Thursday, September 2, 2010
Tuesday, August 24, 2010
My First Job: Doniree's HR Experience
Name: Doniree WalkerAge: 27
Current Location: Boulder, Colorado
Year Graduated: 2005
Major: Psychology
School: University of MN, Twin Cities
First Job: Target Corporation
Company/Type of Company: HR/Benefits Administration
Current Job Title: Freelance Blogger/Social Media Consultant
How Long at Your First Job: 1 year
Still there? No
Website: http://doniree.com
How did you land your first job after college?
I don't remember all of the details, but I know I scoured job sites like Monster and CareerBuilder.com to do so.
Tell us about the process of getting your first job.
It was totally different than my job-searching process is now. In 2005, when I was searching for my first job, connections and networks on Twitter didn't exist, and there wasn't LinkedIn yet. I sent in a resume to a job posting I'd found online, and went through the typical process of phone interviews, followed by in-person interviews.
What was the most challenging aspect of securing your first job?
Selling yourself as skilled and competent when I hadn't had much corporate or business experience prior to that. I'd worked as a retail manager through college, which gave me some great leadership and experience to draw on, but selling myself up to Target's corporate offices straight out of college was a big challenge.
What was the biggest challenge once you were on the job? How did you overcome that?
Knowing and understanding what everyone else's roles in the company were, and how my role fit that.
What did you wish you did differently when it came to finding, securing and performing on the job?
I think if I could go back and do things differently I'd have asked a LOT of more questions and spent more time understanding how everyone works together.
What was the best thing about your first job?
It was for a major corporation and gave me great experience and credit with regards to leadership and productivity.
What didn't you expect about your first job?
How quickly I'd burn out.
If you're not there anymore, why did you leave--and after how long? How long did you think you'd be at that first job? Do you wish you stayed longer? What was your next job--was it a good move for you, personally and career wise?
I left after about a year because I decided that the career path in that job (HR Benefits expert) wasn't where I ultimately wanted to be. I left to pursue a career in advertising and media buying that kept me for a couple of years and gave great background to what I do now. It was a great career move in that it helped me understand the media and advertising industry, and as online became more and more important, gave me a great place to learn how to be a digital professional.
What is your ultimate career goal? What are your next steps in attaining that goal?
To be completely self-employed as a writer and consultant. I'm on my way, but my next step is to make it official--decide on a business name, set up an LLC, and actually market myself as a professional.
Friday, August 20, 2010
My First Job: A Political Rant with Renee
Name: Renee
Age: 24
Current Location: Chicago suburbs
Year Graduated: 2008
Major: Communication Studies and Women's Studies
School: Saint Mary's College, Notre Dame, IN
First Job: Regional Field Director
Company/Type of Company: Melissa Bean for Congress
Current Job Title: Graduate Student/Teaching Assistant
How Long at Your First Job: Three months (the job was over once the campaign was over)
How did you land your first job after college?
The supervisors of my political internships both contacted their colleagues in the area I wished to move. They passed along my resume and followed up on my behalf.
Tell us about the process of getting your first job.
I met with my future boss in May, right after I graduated. Unfortunately, the funding wasn't available at that time to bring me on but he said it should happen late July, early August. I spent a couple of weeks as a camp counselor and when I was finished, I interviewed for the position of Regional Field Director with the campaign.
What was the most challenging aspect of securing your first job?
Waiting. I waited forEVER to hear back from my contact. In politics, you run on borrowed time, never on the time line you want. I waited for weeks to hear back for my initial interview. I waited for MONTHS to hear about the actual position.
What was the biggest challenge once you were on the job? How did you overcome that?
Oh dear. I hated running phone banks and knocking on doors. I did not have thick enough skin to cold call people and ask about their politics. It was a rough time. Additionally, I was working seven days a week. The only day off I received was when I called in sick with a stress migraine.
What did you wish you did differently when it came to finding, securing and performing on the job?
I wish someone would have sat me down and told me exactly what's involved in campaigns. It sounded glamorous but that's because I didn't know about all the door knocking and cold calling. There is very little actual political organization done "out in the field" where I was.
What was the best thing about your first job?
The connections I made... it lead to an official staff position with another politician.
What didn't you expect about your first job?
The terrible hours and the amount of hours and the amount of driving.
If you're not there anymore, why did you leave--and after how long?
I continued in politics for six more months on the official side of business. I hated it. It was more of the same soul-crushing politics... only this time I wasn't cold calling. Constituents were calling me to tell me exactly how they felt about my boss and the President and the Administration. Ew.
What is your ultimate career goal? What are your next steps in attaining that goal?
I would like to be a college professor and scholarly author. I just started grad school for my MA in Communication Studies. Next fall, I will apply for Ph.D. programs. Luckily, I was offered a TA position and am teaching two sections of my own class this year which is so, so exciting and is GREAT experience. I loved college and I'm looking forward to making a career out of loving college. :-)
Thursday, August 19, 2010
PrintRunner.com Giveaway WINNER!
What's better? PrintRunner.com only had a contest code for 1,000 cards, so Jenny is even luckier!
Congrats!!!
Resume critique--from a stranger?
How To Spice Up Your Resume, Socially
Via Mashable, here are two sites that claim to be able to help you pump up your resume through the power of the cloud, for free.
Razumé seems to be a little bigger than ResumeSocial for now, but they both work in the same basic way: upload your resume, then other members can comment and suggest ways to improve the oh-so-important document. Comments appear to range from everything from "single space your bullet points" to the ever-helpful "bad." In Razumé's system, users can even annotate comments directly on the resume, like so:
ResumeSocial, though, also lets users post cover letters and follow-up letters for feedback. It needs a few more people to join to reach critical mass, but both services so far seem to be lacking in large numbers of reviews. Is there a market for two competing sites in such a niche market? With so many people out of work, the market might not be so niche anymore.
Wednesday, August 18, 2010
Thursday, August 12, 2010
Fun Finds from the Net
- Top Cities for New College Grads: According to BusinessWeek, Houston tops the list.
- How Do I Find a Job When Nobody is Hiring?: From CareerBuilder.com
- Today's 20 Fastest-Growing Occupations: From CareerBuilder.com
- Cool Tool: Monster's Salary Wizard
- The Disappearing Job Offer: J.T. O'Donnell and Dale Dauten give advice for a grad who was promised a job while in college.
- 10 Tips to Improve the Quality of Your Networking: From Monster.com
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