Some Twitter friends and blog friends have asked me what I do at my new job (where I have been since January). Well, I would like to stay slightly anonymous, so I will just say I work for the Commonwealth of Virginia as a state employee. However, the daily routine is kind-of fun as it is never the same everyday.

I work in the legal field so I have attorneys with whom I work as their assistant. I do the generic secretarial stuff but I also do paralegal work. In a perfect world, I would be an attorney by now, but I am not and the legal field is a sketchy place here in the U.S. sooooo I am happy where I am. It gives me my legal dose and I still have a life outside of work.

I get to see the beautiful Virginia State Capitol everyday which is one of the prettiest sites in Virginia!

One of the benefits of my job (there are many) is that I can ask to be placed on FlexTime. I did this in February after a month of employment and keeping track – daily – of my gas, mileage, and time on the road. Being granted FlexTime means everyday I am in my office at 9:30am and I leave at 6:00pm. For my commute to and from Goochland, this schedule is wonderful. Yes, I do get out late, but I do not sit in traffic and I do not have to get stuck behind a bunch of cars when heading into (or out of) our parking garages. It is great. I am more efficient with my time by being on FlexTime!

Another benefit of my job is that I have my own office (and a door, apparently many friends of mine have offices with NO DOOR). I am free to listen to any music I want, watch TV during my lunch breaks as long as I do not disturb other offices near me. Well, my office is against a conference room so yay! I don’t get much in the complaint department. It is nice because I get distracted by lots of talkers and all I have to do is close my door, turn up my music and I get my work done twice as fast.

I love that I can once again wear grown-up clothes to work. For a while I was wearing officewear to my jobs when I was PT-working while in school and I had to give that up. Clothes that sat in my closet since I had left the DOJ and returned to college full time were so pretty and sad but I never used them except for when I had an oral presentation or a reception at the President’s House that I needed to look appropriate for. That being said, I did have fun dressing in fun short(er) skirts and casual dress. But I just feel more motivated if I look the way I want to be treated. Proper, appropriate, on-trend.

I am one of the youngest permanent employees in the office. There are some law clerks who just left (and we will get more this summer, I am sure) that are a little bit younger than me, and there are 2-3 attorneys who are a year or two older than me. We don’t hang out or associate with one another, but I am sure we would if I did not live in rural Goochland. We have a good banter going and they are great to be around.

So yes this post is text-heavy, but I hope it helped sketch out some more finite details of what I do!