Employment Guide: In taking new jobs, prove yourself with patience

Last summer I spent three months working as a substitute teacher back home in Virginia. Unlike… Last summer I spent three months working as a substitute teacher back home in Virginia. Unlike most school systems, in my county a sub need only be older than 18 with a high school diploma. I wasn’t anxious to relive my middle school experience but I couldn’t pass up the pay. I donned the closest thing I could find to business-casual attire and entered the world of authority figures with great trepidation.

Even though I worked as a teacher, it seems this situation is all too common to any fresh-faced college student entering the job market. Veterans who have been around the office longer will be quick to assume the new hire’s inexperience and assume she’s incompetent at the job. Don’t lose confidence. Sometimes naivete and youth can make the newbie a better candidate than the jaded old-timers.

I spent most of junior high carrying around a pair of glasses, “The Hobbit,” and an inhaler. I returned to middle school feeling just as out of place as I did when I was the only sixth-grader picking Tolkien over N*Sync. Most of my co-workers were women in their forties or fifties. In the workroom they talked about Costco — “Their key lime pie is just fabulous!” — their home improvement projects and their children’s cross country meets. As the untested temp, I was largely ignored.

The students could tell I was the young pup on the block as much as the teachers could. When my co-workers didn’t take me seriously, the kids didn’t mind. I might have been a dork in middle school, but as a college student I was “cool.” They complimented me on my shoes. I could tell them if the book they were reading in English class sucked, and they looked the other way when I forgot to take attendance.

My relationship with the students might have been unorthodox, but it worked. I was good at my job. I worked as a special education teaching assistant, helping autistic, emotionally disturbed and learning disabled students. I tried to be gentle and have a sense of humor. I made sure that everyone stayed on task without being too tough.

I wasn’t particularly good at helping out with math or science homework, but let’s be real — middle school is more about finding your way through crippling social awkwardness than it is about memorizing the periodic table. The students I was working with were particularly vulnerable because they dealt with learning disabilities and behavioral problems. Some came from broken homes and combated eating disorders. To secure their fragile happiness I took on the role of cheerleader, guidance counselor and older sister. If they got smacked in the face with a ball in P.E., I tried to make sure none of the other kids saw them cry.

Some of my co-workers didn’t like the fact that I was so close to the kids. There were other teachers on staff who could have taken the job out of the hands of a substitute. I was allowed to stay because I proved competent and the students actually learned when I taught — and those above me noticed. With time the other teachers began to take me more seriously, even including me more in conversation at the lunch table. The workroom encounters were easier to manage. Most of the teachers taught or knew the same students, and they became the common denominator of our conversations.

I was good at my job for the very reason the veteran teachers assumed I wouldn’t be — I’m young. I’m young enough to remember my middle school days, young enough to remember what it was like to be the only kid who didn’t shop at Limited Too. I threw myself into my work and the good stuff came: satisfaction and a steady paycheck until school let out in June. I occasionally still check in on some of my former students.

Whatever career field you might be heading into, don’t feel undermined because you are fresh out of college. We might be inexperienced, but we are often the ones with new ideas and perspectives. And no matter what your job is, work hard at it.

It took my employers a little while to notice that I was a competent hire. Recognition often doesn’t come until things aren’t running smoothly — in my case, when other teachers couldn’t make my students do their work or calm them down after an emotional meltdown.

Each job is suited to a unique combination of personality and skill. If you love what you’re doing, chances are you’ll be pretty good at it. Don’t worry if your co-workers and higher-ups don’t recognize your talents immediately. Instant gratification doesn’t happen in the workplace. It will take time to prove yourself, but respect and satisfaction is worth the wait.

E-mail Caitlyn at cac141@pitt.edu.