The art of job-hunting

Wholeheartedly Sudaniya is a graduate! 

After 3.5 years of writing papers, pretending to study, taking notes, interning, volunteering and attending lectures given by Jimmy Carter, the Queen of Swaziland (no I don't mean Switzerland) and Jerry Leach (he is such a sweetheart!), she is done. No more papers and waking up at 5 in the morning to register for classes and no more student discounts (I just realized how useful being a student is a month ago when I finally decided to get fit and join the gym!). 

After a summer of pretending to be working and doing important things...wait:- why do people ask you about your plans a week after you graduate? are you expected to get a job the day you graduate?

I wanted to chill the whole summer,but I did end up working as a research assistant twice and doing some volunteering ( I was a lazy volunteer!) , but I did think about getting an actual full-time job. Not the 9-5 crap because once you start doing it, you are sucked in. You are in it "till death do you part".

Finally, after Ramadan...

I started job-hunting.  I looked at the usual :- relief-web, alert-net, Irin news etc... Anything to do with communications in an NGO or other humanitarian vacancies. Then I had to write cover letters, now this is the difficult part, I hate writing cover letters...why? I lack the qualifications to "bull-shit". I can't convince you of something to save my life....

So after a number of cover letters..... I got lucky. 

 I never got any full-time job, but I did get lucky. A freelance opportunity here, an editing stint there, I managed to keep myself busy and satisifed. The hard part is when people ask me what I do. I mean, come on, working from home or in your pj's is not considered "real work" in the minds of older people ( the emphasis is mine!). I'm expected to find something proper, wear trousers , a shirt and carry a formal (black or brown) bag , wake up at 7:30, drink my cup of coffee and rush out the door. 

For now, I'm gonna continue doing random things, sleeping in and reading my favorite magazines and books.

Maybe I will get a "normal" job someday, but for now, I feel very blessed:)