Workplace comedies are pretty big right now. People love seeing a (mostly) real look into the lives of people that do typical common jobs. NBC’s Parks and Recreation is a workplace comedy dealing with the daily tasks and adventures of a group of people who work in a small town parks and recreation department.

Watching Parks and Recreation does not stop at just giving audiences a laugh, however. It provides some lessons that job seekers and people focused on advancing their career can notice.  Here are some of the lessons learned from Parks and Recreation:

Being an Intern has its perks

The idea of interns just doing busy work and taking coffee orders is a blown away with the character of April Ludgate. At the beginning of the show April starts out as an intern for the Parks and Recreation Department. Her tasks are anything but little: assisting with campaigns, generating support for a park project, and speaking at public forums. April is constantly able to network with top city officials throughout the show.

Be Yourself

April Ludgate, the intern, does not try to be someone she is not. She maintains her sarcastic deadpan personality. In a weird way this actually gets her noticed. City officials, residents of Pawnee, and her co-workers are all curious about her.

Several career sites and counseling offices tell you what to do and not to do in an interview. They say the behavior a person needs to have while on the job. They mention what to wear on the job or to an interview. With all these voices, it can be easy for a person to lose themselves. Do not let that happen. Do not lose your personality and distinction during an interview/ at a job. Still have professional etiquette of course! Just do not forget to show your personality to an employer. After all, this is what makes you unique.

Take Charge. Don’t be afraid to speak new ideas

Main character Leslie Knope is deeply committed to making her hometown of Pawnee the best that it can be. She is not afraid to let some of her weird and off the wall traits show.  She constantly talks about all the ideas she has to make Pawnee a great town. She wants to build a park, increase literacy, promote healthy choices, and help small businesses. Leslie has planned out steps to make all of her ideas a reality.

College students can particularly learn something important from the Leslie Knope character: she doesn’t wait to be told, she just does. Leslie is not stuck in the cycle of having someone tell her what task to do. She takes on workloads of her own.  She creates things without being asked.

 

Go to Entertainment Weekly’s website so you can vote Parks and Recreation for an EWwy Award (the punctuation is correct)