The story so far…
My name is Oswald Perez and I welcome everyone to the first post of my as yet untitled blog. The inspiration to do this came from two people, my cousin Chris and my friend and fellow John Jay & LICHS alum Stephanie. A place to speak freely about the journey that is life. Speech comes in many forms, in lyrics, memories and quotes. The main focus of the blog is documenting my experiences in employment, for better and worse.
I graduated from John Jay College of Criminal Justice on Thursday May 29th, 2008 with my BA in Criminal Justice. I ended up with a 2.9 GPA in five years but overlooked one key detail: the future. I kept getting asked about what I wanted after graduation but never had an answer. I spent the months after graduation wandering, looking for any job I could get and trying to figure out what to do with myself. I either came up empty altogether or got no further than the first interview.
In June of 2009, I got my Paralegal Studies certificate from Queensbourough Community College. But the degree and the certificate were only band-aids covering the flesh wound: I had no work experience. So to build up my resume, I volunteered off and on for two years with New York Cares until January 2011. In March 2011, I started volunteering as a file clerk for the Visiting Nurse Service Meals on Wheels office in Long Island City. I would file papers as they came in, pull out the terminations and make plenty of envelopes. But that came to an end in November 2011 as their funding was pulled. In April 2012, after a prolonged wait due to a backlog for Medical Exams, I started at the Coler-Goldwater Hospital on Roosevelt Island. I would go around the first floor to staple fliers, enter meal tickets into the database, cover the phone when the volunteer coordinator wasn’t in the office and occasionally cover for her when she couldn’t make it to the office. But that came to it’s end last September as the reimbursement by MetroCard , not cash ran out. The only money I’ve made to this point was by working with the Board of Elections each election for the last year and a half as a Spanish Interpreter. The last job interview I had was with Allen Home Care Services for a file clerk position last May. Everything was going well until the interviewer asked why I had no work experience and I froze instead of answering her. That day made me realize that I needed a new approach.
Which brings me to where I am now, still volunteering but with a explicit purpose behind it. Via Access VR, the state office for individuals with disabilities, I’m undergoing a work readiness program with the Rusk Institute affiliated with NYU Langone Medical Center. Based on the vocational testing undergone last summer, my clerical and computer skills stood out. My first attempt at this was with NYU Langone’s Employee Health Service in March but I was in over my head with the amount of paperwork that needed to be filed and it was decided this wasn’t the right place for me. And now, I’m transitioning to my next assignment at the Housing Works warehouse in Long Island City. The purpose of this program is to see if the clerical setting is right for me with the ultimate goal of ending up employed.
There isn’t a moment over the last decade where I wonder if I’d just done one thing differently, would my life be better now. I should’ve contacted Access when they came to my high school in Junior and Senior year, but let the opportunity slip by. After a lifetime of my parents and teachers having final say over everything, I needed to crash the car. This is the first time in my life where all the decisions are mine and I’ve made a fair share of mistakes. In spite of everything that’s happened so far, I am determined to end up with a stable, happy life even if it’s not on the horizon right now.
