Random

It's May. I have indeed been remiss about posting. On the other hand, I have been helping people. (And no, not just cute mens...gawd.) But yes, I need to get back on the blogging pony.

Therefore, a few random thoughts that will eventually be expanded into various insightful, amusing blog posts...just not, you know, today.

If you have an internship for this summer, that's awesome...but don't assume it'll be useful in your future job hunt and/or career, unless you actually work hard, learn some skills and impress your supervisors with your punctuality, office etiquette and willingness to work hard. As opposed to impressing your supervisors with, say, your commitment to Facebook. Getting the internship is only half the job. You need to leave that internship with supervisors who think you're a rawk star and would happily put their reputations on the line, recommending you to others. I'm not talking about a (meaningless) letter of recommendation, but a supervisor whom future prospective employers can call, and he or she will happily sing your praises. This is harder than it looks.

If you're trying something new and difficult, but you love it and it makes you feel alive...you truly have to suck it up and commit. It will get easier. I speak from experience. It will eventually become addicting. Eventually. Therefore, ignore the haters, the doubters and the (totally expected) pit of fear in your stomach and just commit to the bit, as people in improv comedy say. Those people didn't start out funny--many, including my ex, still aren't funny...ha!--but they committed to something better than watching adultswim.com all day, right? If you keep giving up on things in this life, what do you end up with? Exactly.

If I go out with you, and you're not the smartest boy in your own seat, it'll be better for both of us (i.e. me and certain crucial parts of my anatomy), if you just shut up and stop elaborately demonstrating your ignorance.

Of fumes, mens and value

I’m not gonna lie, I’m kinda running on fumes…I know, it’s only Monday. But concepts like “weekend” and “R&R” only apply if you’re not self-employed…or if you married well, I suppose. Due to my sketchy taste in mens, I’m not—praise Allah—married yet (think of all the boys who I’d be denying a chance to um “date” me…), and so I remain self-employed. Therefore,  while I did enjoy this weekend, I’ve  also been working non-stop since…2008? Give or take a year…or three. So, I’m feeling a little exhausted on this blustery day in Queens.  However.

However, Spring Break is over, you’re “probably” sober, the New York Supreme Court has thrown out the first in a series of lawsuits against various law schools over the schools’ allegedly deceptive post-grad employment data…and you need a job. What to do? Indeed. Here’s what: network on your value. What do you bring to the presumptive employment table? Great grades? Not enough. Some internships which look nice on your resume, but didn’t directly translate into verifiable new skills and useful contacts? Forget it.  Your value is your skills, your grades, your contacts, really all of that, marketed in a way to alert prospective employers as to what a useful, sharp, plugged-in, hard-working employee you’ll be.  Your value must be that tangible.

The reason law school, for example, isn’t the elevator to success it used to be is because grades alone don’t cut it anymore. Not in a saturated economy like ours, with so many law schools and law students. Grades matter, sure…but they cannot be your entire plan of attack. If you saw the GPAs of some clients who have come to me after a year or so of legal temping and increasing desperation, clients whom in a so-called “normal” economy, I’d be asking them if that want that venti no-fat frap with foam or no foam…then you’d understand why I say, grades are not enough. It’s a package deal. A package of grades, of real-world, problem-solving internships in which you’ll actually be given responsibilities and be held accountable and have regular access to people who can help you network; of law school clinics at which you’ll actually have to work and learn skills, from answering the phone to interviewing clients; and of access to alumni who have the wherewithal and the incentive to help you. All of this is how you add value. And when you add value, you dramatically add the probability of gaining a job.  You see what I’m driving at here? Interested? Email me @ carlotazee@gmail.com.....and then I’ll show you my value!