Monthly Archives: January 2012

The first “gig” that I got out of college was writing for OurVinyl.com. This has been unpaid, but a great portfolio builder and a great experience. These types of positions, while not very financially rewarding, are still a great use of your unemployed time (particularly when you are fresh out of school and looking for experience).

OurVinyl.com

Volunteering at a music festival landed me my next position as an intern at a small publicity and marketing agency, Musical Earth. When I moved to Columbus, I contacted the publicist of the festival and told him I was interested in interning for him. He brought me on as an unpaid intern, and that position evolved into a part-time paid position. The value of networking is just as great, if not greater, in “new employment” as traditional employment.

In order to pay my rent I did wind up taking a part time serving position. Although I had to work multiple jobs at that time, I was grateful that I could still be actively working in my field while slaving away waiting tables.  I eventually took a few months off to travel, but am now back in the “new employment” game in California.

One of the great things about freelance and contractor gigs is that you can be very mobile. At Musical Earth, one of my co-workers lived 2 hours away and hardly came into the office. Writers for OurVinyl.com contribute from all over the world.

My boss Dave & I at All Good Music Festival

Right now I am starting a paid part-time internship at a PR firm in San Francisco. Paid internships are a great way to make money and gain experience, without committing to a career you may be unsure of. I also do publicity for a band, much like my position at Musical Earth, but now as an independent contractor. I also still contribute to OurVinyl, now as a senior writer, and am pursuing other freelance and paid internship opportunities until I find a career and a job that are perfect for me.

My new place of "new employment"

“New employment” is a great option for many different circumstances.  Post college grads who can’t find a career because of the economy, lack of experience, or their own uncertainty, for example. Freelancing is always a great way to make extra money on the side, even for the employed. And anything that gives you experience towards your long term goals is progress.

There are, however, many who are not recognizing this new form of employment. I have gotten more than one strange look in a job interview when I explain that none of my recent positions have been full time. I had to do a lot of coaxing with my landlord to assure her that while I am not full-time employed, I am working full time. Applying for a loan? Good luck explaining your income.

While this new form of employment is catching on much slower with many traditional companies and their full-time employed people, there are ways to avoid being judged and in some cases, discriminated. If you are working as a freelancer or contractor, I recommend branding yourself. Create a title, like an umbrella under which you can include your many gigs when talking to landlords or creditors. On resumes, group your gigs together by similarities to prevent having an unending list of odd-jobs that you have to explain to prospective employers. For example,

Freelance Writer (Full Time)

-Senior Writer for OurVinyl.com

-Creator and Author of MeghanBender.Wordpress.com

-______ at ____

Aside from networking, I use the internet to find many gigs. Check out these sites and start making money!

-Idealist.org

-LinkedIn.com

-ELance.com

Between not having the internet and being new to the Bay it’s been hard to find time to post! Not a bad thing I suppose, perhaps my resolution should be to spend less time on the internet and more time exploring my new home! If that were the case, I’d say I’m doing pretty well!

New Years weekend was surely one for the books. While I would have absolutely LOVED to join my close friends in Columbus for 2 nights of Papadosio (sold out the LC Indoors, hot damn!) I was fortunate to have a couple of visitors from home as well as some good friends here in SF to share it with.

Justin, a friend from work, and his friend Max flew in on Thursday for the Furthur NYE show at Bill Graham Civic Auditorium. That night we ventured into the city to meet up with my couch-surf-host-turned-good-friend Jess, and went out to Temple for dubstep night. It was a great time and an awesome start to one hell of a weekend.

To ring in the New Year I got all glittered up with Jess & Co. and went to Sea of Dreams. Beats Antique kicked off the festivities and played until midnight when they brought lots of green men to the stage to dance in the new year. Zoe and her dancers were on point, as always, keeping the audience in an visual trance as David Satori and Sidecar Tommy rocked out hard. The live set was really engaging and refreshing, since I’m used to seeing their DJ set.

Santigold took the stage after that, singing and rapping to lots of hard hitting beats. She was also accompanied by two dancers, who nearly stole the show. Amon Tobin’s ISAM was next, tying together the visual theme of the evening. Amon Tobin’s music seemed to catch a lot of the audience by surprise. Tobin has been playing his non-patterned digital experiments in the electronic scene for nearly 15 years, but never before has he had such an entrancing visual aspect to compliment his work. While the music wasn’t very danceable at times, it was nice to sit back and soak in the complexity of the projections and music.

After he wrapped up Jess and I followed the bass to a stage upstairs that we didn’t even know about. The room was humid with sweat and condensation dripped from the ceiling with the bass, creating a misty shower of…ugh… sweat? Dozens of glassy-eyed costumed-out people pulsed to the beat of some DJ I couldn’t identify. Jess and I posted up in front of the speakers and got lost in the music for the final hour of the event.

I reconvened with Justin and Max, who had been at Furthur, and we caught the bus back to Oakland. The next day we rang in the New Year with good friends at Lizie’s, where we drank mimosas, ate good food, and sat around a fire.

Also over the weekend I got the keys to our new home! I was all moved in by Monday and have taken on a mission of furnishing the place as cheap as possible. I scored a coffee table and a futon mattress for free from CraigsList, as well as a pair of speakers for $7 from Community Thrift and 2 rugs for $18 at Goodwill.

My friends have flown home but Ray and Emily will be here in just 5 short days! I start working next week, too, so that’s exciting! It only took a few weeks, but things are really starting to shape up out here. More updates to come when my internet gets turned on January 10th!