Thoughts on the job situation

[danaeris]

Here's a conversation I had with a friend this morning about my situation at the internship. Opinions?



Friend: * Hey questioner. I was trying to find you last night. Wanted
to know how work was going, read some LJ

questioner: last night I was busy. work is going great. I'm enjoying it immensely.

Friend: * Did your supervisor say "I'll think about it"? As if it
needed thought?

questioner: dunno if it'll get extended at all, but I'm hoping

Friend: * (sorry to say this) That kind of sucks. "We want you,
but only if we can't find someone better."

questioner: well, the person who would make the decision hasn't been directly supe
rvising me, so I think he wanted to talk to Supervisor, who HAS. He also has been quer
ying the UCSC Journalism school for interns and probably would like to see what
they have for him.

questioner: that's not what it meant at all.

questioner: It meant that Big Boss had never thought about it, had no idea really how well I
'd been performing, and needed to find out what his options are and whether or
not I'm competent. It meant that giving someone an answer that could be potenti
ally binding on the spot is ALWAYS a bad idea. He told me that he thinks the od
ds are pretty good.

Friend: * Maybe it's just me, but I'd hope for at least "If the
decision were up to me, you'd be hired in an instant. Unfortunately, I
need to confirm it with my supervisor."

questioner: I was speaking with the Big Boss.

Friend: * Aha! I see. Not as bad then.

questioner: Friend, you don't understand the hierarchy in my workplace. Don't presu
me to judge it

Friend: * I had presumed that it was your supervisor talking to
you.

questioner: no. I already spoke with Supervisor (who has a poker face), and at the ti
me it was understood that Big Boss was the one who would make the decision and that
I would have to talk to Big Boss. And Supervisor pointed out that
Big Boss may prefer to give students who have not yet had an internship an opportun
ity to benefit from his internship funds.

Friend: * mmrr.

questioner: ?

Friend: * I'd be PISSED OFF!
Friend: * You deserve victory, questioner. Don't let anyone tell you
otherwise.

questioner: Friend, that's very nice that you feel that way, but I'm trying to live
in the real world here.

Friend: * *hug* If they don't positively love you, then they don't
deserve to have you.

questioner: hon, that's again not how the world works.

Friend: * questioner, some people will love you. You must find them,
and to hell with the rest.

questioner: yes dear
questioner: I don't think you really understand this economy

Friend: * The economy may mean that you need to make sacrifices,
but I don't see how that means that you need to accept being pushed
around. Companies out there need people like you. And if the economic
conditions mean that you have to work for less money, then so be it, but
working for people who would just as well replace you with someone they
consider spiffier is just unacceptable.

questioner: I never said they would replace me with someone they 'consider spiffie
r'. That is your incorrect interpretation of the situation.

Friend: * Because you'll never get good references that way, and
you'll never find the right opportunities that way.
Friend: * Like, why would the economy have any impact on whether
they hire you or some other intern for the fall?
Friend: * OK. Now what if they don't love you? Well, in that case
they're dumb. And you should just go find another job as quickly as
possible without interfering with your work.

questioner: Friend, I can't FIND another job.

Friend: * What is your area of expertise? What connections do you
have?

questioner: My area of expertise is writing. I have virtually no connections.
questioner: specifically, writing that involves science or technology.
questioner: Friend, I don't think you fully understand what the economy is like. Al
most everyone I know here is unemployed. Sure, most of them are coders. But you
can't just 'go get a job' no matter how smart or talented you are.

Friend: * I agree; you need connections.
Friend: * If I knew people who were looking for sci/tech writers,
I would point you to them (or them to you)...

Friend: * Oh well... I don't know what to say. :(

questioner: thank you for caring...

Friend: * Well, you matter to me.

questioner: *hugs* thank you Frien

Comments

[bluedaisy.livejournal.com]

I think your friend is confused. You're an intern, and interns get pushed around sometimes because they are a dime a dozen, even if they are talented.
While it is important to stand up to serious pushing around, I think this is pretty minor. Even fulltime employees sometimes have to wait concerning their job status--there are times where I work where Project Directors don't yet know if they *can* hire people back until very shortly before. (I am lucky: infastructure actually has job security.)

I think you should look around and continue trying to find a permanent position, but if the internship might give you a few extra months of slack, that's a great thing. Money to live and resume experience are important.
In addition, if you said now "oh, I change my mind, I'd rather be unemployed than wait to see if you can extend my internship" you would be risking cutting off a valuable resource: good reccomendations. Even if they can't extend the internship for you, if they are happy with your work, and you are on good terms with your supervisor and the company, that will help you get jobs later.
.

[ebenezer.livejournal.com]

So, I'm the friend, and let me tell you that I do not mean to suggest that
Questioner take unemployment over an extended internship. If she can use the
internship as slack, that's great. Like I said, to hell with them if they
don't like Questioner.

The important item here is that Questioner should know that if the people she
is working with don't think that she rocks, then she should look for another
job. I don't know about you, but I know that Questioner rocks, and it doesn't
make sense that Questioner should be working with people who don't realize this
as well.

[bluedaisy.livejournal.com]

I think she's a great person--that's why she's a friend! But I also think that sometimes you have to prove yourself to employers--if you don't show them that you are competent and do your job well, it won't matter how cool you are or how much you rock. They'll drop you like a hot rock.

I think (if I've been paying attention) questioner *is* looking for other employers--at best the internship will get extended a few months. Even if they aren't totally psyched for her to be there, but agree to it anyway, that is better than not having a job while she looks for a longterm solution. If she finds a new job during the extended internship, and they (for some reason) want her to start before the internship ends, then she can explain to her current employer and it will all probably go okay.

Most importantly, questioner should not take it personally if they don't want to extend her internship. It's probably not personal, from the sounds of it, and taking it that way (even if you do just say "to hell with them") isn't going to solve anything--it'll just upset you and potentially make you act unbusinesslike, leading to the potentially negative response when asked for a reccomendation.

[katestine.livejournal.com]

Wow. You haven't been in the job market recently, have you.

I have. My understanding from skimming Questioner's journal is that she plans to continue to job hunt while having the internship. Her employers should understand - they know she's in a temporary position. And assuming she is able to save any amount of money while doing the internship, she is far better off working for them - obviously if we were talking about a period of years, this would not be true, but we're not. And being able to walk into her next interview and say, "Yeah, I had this internship and they liked my work enough to keep me on x additional months" is a fantastic tool.

And I think you overestimate the power of references. Many companies don't use 'em. And they don't check them until they adore you and want to hire you. If she had negative references, that would be one thing. Even if they utterly adored her at her internship, the only way that would help is if they used a connection to get her to her next job. If she's in-house, they are more likely to think of her if a drinking buddy comments they need someone with her skills.

[plymouth.livejournal.com]

internships are generally *intended* to be temporary. I fail to see why the possibility of them not extending it indicates that they don't think questioner rocks. extending it might indicate that she rocks large amounts, however.

[merovingian.livejournal.com]

I think it's definitely good to have a feeling of entitlement and deserving good things, but this needs to be balanced with pragmatism.