The job hunt of a recent graduate.

I swear we must smell like skunk because most of us are not getting hired.  If you are a recent graduate you might be a victim of the economy.  So what do we do?  Here is some advise I have heard and how I responded.

1. Go back to grad school while the economy is bad.

Response: I want to work first before I go invest in more school.  I have a lot of debt at the moment and the only reason I would add to it is if I already knew what I wanted to do.  Most students graduate thinking, now what?  Annnd I was one of those.  Do I want to do internet and social media marketing?  Work for a non-profit?  Maybe a different track and something I’m good at like nutritionist/holistic healing.  Maybe I want to teach and get my pdh.  Or maybe some sort of lawyer.  As you can see, grad school is not the place for me yet.  So what next?

2. Volunteer or get an internship.

Response: Ummm I have bills that mom and dad don’t pay for. Plus nice big student loan payments are about to start. Next. . .

3. Apply for jobs (this one has sub-categories)

3.1 – The Admin Assistant/Office Manager – This is a basic job that I could do.  I have answered phones, called people back, written letters and done filing.  I pick up new software ever so quickly. I am organized, dependable, speak and write in a professional manner (when needed) and my communication skills are amazing.

Response: Oh, you need to have 5 years of experience as an admin assistant before you could do this at any place not listed on craigslist.  Nevermind.  Seriously, how hard can this be.  Oh and I forgot that most office managers need to know quickbooks.  MOST COLLEGE GRADS ARE GOOD AT PICKING UP SOFTWARE.  I could download a free trial and have in figured out in a few hours. But, that isn’t good enough.  So on to the next type of job.

3.2 – Something in my field – I could do something with marketing, communications, internet marketing.

Response: No on is looking for entry-level.  I have found maybe two listing, applied, heard nothing.  At this point no company is looking for recent grads.  They can get someone with experience for much less.  However I keep submitting apps. But at this current unemployed, desperate moment I am left with . . .

3.3 – retail (enough said)

Response: Ugh. Doesn’t pay enough, work weird hours, usually people don’ treat you nice and you feel like you should be doing something more every moment you are at your job.  By the way, I have had three interviews for jobs that I am more than qualified for and pays very little and I still didn’t get it.

4. Look everywhere.

Response: I have looked at: WorkInTexas, Craigslist, Banks, Schools, Universities, Non-profit lists, Austin jobs, Statesman jobs.  I have called every coffee shop in my area and most stores that I could stand to work at in two giant shopping centers.

5. It must be your cover letter/resume.

Response:  I have taken about 4 seminars on these topics and I swear to you, every cover letter is different, highlights my qualities and how they apply to the job, ends with the request of an interview and is proofread by myself, boyfriend and/or father.  My resume is neat, lists everything, even internships and carefully states job duties in a descriptive appealing manner.

 

I’ve done all this AAAannnnnd yet, no job.

 

So now what? Which is not only my question, but the question on many other job hunters out there.

 

Social Networking used to raise funds for Wildlife.

I first heard about this story a few weeks ago on NPR and couldn’t wait for it to happen, and then it did.  There is an app on mytwitface (myspace, twitter, facebook) where for a minimum of a $1 donation you can befriend a gorilla in Uganda.  You will receive regular updates, learn trivia and have your new friend’s picture on your homepage.  The dontaions  go to the Wildlife Authority who help to protect the Gorillas who are threatened by poachers.

Ugandan Gorilla

So hop on your fav social media networking site or go to www.friendagorilla.org and befriend a Gorilla today.

Math and Science for Kids

So I just started my last semester today and my firs class is called Science in Perspective. Interesting. My professor, who has such a awesomely dry sense of humor that it is completely lost on half of the class, was speaking about how behind American’s are in teaching their youth about science. I completely agree. I honestly don’t feel like the science classes I took in middle school and high school made me want to consider any career in the sciences. Mostly because they are focused on the basics of sciences and not so much as to how they apply to our world and society. Meaning they don’t make science interesting enough or important enough to gain student’s interests from an early age. Sucky! So what to do? We always talk about hiring new teachers and paying them more and blah blah blah, but how about restructuring all those early science education classes in addition to paying more and such.

I am also writing this because a few days ago I read Thomas Friedman’s latest blog called Tax Cut’s For Teachers.  He really makes a good statement about helping out math and science teachers so that they can better teach the youth of America.  Cuz really, what good is it if we start tomorrow making energy safe cars if we don’t teach our youth to continue it?

LOVE IT!

YOU CAN VOTE HOWEVER YOU LIKE!

I love how these kids are getting involved.  This is amazing!

Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner

Short post.  Concerning politics.  I know.  Sue me.

Last night the two Senators appeared together at the Alfred E. Smith Memorial Foundation Dinner in New York.  They were both rather funny.  McCain actually made me laugh.  He has good writers and he was able to pull it off.  Watch:

Annnnd here is Obama’s.  I am so glad to see he has more of a sense of humor than he usually displays.  Oh well.   Happy watching!

Sup? (as the cool kids say)

Often I wake up and think “ugh, I just want to go back to bed.” Sometime I wake up excited about the day ahead, things to see, people to do. Wait, scratch that, reverse it. However, once in a while I wake up with a knot in my stomach that is not caused by a hangover or bad Chinese food from the night before. Sometimes humanity gives me the stomach flu. There are a few things at the moment that are raising the acidity level in my tummy such as the economic crisis, the possibility of Sarah Palin getting to be the first female VP, and the fact that people more and more only seem to care about themselves and not give a shit about the people with whom they co-exist.

Don’t worry, this blog is not going to be a b**** fest. ::insert crossed fingers behind back here:: I promise sometimes I have something positive to say! I mean don’t get me wrong, ranting is what I do best, it’s how I write the majority of my papers for school (of course i edit, sometimes). It’s just once in a while I have something to say whether it is getting worked up over politics, being excited about a new cd, hating a new reality tv show or finding a piece of news that is comment worthy. Either/or this blog will stand up to it’s title of a little this, a little that.