Advice for:
Thursday, October 20, 2005
Upper class-person advice on first year stress
Comment of the day today comes from ChiChi, a female student who’s weathered the academic storms for a few years now. Here’s her advice worth reading:
... I just want to tell the freshmen and sophomores (especially those who feel like they have it all planned out, or that they need to), it is OK to not know what the next semester is going to look like. Some people are probably freaking out cos they started the semester thinking, “XYZ is going to be my major, and I am going to do ABC with it and become a successful EFG”, but now that they are taking the classes required for that major, they have realized that they don’t really like it as much as they thought they would.
Well, don’t get all stressed about it. Honestly, I will tell you (and this is out of my own personal experience), you may not be 100% sure about what you want to major in until your junior year. My AER has changed about 5 times up until now. I am not saying slack off and don’t decide what you are going to do with your life, but don’t freak out if you don’t. It will all work out eventually.
:coolsmile:
As always, I’d love to hear from others who have changed their majors. If you’re new to this process, just click on the comments link to add your thoughts.
Wednesday, October 19, 2005
Freshmen advice
It doesn’t take an astute observer to notice increased stress on everyone’s faces. A typical reply to the generic “how’re you doing?” invariably runs something like…“great but really busy.”
Given that context, is it any wonder that I’m seeing so many freshmen with worried expressions on their faces? Add up their composite stressors—leaving home, adjusting to a room mate, coping with loads of homework, fitting in a social life, adding a job, juggling relationship issues—and it’s a wonder that there are still so many smiles.
So today’s blog is really along the lines of “auntie” advice. To any and every freshman reading this….get through your first semester and, as much as possible, postpone the big major-choosing and life-long-career decisions for another semester at least. Unless you’re decisions revolve around pre-professional programs with their more restricted course selections, give yourself some time to explore the plethora of core courses. What you love and what you hate within those offerings will be part of the open and closed doors along the way.
So, listen to your Aunt Bonnie and take 10 minutes today to head outside, let the wind blow through your hair, smell the fall in the air and catch a glimpse of the turning leaves on the trees. Catch the glory of the Lord in the moment.
Friday, October 14, 2005
Tips on working a job fair—to the max
The first time I walked through an in-progress job fair was the spring before I started my job as a career counselor. The event was held right here on campus and I was employed, so there was no reason for my fright & flight response. What was I afraid of? A room full of strangers? Not knowing what to say? Looking foolish? Probably. Anyway, I just about ran out of the room…in a professional sort of way, of course.
I later found out that I’m not the only participant with the jitters. Which is why I’m recommending this great web site—collegegrad.com—to help stave off some of the anxiety these events can produce. It took a bit of exploring but I finally found their golden resources on what to do while at the job fair.
And here’s one more tip I commonly pass along. As you enter the room, look for the lone and lonely booth. The one where the recruiter is standing all by him/herself and looking longingly at the other booths with long lines. That’s the place to start. Break the conversational ice with someone who’ll be genuinely glad you stopped by. Make their day and build your confidence at the same time.
Thursday, October 13, 2005
Treasure hunting at your local job fair
Tis the season. Yes, even news paper columnists are commenting premature retail Christmas ornaments lining store isles.
But the season I’m thinking of is the annual round of college job fairs. Here at Calvin we run ours cooperatively with a consortium of colleges and universities, drawing a sizable crowd of employers.
So you may be thinking…what’s the deal with the treasure hunt subject line?
Monday, October 03, 2005
Freshman advice from a sophomore who survived the the first year
If you’ve been reading any of my blog entries, you’ll know that most of my good ideas come from the people I meet. Life would be boring without the constant stream of interesting people who cross my door.
So, I decided today to ask my friend/student worker/consultant-on-real-student-life for ideas on today’s blog. She promptly came up with a list of student, especially freshmen, related comments. Some of them fun and some serious.
Here are Jamie’s Top Four Tips: (Or “What’s Good Enough to Sound Like it Came from
a Parent but is Straight from a Student’s Mouth”)
Wednesday, September 28, 2005
The nitty gritty of choosing a major
With the verdict still out on how relevant specific majors are to final careers (aside from pre-professional program, that is), the point remains. Sooner or later you have to choose. So how do you go about doing that?
The following are selected tips I typically share with undecided students.
Thursday, September 22, 2005
Who cares about a college major?
Though most of my freshman appointments of late have revolved around their first year experience course, aka Prelude, self assessment assignment, the second most commonly raised issue is—-
What Should I Major In? I met with one person this week who had changed his major within the first week. Quick thinking on his part.
But the fact is with varying degrees of angst, as you may know from reading my posting advice from a senior, around 70% of all freshmen change their major that first year.
Before getting to the nitty gritty of selecting a major, some people wonder if it even matters what major you choose.
Monday, September 19, 2005
Keeping the “same-old same-old” interesting
Yes, another blogging break last week while I struggled to keep my head above water. A very busy week. Nuts might be too strong a word but somewhere between Nuts and Very Busy would work.
And it was a week characterized by doing a lot of the same thing. Hour after hour. So it dawned on me this morning that other people might find themselves in the same boat, asking that age old question: how am I going to keep this interesting?
Wednesday, September 14, 2005
Top liberal arts skills
For those students looking ahead or those grads seeking to market your liberal arts background, the National Association of Colleges and Employers includes these skills and qualities in their description of the Perfect Candidate…
Friday, September 09, 2005
How to talk to anyone: ice breaker tip #1
Seems like a good topic for a weekend when social opportunities usually pile up. Though I love meeting new people, I occasionally find myself freezing before an event. It’s usually the room full of strangers that does it.
So, I collect tips on how to break the ice.
Here’s one from How To Talk To Anyone which I plan to use myself.
Wednesday, September 07, 2005
Advice to Freshmen from a Senior
Half way through the second day of classes seems like a good time to welcome incoming freshmen to the hallowed halls of academia, especially if those hallowed halls anywhere near my office. Personally, I’m always delighted to see the campus abuzz with activity.
On top of mastering details like where to get computer support or where to find your classes—short term survival skills—there looms at the back of some students’ minds vague questions, like where am I headed with this college thing. Or, more specifically, what am I majoring in??
Maybe not surprisingly, 70% of all in coming freshmen switch their initial major during that first year. And that’s where this advice to freshmen from a senior comes in….
Tuesday, September 06, 2005
Reader’s Question: how to handle a dismissal
A reader wrote in with the following question:
After working as a bank teller for 7 years, I was fired - so I was told -
because several customers complained about the quality of my service. There
were no complaints about my technical competence, and I never missed a
single day due to sickness. My question is, how do I work around this during
my job search? I worked there too long to leave my last employer off my
resume, but I can’t think of a way to minimize the impact when asked why I
was fired. Customer service issues seem to be an employability kiss of
death.
Monday, August 29, 2005
Real life lessons—job loss
So many real life lessons lately that it’s hard to sort out what to share. As I mentioned in an earlier post, I’ve made most of these mistakes myself so there’s no judgement. Just hurt sometimes with your hurt. But I can’t share the joy without also sharing the sadness, right?
Friday, August 26, 2005
Informational Interviews at your fingertips
How do you find out—before you get there—what your dream job is really like?
I’ve met with a number of people who never did check things out ahead to time and, low and behold, 15 years later and they hate (should be a capital H there) what they’re doing. Worse yet, might be making a lot of money doing it, thus exacerbating the stuck feeling. A few lawyers I met with years ago always come to mind.
Anyway, one low risk way to get the facts is to do informational interviews, i.e. line up what amounts to advice time with a professional and get them to basically tell their story.
Sound too daunting? Well, jump to http://www.roadtripnation.com and click on Interviews for real life tips from people in a variety of fields.
Wednesday, August 24, 2005
Cover Letter Hints
Since I’ve been hitting the whole job search thing rather broadly of late, I thought it was about time to add a few specifics.
One area which typically stumps searchers is the dreaded cover letter. I’ve seen everything from two paged tomes to very brief—but dry—form letters.
The best lies somewhere in between…if you drop the dry, that is… in a shorter, one page targeted letter. Easy to read. Interesting enough to hook people into reading your resume, which is the real purpose of the letter in the first place. Think interesting version of a direct mail piece—one which lures you on to the second page.
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