Showing posts with label jobs. Show all posts
Showing posts with label jobs. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 18, 2009

Help (Not) Wanted

Name: Brigitte Pentecost
Major: English
Hometown: Honolulu, HI
Job Interviews: 0
Job Offers: 0
Dream Job: High-end party planner or world-famous journalist
How Worried Are You?: Not too worried. I think I have grad school all lined up. If not, I'll take a year off and revisit my options for further education.
Career Advice: Throw caution to the wind, and go for what you love. If that means being a musician, move to L.A. and audition band members. If it means becoming a vicious shark of a lawyer, take the LSAT and start applying to law schools. Nothing is beyond reach when you truly want it.

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Life After College

Photo by Alpo Hassinen

Last week, I had a dream that I was climbing a huge, snowy mountain. The trail was steep and slippery and I almost fell a few times, but always managed to regain my balance again. At the top, a huge igloo awaited me. Inside, I found a large table filled with colorful balloon animals and tons of candy.

Weird, I know, but it was one of those dreams that you can’t stop thinking about because it seemed so real. Then suddenly, it dawned on me. This dream is totally pertinent to my life, and probably to the lives of many graduating seniors.

We’ve traveled so far during our lifetimes, encountering many obstacles, on paths that have been nicely laid out for us: preschool, elementary school, high school, college . . . but what comes next?

Life after college may not be as “sweet” as we expect, especially given the state of the economy, so why not take advantage of the freedom that comes with having few obligations and no career set in stone? This is the ideal time to seize opportunities that may not be available to us later on in life. Here are a few ideas:

Teach English in Japan or Korea for a year.
Volunteer for an organization you really care about.
If you have the means, TRAVEL.
Learn another language.
Learn how to play an instrument.
Take an art class.

Life after college will be as exciting as we make it. Hopefully, mine will consist of something more rewarding than colorful balloon animals and an assortment of candy.

Life as CriagsList Jobs' Biggest Fan

Well, I know the excitement of a new quarter has been squandered when I resign from taking detailed notes to blogging in class on my laptop. Oh well... last quarter.

So, instead of focusing on the professor's lecture on DNA, RNA and other scientific letter things, I'm surfing Craigslist looking for jobs.

Now, I've designed a very thorough method for CL job searching.

Step 1: Select city.
Step 2: Select job category.
Step 3: Peruse jobs.

My relationship with CL has developed overtime. It began 6 months ago when I was excited and confident about the prospect of finding a job.

July 2008 CL Search

Step 1: Cities
SF Bay Area
New York City

Step 2: Select categories
Marketing/PR
Writing

Step 3: Peruse jobs
Only cool ones
-

Now, my job search as of today's Biology class:

Step 1: Select cities
Boston
Chicago
Denver
Houston
Los Angeles
New York
Orange County
Sacramento
San Diego
Seattle
SF Bay Area
Washington D.C

Step 2: Job categories
Admin/Office
Human Resources
Legal/Paralegal
Marketing/PR

Step 3: Peruse job
Look at all that I could minimally qualify for.