Don't insult my intelligence

MBAs tend to have a bad reputation. A lot of people think of business school grads as those who just waltz into an office and expect to manage everyone and run the damn place because weeeeee I have an MBA and I know everything!

I am not one of those people. For real. I can hardly run my own life let alone any kind of organization.

That said, being a) a smart person, b) an MBA grad and c) someone with a few years of legit full-time experience at a fancy name brand financial services company, I think I'm entitled to at least defend my intelligence and look for a job that will be fulfilling and challenging. And specifically, to defend my intelligence WHILE looking for a job that will be fulfilling and challenging.

A few weeks ago, a recruiter called me to tell me about a job they had available as the Recruiting Coordinator for a tech start-up. He told me about the job and then asked what I thought. Our conversation went as follows:

Arielle: To be honest, this job sounds 100% administrative and that's really not what I'm looking for. I'd like to do something more strategic.
Recruiter: Well, this is a great career track role and is very challenging. Have you ever done scheduling before in Outlook?
A: Yes, we used Outlook at my last job.
R: Okaaaaay, but have you used Excel and PowerPoint before?
A: Yes, I've used them both quite a bit.
R: Okay, but I see on your resume that your last full-time job was in 2008. What have you even been DOING since then?
A: Um...I just graduated from business school like 3 weeks ago (which is obviously on my resume).

The conversation continued and the recruiter kept insinuating that I was a moron with no computer skills who apparently did nothing useful with the last 2 years of my life. Thanks.

Today I got a call from a temp agency asking if I wanted a short assignment working as an administrative assistant to some senior dude at a bank. She said it would involve answering phones, making travel arrangements, etc. I'm definitely happy to do any temp job that comes my way while I look for full-time work, so I said it sounded great. She then said she was looking at my resume but wanted me to elaborate on what experience I had with that type of role. I told her that I used to answer my boss's phone when she wasn't around and that I felt very comfortable scheduling and booking travel and whatever else, though technically I didn't have any full-time experience as an admin, as she could see from my resume.

And you know what she said? "Oh, I'm going to hold off on this one then because I really need someone who can jump right in and feel comfortable."

I'm sorry, did I not give you the impression that I can jump right in? I CAN JUMP RIGHT IN, LADY. I HAVE A MASTER'S DEGREE AND I'M PRETTY SURE THAT QUALIFIES ME TO ANSWER A PHONE.

I don't mean to get all high and mighty. I'm not even saying I'm above being an administrative assistant, but I AM saying that I'm insulted when someone implies that I can't do that job. Especially when it's a temporary role that only involves BS stuff until whoever actually has that job returns from vacation. And also because I did temp work all of last summer doing...exactly all those things. And have done them at several jobs throughout college.

Seriously. If people look at my resume and STILL think I can't schedule a meeting or answer a phone, why did I pay all that money to go to school?

I bet all of you, even those of you who may never have worked in an office a day in your lives, could walk into any of these temp jobs and kill it. Because they are EASY. And those of you reading this who I know have also done temp work, I'm sure you will agree.

Look, I may not be super hot or stomach-clutchingly funny or naturally talented at really anything, but I know that I'm intelligent and I know that I can use a computer pretty f'ing well and I know that I'm employable. DID YOU HEAR THAT, PEOPLE WITH JOB OPENINGS? EMPLOYABLE!

Until someone realizes that, though, I will enjoy my life of leisure.