Taking a Risk

Today started with something I haven’t felt in a very long time: promise.

I actually woke up today, feeling really tired because for some reason I had the irrational fear at five in the morning that I was going to get attacked by a ghost (too many Creepy Catalog articles) and was restless for the hour before my alarm went off at 6. All this meant was that when my alarm did go off I groggily got up, washed my face looked in the mirror, and said “ten more minutes” resulting in me promptly going back to bed with a timer counting down my blissful ten minutes of undisturbed, ghost-fear free sleep.

But back to the promise.

I’ve been struggling for eight months with the job search. As a new graduate, I scrambled from December to graduation in May and beyond to find my home in a company. I met with countless people for informational interviews, sent what seems like hundreds upon hundreds of resumes and cover letters out, filled out endless online applications, and…nothing.

Now don’t get me wrong. I was incredibly blessed and fortunate to find the internship/potential career opportunity I did at the end of May. It allowed me to breathe a sigh of relief, step back, pay my bills, hone my skills, and continue searching a little less frantically. But as this job has been winding down I started to get frantic again.  And I know this is something that every 20-something has/is/or will be (sorry) struggling with. So the topic of today’s post: the bold career move. (I know, way to bury the lead Abby. Just bear with me here)

I applied to all of the jobs I thought I was even remotely qualified for and the rejection letters started rolling in. I was devastated and becoming depressed. So I reached back out to my contacts, set up some more meetings and applied to a few final jobs before taking a breather (one forced upon me by Mono, but a breather nonetheless).

Now I wait. And I’m not a patient person. So I started preparing myself for the big one. The job that is my reach. The one that I would love to have but it would be a one and a million shot of even getting a reply to. That job was one with Buffer.

If you don’t know, Buffer is this super awesome company that has developed a social media tool that helps drive traffic, increase fan engagement, and save time. Basically, it’s a lifesaver for anyone who uses social media in any way. And the company culture is freaking awesome.

They just seem to get it. You can work remotely because they know that people need to live in a place that inspires them, they give you all the tools, technology, and books you could ever need, they make sure that their staff is connected via multiple forms of technology and personal interaction, in a word(s); they know how to make their employees happy. Seriously, go check them out. You’ll be blown away.

So one of the requirements of applying for their company is to read a few books. One of those books is “Delivering Happiness.” It’s a book written by Tony Hsieh, the guy who built Zappos.com. After reading it last night, I got super inspired.

Tony had taken so many risks in building Zappos and it became a wildly successful company because of it. So that got me thinking, maybe it was time for me to take a risk. (Unsurprisingly I came up with this idea in the shower, because like…of course all your good ideas come to you in the shower.)

I decided to take a risk. So I sat down at my computer and applied for a position at Buffer. (If you’re a Buffer employee reading this now, hi, I hope you like this back story :) )

Anyway, this was the letter I sent with my application:

I think I have probably written one-hundred cover letters in the last eight months and every single one has followed the rigid format that all of the job recruiters say you should use. But after writing those cover letters and submitting my resume to countless places on top of reading Delivering Happiness, I decided that it was time to take a risk. I've been far too careful it seems in my life and I feel that I have an opportunity here to not only give you a picture of who I am and why I am applying but to also show you how serious I am about what I want to do in life.

I spent my entire childhood being a reader and a writer and I took that love to high school and college with me. After a failed attempt at being a business minor and feeling lost as a history major, I went back to my true love: English.

I was good at English. I know how to write incredibly well and I love reading and I loved the endless pursuit of collective knowledge that my English classes offered me. I knew that I wanted to find a way to write in a way that helped people somehow, that served them in some greater way, so I chose the Professional Writing track.

I learned how to write in every way I possibly could. I wrote magazine articles, newspaper articles, grant proposals, web writing, advertising, marketing, social media, blogging, academic writing, research-based writing and more. Basically, if they taught it, I took it.

I supplemented my education with three different internships that allowed me to figure out that my true passion was in writing for social media and marketing in all its various forms and I got good at it.

I took a small non-profit and a start-up franchise and boosted their user-engagement, follows, likes, interactions, everything. I was passionate about the research I was doing and even more so about executing it. That was how I stumbled across Buffer. I found Buffer at the end of May when I was looking for a social media service to help the small franchise I had been hired to help as a social media and marketing intern.

After reading about it and seeing how it worked, I was hooked. I have spent the past two and a half months working with Buffer and it has made a world of difference for the franchise I am working for.

Now, for why I want to join the Buffer team. From the second I started clicking around the company site, I knew I wanted to figure out how to work for Buffer. I love the idea of working for a company that is doing exactly what I love doing for the companies that I've worked for. My favorite part of the work that I've been doing for the past three years is teaching people how to use social media and the internet in more efficient ways while also creating awesome content that I can share via those avenues.

Additionally, the concept of remote work is so appealing to me for this reason: I love Cleveland, Ohio. Like probably more than it is healthy to love a city. I'm inspired and driven by the way this city is growing and changing and I want to be here and a part of it for as much as I can.

I know that I limited myself in my job options when I refused to move out of the city I grew to love so much for a job and I hope, with Buffer, that I have found a company that I can passionately work for, while staying in the city I am passionately in love with.

I know that online applications are always a long shot but I feel that I could really serve Buffer well as a Content Crafter or Happiness Hero or Community Champion, but my heart still lies in writing. I love to write. I love to research and I would love to do that for a company as amazing as Buffer. I promise you that if you take a chance on me I will work tirelessly to support all of the efforts of the Buffer team. Teamwork is so incredibly important to me and so many of the jobs that are available right now pull people my age into workplaces where employees are constantly pitted against each other, competing daily for one more call than the other person or $100 more on top of their commission. I don't thrive in an environment like that. I work best in an environment like the one Buffer has obviously worked so hard to create. One where everyone is valued and everyone supports one another and all of the work it towards a common goal.

I promise, if you consider me I will not disappoint you. I want to make a difference in this world and I'm tired of sending out form applications and rigid cover letters to companies that don't have the kind of life-giving environment to their employees that so many people need. I know I took a huge risk sending a letter this long and this impassioned for a job inquiry, but I feel that it was the best way to get my passion and drive across. I hope you'll consider me. I look forward to hearing from you.

I know. I know. Those of you in the business world are gasping at my brazenness, but I needed to do something bold. I needed to try something different. And this was my grand gesture. This was me betting the farm on me. After all, I technically had nothing to lose, so why not write the most honest job application/inquiry ever.

So it’s in their inbox. I got the email receipt confirmation. So now all that is left to do is wait again and be patient and most dangerous of all, hope.  

MoNOOOOOO

So ironically, in my quest to document what 20-somethings think, I got sidetracked by the typical 20-something distractions like boys, friends, Netflix and…wait for it. Mono! YAY!

Yeah so, reason that I’ve been MIA and neglectful about my blog is because I was being a distracted 20-something and I was also apparently becoming infected with THE disease for 20-somethings. 

And for your information, no, I wasn’t just going around kissing random people. I’ve literally asked everyone I’ve had any kind of remote mono-transferring contact with about it and no one has it or has had it in about 3 years.

So, this brings me to the topic of this post: health assumptions about 20-somethings vis-à-vis communicable diseases and illnesses.

I’m a pretty healthy individual in terms of making sure I don’t get sick. I wash my hands, exercise five times a week, get at least seven hours of sleep most nights, eat fairly well, take my vitamins, and take various preventative measures  like downing mass quantities of Emergen-C when I start to feel a bit under the weather and drink tons of water.

Knowing all this, imagine my surprise upon waking up last Wednesday feeling dizzy and faint with a terrible sore throat and headache.

After trying and failing a number of times to just power through what I assumed was a particularly bad day for allergies and the by-product of a wee bit of a late night the evening prior, I emailed my boss and told her that I was sick and proceeded to try and sleep for the next few hours while I waited to go to the Clinic’s Express Care.

By the time I woke up to go to the Clinic, I was convinced that I had to have Strep throat. I couldn’t remember the last time I had felt anything so painful. So I hustled my way over the Clinic and asked to see a doctor about my supposed Strep.

I explained to the nurse and the doctor about my symptoms and my allergies and told them that I was fairly certain I had Strep. They gave me the rapid Strep test, which was negative and then the doctor came in to talk to me.

“So, you have a sore throat and some feelings of lightheadedness?”

Cue me nodding pathetically.

“Well, your Strep test was negative and after looking at your symptoms it looks like you probably have Mono. Does that sound right? Are you tired? Have you been seeing anyone new or kissing random people?”

She asked this semi-condescendingly as if to imply, ‘well, you are at that age.’

I was very much taken aback. Not by her actual question, but in the manner in which she asked it. As if to say: “Obviously any 20-something that comes in here complaining of a wicked sore throat, some vertigo, and a little exhaustion must have mono. It’s like their disease after all.”

I tried to counter.

“Well…yes. I have been seeing someone new, but he doesn’t have Mono to my knowledge and regardless I’m not sure where I would’ve gotten it from besides him. And like, yes, I’m tired. But I also have been adjusting to being a new graduate and being out in the real world so I’ve been tired, but I think that’s normal.”

She looked at me smiling and said, “I’m still going to order a Mono test for you. So just go over to the lab and we’ll have that done. In the meantime here’s some prednisone for the swelling.”

So like a good patient, I went to go get my blood taken and went home to pass out for the rest of the day.

Moral of the story: Yes, I have Mono. No, I don’t know where I got it. And yes, I did spend the next four days in tons of pain and fitful baby sleeps. But, that’s not the issue here.

As painful as Mono is and as much as it sucks, my main problem was with how I was treated by the doctor.

Now don’t get me wrong, I love the Cleveland Clinic. They do great and amazing work, but I did not like being treated like just another stupid 20-something who probably got Mono from a random hook-up. The reality of the situation is that I was a very sick girl who was alone and dealing with actually being truly sick and alone for the first time ever. It was like the first time I got sick at college times 20. And on top of that, the doctor treated me like I was an idiot.

It may be breaking news to some of you, but not all 20-somethings are irresponsible, crazy people who spread communicable diseases like wildfire. Some, like me and most of my friends, take our health very seriously.

We don’t have time to get sick.

There is far too much to do in a day and being sick just isn’t an option for us. Especially for people like me who have to work to pay the rent and other bills. Taking a day off is basically saying “Okay. Guess I won’t eat real food this week…or next week...”

Pardon me for getting up in arms about this and please, if you are a healthcare provider don’t take this as a personal attack, but please please please for the love of everything don’t just assume that we, as 20-somethings, don’t know how to take care of our health. Trust me, we do. We just fall victim to viruses and stuff like everyone else.

We do take care of ourselves contrary to popular belief and we really don’t like getting sick so next time a 20-something sneezes on you, don’t assume you’re going to catch the next, career-ending, lifestyle changing, 20-something disease.

After all, we know how to use Kleenex and Purell too…

Income Cuts? Sigh

So it should be unsurprising to you that growing up and transitioning to adulthood with all of the joys that entails comes with its fair share of difficult adjustments.

Things like knowing that you have to go to bed at a reasonable time for that charming 6 am wakeup and realizing that eating healthy food is a game changer in surviving the 8 to 5 drill. Or coming to the understanding that you really can’t party like you used to because after two beers and two hours at the bar your bed and some Netflix is way more appealing than downing that sickengly sweet flavored shot your luckily-still-in-college friend ordered you.

In addition to all of these fun little life adjustments, there is something that is most likely unique to me that has been a major hurdle and that’s income tax.

Now before you jump all over me for this consider that I have spent the past four years working at a tax-exempt institution.  

I got paid every cent for the hours I worked at John Carroll’s library and while I knew that income tax was a thing, I just never made enough to pay anything come tax season.

So here is my adjustment, my place of employment is no longer tax exempt. So this charming thing happens every paycheck, I get a large chunk of the money I earned taken away from me.

For instance, my last paycheck: I earned $1073, but $52 was taken away for Social Security and a whopping $120 was taken away for federal income tax.

And I know that Federal Income Tax is used for lots of good things like National Defense and Security and Federal programs to help the unemployed and for people who need healthcare and those are all good things but geeze. It’s no wonder there are so many of us living from paycheck to paycheck.

Now I am by no means arguing against the income tax, but losing that $XXX does put a strain on my ability to pay my bills and cover incidentals and I can’t imagine what it is like for people who work 40 hours a week plus overtime and not only get income tax and social security taken out of their pay but also get child support taken out. Can you imagine having to life off of the remains of that paycheck?

I’ve been very fortunate in that I got a great education and that I am on my way to starting a hopefully very successful and fulfilling career, but that doesn’t mean that they realities of a paycheck significantly less than what I earned becomes any easier. Maybe it’s time that the Federal Tax program was reevaluated so that people who worked hard to make their money didn’t get so much of it taken away. If you earn your money, shouldn’t you get to keep the most of it?

I don’t pretend to know everything (or really anything that in-depth) about tax brackets and taxable income, but I do know that I feel that hardworking people are entitled to the wages they earn. Perhaps that should be something that the Federal government looks into because I don’t know about you, but I’d love to keep more of my money.