Holidays = Vacation Time

After working for 3 months straight (okay I guess that's not really that bad considering I am going to be working for the rest of my life) I am ready for a vacation. You'd think maybe I had a day off for Columbus Day or even Veteran's Day...nope. But finally Turkey Day is upon us and my firm was gracious enough to give us both Thursday AND Friday off. A lot of people took Wednesday off too so that will be a pretty boring day.

The work life is going well. Last week was spent working pretty normal hours (8:30 to 6:30). Thursday night our group that we have so fondly named "Team New Hire" met up for a happy hour on Thursday night in Dupont Circle. The bar we went to had a lot of good looking people just getting off of work. There were also some people there who looked like they were making a night of it (if you know what I mean - they were dancing on tables at 9pm). Friday wasn't too painful, though leaving at 6pm to start your weekend is a little bit miserable. Saturday morning started early attending a charity walk for the client I am on. Normally I would have snoozed my alarm but I had already committed to going and my partner was going to be there. It actually turned out to be a fun time even though the walk was 3 miles rather than the little loop around the National Mall that I thought it was going to be. The rest of Saturday was spent sleeping...work really wears you out (or maybe it was going out the night before and getting only 3 hours of sleep).

The best part about working and having money is going to visit friends. My friends and I went to Baltimore on Saturday night to visit two of our friends from Richmond who work in the city and have an apartment in Federal Hill. Their place was gorgeous and I was quite surprised at how classy they have become since college. I guess people actual do grow up and become responsible once they have real jobs. But then again, thinking about the events of the night, we are definitely still young and not quite that grow up yet.

I am excited for the three day week this week and am excited for my mom to come down and visit me for Thanksgiving. She has called about 15 times reminding me of things to get at the grocery store because she clearly has no faith in my cooking ability. Both of my roommates will be out of town so we'll have some quality time being lazy and if she's lucky, I'll show her around DC a little bit. Happy Thanksgiving!

First One In, Last One Out

Let's face it. As a first year staff at any company, you're going to be working your butt off. But, if you go into the real world knowing that, it makes it far less painful when the long hours actually hit you. I have always had the attitude that you need to put your time in and establish yourself in order to create a reputation within your business unit. However, you will find that not everyone feels that way and only want to work 9 to 5. Honestly, this is just not realistic.

I can probably count on one hand (okay, maybe two) the amount of times that I only worked 8 hours in a day. As a first year you really should be the first one in and the last one out. If your manager is at the office or client later than you are and there is something you can be doing to help out, you should still be working as well.

In addition, do what you do well. Don't rush through your work because you think that you have to. Ask the person giving you the work how long they think it should take you. If you do a poor job on it they are not going to trust you to do work for them in the future. Quality is one of the most important things in the professional services world and if it's not there, you might be out of a job sooner than you think. Always give 110%, even when it comes to making things look "pretty". I know Microsoft Word is a pain to format, but it really does make a difference when you are presenting something to the client, or even a co-worker or manager.

Lastly, accept your weaknesses. If you are not particularly savvy in a particular application (i.e. Microsoft Excel, Visio, Powerpoint), let those who are take that portion of a project. It is important to play off of each other's strength in order to be efficient and provide the most value to the client. Don't take offense if someone tells you that your co-worker is better at something than you because they will also recognize your strengths and commend you for them at another time.

New York New York

This week has been a change of pace since I am in New York City for training. The best part was that I got to come up to visit friends for the whole weekend and my company paid for it. That's a nice little perk. However, the boringness that is training barely makes the free trip exciting.

Weekends in NYC are crazy, hands down. I was able to meet up with friends from school that I hadn't seen in awhile on Friday night, then met some new friends on Saturday night. It's great when everyone invites friends from home, work, etc. because your socially network grows exponentially. Although you aren't going to be using it for business purposes on a Saturday night, these are good contacts for the future. Also, shopping is also amazing. If you are here, go to SoHo. Yes girls, I am talking to you. You can get lots of cute stuff without breaking the bank, it's a steal.

So that brings me to Monday, the dreaded first day of training. I'm pretty sure that all training is pretty boring so I can't really complain. I was expecting it. While it's nice to learn all about the program that I am in and where we fall within the entire firm, I have heard it all before. The days go by so slow and though I am sure I will take away some valuable information, sitting and listening for 8 straight hours is difficult. The best things I have learned this week have been about business etiquette and business writing, which I think will be applicable when I return to work next week. You'd think that people know all about etiquette, but you'd be surprised. Many of my co-workers went out for Halloween last night and about twelve of them showed up late for training this morning. That is absolutely unacceptable. Other talk during the presentations to their neighbor. It is really very rude. Every time I see things like this I make a mental note to myself to NEVER do anything like that. I'm sure I'll have more to say about that before the week is over.