounting was actually a probationary testing period (ahem, gauntlet) to see if I could be a good fit for other administrative roles in the company. See, that is the thing with temping. It is a low-risk proposition for employers because they get to trial-period candidates that have already been skills-vetted, without having to a) do the screening themselves and b) go though any official hiring procedures just to find out it's not a good fit. What I liked about temping (Manpower wasn't the only company I ever temped for) was for the exact same reasons, but from the opposite perspective. I got to try out different job roles and employers, with the guarantee I'd get a check whether they liked me or not. And if I didn't like the work, all I had to do was finish out my pre-committed assignment period.

As life happens, just about three years later, I found myself giving my two-week's notice at Displaymasters. I decided it was time to leave because management wasn't going to allow me to expand my work into areas of marketing and communications. It was disappointing because I felt that I had paid my dues. From starting off in the Siberia of accounting, then being hired on as a permanent employee, from which I made my way through the org chart: working the front desk reception area, then doing admin and inventory work in shipping and receiving, to finally being an account manager for the sales execs. I hoped that when I expressed an interest to do some more creative work, it would have been embraced and mentored. Instead I was told "thanks but no thanks."

That rejection was one of the many lessons I learned at that first job. That being, just because you think you are owed something, doesn't mean you'll get it. I also made a promise to myself that I would never let a superior make me cry. I'm proud to report it is a promise I have kept many jobs and many years later.

I don't know how a person is "supposed" to feel about their first real job. I don't think there is a standard answer because everyone's experiences are so unique. I do reflect back on that time in my life while working at Displaymasters as overall very positive. I made some great friendships, I learned a lot about a dynamic industry I didn't even know existed, and I learned some hard truths about business.

But mostly, as I think back to that time in my life, all I was trying to do was get a job to fix an immediate problem. And yet I ended up living an experience that would lay the foundation for the rest of my professional working career.