May 23: Schooled

Something I couldn't learn from school:

Why is this such a tough one?
I learned a lot in school and there's a lot that school couldn't teach me.

I just don't know where I'm going with this. I could say that school couldn't teach me how to love or how to be myself or how tough it is to get a job anywhere... but that seems cliche and dumb.
I learned how to be myself no matter what situation in school and I learned that I want to be an editor or a writer or something along those lines when I grow up. School taught me that I'd rather be home with my husband than learning about biography or what have you. I know what I want to learn and I know where I want to go with the help of school. Now I know that school can be the difference between me and someone who was never educated but was laid off from a 15 year career as what I want to be in the race to a job position.

Why is school so important. I don't understand why so many job offers require 2-3 years of professional experience when you're first starting. It's like all those barista jobs that require 2-3 years of experience with coffee before being able to work there. Excuse my language, but how the HELL am I supposed to get 2-3 years experience if no one will hire me in the first place?

Whenever I look at open positions as an editor it says I need that experience but I know how great I am at detecting errors. I scroll through 9gag.com occasionally and almost every other post says something stupid and I automatically correct it in my head. How are employers supposed to know that I'm a great editor without letting me show them.

And that's where school comes in. At least I have that associates degree that cost me $10,000+ of my own money so I can maybe get a leg up on maybe a third of the competition. Entry level? if only I heard that more often when applying for all these positions. I can't wait to show my real worth in the workplace and not just "uh... I worked as a barista for 2 years and now I want a real job so... I have an associates degree...Hire me?" One day. one day...

Okay. I'm going to go apply for more jobs. Wish me luck.
love, Ellen