Got My Obamacare

I graduated college at an awkward time. I finished school in December of 2011 and while that is common it is not as being a May graduate. There is not the same fanfare and job offers that come with finishing school in the spring. This affects your job search and grad school applications.

I have been working since I was 14. Unemployment is not something I am ready to accept and after receiving a very expensive piece of paper I was not going to start now. I was working part time at a school in DC that I absolutely loved and wanted to become a full time teacher there. That’s where the curse of the December graduate first reared its ugly head. It was the middle of the school year and they were fully staffed. I had to leave my darling preschoolers because a part time job was not going to cut it. My parents would not claim me if I was to finish school without a full time salaried position so I hit the pavement beginning in October tapping every resource and contact that I had in the education world. Being the middle of the school year it was tough for hiring staff to gauge why they would need to make an impromptu faculty change which would allow for me to be gainfully employed. Thankfully I had the networking knowledge that my major department heads had imparted on me. While I wasn't planning on using my marketing degree I could certainly still implement the same strategies that they were teaching us to get jobs at Fortune 500 companies.  I just wanted to teach the ay bay bays their colors I and shapes so I attacked the education job market with a vengeance.

Ill spare you my late nights of researching teaching programs and the countless resumes floating through the web with my name on it. .  I had the wherewithal to keep a constant contact with a school I had been a teacher’s aide in previously who kept me in the loop with jobs that were tailored to my interests and experience.  In the end I was left with a great offer from Francis Xavier Warde, a big time private school, an Asian day care where I couldn't understand anyone,  and a smaller eco-friendly school I had worked with previously. By the grace of some big bloke in the sky and my constant inquiries about teaching positions the director told me that if I enrolled in school I could have my own classroom after graduation. I enrolled in every early childhood education class I could find so that I would be certified to teach in the state of Illinois under the DCFS licensing standards. It was time consuming and expensive, but so worth it. I moved back to Chicago on a Thursday and by that next Monday I was signing a contract entitling me to the education and supervision of tiny tots for Christ including a salary and benefits.

The moral of the story is hustle mean hard work and if you’re scared go to church ( S/O to Trae tha Truth). No seriously persistence can often read as annoyance, but it pays off. Enough emails and phone calls and people start to think that maybe you are just the motivated and dedicated individual that their company needs. Add a flawless resume and cover letter to it you can succeed. I’m currently seeking new employment (that’s another post) but I’m employing the same methods that got me the job I have now and know that they will work. Fortune and love favor the brave so put your ass on the line.