Graduate school prepared me for many things clinical but this past year my job prepared me for lessons that can’t be taught in the classroom. Life lessons. Namely: contracts, work environment, and overall satisfaction.
Back in July of 2014, I promptly accepted my first job offer as a clinical fellow in speech language pathology. At that point, I had been out of school for one month and ready to begin working. I moved out of my first over-priced apartment in DC, was sleeping on my mentor’s daughter’s bunk bed, and was so ready to begin the road to supporting myself on my own income! I now consider all the factors and pressure I put on myself at that time, and wish I would have taken my time before signing my name. Simply put, I rushed in and made mistakes.
I decided to write this post to offer some tips on what to do AFTER you rock the interview and receive an offer letter/contract. I made mistakes so you don’t have to!
1. Listen to that little voice! I cannot stress the importance of TRUSTING yourself. That voice rises up when something doesn’t sit well, sound right and cannot be explained to your satisfaction. Heed to your intuition. It normally doesn’t steer you wrong.
2. Let a seasoned professional/mentor read your contract. Find someone who has no ties to the company (unbiased), and has more experience with contracts than you. They can draw you to red flags, and explain language that may elude you so that you understand exactly what you are getting into. Contracts are generally hard for lay people to read, unless you’re versed in lawyer talk. Don’t feel bad asking for translation. If you still don’t understand, ask the hiring manager for clarification until it makes sense to you.
3. If you need time to decide, don’t be pressured into deadlines. Employers use this tactic to try and get you to commit to something before you’re really sold or have had enough time to thoroughly understand the contract. Be wary of any company that gives you a tight deadline (i.e., 2 days) to make a decision on something so very important. Kindly request more time to make a decision, if they seem antsy to lock you in, this should be a red flag. Clearly this is also very important when it comes to waiting on other offers and when you’re trying to consider the pro’s and con’s to particular positions.
4. Speak up for what you want/Develop a Back Bone. Contract negotiations can be a bit intimidating, but in the field of speech language pathology, therapists have an advantage. Currently, there’s a higher demand than licensed and qualified professionals and when there’s an offer in your hand remember that THEY NEED YOU. You, however, have the advantage to choose from plenty of jobs that are available. This mindset helps develop the confidence you need to get exactly what you want.
Fridays are supposed to be my day off. Keywords: supposed to. One thing about my current schedule is that I work on Saturdays. I don’t really enjoy that but I’ve gotten quite used to it. I use Fridays to plan care/doctor’s visits, grocery shop, sleep “in,” dream about working out, and pay bills. Believe it or not, I do need a whole morning to pay bills. Planning, setting up payments, browsing online, and deciding what my “splurge” will be that pay period takes time.
Yesterday, my day went a little different.
I woke up and went to work from 9ish-2:15ish. I work at a middle school and yesterday I had a pretty good session with a bilingual (Spanish-English) 8th grader. She requires support formulating sentences that are clear in meaning and grammatically correct. She basically writes the way she talks, in a “stream of consciousness” that tends to leave the reader confused because her thoughts run all together. I am trying to work with her in a way that she can understand that there are certain things we can say but not write. That there’s nothing wrong with the way she speaks, however, when we write we have to stick to conventions. We revised an essay she had previously written, and she seemed to trust me and enjoy the editing process. I enjoyed being able to code-switch and hopefully give her some functional strategies whenever she has a writing assignment. I’m thankful that I’m able to work with students supporting them academically, and teaching them that writing is a beautiful thing and not something to be feared or detested.
I don’t know if you caught that a couple of month’s back I glazed over the fact that my new iPad mini was stolen at the middle school. Before lunch I got a call from a gentleman who said his son bought an iPad for $100 from someone, they took it to someone to try and “unlock” it and my “stolen property” message popped up with my number. He decided to Do the Right Thing like Spike Lee. 🙂 Let’s pray this intention has a happy ending.
Lunch was a nice free treat. I got to choose from this spread.
After I left the middle school, I headed over to Howard University to attend the Honors and Awards Program for the Senior Dental, Dental Hygiene and Postdoctoral Dental Programs. While at Howard, I worked and became very close to one student doctor in particular. All dentists are not “people dentists,” some could really use some lessons in bedside manner. My student doctor taught me that first and foremost patients are people. This has been something that I know firsthand as a speech therapist but now I hold other professionals to the standard. Dr. Brown is the sweetest person and most gentle doctor I’ve ever worked with. I had to go support. I’m a baby about any dental work, therefore, it’s not often that I acknowledge someone is gentle, knowledgeable and all-around great as she is!
Somebody was getting the Graduation “side-eye.” lol
After I left Howard, I needed a place to go and do some paperwork. Coffee shops tend to be the go-to places, however I had picked up a flyer about this new-age “shared work space” called Cove. When I typed it in my GPS, there was one location like 8 minutes away at 1624 14th Street in Columbia Heights. I’ll write another post soon as to why this is my ideal “productivity” place. Whoever thought of creating this space should be making big bucks soon because it appeals to: artists who are suddenly struck by the muse and need a quiet space to release, self-employed folk who can’t work in the busyness of coffee shops, academics who need “group-friendly” spaces for studying and or writing dissertations, ANYONE who is perpetually distracted at home, and a person who travels around the City for work and needs an “office-on-the-fly.” I sat in my corner of productivity for about 3 hours. All because the first trial was free. Thanks Cove! Check here to see if Cove has arrived to your city!
Don’t mind if I do!
All in all, I can say that although it was a “busy” day, it was a good day. I didn’t spend the day dreading about work the next day, and I got to enjoy the day at my own pace. Every other Friday is also payday and I can’t be mad at that!
Looking forward to more productive Fridays, on my watch!
It’s really hard to say how I feel about the beginning of 2015. It’s only 20 days in and its come in like a storm. I’m learning how to cope with some of the news, and some days are good while others I don’t care much for getting out of bed. I’m still a part of the group psychotherapy however I’m starting to feel like I would benefit from individual therapy for a couple of months. I’ve even considered being evaluated for anti-depressants. The group has started to feel very crowded (there’s a total of 8 members) and although all 8 don’t come for every session, I always feel like my quiet demeanor gets lost and I don’t feel like competing for the “floor” right now.
I’m not in crisis mode. This year won’t get the best of me. I plan to make vacations a priority, even if it’s a small get-away every other month. Also, I will be 30 this year. I really don’t know where my 20’s went. However, I plan to bring in this birthday doing something DIFFERENT. No party. No exhausting birthday dinner where the check comes and everyone is calculating how much they owe down to the last penny. Just me doing something I love with those I love. Das it.
In no particular order, here’s what’s rocking my world:
The “documentary” Light Girls premiered on #OWN last night. I hadn’t watched the sister show “Dark Girls” but I was very much interested and curious on what the conversation would be about. Black Twitter, of course, had a ball going in deciding on what women on the show could be considered “Light” and which ones were actually “Medium.” I’m not here for that conversation. I really did want to hear the narratives and what topics would be uncovered. Here are just some tweets from last night:
Most people seemed furious over the show. I do admit, with good reason. The documentary seemed all over the place and not well-organized. Mostly, they had so many random “speakers” from comedians to celebrities to random doctors and I just couldn’t follow. I think they tried to “touch on” too many subtopics that they didn’t master honing in on one topic and expounding on that. I’m not sure if you watched or what you thought, but feel free to share.
I am more than halfway through my Clinical Fellowship. Hallelujah. I’ll be certified this year!
I didn’t get to take the mother-daughter trip I wanted to in December like I wanted to. I planned it too late. However, we are heading to Jamaica in April and I’m uber excited about it! I’ve decided on Montego Bay!
I know what my book is going to be about! Just have to get on a schedule to start and work through it!
I start re-paying my student loans next month. I know this is a big step for me. Budgeting has to be a priority now.
I cannot wait for Spring! This winter hasn’t been too brutal so I just hope it stays that way!
I haven’t seen Selma but I heard amazing things about it. I’ll think about going to see it.
Graduate school prepared me for many things clinical but this past year my job prepared me for lessons that can’t be taught in the classroom. Life lessons. Namely: contracts, work environment, and overall satisfaction.
globetracer 