How NOT to Interview

This site called "How to Nail an Interview" has some ridiculous footage of interviewees saying some of the silliest things during an interview with a potential employer.

This video is my favorite. Who admits to stealing office chairs?!

In addition to these humorous videos, there are some great tips for interviewees!

279 Days to Overnight Success

Click here Chris Guillebeau's guide to leading an unconventional life.

In this free PDF, Chris outlines how to become your own SUCCESSFUL boss. His site, The Art of Nonconformity, also has some kick ass tips on living, traveling and working. I'd suggest giving it a read.

Job Hunting. With a Stick.

That is how I feel. Like I'm on some prehistoric quest for sustenance, alongside about a million other people with similar sticks, a bunch with knifes, a couple with arrows, and maybe one or two with guns. All I can do is hope that my little sharpened stick will get lucky and pierce some sort of life line.I need an edge. I came across a few sites catering to the stick wielding, and found them pretty helpful.

1. Brazen Careerist has really helpful features.



2. Coachology is my fave



3. Collegegrad.com has a gigantic job database, and markets itself on being the "#1 entry level job site." They have career resources also, the basics -> resume, cover letter, interview, etc.



4. Vault is a great resource, and it's free through certain schools (goto career resources and click "vault" in the right hand column. )
   They have company profiles, interview and resume help, and the Vault Online Career Library. The library is a database of Vault career and field guides can download for free. I bought one for 20$ a few days before I saw this. Sooo obnoxious.

I'm not sure about the rest of you, but I was completely unaware of the immense work and concentration that goes into each resume, cover letter, follow-up, interview, and thank you note. I envisioned mass emails, wielding my perfect resume, going out to periodicals across the country. The next day, an inbox bursting. I hope these sites offer a little help.
happy hunting,

Lynnifer

p.s. Job hunting is stressful and can be depressing - I have a bag of Dove chocolates (the ones with little inspirations written inside the foil) I reward myself with after each resume I send out. Love yourself a little. <3

Free(lance) fallin'

I've always been a worker. Since I was old enough to understand that money makes the world go round (as does love, but love cannot buy you round trip tickets to Bora Bora), Ive tried my hardest to make as much as possible. As such, even with a 9-5er, I like to work on the side. Ideally, I'd like to bar tend a night or two a week but I don't want to throw my sleep schedule that out of whack.

So, I write freelance. This is kills two birds with one stone 1.) I make extra cash - not exactly a goldmine but it's something I'm good at and can do with minimal effort 2.)It gives me something to fill up my portfolio with besides aged clippings from my college newspaper. Keeps it fresh as it were.

One of the best tips I've ever received, from numerous sources, is to work for free. This may not make sense coming right after a paragraph where I profess my love of money. But when you're green under the gills, it can be difficult to get clients to pay you for work. They don't know what you can do. So, this post titled the "upside of working for free" has several good tips and justifications for working pro bono.

Once you've worked for free for a bit, you'll have more experience and samples and will be able to snag the freelance jobs that you want (and need!) and Bora Bora will be only a hop-skip and a few 1000-word articles away!

"Welcome to the real world...

Yesterday, my HR Manager left on her 5 year anniversary trip. Where are these lovebirds going? Ohh...a little jaunt through London and Paris, nothing major. Hah.

I have the lust. The wanderlust. I've got it real bad.

My favorite trip was to Spain in Jan. 2007. I went on my own for 3 weeks. I stayed with a friend for a little while (only she and her sister spoke English). Then I flew to Barcelona by myself. Whenever someone asks me what my most memorable moment is I always say "Flying into Barcelona." Hands down.

I left for BCN when it was still dark so when I was arriving, the sun was in that early morning, hazy phase. We circled out over the ocean and I was on the perfect side of the plane. The Gaudi-inspired buildings were lit up with a rose light that took my breath away. I was so distracted and awestruck, it didn't occur to me to take a picture!

*sigh*

Being out of my element is always so inspiring. I write so well when I'm traveling. I love exploring new streets and wandering around aimlessly. I'm not a sightseer or a tourist - I'm a traveler. I like to assimilate with the culture and eat in the shady hole-in-the wall places and try fried crickets and where the crazy clothes that locals wear.

I need to find a job that pays be a ton of money and allows me to work only half the year so I can travel the other half. OR better yet, a job that sends me all over the world.

So...as my colleague said to me when I complained about this "Welcome to the real world"

I replied "...it sucks...you're gonna love it." (Thnx Ms. Mac and Friends)

Let them eat cake!

I always jokingly say that I'm going to give my two weeks notice by burning down my office building. This guy has an alternative that doesn't include arson or possible jail time:

The sheet cake reads:

"Dear Mr. Bowers,

During the past three years, my tenure at the Hunters Point Naval Shipyard has been nothing short of pure excitement, joy and whim.

However, I have decided to spend more time with my family and attend to health issues that have recently arisen. I am proud to have been part of such an outstanding team and I wish this organization only the finest in future endeavors. Please accept this cake as notification that I
am leaving my position with NWT on March 27.

Sincerely,

W. Neil berrett"


**

See original photo here.

Bravo! Classic.

Miss Mac

I've come to find out, that working for someone else, ie. being an assistant, you have to possess the unearthly powers of mind reading. Miss Cleo, I am not.

At my former position, my CEO even had the balls to tell me that "I have to learn to read his mind." Creepy, yes. Doable, no.

While I do have great intutition, I certainly cannot read minds. Thus, you can imagine my confusion when a new email pops up and it's written like a password to get into something private or a Candadian zip code. Throughout the whole day, I've had to decipher blackberry messages with limited information and try my best to figure out what the hell they mean.

This occurence isn't just today. No, no...since almost a year ago, I've had to read someone's mind all too often. It also doesn't help that she doesn't clue me into what she's working on and then expects me to jump in at the last minute and help her figure out something. Or do the bitch work when she's too busy playing with her baby to do.

Don't get me wrong, I'm all for having a career and having a kid, but there's a balancing act, and a time when more things should be loaded on to your assistant so she's not in her cubicle twiddling her thumbs and making up more than 1/2 of her Top 10 List.

But reading minds, if I could...I sure as hell wouldn't be HERE.

Quote of the day

Via IM Conversation:

Mac: ok side note...
Mac: NYC has 55 billionaires
Mac: we need to find their offspring.

So does that mean we wouldn't need to worry about our resumes anymore :} ?

All signs point to...

I've had a few signs tell me it's time to move on from my current position as a Publicist in Upstate, NY. First, the internal offer from one of my colleagues to pass my resume around to his bevy of contacts (one of whom include the NY Mets!!!). The other is my trusty sidekick, B, who sent me a few job postings, which in turn led me to a website with an almost perfect job...if a million others weren't applying for it as well.

I also had a dream I was pregnant a few nights ago, which, according to B, means something new is developing (not necessarily an actual child within).

Albeit, I've felt I have short-changed myself with my current position. I did get a great deal of experience dealing with a tiger who changes its spots VERY frequently, but I also gained experience working in an actual office environment and doing office duties which are great things to know. However, I wasn't challenged enough creatively and I feel like I lost my focus of what I really want to do...or I'm still paying my dues at 25.

Either way, it's time for me to move on to greater pastures. And all the signs say, the timing is right.

Dipping your pen...

There are a few old adages that may suggest you shouldn't mix business with pleasure. The whole "poopin' where you nosh," or my favorite "don't dip your pen in the company ink" would prove to be disasterous scenarios no matter how you slice it. *Except in your case B.


Office relationships, or in my case, office crushes can be harmless....until one turns psycho. Never before did I talk to this person, I'd seen him around, but was never formally introduced, nor did I care. I wasn't interested. At all. I made small talk, he made big talk. Lots of big talk. He mentioned that he could get me into the hottest clubs in NYC...I knew he was full of poo.


Long story short, he asked me out, I said no, he got mad...and made up stories. He now refuses to work with me on projects and he got the big guys involved. I stated my side of the story, which, conveniently did NOT match his. I always remained the professional, he, however, did not: *Muttering "b*tch" under your breath when you walk past my cubicle is seriously the most immature, unprofessional and unattrative thing you can do. Yeah, now I really want to date him...HA!


Anywho, we have to work together on Friday. We'll see what happens.


P.S. I'm never giving out my phone number again, and if anyone asks...I'm a lesbian.

Rant

Why get into a pissing contest with some no-name has been academia-ite who wants to stick her stubby nose into anything and everything she thinks she may have known something about at some time. The fact of the matter is that she wants to make everyone into a cookie cutter carbon copy of some overly book smart, street stupid imbecile who's only contact with the outside world is the walk to and from the library where they write heaps of papers on things that don't matter to anyone but themselves.

Where are my typos in that, b*tch?!



Work is fun, no?

Passion.

Being new to marketing makes understanding what exactly marketing is difficult. I know that I was born to meet people. I always thought, with my passion for writing, that it would be to write about them. Now as a marketing professional, I realize it's to know and network with them.

Live life

Watching Sex and the City, I realize how many girls want to emulate SJP, et al. Blogger Julia Allison has described herself as the living incarnation of Carrie Bradshaw. Good for her. I'd rather be myself.

It's impossible to be exactly like someone else. Living life is the only way to figure out who you are. Falling face first into a pile of poo is a good lesson too. In my admittedly young life, I've come to realize that to actually learn things, I have to realize that I don't know them in the first place.

What girls fail to understand about SATC is that these women had lives and careers. The whole point of the show is that viewers caught glimpses, but not the whole. Carrie wrote and we saw a little of that, but the HBO version didn't show what it's like to have a massive case of writers block with a looming deadline.

Additionally, the show doesn't illustrate the tasks that the women had to do to become glamorous. We all want to be freelance writers who make enough dough to wear 600$ shoes. Or PR reps or curators of art galleries. Where does everyone think these super women came from? Some came from families with money, others worked and sweated and sacrificed to live thier dream career. How about Sex and the City: The Early Years, featuring big hair and shoulder pads. Now that spells a life well led to me.