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Twenty-three is an exciting age
Since his graduation, the lad has lived here working as a beat reporter for the local news rag and as a cook at a local eatery while applying for every possible position under the sun and trying to decide if he wants to go back to graduate school and/or in which direction he wants to go to get the rest of his life started. This past Friday, things started hopping. He was summoned to New York City over the weekend, had a couple of interviews, arrived back home late last night, had to write and submit a news article today, and by tonight was accepted as an intern with MediaGlobal at United Nations Headquarters in New York where he will be trained to be a development and global issues writer/journalist with a focus on human rights and humanitarian issues. It’s an intensive six month stint and he starts on Tuesday. It’s one more notch in his belt toward wherever he is going...which, I have a feeling, is not, ultimately, going to be in the US. But that’s something to think about later. He is so excited he can hardly see straight.
So, for the next couple of days, we’ll be sorting his stuff out, figuring out what he needs to take and what he can leave behind. Since he will travel by mass transit, he’s limited to what he can carry. I’m not sure how he will manage the rest of what he needs. Well, he does have a very lovely girlfriend who lives a short commute over in Jersey and her parents loooove the lad. They have offered their minivan to the cause and he can also stay at their house for as long as he needs, while he’s getting himself sorted out.
He is negotiating with two of his former frat brothers over living space. They’ve offered him a rather spacious walk-in closet (no, really) with dimensions of about 6’x9’ for $350 per month in a really nice apartment in White Plains...with laundry facilities. He laughed initially. I said..."grab it. Laundry? In two months you’d kill for on-site laundry.” He can’t beat the price and it’s a place to hang his hat and rest his weary head at the end of the day. It’s for 6 months, no lease. Who could ask for more? They suggested that if he’d cook for them 4 nights a week, they’d knock off more rent. He is a good cook and they know this about him. They haven’t had a decent meal in weeks. Well, I have heard of unconventional living arrangements over the years, so this doesn’t sound all that bad to me. Especially that rent in New York City.
It’s going to be interesting. It’s going to be exciting. It’s going to be one heck of an amazing opportunity. And it almost makes me wish I was twenty-three again. Not quite, but...you know. It’s so much fun seeing them starting to spread their wings that you want to spread yours right along with them. I’m so pleased for and proud of him.
Ah, yes. The good old internship! I did one my last year of undergraduate studies and still believe it got my foot in the door on many an interview.
As someone who goes through stacks of resumes on a weekly basis, the first place my eyes usually travel is the “Experience” portion. Those which are shallow go to the bottom of the pile (we are talking about the tech industry here), but real-world experience in your chosen field goes a heckuva long way in setting up a face-to-face interview.
So, good on him. I wish more young people starting out their careers would do the same!