Seniors
Wednesday, April 02, 2008
Getting back in gear…
Re-starting a blog is just like any other lapsed activity. One has to exert a significant amount of energy to kick start before momentum takes over. Take exercise, for example. Due to a lengthy post-surgery recovery last summer, I found myself slouching rather than standing, panting rather than breathing and discouraged rather than hopeful. The way back to functional fitness looked like the proverbial mountain. But with a little help from my trainer-friends at the local health club and a lot of persistence, I’m back to where I was a year ago--or almost.
So too with the job search. Seniors arrive on my (office) door step in various stages of preparedness, from those just getting started to those in need of an encouraging word after months of seemingly fruitless searching. The point is, they come. One at a time. Scared or enthused.
If you find yourself with your head in the sand, ignoring all that awaits after graduation, start the first step by showing up. Because despite the dismal prognosis filling even the most positive of publications, people are still uncovering opportunities, finding jobs and moving on.
To quote The Source: as your day, so shall your strength be.
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Friday, April 28, 2006
Readers Question: Should I go to law school?
Dear Aunt Bonnie-
I’m a junior who’s finally chosen a major. After considering a number of them, including education and social work, I finally chose English because I love to write. I also want to help people, as you can see from the majors I considered but did not choose. It seems like my best choice might be law. Then I can write and help people at the same time. What do you think about my idea?
James
Friday, April 21, 2006
Take the quiz before you get the box
Some of my blog titles have admitedly been a bit obscure. So much so that sometimes I find myself reading a list of previous titles and wondering what I managed to stuff into the blog body.
So let me be right up front about this one. The quiz refers to what’s to follow, namely a quiz on how well you’re doing at your current job. Pass it and you might not receive “the box”, i.e. the one you pack with your personal belongings just before security or someone less scary escorts you out the door. For good. Often as not, that lonely walk happens on a Friday afternoon. So, check out the quiz instead.
(Hint: true or false answers work the best.)
Thursday, April 20, 2006
Resume Objectives--real life examples
I’m looking at a veritable tower of resumes--all real life samples from different colleges and universities--so my desk resembles that of an employer overwhelmed with choices. Lots of competition for perhaps one or two job openings. So since I’ve got this pile of gold here, I thought I’d pass along a number of objectives and let you draw your own conclusions about candidate potential.
Note: Though these objectives are all directed towards education, they highlight typical resume objective foibles.
With no further ado, then, check out the following:
Thursday, April 13, 2006
Job Fair Insights: From the mouth of a recruiter
Put yourself in this person’s place. You’re a recruiter for a coveted school district knowing that it will take the person at the end of the line 90 minutes to reach first place. By the end of the day, you will have collected 400 resumes for two open positions. How do you possibly sort through the crowd?
Well, a lunch time conversation did much to demystify the process. According to one recruiter, candidates are rated on three criteria.
Thursday, April 06, 2006
Random questions about resumes
With the job search ramping up for many seniors, I’m getting a lot of scattered and random questions about resumes, questions about small and subtle details, the sum of which ends up being greater than the individual parts.
So, I thought I’d take today to answer a few of the more common inquiries.
Q: If my resume is two pages, do you staple them together?…
Wednesday, April 05, 2006
Getting the most out of your references
Someone recently asked me to fill out a reference for them. Thoughtfully, they provided a brief “cheat sheet” so that I’d be up to date on their past experiences. I thought this was a good idea and felt well prepared to gush over them. Until I took one look at the reference form, that is. As it turned out, I could only fill in 50% of the questions about that particular person. Though I knew them well within one context, the reference form asked for information beyond that bandwidth. Sadly, I was not sure whether I’d be of much help at all.
Resulting advice? Make sure you cover your bases when asking for references. If your reference has not observed you within a certain setting--and here’s where it helps to review the questions on the reference form--prep them. Let them know in detail who you are across the spectrum so that they have an adequate base from which to speak.
Thursday, March 30, 2006
It’s spring. Do you know where your job search is?
Serious spring fever hasn’t hit yet but it’s pretty close. With temps hovering around 65 and birds singing, the last thing most students want to do today is sit in a library. Even worse, contemplate The Job Hunt, synonomous for many seniors with an identity shift from life long student to professional. Too much to deal with at one time. So head-burying may seem like a better option, fueled by internal phrases like “I’ll find something when I graduate. It shoudn’t be too hard. Something will work out.” Anything other than face the frightening fact that in a few weeks you will no longer be a student.
So if the Big seems to much to handle, how about taking a few baby steps? Consider completing one of the following in the next week.
Wednesday, March 15, 2006
Would You Steal This Job….
I recently came across a site running what I would love to cover--mini stories of actual people from a rather interesting spectrum of jobs. Check out Would You Steal This Job for at least a cursory introduction to jobs like community director, college recruiter and photographer, just to name a few. If you’ve found yourself wondering, as I have, what’s that job like? Well, here’s a place that will provide you with a quick glimpse. Not exactly a day-in-the-life-of, but at least some sites for further research.
And, a closing note for today. Aunt Bonnie will be taking spring break until the last week of March when blogging will resume.
Tuesday, March 14, 2006
When to use resume and cover letter templates…
I know of few people who get all geeked about writing their own resume or, much less, constructing a cover letter. So, the quickest way possible to complete this onerous task is to revert to a template--pulled from MS Word if you’re looking for a way to basically fill in the blanks or copied directly from other resources.
There. The job is done and you’ve got something ready for your job search, right? Well, yes and no. Yes in the sense that you’ve got something to distribute but no in the sense that it may not be all that effective.
Here’s what I mean. Suppose you’re an HR specialist who sees literally hundreds of resumes a day. What would grab your attention more, a resume from the very predictable Word template or one where the writer took a bit more care to craft its contents? The answer, I’m sure, is obvious. After a while, it takes effort to get past the same-old same-old template look and really pay attention to the contents, even if it’s great stuff.
So, best use of the template in my personal opinion is as a structure for your initial draft. After that, ditch it in favor of something more distinctive.
On to cover letters. Again, there are samples all over the place. But here’s my suggestion. Tweak and adjust the standard stuff so that it’s really you who’s coming across. This is especially true if your particular job search does not match the sample cover letter. For instance, I heard from someone today who ended their cover letter with a phrase saying that she would call in 10 days to check on the possibility of an interview. Good stuff normally. That’s how the sample letter was worded. However, the companies where that person was applying did not provide names or phone numbers, thus rendering the phrase meaningless and inappropriate for that particular employer.
So, take resume and cover letter samples as just that--spring boards for your own creative additions and subtractions.
Thursday, March 02, 2006
Marketing yourself…yuck
I realize that today’s title flies in the face of conventional wisdom. Current job search literature is replete with admonitions to market and brand yourself, the end result being a coherent product ready for employers to pick off the shelf, as it were.
Personally, however, I find the idea mildly repugnant. And a number of Calvin students seem to agree. Modesty rules, putting us at a seeming disadvantage in job search situations.
But, there’s nothing wrong with communicating who you are, right? I mean, how else will an employer know who they’re hiring?
So, in lieu of marketing yourself, may I suggest the following strategy:
Friday, February 24, 2006
Keep an open mind about hiring sectors
This may be a topic I’ve addressed before but it’s worth repeating.
If you’re a college senior, chances are you’re being plagued by post graduation questions about the next step. In your search for that next step, by all means, keep an open mind. Allow yourself to be curious and investigate any and all possibilities.
For instance, I was talking with a recruiter for the border patrol at a job fair last week. The job opportunities seemed obvious--border patrol agents to walk the borders. Well, I not only learned that prospective agents can select their area of interest-as in canine, equestrian or even helicopter- but the resulting training will then include a focus where there’s some interest.
So, what else was she looking for? Accountants. Yes, you heard right. Accountants. It makes sense when you think about it. Of course, I thought, the border patrol has to balance the budget and pay the bills, just like any normal business. But at first glance, I would not think of suggesting this government agency to senior accounting majors.
So, keeping an open mind and asking a lot of questions--just two ways to tap into those hidden job opportunities.
Friday, February 17, 2006
The Importance of Being Early…
Today’s title take off on Oscar Wilde’s Importance of Being Earnest might be a little thin but it kept running through my head after meeting with my employer friends this morning. Somehow the subject of “new hire’s” came up and it hit a hot button with one manager on the brink of firing a newbie for being late just one too many times.
If you’re a current student, you might be asking...."So what’s the big deal about being late? 10, 15 minutes isn’t going to make that big of a difference over the course of a day.”
That might be true in the long run. Over the course of a day, that’s not much time. Arriving late may even have been your signature in college, sauntering into the classroom using “close to” rather than exact time.
From an employer’s point of view, however, 10-15 minutes is money wasted, money they’re paying you to be at work producing. And as the new person on the block with no well established track record to buffer your mistakes, that’s a expense you can’t afford to rack up.
So, the next time you’re tempted to hit the snooze button and cut yourself a little slack, remember who’s waiting for you on the other side of the office door. “Time is money” might be more than a trite truism.
Monday, February 13, 2006
Hiring for attitude….
I visited a place yesterday where precision counts. Well, okay, I was just getting a haircut but the opening line still applies, right? I mean, who wants a bad haircut. The point is that during our extended one-way conversation (stylist as speaker and me as listener), she went on to talk about who gets hired now days and why. To quote, “We hire for attitude. Technique and skills we can teach but not attitude.”
Attitude in that setting means bending over backwards, doing more than what’s expected. And smiling graciously in the process.
So those summer and part time job experiences? Great forays into the Land of the Great Attitude, where you can perfect your approach and collect stories along the way to demonstrate your successes.
Friday, February 10, 2006
MySpace…not just for kids
Looks there are plenty of people finding fascinating material on MySpace this week. That would include local high school administrators who found pics of their students drinking at a weekend party. And there’s no closure yet as some students and parents alike refuse to accept the two week extra-curricular suspension penalty. We’ll see whether or not the issue ends up in court but the issue leaves a divided student body and another illustration of unanticipated MySpace consequences.
A recent issue of Money magazine (February 2006) advises parents to “counsel teens and even post college kids to be aware of the potential long-term consequences...” (Talkin’ ‘bout MySpace Generation, p. 27). But 2 minutes and a very cursory glance at MySpace contributors makes it plain that post college kids aren’t the only ones who need advice. How about 27 year olds who admit that they are the type of person who will wait in the car to drive you away after you, the perpetrator, commit a nasty prank? Hmmmm. And the employment sector for this person would be.....?
Evidently, removing injurious information may not be enough, as Money mag goes on to talk about search engines, such as Archive.org, designed to cull information assumed to be deleted from the the web.
Best course of action, my 27 year old “friend”, is to change your profile, edit your entry and alter your on-line persona. You’ve got a larger audience than happy stud muffins reading about your meant-to-be-humorous, but nonetheless deviant, predilections.
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