This column you might consider as advice from your Tía or Auntie Cyndi. Lessons that I have learned over time and now will share with you.
“The earth is a beehive, we all enter by the same door,” my grandmother would say. She was intent on providing me with lessons through her proverbs. As I child, I had no idea what she was talking about. Now, I can see the application for this proverb and others in many aspects of our lives.
While we are each unique individuals with talents and abilities, at the most basic level, we are all the same. Whether you are an undergraduate facing a summer experience in the form of an internship, research or seasonal work; a graduating senior entering the full-time workforce; beginning your graduate work; or completing that graduate degree and moving into your career path, we do all enter the same way. You have prepared for this moment, this step, with your education and experience.
As you take this next step, you must recognize the opportunities that are before you, making the most of each.
A la ocasión la pintan calva. Consider what you can gain from each experience. You may have a summer job that may seem unrelated to your academic track, what can you learn? For example, being a cashier can provide a great deal of knowledge about working efficiently as well as dealing effectively with people. Efficiency and high quality customer service are skills with application in all aspects of your life. Your first professional position might not be the career you have dreamed of, yet it is where your career will be launched.
During a summer internship or research experience, take advantage of the extras. Attend meetings or talks, seek out opportunities to get to know other faculty and professionals in your workplace learn the business or further explore the discipline. Commit to learning something new each day. Ask questions!
To know the road ahead, ask those who are coming back. There is no better source of information than those who have lived it. You have always dreamed of being a university professor. Who better than a professor to tell you about her experience, her educational path, things she wished she would have known and what your next steps should be. You never know where that knowledge or interaction will lead. You may be surprised by the commonalities of experiences and connections that can be made from reaching out and asking questions.
In a new situation, we need guidance; after all, this is a new experience. I have learned over time, that stupid questions are better than stupid answers. The adage, "there are no stupid questions" is just not true. Whoever said that there is no such thing as a stupid question? We all know there are stupid questions. But the ability to ask questions to gain the information you need to make decisions is critical. Mistakes are often made by not asking questions and just assuming. And we all know the one about when you assume.
You must also learn that friends come and go, but enemies accumulate. The world is a relatively small place and with technology it is smaller yet every day. In your transition from undergraduate to graduate student, from campus to career, think carefully about the impression you are leaving behind. The faculty, the TAs, GAs, RAs you have met, the professionals in the workplace, will turn up again, this I can promise you. In my first position, the Human Resources officer who screened my application materials was a graduate of my high school! You will call upon them to supply references and letters of recommendation, you will see that professor from your undergraduate days as a colleague at one of your national meetings, or you may find a peer from your graduate school days is now reviewing an article you desperately need to publish.
As a new hire, an intern or a new graduate student, you are “on probation” so to speak. Are you where you are expected to be? Are you prepared? Are you viewed as someone who contributes or someone along for the ride? Your attitude and behavior are important to your success. Remember, you catch more flies with honey than you do with vinegar. Think about what you say and do in the workplace and on MySpace and Facebook!!!
El que la sigue, la consigue. You get what you work for. Our parents, families and teachers encourage us to work hard and promise that our hard work will be rewarded. And that is true, just not always in the short-term; those rewards can be long in coming. But if you do work for it, you deserve it.
For most, money is the compensation for our hard work. Not managing it well can get you into trouble.
A quien no le sobra pan, no críe can. Never spend your money before you have it. With that new job and salary, those things that you have denied yourself look exceptionally appealing. A new car, a 52–inch LCD, Louie Vuitton wallet, a Burberry scarf and a leather sofa might be just what you think you deserve, but consider your choices and your income carefully. The average American household with at least one credit card has nearly $9,200 in credit card debt, according to CardWeb.com, and the average interest rate runs from 15 percent to 19 percent at any given time. Personal bankruptcies have doubled in the last decade. The average student graduates with about $21,000 in debt. That wallet or LCD may cost you much more than the purchase price. Good credit is also something you earn.
In entering this next stage of your life, “Only a fool tests the water with both feet,” my grandmother would say. As you begin something new, test the waters. What will it be like to work for this company? How have other graduate students navigated this program? As you consider accepting an entry level position at a college or university, what is the environment like? Do some investigation before diving in to find that the water is only two feet deep!
And smile when you read, “Cherish youth, but trust old age.” |
