final assignment

Over the past semester I must say that I really enjoyed keeping a blog. Although the past few weeks have been hectic (and senioritis started kicking in) I had a good time thinking of new post ideas, researching my topic and divulging in social media. I think that I will definitely continue my blog after the semesters ends as I will still be searching hard for that perfect post-grad job. I enjoyed coming to the site everyday and checking out the page view numbers and worked hard to find ways to increase those page views. I definitely shared my blog with friends because we’re all facing the same situation. I received some good feedback which was nice. If I could do anything differently I would have liked to take this class earlier in my college career. Senioritis definitely kicked during the last week and finding time to post got increasingly difficult.

job offer!

Good news! I got a job offer!! Even better news: I don’t need to decide until the end of May. Thank goodness because I have no idea what I’m going to do. I haven’t been on any other interviews so I’m hesitant to immediately accept the offer before looking at a few other companies. At least I know that I have something to fall back on and when someone asks me for the 16561654 time what my plans are for after graduation, I can respond with, ‘I got a job offer’ at the very least!

35 days…

Graduation is getting closer and closer. Every time someone updates me on the number of days left, I cringe. There are 35 days left to graduation and I am still without a job. But I’m not freaking out just yet. Everyone else I’ve talked to also doesn’t have a job, so I’m not alone. I’m kicking the job search into high speed though. So hopefully I’ll be able to respond to the 665162356 questions of what I’ll be doing after school when graduation comes along.

help from strangers

There’s an article on the Wall Street Journal website about strangers helping other strangers to find a job. It is so refreshing to hear about something like this, especially when the job market is so brutal. It’s stated in the article that the majority of the best jobs are found through networking or a relationship. There’s a group on Twitter.com called JobAngels that is dedicated to helping people find jobs whether it’s by critiquing a resume or cover letter or introducing them to a personal contact. 

Mr. Blais, business-development director at JobsInTheUS.com, says he developed a strong desire in recent months to help laid-off workers find new positions due to the increasing competitiveness of the job market. “A lot of good people are not even getting their résumé seen because employers aren’t digging that deep into the pile,” he says. “This is just one small way I could help somebody that’s a good candidate.”

job search sites

So we’ve all used Careerbuilder or Monster to search for jobs, but here a few websites that I’ve used that are a lot better, I think!

• Indeed.com – This is kind of like a Google listing of all jobs that are listed on employer websites. In the advanced search you can turn off jobs that are listed by recruiting agencies which makes searching for jobs a lot easier.
• QuietAgent – I just joined this website but basically you just post your resume and employers contact you about scheduling interviews. This is nice because you don’t have waste a lot of time going through endless pages of jobs when the employers come to you.
• Experience.com – This is similar to Careerbuilder and Monster but it’s a lot more straight-forward and easy to use. I find that there are better jobs listed here too.
• Real Match – This is another easy-to-use website. All you have to do is fill out a resume and it’ll automatically generate job matches. 

As I come across more job search sites, I’ll add to this list, so keep checking back!

marketing yourself

Check out this video I came across that talks about how to market yourself to stand out in the job hunt.

 

more about “Standing Out in the Job Hunt – Laid O…“, posted with vodpod

no job? you can always make beer

So I came across this funny little article in the Wall Street Journal that I had to post. 

Surprisingly large numbers of entrepreneurs — some let go from corporate jobs in recent years — have been starting microbreweries or brewpubs. Schools that teach brewing are being showered with applications from people interested in getting into the business. At the same time, enthusiasm for interesting new beers remains strong; BeerAdvocate.com, a Web site for beer enthusiasts, says its traffic has reached one million unique visitors a month, and is rising as much as 12% each month.

I guess people who’ve been layed off have realized that they want to work with something they’re passionate about. It was stated in the article that during times of recession, beer sales have been resilient and have actually increased last year. Not all microbreweries make it in this economy however. Last year 42 brewpubs closed in the U.S., the most since 2005. Changing careers is always a risk but if you’re doing it for something your passionate about, then I think it’s definitely  worth the risk.