How Myspace started my career….

I read my job description about a hundred times before I walked through the doors of the Lutheran Center in downtown Baltimore to join the team at Lutheran Immigration and Refugee Service and had no idea what I was actually going to be doing for the next twelve months.  My supervisor called my first day of work a fire hose of information I probably wasn’t going to remember.  Not only was she right, but by day two, though I felt comfortable in my work environment, I literally had no idea what my actual job responsibilities entailed. 

            Day 2 involved running around the office and learning everyone’s names (which in an office of a hundred people, has yet to happen).  I was asked to look at the website and make a mock presentation about what our organization is all about.  I did these tasks with great enthusiasm, but again I still had no idea what I actually did.  I went through orientations on how to use certain programs and was thrown into department meetings before I was actually aware of what department I worked in. 

            By week two I had turned in my presentation and knew the website in and out- only to realize why I had to do these tedious projects.  Then I relearned an acronym (which by the way- is the way most Lutheran’s speak, so I’ve learned),  HTML.  The last time I had seen the term HTML was somewhere in between a basketball game and an emo stage in the middle of high school posting songs and pictures that identified who “I truly was” on the original internet social media of our time, MYSPACE.  Apparently in the internet world, HTML is more than just posting pictures of you and your friends holding up peace signs- it’s an actual art of design and technique, that I had mistakenly learned when I was 16. 

            Though I was still unsure of what my daily duties were, I knew I could step into the dreaded Sphere program, and innocently maneuver my way around the design of mass emails, web pages, and Enewsletters I now helped manage.  This bit of confidence made me realize that my gifts could include those hours of Facebooking instead of studying for my Ethics final, the hours of silly Skyping I could never get back, and my pointless desire for Tweeting.  In the work place, these activities are called Marketing.

            I have turned my addiction to my Blackberry into a how to guide and have turned the term BBM into daily vernacular and practice in the office.  (As I’m finishing up this blog I was interrupted to start a Skype conference on my supervisor’s computer.)  I am thankful for the opportunity to share my strange gifts with the workplace I have grown to love.  I hope that one day I can turn my college procrastination skills into a full fledged career.  Until then, I am happy to report that I have learned what my job responsibilities include.