june gloom on 25/3/2010 at 00:06
Normally I wouldn't make E/N threads like this, but I'm so excited I could shit the bed.
For the past two years I have been looking for an internship for my journalism degree. They have been impossible to find in part thanks to the economy but also due to high competition and a ridiculously small pool of organizations offering internships. Add to this being generally clueless on how to find jobs/do interviews/etc. (despite having worked three taxes-paid jobs over the years plus a bit of under-the-table work) and you have what was a very frustrating endeavor.
Well finally the organization that pays my tuition, Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation* (part of Ohio Rehabilitation Services) decided to get off its ass and help by referring me to a job placement organization. After about a month of job-search/interview training, and helping me redo my rather poopy resume, the hunt was on.
Today I am proud to say that thanks to the efforts of A&M Placement, I now have an internship with the Cincinnati Enquirer, the biggest newspaper in Cincinnati/Northern Kentucky. Details are being hashed out but the goal is for me to start this summer. I'll be doing copy editing for just about everything except features and sports. Guess I should go get a new copy of the AP Style Manual eh?
Feels good, man.
* Thing about BVR is that they're normally quite useless. I've been with them for close to ten years and nearly every positive thing they've ever done- including paying my tuition- has only been through legal threats and strongarming. The very first caseworker I had, back when I was in high school, walked out a few minutes into an early meeting, loudly declaring she wasn't going to do a goddamn thing for me, leaving everyone else in stunned silence. Another time they sent us a letter demanding us to appear for a meeting, and we were worried sick about what they wanted a meeting for- turns out, that was just a ruse to get us to attend a seminar during which they explained to all their clients (except those who were grandfathered in, like me) that they weren't going to help them anymore. And a teacher of mine who sought their help with getting a 2nd job was told that they wouldn't help her unless she quit her current one. They're a bunch of money-grubbing bureaucrats who either have a tenuous grasp on reality/logic or are out to actively troll disabled folk.
doctorfrog on 25/3/2010 at 00:29
Congratulations. Myself, I'm awaiting the release of my own breath once I get the go ahead to start my first new job in what's been a horribly long time. I'm hoping it'll crash-cart my career back into some semblance of life.
So, if I may, high five! o/\o
Mainly, though, I have to applaud the thread title. We need fewer pedantic faggots in law offices, and more pedantic faggots in newsrooms.
Martin Karne on 25/3/2010 at 00:58
When in Ohio visit our wonderful rehab center!
Sounds like fun, as long is a peaceful job.
Thief13x on 25/3/2010 at 01:09
Congrats dude. Not trying to start a fight but I don't understand why you feel the Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation owes you a job. Didn't you say they already paid your tuition? I mean shit, did I miss something?
Grats again, now go kick some ass!
Stitch on 25/3/2010 at 04:46
I bet they won't let you use your favorite words :(
Scots Taffer on 25/3/2010 at 05:31
As long as they don't let you insert photos of planes everywhere, it should be all good! :D
Congrats. I've discovered that finding a meaningful, satisfying occupation is probably one of the most important things in your adult life.
Fingernail on 25/3/2010 at 08:27
Congratulations! I can sympathise to a limited extent with trying to get something out of organisations, I'm currently going round cap in hand to various trusts and bodies trying to secure funding for my masters. You can feel like a money grabbing whore at times, but someone's got to get the money, and you definitely won't get anything unless you push for it. The difference is obviously that I am basically begging - I'm not entitled to anything.
I haven't followed your circumstances - are you disabled in some way (going by the last line of your footnote)?
Yakoob on 25/3/2010 at 09:07
Super congrats man! I know exactly what it feels like - I remember at the end of my sophomore year in my university, after self-studying (game) programming for years, going against the odds of being at liberal arts school and spending months emailing, phone-calling and interviewing, I scored my first video game programming internship. The well-deserved sense of accomplishment is absolutely amazing!
Cue me in two years later, earning good money still working for the same company part time and having the CEO ask me to postpone my graduate school plans to go work for them full-time instead :D
Matthew on 25/3/2010 at 11:28
Nice! Hope it goes well for you, detheh.
june gloom on 25/3/2010 at 11:30
Thanks, guys :D
Quote Posted by Thief13x
Congrats dude. Not trying to start a fight but I don't understand why you feel the Bureau of Vocational Rehabilitation owes you a job. Didn't you say they already paid your tuition? I mean shit, did I miss something?
Yes you did. BVR's job is to help their clients get work- that includes paying for college if the situation warrants. The problem is they're pretty counter-intuitive about it- see the examples I cited above. In other words, if you walk in with a crippled leg and ask for help, they won't help you unless
both legs are gone above the knee and they'll still make you pay for the crutch.
Quote Posted by Fingernail
I haven't followed your circumstances - are you disabled in some way (going by the last line of your footnote)?
Yeah, I'm completely deaf in my right ear and I have to use a hearing aid in my left. I use it to quite good effect, however- I hear pretty well, it's just a matter of clarity, which is why I had so much trouble picking out the voiceover in Dear Esther because not only was the Brit accent a tad too thick but trying to hear that shit over LOUD THOUGHTFUL MUSIC meant I wasn't going to be enjoying the game. Ironically, with games like Thief and Half-Life and other early works with no subtitles, I usually either pick things up immediately (it depends of course), pick things up with repeated plays, or I don't pick it up until my brain takes a second or two to fill in the blanks. Similarly, I have a hard time understanding people whose voices I'm not familiar with, but with those I know well- like my mother's, for example- it's not a problem.
Naturally this is a bit of a communication barrier which usually leads to me preferring to be alone in public settings rather than feel foolish, so I've not really accrued many friends at uni. I'm working on that though, but I hate uni enough just being there ;)
