Make The Most Of Your College Experience - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career

Make The Most Of Your College Experience - Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career Deal with your emotions first. No matter where you go to college you can have a phenomenal experience and leverage your degree to get hired. Every college offers opportunities to broaden your knowledge base, expand your analytic abilities and gain real-world experiences through internships.  Adopting a proactive, positive attitude towards learning, meeting new people and trying new activities will make a dramatic difference on how enriching your college life will be and how you can use it to advance yourself upon graduation. If you were rejected from your “dream school” and it’s causing you angst, consider this fact: Some of the most famous people and biggest influencers in our society over time, known leaders in their field, including Warren Buffet and Steven Spielberg were rejected from their first choice of college and went on to become enormous success stories! Their massive disappointment from being rejected didn’t stop them from persisting and pursuing their interests.   So take a deep breath and lighten up a bit… the success you have will largely depend on your attitude! Maximize your collegiate experience: make yourself happy Find social, cultural, political and/or sports activities to meet people you can relate to.   Every college has a variety of clubs, organizations and associations that offer programs and leadership opportunities for students. From joining a sorority or fraternity, technology clubs, social action groups to writing for the student newspaper, religious organizations. There is something for everyone at most campuses that could enrich your life and help you meet friends with whom you share lots in common. Most schools offer information in their student services departments and on their website about the variety of social, cultural, political and religious activities available on campus. If your curious to learn more about a particular activity, find one of the student officers of that group and ask to meet him/her for coffee.   You might surprise yourself that there are so many great things to participate in.   Your challenge will be narrowing down your choice to one or two so you have time to devote to your academics. Develop your social contacts while in college Once you’ve establish a circle of friends,  you’ll probably feel more settled in your new environment; you should make an effort to branch out and also socialize with people who are different from you.   Consider joining a social group like a sorority or a fraternity where you might meet people from other disciplines. If you’re an English major, you should try to meet people outside of your own discipline like Engineering or Economics students. Sharing a common experience with people in different departments will help you broaden your network. Someday you might be looking for a job in social media marketing or in sales. You never know when an engineering firm might need a social media marketing person or when a computer software engineer might need a salesperson.   Keep an open mind to fostering relationships with students of all stripes and skill sets. Try to learn from the best professors You can also get ratings of professors online at www.ratemyprofessor.com. Keep in mind that these ratings might be biased towards the extremes. Students who post ratings could have strong biases based on their personal experience with that professor. If they did very well in his course she might give him a high rating but if he did poorly he might give her a lower rating. Your college counseling office might also offer a list of most well-known professors who are often teaching in your school’s most esteemed departments. You can ask the question, Which department is most highly regarded by alumni and donors? Then try to find a class or several classes in this department that genuinely interest you and choose a recommended professor.   These professors are frequently the gatekeepers to internships and jobs so be sure to make a positive impression on them.   Show your interest in his/her subject by making thoughtful contributions in class discussions. This could help you stand out and help you become memorable to her if you ever need a favor for getting an internship. Develop a plan to get internships Vault, Simply Hired, InternMatch, Workingsports are all examples of great websites that could help you find an internship that could eventually lead to a job.  In addition to these websites, career experts still say that the best way to find an internship or a job is using what’s called “warm contacts,” or people you actually know.  If you get to know a professor s/he could become your warm contact.  Many professors hold jobs and careers outside of the University.   These people are often happy to assist students when it comes to finding an internship at their firm.   It will be your job to identify these professors and ask them to be your mentor.   The old adage, “ you won’t know unless you ask” applies here. You have nothing to lose by asking. But if they agree to help you, you have lots to gain. Choose a major you love and ‘minor’ in something practical If you’re anxious about not knowing what your passion is and you don’t have any idea about what you want to major in join the club. The vast majority of people who start college and don’t know what they’re passionate about. I suggest you don’t invest your energy into pursuing a passion as the pursuit of finding ones passion can result in undue stress and anxiety.  Just because you  know your  passion from an early age does not mean you will be happier than those who discovered it much later in life. In order to find satisfaction in life, I recommend that you engage in some introspection and research on what a day in the life of someone is truly like in the job and in the city you esteem. I also urge you to consider what author, Cal Newport says about following your passions.  Passion is elusive… in the stories of people who end up loving their work: after they develop  rare and valuable skills  they then use these skills as leverage to take control of their career path, often veering far off the standard trajectory. Pick a major in an area that you find most natural and interesting and a minor in a subject that will give you practical skills. There should be some connection between college and your future career. This will reduce your anxiety later as you come closer to graduation.   It doesn’t mean that college should be a strictly vocation  based experience, but a savvy student will use it as a time to explore and ask thoughtful questions to upperclassmen and to esteemed professors. When searching for a major, you should consider many factors: Where do your strengths lie?   Are you good with numbers? Do you enjoy research?   Is writing a strength or do you tend to do better in the sciences? Are you energized working in a team or do you find more inspiration when you’re working alone? The answers to these questions can help you know yourself better and give you some data points to select a mentor and for choosing your major. I suggest you try to offset what you love with what will round out your skills. Perhaps you would major in History and minor in computer science. Or major in Economics and minor in web development. If your school doesn’t offer the option of a double major or minors you can try to pick a major that will allow you to delve deeply into a subject you love (and that comes more easily to you) and take other classes that will give you hard skills.  Hard skills are those that you could apply immediately in the work force e.g. communications, web programming, computer science, finance or accounting. If you’re strengths are in Engineering you may want to take an art history or English literature class. Balance what you love with some hard facts about majors that have been found to have worst ROI (return on investment) This act of leverage requires courage, but can return great rewards. Building the skills that ultimately lead to a compelling career can take  years of effort.  You might try on several hats while in college and that’s ok. College is a time for self-discovery.   Take advantage of opportunities to meet with experts in different fields and ask them about their work and their lifestyle. Then choose classes that are prerequisites for entering this field. Minimize college debt Take advantage of as many opportunities to access free money for college. Learn from financial gurus Mark Kantrowitz and Gen and Kelly Tenabe’s brilliant tips on how to reduce your expected financial debt load and some secrets to increasing your odds of landing a scholarship. Mark Kantrowitz, the Publisher of Fastweb.com and FinAid.org, the leading web sites for planning and paying for college offer great tips about financial aid, scholarships and student loans. The Gen and Kelly Tanabe Scholarship Program, named after Gen and Kelly Tanabe who are the award-winning authors of eleven books on admission and scholarships. Together the Tanabes were accepted to all of the Ivy League colleges and won more than $0,000 in merit-based scholarships to graduate from Harvard debt-free. They offer clever tips on how to get scholarship money for college. In SuperCollege.com you can search more than 2,2 million college scholarships and grants to find free cash for college. Their latest book, The Ultimate Scholarship Book 2014, tells you where to find the best scholarships, how to win the scholarships you find, how to write a winning scholarship essay and more. Take advantage of free online support for coursework, especially in your most challenging classes.  One of the most exciting advancements in education today is the innovation of Khan Academy, a non-profit educational organization, created in 2006 by American educator, Salman Khan, a graduate of MIT.  With the stated mission of “providing high quality education to anyone, anywhere”, the website supplies a free online collection of more than  3,000 micro lectures via video tutorials stored on YouTube teaching mathematics, history, healthcare and medicine, finance, physics, chemistry, biology, astronomy, economics, cosmology, organic chemistry, American civics, art history, microeconomics and computer science. The instruction is outstanding and it allows students to learn material entirely at their own pace. Code Academy is another widely used and terrific site that can teach a beginner to learn how to build great websites, games and apps. The most resourceful students will gather all the information they can to find a University that matches their needs and positions them for success after graduation. The truth is that your happiness, fulfillment and career success will largely depend on having the proper attitude. Students who are motivated to take full advantage of what’s available to them on and off campus will rise to the top upon graduation. The prerequisite for moving forward is letting go of the notion that getting into a certain school will determine your happiness. Focus on what you can control once you’re on campus like the classes you take, the professors you choose and the people you hang out with. This way youre guaranteed to increase your chances for success and happiness no matter which school you attend.

5 Techniques You Need to Know About Job Search

5 Techniques You Need to Know About Job Search In recent years, finding employment is one of the most hectic tasks ever. Job hunting, job seeking and job searching are three different words which are used interchangeably in different areas.Many of us have an idea of how complicated it is to find the right job for ourselves. Due to the increase in competition, many people are still unemployed, regardless of how much skills they have. To resolve this issue, one should consider appropriate job searching strategies.evalFew job hunting strategies are made to minimize the risks of not getting hired by organizations.The key objective is to first, follow these techniques, implement them while searching it and then wait for the outcomes.Have a look into some of the best techniques for a job search, as stated below:1.Write an Effective ResumeevalDespite reports of its awaiting failure, it is referenced by experts that resume is the first step in finding a better job. A maintained resume is likely to give you an opportunity of getting hired rather than a document which is more like a report than a resume.It is recommended to format your resume according to the requirements of an organization. Don’t be so much in a rush while creating your document.Try to be specific while describing you and writing about your potentials. Make sure that a recruiter scans resume in just 10 to 15 seconds.They just wish to see keywords related to their job description and are never keen to know about your family background. Try to filter out your words so that it can be clearer to the reader. Your resume should not exceed two pages.evalKeep in your mind that you are now a professional and therefore, only limited contact details will be sufficient for an organization. Only add your personal contact information and a professional e-mail address through which you can easily be called.2.Build Your PortfolioAdditional documents should be maintained in spare so that a job seeker can easily provide if asked. If you are applying in a technical field, then you are required to create your portfolios. Your portfolio describes your work experience which helps recruiter in identifying the core qualities in you.Make sure your portfolio is illustrative rather than it contains a set of wordings. It must contain screenshots of designs you made or have ever worked on.This will help in describing your efforts in working professionally and also gains recruiter’s interest in viewing your practical work. This way, you are distinguishing yourself from another crowd of applicants.3.Dig Yourself into the Online Portals evalDo you have access to online job portals? Or, have you ever applied for any job using online job portals?If not, then create one. According to the recent surveys, job portals have erased the fine line between the organizations and job seekers. Now, one can easily get to know about job openings in a particular organization using these portals.Be the one who takes advantage of technology. Instead of applying through old -fashioned mail posting system, get yourself attached to the technological way of applying to jobs.Get access to the known online job portals and create your account on these websites. Keep it in your mind that these websites are not for your social media activities, so be professional here. Easily find your favorite jobs using specific keywords and apply on the go.4.Document a Cover LetterApplicants should be considerate towards their skills rather than indulging into non-professionalism. Few organizations require a cover letter to be sent along with resume. It is, therefore, necessary to create a one.A cover letter is comprised of additional notes which cover your skills and experienceOnce you applied for the job, sit back and relax. Hitting your inbox after every half an hour will drive you nuts. Your task does not complete here. Be careful with your actions.evalWhen you apply for a job, you have to wait for a week or until the deadline they gave. If still, you don’t receive an y call or email, then you don’t have to keep on knocking the doors of the same organization. There are still so many areas where you can apply. The only thing which matters is your attitude, not your promptness.If you don’t get a call, then don’t worry. Keep on searching for jobs of your interest. Don’t rely on one platform.Get access to other portals as well, such as LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook. Even, some organizations do post vacancies in newspapers.Try to read out the ones you get on Sunday because most of the companies try to approach job seekers by posting advertisements in Sunday newspaper.When searching for your next job, there’s a fine line between knowing what you want and keeping your choices open. Experts advise searching for the company you want to work for as well as the title you’re looking for.evalApart from joining portals, it is necessary to be active in networking. It is one of the key elements to attain success in career life. Don’t panic at the beg inning, just polish your skills, improve your communication and shake hands with your inner confidence before you step forward.If you are an introvert, get some motivation by socially interacting with some professionals. Force yourself to get out of the comfort zone and excel yourself in professional life. Make sure, you don’t bound yourself in getting into just a few things. You have plenty of options.These tactics are commonly used nowadays in finding right jobs. Concentrate on achieving the right one, not the best one because no job is bad if you are getting it on the one go.With the increase in competition due to education and skills, try to advance yourself with the passage of time to polish your skills.This will not only increase your knowledge but will also help you in getting the experience of next level.

Whats Cooking Co-Working Space

Whats Cooking Co-Working Space Yesterday I visited a new business in town. In our sleepy little town in upstate New York, we are making strides to enter the 21st century. The owner of this Co-working space has a vision! He wants to provide a work environment for solo-preneurs, independent contractors, virtual workers, telecommuters and others who hide in their home offices and are looking for a place to gather and possibly collaborate. Yes, there are networking groups, tip clubs, professional associations and the like. But those are typically viewed as truly social events. Envision an office where you could do your work and then gather at the water cooler and chat with others and look for solutions to some of your problems. A place you could call your own and feel comfortable walking into (remember Cheers?). The Hub: coworking space in Bristol From Huddle The Co-working space concept has been around for awhile in metropolitan areas. If you find this intriguing, check out this link on the Coworking Wiki to find space near you. If youve been to any coffee shop with WiFi, youve seen people hanging behind their laptops with a cup of Joe. Why are they there? Are they between meetings? Do they want to be around other people? Is their house too loud or too quiet? I find this to be a fascinating study. I mention this for so many reasons. First, we are seeing is a growing number of people working from their home offices. It is a trend that wont go away anytime soon. Second, after a recession, more people are drawn to starting their own businesses. Any new business NEEDS to be able to draw upon multiple resources and learn from others. Third, as connected as we are, we tend to work in occupational or industry related silos. What happens when you bring together a mix of people interested in sharing, collaborating and learning? The possibilities are endless. Learning from others outside of your industry and occupation in an informal environment.hmmm. I smell something good cooking.

Qualifications Of Engineers

Qualifications Of EngineersResume certification can make you look like a professional and certified engineer. It is the first step in landing the job of your choice. The company will not hesitate to hire you if they see that you have passed the certification exam.It is easy to get certification with the help of the online facilities. All that you need to do is find a website that offers this service and follow all the necessary steps to get certified. All you need to do is to make sure that the company has a good reputation in the industry and the services are proven and authentic.There are some good courses which can be taken for a nominal fee. You can also look for the ones that offer free certification tests. These tests are widely available in several fields and sectors. This will help you to easily find a good course which suits your requirement.Many companies give out these free tests because they do not want to waste their money on training programs which are not proven and do not work. A legitimate training program will be able to help you to take the certification test. After passing the test, the process is easy as all you need to do is to sit for the next certification exam after passing the previous one.It is always a good idea to pass the test with a thorough knowledge of the subject and the professional qualifications of engineering. You can get a certificate if you manage to pass all the tests in all the tests. There are different courses offered by the different sites. It is important to choose a course which suits your need.Some of the topics include: Technical Papers, Code A, Code B, Technology: Information, Fundamentals, An Introduction to Electronics, Mechanical Engineering Fundamentals, Engineering Processes, Semiconductor and Microelectronics, Design of Electrical Devices, Electronics Circuit Design, Waveform Analysis, VLSI Design, CMM, Engineering Systems, etc. Some of the topics are extremely difficult and will require a lot of focus and time. So you should consider the benefits and risks involved before you decide. Take the test with a little bit of doubt, so that you can get the best out of it.For testing the skills, it is important to ensure that you have answered all the essential questions correctly. If you make any mistake, you will not pass the test. To do so, you can prepare the answers in advance and then study them carefully.One of the major advantages of taking the certification test is that it can help you change the direction of your career. If you fail to pass the certification test, it may mean that you should switch the direction of your career. So, make sure you understand the real value of certification and make use of it to become a good engineer.

I Cant Find An Online Resume Writing Service Near Me

I Can't Find An Online Resume Writing Service Near MeI am having a bad time finding an online resume writing service near me. I know a lot of companies are using the internet, and they're promoting it to potential job candidates. I've done all the networking in town, but still nothing. What's up with that?As of today, I'm on the white pages, but still can't find any business. My last search was at the county courthouse. That led me to North Carolina, of course. I found some companies with a few candidates but they all seem to be related to each other, and I don't want to hire anyone from out of state.My resume is somewhere in my back pockets, so I just need to get it out there. I can do it over the phone, but I'm not sure what kind of reception I will get. I'm hoping someone else is able to help me out, because I don't know how to do this myself.I've seen a few resumes on my screen, but I can't find anyone locally who specializes in writing local resumes. Any suggestions?I'll have to call one of the local businesses I know to see if they would hire a local writer for their company. But I also wonder what kind of prices they would charge. Would I have to get my own computer, or do they have one of those special sites? Is this something I should pay extra for?So, how can I get an online resume written, and what do I have to spend for it? Any ideas?Online job websites are becoming more popular. If you're searching for something like this in the future, you may want to check out some of the online job sites. They're usually free and can give you a head start on your resume.

Dirty Facts About Resume Writing Format for Internship Uncovered

Dirty Facts About Resume Writing Format for Internship Uncovered What Resume Writing Format for Internship Is - and What it Is Not If you possess many internships, a different Internship section can be made on your resume. Today you are going to learn how to make a resume for internship in Google that is nearly certain to land you the job. Last, if your internship isn't related to the job which you are applying for, please avoid mentioning it. An appropriate internship on a resume sample can cause you to stick out from the crowd. The Ideal Strategy for Resume Writing Format for Internship To make the correct impression, you will need the right resume format. How to compose your internship cover letter Although you need to tailor each cover letter in line with the organization you apply for, there's a cover letter format when it comes to the content you could follow. A cover letter is among the best strategies to convey why you are the ideal candidate for the internship, per mitting you to expand on and showcase key abilities and experiences. Possessing a cover letter to go together with your resume is a great method to speak to them about who you are and your interest in the business. The Nuiances of Resume Writing Format for Internship Still, there are numerous approaches to show what you could do to help your employers by offering background information on your education, extracurriculars, and achievements. There are a few alternative tips for formatting sections within the resume that can help address certain concerns or offer alternatives. Finding an internship is a good approach to test different fields, discover new jobs you may be interested in, or gain valuable knowledge in your areas of interest. Employing a student resume template can help save you time and effort and offer you ideas on which sections to include and the way to complete them to be able to draw the correct employers. The Fundamentals of Resume Writing Format for Intern ship Revealed Writing a resume for an internship can be challenging, particularly if you're just starting to enter the professional world. Most students hit a wall when it regards the expert experience section since they just don't have relevant work experience. Now, while it enables you to kick-start your career, additionally, it aids the hiring managers consider you whenever you submit an application for a full-time position. Additional if you're changing careers you can earn use of internship experience. The Advantages of Resume Writing Format for Internship Expand your objective to include things like a persuasive overview of why you're the perfect internship job candidate. If you've had a job or internship experience before, your supervisor or boss is a good reference. The most essential part of an internship resume is making sure the abilities and experience you do have, though you could be very early in your career, are great for the job which you wish to do. Put in the effort to help it become strong, and you're going to land the internship in almost no time. New Questions About Resume Writing Format for Internship Do not repeat what you've already written in your resume. Once you've completed a few edits and reread your resume, you'll be prepared to submit to all the fantastic internship programs you've found! What's more, internships can be included when you're starting a new career. An internship is where you receive a preview of your real career. Employers like to find numbers that are viewed as keen indicators of succeeding. Internships can provide a student an extremely valuable opportunity since they can allow you to get some expert work experience below your belt at the same time you continue your studies. Students should incorporate the topics that are related to the internship and that is going to assist the employer understand how you are going to perform at their organization.

Craft A Thoughtful Job Review To Enhance Your Personal Brand - Work It Daily

Craft A Thoughtful Job Review To Enhance Your Personal Brand - Work It Daily There are many different ways to build and maintain a pristine personal brand, but there may be a fairly common opportunity that you could be overlooking. Online job reviews are a great resource for job seekers to get advice on companies they're applying to work for, but they're not the only ones who can take advantage of those reflections. Enhance Your Personal Brand With This Bold Move Many job sites like Indeed don't allow you to put your name next to your employee reviews, but that doesn't mean the information isn't relevant for your personal brand. You might not be able to find your review through a Google search of your name, but you can use the content as an exhibit for your accomplishments. It takes a lot of guts to pull off, but you could share your job reviews with other potential employers during the interview process to show your skill set and attitude. Analytical Skills If you can assess what a company does well and what it does not, you can use that same mindset to improve your output and your potential company's bottom line in the right situation. You can't possibly be an expert in every area that a company does business, but if you see a trend emerging in your department that is especially notable, be sure to point it out and mention how it applies to your case. You don't always want to copy what other companies do, but if you adapt their successes to your company's attributes and strengths, you can sound smart and create a plan for real progress. Communication Skills If your review is written well, it shows anyone who reads it that you are deliberate in your word choice and can communicate effectively with others. Everyone could use another clear communicator. Sometimes being brief is the best way to communicate, so out of respect for that rule, I'll stop this paragraph here. Another Step You Could Take For Added Visibility For people who are especially confident in their ability to write well, you could even publish your review on your own personal blog or social media profile. That's the easiest way for someone to see what you've created just through a search of your name. NOTE: We're not endorsing people using their personal blogs or social media profiles as a platform to bash employers. That would be completely irresponsible. However, using your past experience as a series of lessons to share and learn from paints a picture to others that you're selfless, constantly trying to improve and don't do things without thinking about their consequences first. Be Careful With Your Phrasing! Make sure you don't come off as a know-it-all by selecting your language with caution. Emphasizing the good parts of the job and company are a must. Where you can't offer sterling praise, give a positive twist on a problem the company is tackling. For instance, if the company grew very fast and couldn't scale its resources as effectively as you would have liked, you could talk about its ambitious goal-setting. If you're more of a details person than a big picture guy or gal, you still need the occasional look up from the trenches to see where your work fits in. If the business didn't offer as much guidance as you thought you needed, you could mention the self-direction it develops in its employees. Even if you're unhappy with how it happened, you still had practice in an important skill because of setting. If your review is done properly, it won't sound like sucking up. If you talk about it in person or over the phone with an interviewer, it gives you an extra opportunity to exhibit your point with the proper tone of voice and body language. Don't Just Summarize, Add Suggestions For Future Employees Since finding the right fit for a given job and company is so important, incorporate suggestions for the type of person that would work well there. If your job constantly requires teamwork, mention that the ability to get along with a wide variety of people is important. (If your team is built to last, there should probably be many different personality types on it.) If a company has many jobs that require repetitive work, suggest that people who try to make everything fun apply for the the open positions. When I worked for the Hudson Valley Renegades baseball team, I turned picking up fireworks into a rave, complete with blasting music and embarrassing dance moves. The employees who see your review will be able to know whether their attitude or skills match with the company. Any past employers that read it will have a better idea of the type of people they should be looking to hire. Prospective employers of yours will know sooner and more clearly if you're a good fit given their setting, so you'll save them (and yourself) time by either bonding more quickly or knowing that you're not a fit. Conclusion Just like you present your professional growth in the best light through your resume, LinkedIn profile and interview responses, you should package your work environment with the same gift wrap. If you write thorough, honest and positive reviews for each of your past jobs or internships, you'll be in the right state of mind to quantify your accomplishments and explain why you were (or were not) a great fit for those companies. The act of reflecting on your past gigs will give you a better idea of the types of places you want to work (and those you want to avoid). It may be a significant investment of time, but it has the chance to show you something you may never have thought of before. Enjoy this article? You've got time for another! Check out these related articles: 3 Examples Of Great Personal Branding The Perfect Recipe For A Great Personal Brand Is Your Personal Brand Wrong? Photo Credit: Shutterstock Have you joined our career growth club?Join Us Today!