COLUMN: Preparing for the workplace

From Karen Pasternack's, "Effective Immediately," Fall '98 From Karen Pasternack's, "Effective Immediately," Fall '98Last night on 90210 Monica told on Bill. Then Hillary got mad and ran off with OJ Simpson. In the aftermath, Bill was impeached and Kato Kaelin became president of the United States. Clinton isn't the only one with a carefully worded narrative these days. The media has repeatedly framed Monica Lewinsky as an innocent, young intern who fell victim to advances by the president. Although I'm not convinced of Clinton's guilt, the depicted scenario does raise questions in my mind about issues I may have to encounter in a future job. Both sexes should be concerned about the Lewinsky plotline that seems to depict the workplace as a Pandora's Box, filled with seduction, gender discrimination and exploitation. We learn quickly at Penn that internships are often the best way to get jobs down the line. We are ready to sacrifice our time without pay for promises of future benefits. But through these windows on the workplace, we may be shocked to witness or experience uncomfortable and even destructive situations. After all, office life is vastly different from interactions on Locust Walk. Perhaps we spend too much time talking about what goes on at Penn and not enough time contemplating various scenarios we may be forced to encounter once we leave the ivory tower behind. If the University wants to continually boast a preprofessional community, it should fully arm its students with knowledge of the office world. The majority of us will join the workforce someday. Now is the time for us to learn about our rights. I wish I'd had a greater sense of the workplace before entering past internships. Although I've been fortunate to have mostly positive internship experiences, I've also encountered unexpected situations. Last semester I began working with a local film production company, which I learned about through the English Major listserv. At first the company seemed credible, and the executive producer asked me to assist in writing screenplays for a children's movie. But the writing opportunities were continually pushed off by menial tasks. And I realized that these people were anything but professional. I was just as likely to have a film produced as they were. I can appreciate that grunt work is par for the course in many internships. But they were actively exploiting college students, rather than allowing them opportunity to gain skills useful in the field. After speaking with the other student who was hired along with me to complete this project, we decided to leave the company. I did not anticipate the exploitative nature of this situation. But I feel lucky that I became aware of my position before signing any kind of contract. And I will now be more careful when evaluating job descriptions, since I realize that the potential for this kind of experience extends beyond the realm of internships. For example, a friend and recent Penn graduate found herself in an ill-managed and abusive office environment. She had to contend on a regular basis with coworkers' blatant rudeness and backstabbing e-mail messages, but was hesitant to resign after such a short time. She finally decided to leave after encountering another Penn alum who had left a job after similar circumstances. Although we cannot always foresee environments of this nature, we can protect ourselves from making a potentially destructive situation worse. We have orientation for studying abroad in other cultures. Why should we have to look beyond our campus to the pages of GQ and Cosmo for strategic guidelines for working in an office culture? The Career Planning and Placement Service should offer more seminars about office life -- with topics ranging from what possible avenues to take if you are harassed on the job to how to get along with a boss. In these seminars, students could role-play, acting out mock situations and discussing possible solutions. In this way, students could learn from each others' experiences instead of heading blindly into internships or permanent jobs. If Monica Lewinsky's alleged story can teach us anything, it's that we need to walk into the offices of world with our eyes wide open, keeping us one step ahead of explosive circumstances.