Michael Braun's Blog

Ha ha! I have a summer job! Can you even believe it? Sure, I don’t have a real job. Sure, I barely have any leads at all. But hey, I will be able to afford to live in my apartment for the summer. And who knows what tomorrow will bring? I may have a full time job the next time I plop my thoughts up here. This seems unlikely, but you never know.

So what’s the job, I hear you cry out in your impatience. I will be working for a group called the “Campaign to Save the Environment.” They do a lot of canvassing – going to neighborhoods to talk to people about environmental issues, collect money, petition signitures, and new volunteers. Sounds a little bit like a racket, but these people are hardcore. “These people” ha! I am hardcore, along with my new coworkers. It’s about putting your time and efforts into causes you think are important. And for all my opinions, well thought out and extremely insightful though they may be, I work too little to promote them. And so now here’s a group that wants to pay me to do that. And speaking of pay, it’s based on meeting goals, rather than hours worked. That kind of sucks, but I have been told that the goals are very meetable. And, hey, if I find that to not be true, I can always quit and be homeless.

And what will my position be, you ask. Well, according to their brochure, they offer leadership positions immediately to their most qualified candidates. And I guess that must be me, because they want to train me as a manager. And not just any manager – a FIELD MANAGER! What the heck does that mean, you ask. I get to organize a team of people and lead them into the field to do our canvassing work. I will also help with training and other fun stuff like that. Plus I get paid more. And, who cares anyway, because my title says “manager” and that’s all that matters sometimes. A friend of mine asked me how come they put me in such a high role? After crying because she clearly thought me undeserving (just kidding!), I told her that, as head of the campus reps here, I have a lot of leadership experience.

This group also, apparently, has career options available. I don’t know how much they pay, and I don’t care. If I can get a career out of doing stuff I believe in, I’m all for it. And if they can employ me for a year or two while I get psyched for grad. school, then all the better. But that isn’t the only lead I’ve had on further employment. There’s still Cisco, who haven’t contacted me yet, but I expect them to by Friday. There are some other places I have sent off resumes. There’s Apple still, though I haven’t heard one peep from them. And then there is an interesting offer I have had to teach English in Korea for a year. SOUTH Korea. That seems like it could be the scariest thing I have ever done, and honestly I am still kind of freaking out about it, having made no steps towards making it a reality. I told them I would be available in August, and they said they will be contacting me when positions for August open up. So that could be something.

But anyway, I got a summer job, so one step at a time. I start May 15. I have no break. I’m hardcore like that.