ugh
Sometimes I'm left wondering if what I'm supposed/expected to do is lie on my applications/resume. The AP says that I shouldn't, but a lot of the time I'm left thinking that's the only option because everyone else does it anyway. Or, at least, everyone I interview at my current job certainly lies on their resumes, whether it's about how well they know a program (You claim to have a BA in Graphic Design and you don't know what it means when a test asks you to create and apply a Character Style in InDesign?) or how much experience they have with a topic (if you don't know how to do p { float: right;} and you claim to know HTML and CSS in and out, I'm not going to hire you). So if all the people I'm interviewing claim they are at Level 5 and are all at Level 1, doesn't it stand to figure that when I legitimately tell people I'm at Level 10, they all turn me down because they assume I, like 95% of their applicants, am lying and am actually at Level 5?
Or maybe it's only for graphic design jobs that pay $12.50/hr in an area where the BLS claims that graphic designers make around $20/hr (shh, I know it says mean and median and I remember enough high school math to know that those are words that make statistics tricky, that's part of why I'm rounding down so much) that 95% of the applicants lie.
At the same time, I'm left wondering if I really am at Level 10. Sure, that's where I am in my current job, but maybe most companies would only consider that a Level 2. Maybe my current job has completely misled me in terms of what to expect from graphic design jobs in publishing! Or maybe all them are like my current one, where you're expected to put in 110% every day for $10 less than what the BLS says you should be earning. Maybe most graphic designers live with their parents, hoping to someday break into the big leagues and make enough to actually afford to live within a reasonable commuting distance from their work. Or maybe they just get married to people who make ten times as much as they do and don't care about their income because they love their work so much. Maybe they all drive BMWs, just like the exorbitantly over-paid teachers at my high school did (oh, wait).
Though, seriously, if I wanted to be underpaid for my level of education, overworked for what I receive in compensation, and underappreciated for the work I do, I would have gotten a teaching credential. (But then I wouldn't have a job at all because I'd still be waiting for the babyboomers to retire...)
None of which even addresses the fact that apparently there is a whole set of rules that I was supposed to learn somewhere between ages 12 and 20 but missed. These rules cover things like, "If you ever get stuck in any sort of managerial position, write down every complaint you have about your subordinates and notify your supervisors about these complaints on a regular basis so that when your minions start complaining about you being pissy that they're not doing their work, you don't get in trouble because your boss is worried the minions will sue." Also, "When your mother complains about you not having a social life in college, and worries because you don't go on dates and have never had a steady boyfriend, what she's really saying is that you need to make connections to your classmates and professors so that they'll give you jobs in the future, she's not actually worried that you're depressed and upset with your life, despite that being what she claims."
Well, if nothing else, what I have learned is that the best managers are incredibly patronizing and talk in a calm, "soothing" voice while smiling (smirking) slightly the entire time and acting like they're just better than you over all. And that the only way I'll ever have any chance of ever getting anyone at my work to fear me is if I can legitimately accuse someone of sexual harassment, because no one's ever going to take me seriously otherwise.
Or maybe it's only for graphic design jobs that pay $12.50/hr in an area where the BLS claims that graphic designers make around $20/hr (shh, I know it says mean and median and I remember enough high school math to know that those are words that make statistics tricky, that's part of why I'm rounding down so much) that 95% of the applicants lie.
At the same time, I'm left wondering if I really am at Level 10. Sure, that's where I am in my current job, but maybe most companies would only consider that a Level 2. Maybe my current job has completely misled me in terms of what to expect from graphic design jobs in publishing! Or maybe all them are like my current one, where you're expected to put in 110% every day for $10 less than what the BLS says you should be earning. Maybe most graphic designers live with their parents, hoping to someday break into the big leagues and make enough to actually afford to live within a reasonable commuting distance from their work. Or maybe they just get married to people who make ten times as much as they do and don't care about their income because they love their work so much. Maybe they all drive BMWs, just like the exorbitantly over-paid teachers at my high school did (oh, wait).
Though, seriously, if I wanted to be underpaid for my level of education, overworked for what I receive in compensation, and underappreciated for the work I do, I would have gotten a teaching credential. (But then I wouldn't have a job at all because I'd still be waiting for the babyboomers to retire...)
None of which even addresses the fact that apparently there is a whole set of rules that I was supposed to learn somewhere between ages 12 and 20 but missed. These rules cover things like, "If you ever get stuck in any sort of managerial position, write down every complaint you have about your subordinates and notify your supervisors about these complaints on a regular basis so that when your minions start complaining about you being pissy that they're not doing their work, you don't get in trouble because your boss is worried the minions will sue." Also, "When your mother complains about you not having a social life in college, and worries because you don't go on dates and have never had a steady boyfriend, what she's really saying is that you need to make connections to your classmates and professors so that they'll give you jobs in the future, she's not actually worried that you're depressed and upset with your life, despite that being what she claims."
Well, if nothing else, what I have learned is that the best managers are incredibly patronizing and talk in a calm, "soothing" voice while smiling (smirking) slightly the entire time and acting like they're just better than you over all. And that the only way I'll ever have any chance of ever getting anyone at my work to fear me is if I can legitimately accuse someone of sexual harassment, because no one's ever going to take me seriously otherwise.