Remember how you got your first job out of college?

In 1990 The Simpsons started regular episodes, the retail price for a gallon of gas averaged $1.34, Dan Quayle was Vice President, and Michael Milken was sentenced to 10 years in jail.?Unemployment was 5.6%. The internet as we know it did not exist. And yet, we still had to find jobs.

Around the middle of my senior year at the University of Oregon (Go Ducks!), I started to think "I should probably get a job after graduation." I'm not really sure how I figured out how to go about it. I don't remember any meetings with career advisors. I don’t recall having any connections or family examples or mentors.? It wasn’t like I was a loser.? I probably just didn’t think of asking anyone for help.? I guess I was…cocky.? School was always easy for me; and getting a job seemed basically like going to the next school.

I had a definite plan:? Find job #1, work for 6 months, get job #2, then go to business school.

I printed cover letters and resumes on good paper and folded them carefully into envelopes.? Looking back to the Pre-Internet Age, I have no clue how I knew whom to write to.? I guess I just somehow found addresses for companies that looked interesting and sent the letter to … HR?? People even wrote me back!? (Actual human people!)? But it was just to say they had no openings for me.

For some reason, even though I lived in Oregon, my target list included Washington, DC.? Yadda yadda yadda, I was offered an internship in the Department of Commerce!? And what could help with business school more than working in what is essentially the Department of Business? Some guy named Rick said I could intern for him.? I was all set.? My parents had a friend who was going to pay me to drive their Subaru to their daughter on the East Coast.? Then, two weeks before I was to move out there, Rick told me he got a new job and there was no more internship.

I had no other real options; so, I moved to DC anyway. ?I still thought, "How hard could it be?" Ignorance is...

I needed a home base. With a telephone -- what if a hiring manager needed to call me? The only person I knew in DC was a college friend, Suzy.? All I remember about her now is that she wanted to be an optometrist.? Oh, and that at the time, she lived with her parents in DC and they said I could stay with them for a couple days.? Suzy’s dad worked someplace where we could watch the Fourth of July fireworks from the office balcony – where else but in America could a small-town boy drive across the country with no job and find himself on a balcony watching fireworks over the Washington Monument?

Then I found a newspaper ad and a guy named Bob said I could rent the room in his 2BR apartment near Adam’s Morgan.? Bob was a journalist for a major magazine and was not nearly as messy as I was.? He was basically a grown up.? I slept on a mattress on the floor.

My plan was to work for a bank. Somehow, using the phone book, I figured out some streets where there were corporate offices for banks.? So I took the bus down there and looked for street addresses and logos on buildings.? I would walk in, ask for an application, then fill it out.? It seemed promising.? I was working my plan, but soon began to wonder if ‘Customer Service Representative’ was really what I wanted.? Plus, why go to DC and work at a bank??

I decided, just in case banking didn't work out, I should also be looking for jobs that would use my degree in International Studies.? I managed to meet someone at the US Trade Rep’s office.? No dice.? And the Foreign Relations Committee didn’t hire folks straight out of undergrad, it turned out.? OK! Good to know!

My money would run out at the end of August.? Maybe I should just wait tables.? But it felt like settling.

For a few weeks, I sweated it out on the bus and by walking block by block to various banks and government offices. I liked the idea of being a banker, but my heart was less and less convinced—I longed for something more exciting, like working at the USTR or Commerce.? The European Union was right around the corner – surely someone could use me for my study abroad experience!

I redirected my job search to Capitol Hill. ?Bob told me the cool kids hung out at a dive bar called The Tune Inn.? In a strange city, advice like Bob’s was a real boost because it helped me feel more social and like I was in the right places.? Every little insight was a building block I could assemble for this job hunt.

I went to all the offices of the Members of Congress from Oregon to see if they had jobs available.? No one did.? But the people I met were friendly and had ideas or at least encouragement.? (I even got a couple dates out of the process.)? Still, they had jobs and I didn’t, which was super annoying.? I was starting to feel like I was lured to DC by a bunch of phonies who oozed enthusiasm but didn't want me in their club.? I kept running into people who seemed to have it all figured out, like Stanford grads (though they always seemed a bit too sure of themselves?).? I needed to stop playing and start playing to win.? I felt the need to prove myself.? I also felt, “I’m running out of runway!”

I found my way to the office of my parents’ Congressman.? The front line to congressional offices is the admin assistant.? As I sat there in one of those government chairs, Sherry read my resume on paper (it didn't take long).? I explained to her that I had minored in political science.? The qualification she liked most was that I was from the congressman’s district.? My parents definitely lived in the district.? Mainly I tried to be as smart and as eager as I could.? But I didn’t feel like I knew how to describe any value I might add to their mission.

One might be thinking I should have done more homework about the Congressman and his district.? But…how?? Remember, the internet didn’t exist back then!

As it turned out, the Congressman was the ranking member on a House Committee and had a small committee staff.? Sherry confirmed they could hire an intern.? Then she walked me from the Rayburn building all the way over to the committee office – in the Capitol Building.? Can you imagine someone today taking that time to show an intern candidate a mini tour?? “Finally," I thought with relief, "someone with more than enthusiasm!”? Another building block:? Professoinal Kindness.? I had no expectations of this from her; it was just…nice.

The internship was to answer phones, run the fax machine and phone messages for the counsel, do a lot of reading about campaign finance reform, and update a database in Lotus 1-2-3.? It paid $1100 / month and my rent was $675 / month.?

I started on August 1.? Every day I would walk, wide-eyed, into THE U.S. Capitol building and go up the stairs to the little office I shared with my boss.? It was amazing every single day.?

It turns out that having a job is also a good way to learn new skills – we had free training on productivity tools like Lotus, WordPerfect, and congressional information systems.? And every task offered lessons in politics and government.? I photocopied important documents and even got to accompany the general counsel to a hearing.? I met tons of people.? I ate breakfast sandwiches from the take-out in the basement and got my hair cut by the same barber who did Tip O’Neil. After 6 weeks, my 3-month internship turned into a job on the professional staff and I focused on IT policy and campaign finance legislation.? Working on The Hill was an unforgettable experience that I’m so grateful to have had.?

My graduation day over-confidence turned out to be enough to put me into motion.? I didn’t know what I could or could not do.? Yes, I had a plan; but, even more important, I paid attention to the lessons being offered and was able to adjust. Persevere and adjust.

I volunteer to help U of O alumni with career networking. A recent conversation with a kid five years out of college made me realize that I wasn't aware how different it is now to find your first job out of college.?

Finding any new job is different now.? But finding your first job out of college – how did YOU do it?? What can today's grads learn from what you did?