Just Do It!

It has been a while since I have updated my blog.  I remain, however, active in doling out job search advice and most recently found myself in a very uncomfortable position of having to do so……to my teenaged daughter.

Let me say first that I do not recall ever being afraid of venturing out on my own.  Maybe it’s because I started working when I was 16 years old in a pine furniture manufacturing company while I was attending boarding school.  I worked half the day and went to school for the other half.  All of my wages went to pay for my tuition.  I was never afraid or nervous, that was just how it was.

It certainly wasn’t fun though.  Believe me when I tell you there was plenty of frustrating days and with no air conditioning or heat in the building where we worked, we were quite often either freezing or sweating.   The work was hard, and dirty, and tiring.  But, since this blog is not how to keep a job or how to move beyond workplace frustrations, I digress.

Tip of The Day

“Just Do It!”

Just a few weeks ago I found out about a job fair on Facebook.  The job fair had been posted by the culinary school that my 18 year old daughter will be attending this Fall.  I told her about it and when the day of the job fair arrived and I told her that I would drive her there, when I got home from work.  I asked her to get ready by showering, dressing appropriately, and putting her resume and business cards in a folder.

When I got home she was sitting on the couch, in old faded jeans, and in a very very bad mood that only female teenagers are capable of pulling off. 

She whined, “Can’t we just go on another day?”

To make a somewhat long and dramatic story somewhat short I had to practicallydrag her to the store. I bought her black slacks, makeup, and earrings.  I insisted that she change her pants at the store and then put on makeup in the car on the way.  She was emotional and accused me of “not being very supportive”.  She wanted to talk about her bad day, she wanted to whine about her school work stress.  I would have nothing of it. 

She said she was afraid and she didn’t know what to expect when she got there.

I pushed her.  I asked her questions I knew they would ask in the interview.  She cried.  I yelled.  I was frustrated at her lack of appreciation for the lengths I was going….to get HER a job!  I told her to “suck it up” and that the world does not revolve around her.  (I am telling the absolute truth when I say that this notion is truly a momentous concept for a teenaged girl)

 

Seriously?

As a teenager I worked in a dirty and boring job, didn’t see a dime of my paycheck,

and SHE was whining?

I have to admit, she pulled it off.  She walked in the job fair with her head held high, answered all of the questions like a seasoned pro and they offered her the job ON THE SPOT. 

Another high point of her day was finding out they were willing to pay her over $3 an hour more than her previous seasonal cashiering job.

She was elated.  She thanked me over and over (and continues to do so, to this day) for pushing her.

My daughter now works for the catering department at Nike, the shoe company in Beaverton Oregon that coined our title phrase.  It’s been a very tough transition for the whole family but we are all happy for her and she works very hard at balancing her responsibilities with her free time desires.  In all honesty, she really didn’t WANT a job but knew it was the next step in her progression of becoming an adult.

Sometimes we need to just DO what we know we have to.  We have to get off our butts, and go to that networking event on the other side of town even when we have PMS from Hell.  We have to suck it up and put on makeup and pretend we want to be at that job interview when we’d really rather be at the beach.  We have to practice, and walk the walk, and talk the talk, and be involved in our own growth.  We have to push ourselves outside our comfort zone and meet new people and allow ourselves to be vulnerable.

Sometimes we don’t have someone to push us.

Sometimes we have to push ourselves.

Sometimes we have to set aside the excuses, our feelings of inadequacy and our fears.

Sometimes we have to “Just Do It!”