Monday, May 5, 2008
Found a great resource on Dr. Kapp's blog for an ID book that has great project templates to work from. This was one thing I was really worried about in taking a position as a contractor - do I have the necessary templates to work from when designing the instruction.
To check out this awesome resource just visit: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34592362&postID=5137641322198812805&page=1
Fears of not having the time to come up with good templates are over - just remember to keep your files organized - case in point: I lost my text file for keeping tabs on my blogging - that's why I'm reduced to writing new material up at the last minute.
I need a digital secretary to organized my files!!
To check out this awesome resource just visit: https://www.blogger.com/comment.g?blogID=34592362&postID=5137641322198812805&page=1
Fears of not having the time to come up with good templates are over - just remember to keep your files organized - case in point: I lost my text file for keeping tabs on my blogging - that's why I'm reduced to writing new material up at the last minute.
I need a digital secretary to organized my files!!
So, the end of the semester is here and more importantly the end of my time in the IIT department at Bloomsburg University. This has been a couple of hectic weeks of interviewing and applying to jobs and internships, which is what I wanted to comment a little on.
First off, be careful of the CareerBuilder and Monster sites, or any job site. Insurance agents will bomb your email and start calling you to offer training as a sales rep. I've fended off five of them since posting my resume to CareerBuilder. I just tell them I'm looking for ID work, not sales, and offer to design some training for them - that usually gets them to stop bothering you.
Second, if your resume looks good - people with real jobs will contact you, so be prepared! If you see a listing and apply for the position, immediately follow up by going to the company's website! Do the research so you're not wrong footed if they call you, it's probably best to have a folder in your bookmarks with all the companies that you have applied to. This way you can easily access their info if they contact you.
Thirdly, manage your schedule well with the interviews. Usually they'll contact you by email first (but not always) and follow through with a phone call before inviting you to a face to face interview. This can become a juggling game if you don't have your schedule well blocked to accommodate the whole process. With end of school work due and other commitments you might be put in a bad spot, especially since you are trying to work around their busy schedules.
Forth, don't panic. If they don't get back to you, especially on a Monday - don't sweat it - they are probably catching up on emails and work related stuff that languished over the week-end. If they don't get back to you at all - don't lose heart and try to figure out if you did something wrong that offended them. You don't know what other candidates they are looking at - there's a good chance someone with a stellar resume applied after you and that just took you out of the race.
Fifth, It's nice to be a friend and good sport but your classmates and friends just became your competitors. They might be moping about complaining nobody is contacting them - that's not your problem. If you did the work and found a position that sounds good and would be a right fit for you - keep it to yourself. Your "best" friend just undercut you by applying to the position - and frankly, they might not be very generous to you in the future, even if you did give them leads on work.
Networking is good and dandy - don't take it to far by cutting yourself out of the running! Listen to what people say happened in their interviews, this will give you a heads up when going in for one yourself. Remember, companies seem to like playing good cop, bad cop - one person to stroke your ego in case they decide to offer you the position (and not offend you into rejecting them), and another to play the big, bad wicked HR person. Smile, relax and answer their questions - nobody knows the answer to everything, so if you can't give them a good one - tell them you'll get back to them on the subject, or that time is an area you need support and development on.
Most importantly, you're going to get some pretty informal emails from some people. Either they are to busy, or they just don't have time for anything but one liners. Don't follow suite! You are asking them for a job - keep being very polite and semi-formal, but don't sound like a windbag! You can probably drop the title after the first contact - unless they are continuing to be formal, but do not send an email with spelling mistakes or in a texting format!
Oh, and contracting work - well, as I said before - you might end up with far less friends then you started with if there is a contract on the line. Hey, you thought you were lining up a little support by recommending a friend, and then you ended up losing the contract!
Ok,
This was my little interviewing advice based on the last two week of my experience. I'll keep posting on this subject to let you all know how it turns out.
First off, be careful of the CareerBuilder and Monster sites, or any job site. Insurance agents will bomb your email and start calling you to offer training as a sales rep. I've fended off five of them since posting my resume to CareerBuilder. I just tell them I'm looking for ID work, not sales, and offer to design some training for them - that usually gets them to stop bothering you.
Second, if your resume looks good - people with real jobs will contact you, so be prepared! If you see a listing and apply for the position, immediately follow up by going to the company's website! Do the research so you're not wrong footed if they call you, it's probably best to have a folder in your bookmarks with all the companies that you have applied to. This way you can easily access their info if they contact you.
Thirdly, manage your schedule well with the interviews. Usually they'll contact you by email first (but not always) and follow through with a phone call before inviting you to a face to face interview. This can become a juggling game if you don't have your schedule well blocked to accommodate the whole process. With end of school work due and other commitments you might be put in a bad spot, especially since you are trying to work around their busy schedules.
Forth, don't panic. If they don't get back to you, especially on a Monday - don't sweat it - they are probably catching up on emails and work related stuff that languished over the week-end. If they don't get back to you at all - don't lose heart and try to figure out if you did something wrong that offended them. You don't know what other candidates they are looking at - there's a good chance someone with a stellar resume applied after you and that just took you out of the race.
Fifth, It's nice to be a friend and good sport but your classmates and friends just became your competitors. They might be moping about complaining nobody is contacting them - that's not your problem. If you did the work and found a position that sounds good and would be a right fit for you - keep it to yourself. Your "best" friend just undercut you by applying to the position - and frankly, they might not be very generous to you in the future, even if you did give them leads on work.
Networking is good and dandy - don't take it to far by cutting yourself out of the running! Listen to what people say happened in their interviews, this will give you a heads up when going in for one yourself. Remember, companies seem to like playing good cop, bad cop - one person to stroke your ego in case they decide to offer you the position (and not offend you into rejecting them), and another to play the big, bad wicked HR person. Smile, relax and answer their questions - nobody knows the answer to everything, so if you can't give them a good one - tell them you'll get back to them on the subject, or that time is an area you need support and development on.
Most importantly, you're going to get some pretty informal emails from some people. Either they are to busy, or they just don't have time for anything but one liners. Don't follow suite! You are asking them for a job - keep being very polite and semi-formal, but don't sound like a windbag! You can probably drop the title after the first contact - unless they are continuing to be formal, but do not send an email with spelling mistakes or in a texting format!
Oh, and contracting work - well, as I said before - you might end up with far less friends then you started with if there is a contract on the line. Hey, you thought you were lining up a little support by recommending a friend, and then you ended up losing the contract!
Ok,
This was my little interviewing advice based on the last two week of my experience. I'll keep posting on this subject to let you all know how it turns out.
Wednesday, March 5, 2008
Started blogging on Politico today
First blog ever was on Politico today - just couldn't take the nasty woman hating and gay bashing going on with some of the guys on that website. I guess when you have problems getting a relationship going with people in the real world, you figure you'll take it out on casual readers and writers on the web.
Anyway, so I'm getting into the blogging bug now and will be out there on the web letting people know what's on my mind about any and all topics that come to mind. One of the first, besides politics, is - I really miss restaurants in NYC. I was reading the Dinning Out sections of the NY Times today and I almost cried over what I'm missing in the way of great eats.
I think I'll be looking into moving back to a city soon because this dearth of good dining spots around here is really starting to get on my nerves.
I might be posting some excepts from my novel Datura Blue on my next blogs, - mainly to remind myself to find some time to get back to editing the first half.
Anyway, so I'm getting into the blogging bug now and will be out there on the web letting people know what's on my mind about any and all topics that come to mind. One of the first, besides politics, is - I really miss restaurants in NYC. I was reading the Dinning Out sections of the NY Times today and I almost cried over what I'm missing in the way of great eats.
I think I'll be looking into moving back to a city soon because this dearth of good dining spots around here is really starting to get on my nerves.
I might be posting some excepts from my novel Datura Blue on my next blogs, - mainly to remind myself to find some time to get back to editing the first half.
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