Pros & Cons of Unemployment

In the past five weeks or so that I have been unemployed, I have certainly struggled with trying to find a job and what to do with my time. While I won't say that sometimes I haven't enjoyed my laidback days of sleeping in and lounging around, for the most part, I have been bored and itching for something to do to fill my days -- namely, in the form of a full-time job. I figured I would compile a list that would give you some insight into my daily internal conflict over being unemployed.

What I LIKE About Being Unemployed:

• Sleeping in: I usually have no need for an alarm, unless I want to get an early start on doing nothing.
• Plenty of time for the gym: I no longer have the excuse that I am too busy to work out and instead, can devote at least an hour a day for gym time. With a pending family vacation in the works, this gives me ample time to be bikini ready. In fact, I can be bikini ready AND have a bacon cheeseburger with a chocolate milk shake at the rate I'm going.
• Quality time with my dog: Nothing brightens your day quite like hanging with man's best friend, and with my poor dog usually confined to spending his days alone when I was at school, I can now accompany him on the couch.
• Dedication to my cooking and baking: With all of this free time, I have plenty of time to concentrate on my resolution to practice cooking and baking. My cousin claims this is a phase that both she and her neighbor went through when they were job hunting, and whether or not this truly is just a result of my being unemployed, we will find out. But for now, my family gets extra baked goods and my mom doesn't have to worry about cooking dinner all the time.
• Finishing grad school apps: I am exploring graduate school as one of my potential options for the future, and being unemployed certainly allows me enough time to work on my grad school applications.
• Blogging: One of the perks about being unemployed is that not only do I have ample time to plan and post on this  blog, but I can share my trials and triumphs in the job search with my many devoted fans (okay, with my three devoted fans?)

What I DISLIKE About Being Unemployed:

• Sleeping in: The fact that I have nowhere to go, and thus, no need for an alarm, makes me feel lazy. I want to get an early start and be productive! I just don't have much need for being productive, only perpetuating the feeling of being lazy.
• Plenty of time for the gym: With the exception of offering to run errands for my mom while she's at work, most of the time, the only thing I have planned all day is going to the gym. That is my lone activity, and occasionally, the only reason I leave the house.
• No money, mo' problems: This is clearly one of the biggest reasons that I dislike being unemployed. Unfortunately, without money, I really can't do much. For example, I have to share a car with my mom right now, so I don't always have access to a car. With a car comes freedom to actually leave my house and go out and do things -- which also requires money. It is a vicious cycle, but I'd like to actually be a part of the cycle.
• My resume is at a standstill: Instead of utilizing this time to be gaining work experience and adding skills to my resume, I spend it blogging, going to the gym, spending time with my blog...You get the idea. I want to be using this time working and learning.
• Having to answer the question "how's the job hunt going?": Clearly, I haven't had the most active job search -- minimal phone calls and interviews namely. So when I am asked the question of "how is the job hunt going," I feel somewhat embarrassed when I say that I haven't found anything yet and that I'm still searching. Then I have to go on to explain my whole search process, what I've been looking for, and sometimes, have to figure out what I'm doing wrong. While this conversation is oftentimes useful, it only makes me think that I am a bum with a degree and wonder if there's something wrong with me.

There you have it. A bit of insight into the mind of an unemployed recent graduate. It's not always easy, but it certainly is a learning experience in and of itself. One of my friends, Mimosa (of Musings by Mimosa) commented on a post saying no to worry, that "once you find a job, you'll be working for the rest of your life." This sentiment helped put things in perspective for me, so I'm trying to keep that thought in mind while continuing on the job hunt.

The Chocolate Cake Attempt

My mom's birthday is tomorrow, so staying in line with my resolution to bake more and because I am a kind and generous daughter, I figured this would be the perfect opportunity to try baking a chocolate cake from scratch. Chocolate cake is hands-down one of my favorite desserts -- preferably chocolate cake with chocolate frosting: super fudgy and super delicious -- but the only time I have made cake, it's been from a box (thank you, Betty Crocker). Needless to say, I was nervous about tackling this dessert because of the high stakes: favorite dessert, mom's birthday, unsupervised baking... However, no risks mean no rewards.

I found a simple recipe online for both the chocolate cake AND vanilla buttercream frosting. Yes, if I was going to bake the cake from scratch, I couldn't possibly use store-bought frosting as well. All of that effort to bake a cake without the help of Duncan Hines or Betty, and I'd just be using their frosting? No way. I would brave the unknown and attempt my own frosting. As back-up though, I thought it would be best to grab some frosting because if I successfully made the cake and unsuccessfully made the frosting, well...Who would want to eat that?

To prepare for my cake-baking adventure, I double-checked that I had all of the ingredients that I would need already on hand, and those I didn't have, I marked down and then went to the grocery store to retrieve.

Necessities for the birthday bonanza

Both the cake recipe and the frosting recipe required the use of a mixer. Unfortunately, my mom's very handy KitchenAid stand-up mixer was broken, so I had to revert to using an old hand-mixer. At one point while mixing, I thought something smelled funny, and wondered if I had added too much of one ingredient, but then I just realized it was the mixer, probably not used to working this hard.

I realized that using a hand mixer from the Middle Ages wasn't too difficult, except that I probably should've worn an apron because at times, I accidentally would splatter myself with whatever was in the bowl. Mixing up the chocolate cake batter was great through -- so much cocoa power! All I could smell was chocolate and it motivated me to go on!

The chocolatey goodness prepared for baking

Once I got the batter finished and the two pans in the oven, I was moving on to more unfamiliar territory: homemade frosting. The recipe called for whipping cream and I realized: I would have to make that too. I made it once and it didn't seem to come out like I thought whipping cream should come out. It was too liquidy and not fluffy, as the "whipped" part of the name would imply. So I tried it again, and this time, it still wasn't very fluffy. I figured that would have to do and hoped for the best.

Now I had to actually make the frosting. It was easier than I had thought -- minus the whole whipped cream confusion. However, the hand-mixer and I did not get along for this part of the baking process. I may have accidentally got some of the frosting on the wall, but, as you can see, the majority of the frosting stayed in the bowl. I also accidentally added too much vanilla to the frosting, which, I realize later, may have been the reason the frosting tasted a little too salty or vanilla-ish (go figure). I went to add just a teensy bit of vanilla and ended up pouring more than anticipated. Despite my mistakes, the frosting wasn't half bad. I made sure to have my dad taste it prior to frosting the cake so that I didn't ruin the entire birthday cake and, in turn, ruin the entire birthday (a birthday's success can hinge on its baked goods).

Side note: I managed to burn myself while taking the cakes out of the oven.
Battle wounds of birthday cake baking.

Once the cakes were cooled and the frosting was finished, I then had to frost the cake. This part is where my chocolate cake went downhill. Maybe it was adding the food coloring to the frosting and turning it into a strange pink color or maybe it was my shoddy frosting job or the fact that there wasn't really enough frosting... But once the frosting was on the cake, it kind of looked disgusting. Don't get me wrong, it smelled fantastic. However, there was disconnect between my aesthetic vision and its sweet chocolate and buttercream aroma.

Despite all of this, my parents both "oohed" and "aahed" at my completed cake as kind parents would. My dad assured my mom that the frosting tasted delicious and my mom even had to stick her finger in the cake to have a sample. She also seemed to be impressed with the frosting. However, the true cake test will be when we eat it tomorrow night for my mom's birthday -- if the delicious taste will surpass the childlike frosting job.

Maybe I should just pretend that my dog frosted the cake, then it would seem impressive.

It's Finally Here

My degree came in the mail today. It seemed so unofficial -- showing up via the postman in a little cardboard tube, without a frame or anything to hold it in. But there it was -- 3.5 years of my private education summed up on one piece of paper. It's pretty surreal, but a huge milestone.

Now all I need is a place to put my degree. If only I had an office...But I suppose that would require having a job first.


*** Correction 1/26: Turns out, there was a little miscommunication and I graduated summa cum laude instead of magna cum laude! I knew there was something off when I found out what the GPA distinctions were between magna and summa and then compared it to my GPA in both majors and cumulative. I had to email the Registrar's Office at my school and badger them to make sure that they had it right and that I was understanding it correctly, but it paid off because now I am getting a degree with the correct GPA distinction. When you put in all of the hard work, you want to make sure it's acknowledged (and looks nice framed!) 

Tackling a Classic: The Chocolate Chip Cookie

Since my days are generally filled with menial tasks and the occasional lunch date with Mom, I decided that maybe it'd be a good idea to put all of this free time to good use -- starting yesterday with my decision to bake cookies. It was partly out of boredom and partly out of my desire for something sweet that I figured I should bake and I chose to bake chocolate chip cookies because if I'm going to practice baking, I might as well start with something fairly simple.

Chocolate chip cookies are generally the picture that comes to mind when I think of cookies and there's a reason they're such a classic -- they are SO tasty! So I set about making some for my own consumption and I figured I could spare a few for my parents. I've made them once before from scratch on my own, and since I was attempting to bake them this time unsupervised, I figured it was best that I had a little bit of experience under my belt to ensure that I would not be needing to call 9-1-1 to put out any kitchen fires.

Everything I would need for chocolate chip cookie bliss

First thing was assembling all of the troops for battle. You might ask where I got my recipe -- maybe it was my great-grandmother's or my mom's that she whipped up one day and has been passed around the family.... Unfortunately, for those of you who were hoping for a sentimental story about a secret family recipe, I just got my recipe off of the back of the chocolate chip bag, as pictured above. Rest assured friends, just because I got generic milk chocolate chips doesn't mean my cookies tasted generic! They were delicious and the recipe was very handy.

Then began the beloved process of throwing everything together and mixing it all up. I felt somewhat like a witch throwing random ingredients into her pot to create something magical. After all, I was creating something magical -- to quote that pesky leprechaun from Lucky Charms cereal, chocolate chip cookies are "magically delicious." I used to be terrible at mixing dough. I am a complete weakling. But somehow, I managed to summon the strength to mix it, and hopefully, in the process, I was able to work on my biceps.

The only thing I did this time that was different from the first time I made chocolate chips sans assistance was add salt. The recipe has always called for salt, but for some reason, my mom never includes it. Since I was curious and since it was included in the recipe anyway, I decided to add it. Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it didn't kill my cookies.

Because of my meticulous nature, when placing the dough onto the cookie sheets, I try to form the most even dough-balls as possible because I like my cookies to be aesthetically pleasing and tasty, if possible. However, for some reason, the dough was extra sticky, which made it hard to roll it into balls. I tried sticking it in the refrigerator in between putting the cookie sheet in the oven and that seemed to help a little bit, but I suppose these are the things that more masterful bakers understand.

I had a slight bit of trouble with the first dozen I put in the oven -- not surprising, due to my amateur baker status -- but I adjusted the temperature to 350 (one of the recipes I had looked at suggested 375...nope) and the rest of my cookies turned to a nice golden brown. My dad had the pleasure of trying one of the first out of the oven and despite the slightly charred bottom (SLIGHTLY), he said they were delicious. SUCCESS! I didn't ruin a classic and my dad said that they were some of the best chocolate chip cookies he had ever had. Sure, he has to say that because he is my dad and because if he wants to have more cookies, it's probably better to compliment me. But at the same time, my family is used to delectable baked goods so I will take that compliment and stick it in my back pocket for the next time I'm cooking or baking.

And if you were wondering, I actually did clean up the mess I made this time. I still need to work on minimizing the mess I make while baking and cooking, but I suppose I should work on the actual baking and cooking part first.

Finding a Job: Take 2

Now that it has been over a month since I graduated and the population of college students has migrated back to school, I figured it's time for "take two" of my job hunt. I've had enough lazy days and am starting to feel like my dog -- lounging around the house, occasionally eating, moving from couch to couch. Since I've had minimal activity concerning interviews and job offers, I need to find some way to fill my days: cue the part-time job.

My local bank literally located down the street from my house had a sign for part-time positions available, and at this point, I want something to do. Free time is fun -- for a week -- and after that, I'm itching to try something new and to fill my days with a new routine. I figure I can apply to the bank, hope that I get the position, and at least will be able to start making money so I can finally feel like a grown-up with a regular pay-check. Granted, it's not utilizing my college degree to the best of its advantages, but in today's economy, you gotta do what you gotta do and I'm certainly not going to be picky.

Life waits for no one, and that statement is no truer than when applied to the job hunt. Jobs wait for no one. You need to apply, put your best foot forward, and do whatever it takes. Rarely do people find jobs by sitting on their couch and doing a little jig, similar to that of a rain dance, and open their front door to find a job waiting for them. If that could happen, you can bet that I'd be downstairs in my living room doing quite a bit of booty-shaking.

So for now, I need to start making money and fill my days with something productive. I do truly believe that you can learn something from every job you have and there's always some skill you will learn that will be applicable in the future...but more on that another time.

Now What...Again

I officially turned down the internship offer yesterday and now I feel as though it's back to the drawing board. Though it was somewhat empowering to turn down an offer and recognize my own self-worth in the job market, I am still back where I started: without a job and without anything to do.

I try to keep reminding myself of all of the skills I can bring to the table with a potential new employer, but despite also trying to keep in mind that it has only been a month of job searching, I can't help but already start to feel a bit discouraged. Will I ever find a full-time job?

Right now, my daily schedule tends to consist of the same things: go to the gym, try to help out as much as I can around the house, talk to my dog, have a sandwich, watch TV/read and occasionally cook (not necessarily in that order, of course). I'd like to be able to start filling my days with something productive and settle into a routine. All of this free time is a bit overwhelming and instead of being able to fill it with small tasks and projects, I find myself only accomplishing maybe a few things and leaving other potential projects for later considering I have all of this free time so there are no looming deadlines.

Am I destined to be a perpetual couch potato who reads Tolstoy and watches too much of How I Met Your Mother? Or can I re-motivate myself and become excited about finding a job again? How do I do that when I have only received one job offer and it was for an unpaid internship? Are my expectations of the job hunt realistic or do I need to change them? I suppose these are the conflicting questions that arise when job hunting and being a recent grad -- second guessing yourself, being on a rollercoaster of emotions regarding self-worth and wondering what you did wrong to end up still sitting at home at your desk blogging about your lack of daily activity.

For now, I suppose I can put "couch potato and full-time job hunter" on my resume.

The potato on the right seems to describe me... minus the burping, beer, laziness and "good for nothing" part.



Inspiration from my Younger Self

Back in the day, I aspired to be a writer or a poet. I still do aspire to be a writer, but not so much a poet for various reasons: only elitist English majors like myself read poetry (half-joke), doesn't pay too well...to name a few.
However, I still love and appreciate poetry. After all, I do have an English degree and actually enjoy delving beneath the surface of a text to get at its meaning, if you had to know.

Flash back to my task the other day: cleaning out my desk to make space for a mini-room makeover. My desk has been the catchall for basically all of my writing hits and misses, former homework assignments and odds and ends. My entire life was stuffed in, on and under my desk, and it was time to de-clutter as I move forward as an adult (despite living back at home.)
Somewhere in the middle of this huge mess, I stumbled across a poem I must have written in elementary school, since that is when most of my regular poetry writing occurred. It struck a chord with me, seeing as though I am in this huge period of transition, figuring out what I want out of life and how to achieve it. This poem offered me some encouragement -- I was writing then, and still writing now (though obviously not in the same medium) and I had enough foresight then to realize that the first step in achieving your goals is believing in yourself.

I think my illustration is meant to be an Olympic swimmer going for gold.
Maybe I have been pursuing the wrong goal the whole time... Perhaps I was meant to be an artist...

Oh, an update on my current back-and-forth regarding the internship position: I came in with an offer as to what I thought was appropriate to be paid and they returned with a much lower amount. Even though this would be better than nothing, I'm not willing to settle quite yet, especially when I consider myself to be worth more than their offer -- and because I am trying to keep in mind the little words of wisdom from my younger years and remember to believe in myself.

Making Space for Growing Up

Now that I am officially a college grad, where do I go? After four years of "freedom" living at school by myself (I spent three years as an RA without a roommate), I now am back to square one: living at home with my parents.

In a little less than a week, my brother will be heading back to school and I will be left living in my hometown with my parents in the room I grew up in. However, I am certainly not the same person who left my room four years ago. Despite the changes within me, my room has stayed exactly the same. Of my room that has seemingly stood still in time, behold my desk:

As you can see, I have a very methodical way of organizing papers, magazines and other items.

What should be a haven for getting work done, writing and squeezing every last drop of creativity from my brain has grown into the pinnacle of clutter and chaos. I've always loved having a desk in my room because I like being able to sit down at my desk, go to my laptop and be productive. These days, my desk basically has become the "island of misfit" items for anything I can't put in my closet or on a shelf.

That needed to change. As I am now entering the dark, cold real world, I need to organize myself and make space for the new changes in my life. The first step in achieving room nirvana? Emptying out my desk -- a task that took me about 2-3 hours with the help of my mom. We sifted through old diaries, pictures, and notebooks in addition to finding random items such as a mini Etch-a-Sketch, a "Grow Your Own Rockband" and a jewelry box filled with turtles as opposed to jewelry. Finally, we managed to empty my desk completely because we will be eventually moving the desk into our spare bedroom and getting some new furniture from my room to store my massive amount of clothes and books as opposed to leaving them lying all over the place or in rubber storage containers (not so aesthetically pleasing.)

Hopefully, I will be making space for new things, but also to keep my mind focused. I simply cannot work in a messy room. Oftentimes at school, I'd have to make my bed before I could do homework because the messiness was so distracting. The less distracted I am by the mess in my room and the more organized I am, the better equipped I will be in achieving my goals -- so philosophical, I know.

Definitely less clutter. Now I actually have space to think.

Stay tuned to see the progress of my room makeover. For now, let's hope I do not get into the black hole that is my closet.

Potential Game-Changer?

As my devoted followers will recall, I recently had an intership interview and was then left with making the decision of whether or not to take the unpaid position. I had ultimately come to the conclusion that I couldn't logistically or practically take an unpaid position, especially one that wasn't necessarily directing me towards the career path I desired, despite its potential to offer valuable experience and maybe a full-time job at the end of the internship.

Today, I knew I was going to have to call the company and inform them of the decision. I explained to them my reasons for turning down their offer, but instead of the phone call ending there, I was instead faced with another decision. They asked me if my decision would be different if they were able to offer me a stipend and how much would I need? As you can imagine, this certainly caused me to reconsider.

So now, I am again faced with yet another decision. Obviously, pending the answer of certain questions such as how much the stipend will be, what sort of daily commitment would this internship be and how long would the duration of the internship be, I could potentially see this as a viable offer. At the same time, do I hold out in hopes of another full-time position, considering I am only a month into my job hunt? I graduated early to get a head start on the job hunt and not have to be mixed into the search with a sea of other graduates, so do I stop the search now or persevere?

My Claim to Cooking Fame: Chicken Cutlets

I have noted before in this blog that cooking isn't exactly my forte. Basically, cooking and baking is just chemistry with a very tasty outcome, and despite my academic success, chemistry was the one class in high school that just did not click for me.

However, the one entree that I actually can cook (and cook pretty well) are chicken cutlets. The first time I made them, my dad mentioned that these were better than my mother's, which is borderline blasphemy, and since then, my mom insists that if I make them better than her, I should be the designated chicken cutlet chef of the house. So when last week my mom said that we'd be having chicken cutlets for dinner, she basically was telling me that I'd be cooking.

I think the reason that I make good chicken cutlets is because of the fact that I am a newbie to this whole cooking thing coupled with the fact that I am a super perfectionist. Why would being a rookie make me good at making chicken cutlets? Well, I focus all of my attention on making the cutlets and the cutlets only, so it takes me a while to bread them and then fry them because I am trying so hard to get it right. Plus, being a perfectionist, I roll the cutlets around in the flour, egg and bread crumbs to the point where there cannot be a single part of the cutlet that is uncovered. I am very particular about that part.

Three plates for: flour, eggs and bread crumbs.

So tonight was chicken cutlet night and I was in charge. Usually I just use whatever generic bread crumbs we have in the cabinets, but my mom bought Panko bread crumbs to try this time. These were a different consistency than what I was used to and definitely ended up contributing to a crispier cutlet -- still just as delicious.

In order to make a good chicken cutlet, you need to have thin chicken breasts and then completely cover them first in flour, then in eggs and then breadcrumbs. This is usually the part of the chicken cutlet cooking process where I make the biggest mess. My mom tends to look over and yell at me when I'm breading the cutlets because I inevitably manage to get the breadcrumbs everywhere. This is also the part of the cutlet process where your fingers end up being breaded by all of the aforementioned items. Just a warning: chicken cutlet fingers are the worst. Try making them and you'll see what I mean.

Successfully breaded chicken cutlets. Look tasty already -- minus the fact that they are raw...

After the chicken cutlets are breaded, it's time for them to be fried! Everything tastes good fried, especially in olive oil. You can use the same chicken cutlet breading process for other things too such as eggplant or mozzarella. My brother commented that I "put all of my eggs in one basket with the whole chicken cutlet thing," claiming that it was the only thing I knew how to make. While there might be some truth in that statement, being able to make this dish at least is a good foundation for other things like chicken parmigiano or egglplant parm.

....and then flip!

Next, you just put the cutlets on your skillet or frying pan with a little olive oil, and honestly, I just watch them and wait for them to turn a nice golden brown color before flipping them to the other side. I know that the Food Network claims that a good chef knows when the chicken has been cooked and doesn't need to cut in the middle to make sure it's not still raw, but I am a bit neurotic about that after a few unfortunate incidents. I just keep the heat on low and wait for it to sizzle and turn golden brown and pray to the cooking gods that my chicken is ready for eating.

Cooking chicken cutlets is a blissful experience.
I always keep my Blackberry handy in case I need to call 911 on account of any kitchen fires.

The whole process actually isn't too time consuming, but it does depend on the number of cutlets you're making and how much of a perfectionist you are during the breading process. I am just flat-out slow, but I think that is because I am so particular and also because I am still learning and am not the most confident cook -- yet. Hopefully I will graduate from newbie to at least amateur status and be able to multi-task while cooking...something that is essential to creating an entire meal. Luckily, for now, I have my su chef (also known as my cooking supervisor and mother) who was kind enough to make rice pilaf but also yells at me when I make a mess.

Dinner time

And there you have it folks. Another successful kitchen experience from this domestically impaired college grad.

Job Hunting: The Search for Mr. Right

As I was pondering my current jobless situation, I realized that looking for job is like looking for a guy or a date. I know, I know -- it seems silly. Job hunting is a serious endeavor involving decisions about your career path and going on interviews and comparing that to something you would find in an article in Cosmo doesn't seem to relate.

But it does! We sift through countless job ads and postings in hopes to find one that you could see as your job. You look to see if you meet their qualifications and at the same time, you need to make sure that the job is a right fit for you. Finding a guy is basically the same thing. Just like searching for a job, you might know or meet plenty of guys, but you have to sift through the men to find one you could see potential dating. Once you find a potential match, you have to determine if he has what you're looking for and that guy needs to reciprocate interest and see if you have what he's looking for as well -- basically like finding a job match.

Think about interviews: essentially, they're the same as a first date, right? (As long as the interview is only with one person...if you can get more than one person to go on a first date with you, my hat's off to you...) In your interview, you meet with one person and you need to tell them about yourself, sell yourself to them (not literally, of course, as that is considered prostitution.) You need to make sure that they know of your best qualities so that they want to give you the job. That's basically what happens on a first date. You need to let your date know who you are, what you're looking for, flaunt your best assets and prove to them that you want a second date and potentially, girlfriend or boyfriend status.

Now why bring this up? Certainly none of this is to say that if you have a terrible love life you should expect your job hunt to fail miserably... which is also to say that if you are having a fantastic job search you will also subsequently find yourself Prince Charming (note: Cinderella had a terrible job and managed to find Prince Charming, but then again, her circumstances were much different.) Ultimately, I bring this up because it does lighten things up a bit. For those of us who are confident on a first date, maybe trying to bring that same confidence to an interview will help if we stop thinking of an interview as this very serious and scary conversation. It's just a chance to let the company know who you are.

I'm hoping that I manage to find Mr. Right Job as soon as possible. Here's to utilizing my best first date skills and charming the pants off of my next interview-er... minus the flirting and awkward moment when you determine who's picking up the check...

The Era of Big Decisions

If you read my previous post (The Job Gods Have Spoken) then you know that this past Friday I had my first interview since starting my job search. While it wasn't necessarily an interview for a paid position, it was for an internship that could offer me a lot of good experience and the potential for a full-time position. However, though the interview went well (I was offered the internship position), I left saying that I needed to think about it before I accepted.

You might ask why I wouldn't jump at the opportunity to accept an internship that could offer me some good work experience and (hopefully...potentially) a full-time paid position. I had gone into the interview feeling really great and even left the interview feeling the same way. The people who interviewed me were impressed with me and my resume and thought that I could be a good asset to their growing company and additionally, that I had the potential to do a great job. This was really encouraging, considering it has been about a month now and I've had little activity in terms of interviews and job offer, despite multiple job applications and submissions. However, as with any decision that one has to make, I played devil's advocate with myself, because I realized I have now entered the era of big decisions (insert eerie Twilight Zone music here).

What I mean by "the era of big decisions" is now that I'm out of college and have my degree, I need to really figure out what I want to do with all of that education. I am going to be faced with many challenging decisions that will directly affect my every day life and the course of my career path. It's both intimidating and overwhelming -- and I suppose exciting to a certain extent. Of course, this is what plagued me during my drive home from the interview.

Yes, I was excited about being offered a position and I'd finally start getting some of that valuable work experience. And after being holed up at home with only my job hunt to fill my days, I am ready work and be busy again. But at the same time, do I settle for an unpaid position? I know I need the experience, but I also need to start making money and start being more independent. I can't live under my parents' roof forever and more than anything, I need to buy a car so I can actually drive to an internship or job and not have to arrange a driving schedule with my mom and brother to have car access. I would be devoting at least three days a week to this unpaid internship, leaving me with only four days of the week to attribute to working another job.

When I think about ultimately where I want my career to go, this internship is not necessarily 100% in line with those career goals. It's not as if taking this internship would prevent me from being able to set my career on the path I'm considering, but if I'm going to settle for something unpaid -- shouldn't it be a position where I can be mentored by someone who has a job that I want? Or that is in the direct field I want? These are the things I've been contemplating.

I know I can't be picky in this job market. And truthfully, I'm not. But this is an unpaid position. If it were a paid position, I'd probably take it. It's not 100% in line with what I'm looking to do, but it would give me some skills that would make me an even more valuable candidate for another job. The fact that not only would this be unpaid and not in the direct field I'm hoping to pursue, but that I would have to continue my job hunt for something part-time -- those are some formidable factors that I'm up against.

These are all of my thoughts as I continue my job search and think about this pending offer. Would you take the position? Or would you keep looking? It's only been a month, should I be jumping at this opportunity or persevere in my search for something entry-level and paid? Big decisions.

Not So Easy Mac

As I briefly touch upon in my About Me page, I love food. However, this love of food does not translate into a love of cooking or even any cooking talent whatsoever. So, as one of my new year's resolutions and as a result of me now no longer able to rely on college cafeteria food, I have made it a point to try to learn how to cook and bake.

I am lucky that I come from a family of great cooks (and bakers) so I'm hoping that by some process of osmosis, if my family members stand close to me for a long enough amount of time, I will miraculously inherit their skills. Until then, I am trying my hand at a few recipes under the supervision of my mother.

So for tonight's dinner, it was macaroni and cheese. Generally, my history with cooking mac and cheese is limited to adding water and really questionable orange power to hot water after three minutes. This time, this mac and cheese was going to be for real. The recipe calls for flour, milk, butter, cheddar cheese and pasta....Then presto-change-o, you've got yourself a meal! Alright, so it wasn't that easy.



The essentials of mac and cheese: farfalle and cheddar. (FYI: farfalle means butterflies in Italian! How cute)



I have honestly only made pasta a handful of times. And of that handful, I was assisted by some kind soul or another. Plus, I had two pots going at once -- one to make the cheesy goodness and one to boil the pasta. At one point, I attempted to stir both at once, but my mom just laughed at me. In fact, she laughed at me for the majority of my meal preparation.

Master chef working diligently. No time for jokes or laughs in this kitchen

But I persevered nonetheless, despite my mother's mockery and my inability to understand how to watch two pots at once. I carefully stirred and mixed and added in a little extra tablespoon of love to give my mac and cheese that extra oomph. Finally, though, once I managed to successfully make the mac and cheese, my family decided that they weren't really even that hungry, which I found to be extremely timely after slaving over this meal. Regardless, I put the mac and cheese in a casserole dish, topped with breadcrumbs and put it in the oven for 30 minutes.

No, I actually did not take this picture off of the Food Network website. I made that.

And voila! 30 minutes later and my ego has now tripled in size due to the cheesy goodness in front of me. My family managed to summon their apetites and we all enjoyed what my mom and dad both admitted was some pretty gosh darn good mac and cheese. The only thing left was to wash the dishes.

Cooking involves a lot of pots and pans.

But obviously I didn't do that. I cooked dinner!

The Job Gods Have Spoken

I try to make it a point every day to do a job search and check out what's out there. I'll admit -- sometimes this search is more aggressive than other days. However, amidst all the pointing and clicking, it can get a bit discouraging, and here I am barely a month into the whole search.

However, I got back from the gym today and decided I would try to apply to at least 3-4 jobs, even if I didn't entirely meet the description of what they were looking for. Needless to say, in my state of cynicism, I was not expecting to hear back from any of the places or people I contacted.

That's when I got a little nudge from what I'd like to call the "Job Gods."  Sitting in my kitchen, still in my workout clothes (I know that's disgusting, but I felt like the job hunt was more important than an immediate shower... and I did not plan to go out in public today), I got a phone call from one of the companies I had applied to recently. I had applied for one of the available jobs listed on their site, as found through one of many job search engines, but they were calling to see if I wanted to come in this Friday to interview for an internship position they had open.

While I explained that I was a recent graduate who can no longer receive college credit, they said that the internship was still open to recent grads, but it wasn't paid. I tried not to gasp over the phone, but all I could think about in my head was "What about that car I was supposed to buy?" and "I really can't be asking my parents for an allowance... at 22 years old." Then I snapped back to reality and agreed to come in for an interview.

Why would I agree to interview for an UNPAID position, you might ask? True, I am a graduate with a college degree and thus, facing this cold, harsh reality some call life, my wallet is desperate to be filled. But then I tried to turn off Negative Nancy for a minute and think as Positive Patty would. This is an interview. At the bare minimum, it will be great practice interviewing. And if things exceed the bare minimum (which is a realistic possibility), I could potentially accept the internship and pick up another job, depending on the hours. Sure, that could be a huge time committment, but compared to my current lifestyle of sleeping late, doing laundry and reading the lengthiest book from the library I can find, it'd be nice to actually fill my days with something productive. After all, job hunting is in itself a learning experience.

So I took it as a sign that the "Job Gods" wanted me to turn that frown upside and try to have a more positive outlook on my job search. I have a good resume and great skills to contribute, and I think I just have to remind myself of that so I don't get discouraged, which can easily happen when you're filling out applications and getting minimal results.

Until then, I will be planning my interview outfit and practicing my handshake.

Thanks Zeus

Social Media: Friend or Foe?

Since I became both a Facebook and Twitter convert (in 2007 and 2011, respectively), all I have ever heard regarding both social media outlets is to be careful about what I post and to monitor my page. Certainly that is wise advice as anything on the internet is easily accessible by essentially, well, the entire world. And though that advice is sound, I do think that sometimes it creates a divide between the idea that social media has to be separate from the job search and from your professional life in general.

I came across an article on the Newsday website when job hunting that speaks exactly to this kind of apprehension and calls for utilizing social media to all of its advantages. Social media doesn't necessarily have to hurt your job search -- instead, it can enhance it. It not only has become a crucial tool in staying connected with your friends and family, but it has become a strategic marketing tool as well. Sure, you might say, a strategic marketing tool for businesses and organizations, and YES that is true. However, Facebook and Twitter can be utilized to build yourself as your own brand, and ultimately, that may assist in your job search. You can be a self-actualized individual as demonstrated through your Facebook, Twitter or even blog (shameless plug for my reinforcing the importance of my own blog?).

I had a friend once tell me a story about a friend of hers who took advantage of social media, specifically Twitter to get a job, not much unlike the story in the article linked above. She became engaged in conversations on Twitter with organizations she was interested in potentially working for and when it came time for her to get a job, she tweeted about her job hunt. And then, like any great social media fairytale, her tweet got a reply mentioning a potential job and needless to say, she was happily ever after employed.

Of course, this doesn't happen to everyone and there are some people who still have profile pictures of themselves at a party double-fisting beer cans while drinking from a funnel -- but I guess it's just another aspect of the job hunt that is important to keep in mind. And until then, keep your tweets and posts professional! You never know who could be reading them...

I Need a Job: What's It Going to Take?

Since I have been out of school for a few weeks now, I am constantly being questioned about the job hunt -- a question plaguing me probably since I decided I would graduate early. Faced with a semester free from academic obligations, my impending graduation date meant that I would need to find a job and figure out what I was doing.

Of course, this is all easier said than done. In a sort of state of denial, I put off a serious job search until finally, it was December 18th, I had officially moved back home and the weeks ahead were only to be filled with the occasional holiday or family gathering -- and that was an issue.

I am someone who thrives on a busy schedule. I (dare I say it) enjoy having my days filled with tasks to be accomplished, meetings, assignments and the like. Since my middle school days, I have religiously kept a planner to stay organized and have come to the point in my life where time management is not something that scares me, but sometimes only makes me more motivated.

So now, without a job and only a job hunt to fill my days -- what am I supposed to do? My dad told me that the state of the economy, coupled with my recent unemployment, calls for job hunting to be a full-time job. Obviously, you can't get a job by sitting on your behind staring at Monster.com telepathically willing various companies and organizations to take a look at your resume and decide that you're just the person they're looking for. But at the same time, past such a delusional outlook on job hunting, what is it going to take? A killer resume? An even better cover letter? A certain inside person who can nudge your resume and credentials to the top of the pile? Or do all of those things need to be happening all at once in order for the Gods to look down upon you and grant you your wish of finding a job?

I'm barely a month out of school and I feel as though I may already be developing a cynical outlook  (alright, maybe it's cynicism mixed with a tinge of realism) on job-hunting. I guess my question is, as the title would suggest, what is it going to take?

I guess I need to listen to my dad's suggestion and really turn job-hunting into my current job. Only then will I possibly be able to see the results I am hoping for: interviews and job offers -- eventually (hopefully) a job. The question I pose to you, my audience, is this: what do you think it takes to get a job?

So I've graduated... now what?

It has been approximately three weeks since I have ended my last undergraduate semester, and now I find myself sitting at home, starting a blog, waiting for my degree in the mail.

The big ticket question I have been asked by almost every single person who brings up my premature graduation (3.5 years as opposed to the standard 4 for my bachelor's) is "so, what are you going to do now?" While I understand that most of the time people ask that question simply to initiate small talk, I find myself getting frustrated because, the truth is, that is the question I have been asking myself these days. Of course, I am always polite when answering the inquiries of these kind-hearted and curious people, telling them that I am looking for a job, applying to grad school and trying to be helpful around the house in the mean time; however, I feel as though that answer could be considered kind of a cop-out. I'm not really answering their question with anything definitive. But then again, I don't have any definitive answers for them.

The truth is, I now find myself at a crossroads, like many other recent grads or people undergoing great life changes find themselves at one point or another. I know it sounds "cliche" -- this whole concept of being at a crossroad and choosing which path to take, reminiscent of the generally misunderstood Robert Frost poem. But as cliche as it may be, this is a huge transition -- one that I sometimes fear, and other times, look upon with the optimism that, I suppose, only a fresh-faced 22-year-old can.

So, that is where this blog comes in. I aim to chronicle all of the ups and downs I encounter in making all of these big life decisions and even the little life decisions. Certainly, I will be documenting my attempts in the job hunt, but I will also be talking about some of my passions (fashion and food) and how they figure into this recent unemployed graduate's life.