Today’s Dilbert cartoon hit a little too close to home for me. It brought me back to my days as a Case Assistant in a Law Firm (those long 4 months ago) where I spent most of my days lined up at the copy machine, panicking over minute details. Had I stapled the correct pages? Did I skip a page? Were they in order?
It definitely was a good ego-check, as every time I was feeling kind of important, an attorney would plop a stack of papers on my desk to be stapled ASAP, and I would put my head down and race to the copy machine. What I didn’t realize at the time, is that all of the stapling, binder-creating, and copying, was worth it. The experience working in a Law Firm enabled many of my colleagues to receive excellent recommendation letters, and have some great experience to put on their Law School Applications. The Attorneys recognized the Case Assistants that worked hard on these “menial tasks” and rewarded them with more responsibilities such as attending court or a deposition.
No matter what position you have, and no matter how “menial” you deem your work to be, if you take it seriously it will pay off in the long run. When employers are asked to review your work to future employers or schools, they probably won’t describe you as, ” A great stapler, binder-maker and note-taker,” but as ” A driven individual that did their best at even the smallest tasks.” So Instead of passing off that copy job to the closest victim for fear of looking ” unimportant”, put your head up and realize that it is only the stepping stone to many future possibilities.
