Category Archives: Graduation
Five Tips for Standing Out in Your First Job
Adapted from Monster, Alexandra Levit hits some key points. I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Hopefully, this isn’t news to recent college graduates, but the workplace is more competitive than ever. If you have a job already, congratulations — you’ve made it over the first hurdle. Now it’s time to make sure you can stay put through this economic crisis and beyond.
Here are five essential tips gleaned from working with HR staff, managers and twenty-something employees in hundreds of organizations.
1. Be the One Everyone Wants to Work With
Members of Generation Y, or those born roughly between 1978 and 1993, unfortunately, have a reputation of showing up to work with a sense of entitlement. Combat this perception by showing that you’re willing to pay your dues and learn from any assignment, owning your career progression and being a “can-do” person. If you encounter roadblocks, marshal your resources to get around them rather than letting a project languish.
2. Surpass Your Boss’s Expectations
Find out what the boss wants from you first, and then brainstorm ways to go above and beyond the call of duty. You can also establish a good rapport by making your new boss feel needed. Show that you are ready and willing to be guided, and bond over the fact that he has some years on you. Understand the value of self-sufficiency, and approach your boss with a problem or complaint only if you’ve explored all options for resolving it yourself.
3. Carve a Niche for Yourself Through Innovation
Ask yourself what your company or department needs, and think about how you can use your unique set of skills and talents to provide it. So what if you’re hardly a Renaissance man or woman? You’re still new blood. Can you offer a fresh perspective on a vexing problem that has been plaguing your managers for months? Can you find a way to do something faster and more efficiently?
4. Take the Extra Step to Help Someone
Beach-ball management, or bouncing a request over to a colleague because it’s not your responsibility to handle it, is all too common in the professional world. If someone asks you a question and you don’t know the answer, make it your business to find it. By doing whatever you can to ensure your department or organization is perceived in a positive light, you will add value and stand out as a team player.
5. Subtly Promote Your Achievements
If you want people to take notice of you, you must make your accomplishments visible. How do you share your contributions without being perceived as arrogant or boastful? The key is enthusiasm. If you emphasize your passion when describing an achievement, people will think you’re just excited about it. An excited person appears earnest, and it’s hard to be critical of someone who’s earnest.
Of course, these suggestions aren’t limited to new college grads. If you’ve been out of school two years or 20, the tips might well be worthwhile in hanging onto your job through the downturn.
{Alexandra Levit, a nationally recognized business and workplace expert, is the author of the They Don’t Teach Corporate in College: A Twenty-Something’s Guide to the Business World.}
The Big Question: Your Future
While I post about many other topics, I still haven’t forgotten the purpose of this blog. The purpose of this blog is to give advice in regards to career paths, the economy, and proposed steps forward. I realize that I have been a working professional for only two years. But in those two years, I’ve worked for two very diverse, large-scale companies and have held a total of four positions. Some may think I’m “not qualified” to give advice, or maybe that this blog shouldn’t exist at all. Maybe they’re right. But I feel that I’ve made tremendous strides as a young working professional, and my hope is that I can share my experiences and what I’ve learned thus far so you can avoid making those mistakes. That is why I’m here.
Let’s start from the beginning. Let’s say you’re approaching college graduation. By this time, most people would recommend that you should have “at least two internships under your belt” and that you “should have been applying for jobs all year long as a senior”. Yes, this is sound advice. Is it absolutely necessary? No. At least in my opinion it’s not.
To be perfectly honest with you, I wasn’t thinking about my future that much when I was in college. Sure, I was working towards a degree and trying to figure out what I wanted to do with my life, just like everyone else. But I realized early on that I wanted to truly enjoy college. I did not have any internships. I did not have a part-time job. I spent one summer with friends and my new boyfriend, the second summer at weddings, the third summer in Europe on a study abroad trip, which leaves us with the fourth summer- the summer after graduation. THAT’S when I started applying for jobs. Personally, this was the best decision I’ve ever made. I knew that I would be working for the rest of my life, so why bog down the happiest time of my life with internships and part-time jobs that would turn out to be “less important” in the long run? I chose to live my life in the moment, and I haven’t regretted it since.
Right after I graduated, my roommates and I moved out of the townhouse we’d lived in for two years. I moved back in with my mom and worked a part-time job as a server at a restaurant to make some extra cash. You better believe when I wasn’t working, I was on my computer 24/7 applying for jobs. I would wake up in the morning, grab a cup of coffee from the kitchen, walk upstairs, and start scouring the internet for job listings in my pajamas. I remember my mom saying, “Shouldn’t you be getting dressed and dropping your resume off at places?” This brings me to my next point. There are so many tools available to us now that didn’t even exist five years ago. Yahoo Jobs, CareerBuilder, Monster, Indeed, Simply Hired, LinkedIn- the world we live in now is a job seeker’s dream world! You can immediately apply for jobs across the world with the click of button. No more snail mail. No more dropping your resume off in person. Live in a small town and want to get out? Always dreamed of living in a different country? You can! The internet is your oyster.
I mainly used Indeed when applying for jobs. This is because Indeed takes all of the job listings out there, from CareerBuilder, Monster, Yahoo, Simply Hired etc, and compiles them all into one website. Indeed and LinkedIn are the two I would recommend most. My dad has always said to me, “Getting the interview is the hardest part.” Boy, was he right. So before shooting off your resume into cyberspace, make sure it’s up-to-date and that you have an outstanding cover letter (more advice on that here). The downfall of applying for jobs on the internet is that after awhile, all of these resumes and cover letters begin to look the same to employers. Make yours stand out in a unique way without going over the top. It should look professional, neat, organized, and should be no longer than a page if you’re just starting out.
I submitted about 10-15 resumes online per day. If I was feeling really ambitious, sometimes I’d get to 20-25. I didn’t stick to just one industry-I applied to multiple ones. All I wanted was to get my foot in the door; I didn’t really care what industry the job was posted in. I knew I just needed to get some experience under my belt. My dream industry will find its way to me… eventually.
I applied for jobs, in all different industries, all sorts of positions, 10-15 per day, for a month and a half. I only got called for 3 or 4 interviews. One of those interviews turned out to be my lucky charm.
Don’t give up. Be persistent. If there’s a job out there that you really want and is realistically attainable, use LinkedIn to network. Communicate with others. Build your network. Ask for help. But most importantly, know in your heart that things will work out for you. Everyone’s timeframe is different, so don’t get discouraged. And by all means, if you want advice or need help, email me.
Seriously. You can pick my brain.
Top Five Areas of Study for Bachelor’s Degrees
I was perusing some Yahoo articles and came across one I wanted to share. We all know a college education can dry up your bank account. It’s important to make sure your educational investment has the
potential to pay you back. So really, what is your education’s potential value?
“The rule of thumb is that someone with a bachelor’s degree makes about a million dollars more over their career than someone who doesn’t,” says Cheri Butler, associate director of the career center at the University of Texas at Arlington.
In fact, according to a 2011 Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce report titled “The College Payoff: Education, Occupations, and Lifetime Earnings,” a worker with a bachelor’s degree generally earns an average of $2.3 million over a lifetime – a significant amount more when compared to someone with only a high school diploma, who generally earns an average of $1.3 million over a lifetime.
Since the possibility of earning an extra million bucks sounds pretty nice, the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ (NACE) April 2012 “Salary Survey” report to pinpoint five bachelor’s degree level areas of study that are among the highest paying for college graduates.
In no particular order, here are the top 5 areas of study to consider for those pursuing Bachelor’s Degrees.
Area of Study #1 – Business
Overall Median Starting Salary: $47,748*
From selling newly developed products to marketing time-tested products in new ways, business people are always looking for a competitive edge when it comes to winning over consumers. So, if you have a competitive spirit, earning a bachelor’s degree in the business field could offer a potential return on investment.
For one thing, the numbers appear to be adding up just right for graduates with a bachelor’s in economics. With the median starting salary for 2012 economics grads at $54,800 (up 5.6 percent from 2011), it’s one of the top-paying majors in the business sector, according to NACE’s “Salary Survey.”
Starting Salaries for various Business Majors include:
- Finance: $49,700
- Accounting: $47,800
- International Business: $31,200
Potential Value: “In business, you have to take in a lot of information, digest it, and make sound decisions,” says Butler, who adds that business majors get value from being taught how to identify “the next big thing.”
“But it’s not just in business; it’s in economics and finance, too. A finance program shows you how to make predictions and forecasts and how to make sense out of them.”
Area of Study # 2: Communications
Overall Median Starting Salary: $40,022*
Whether you aspire to write a popular blog or head up the corporate communications division at a Fortune 500 company, being able to successfully deliver ideas to an audience is crucial.
During a bachelor’s in communications program, you might learn how to communicate in various mediums, which is likely a valuable skill in today’s high-tech, information-driven world, says Paul Timmins, career services director in the College of Liberal Arts at the University of Minnesota.
How valuable? The $40,022 overall median starting salary for 2012 communications grads represented a 3.8 percent increase from 2011, according to the “Salary Survey.”
Starting Salaries for various Communications Majors include:
- Advertising: $44,700
- Communications: $39,400
- Journalism: $37,500
Potential Value: “Communications is one of the top skills that we hear employers want,” says Timmins. “They might need you to communicate in a variety of ways, in a small group, one-on-one, large-group setting, or in writing. It’s a skill that can be applied in a lot of different places, such as sales, customer service, top management, writing, journalism, public relations, or advertising fields.”
Area of Study #3: Computer Science
Overall Median Starting Salary: $56,383*
Home computers have been on the market for a number of years, and new gadgets like smartphones and tablets continue to introduce new technologies. That begs the question, who’s behind all these technological advances? Tech-savvy people, that’s who.
Perhaps that’s the reason the NACE survey found starting salaries for graduates in the computer science field increased by 2.4 percent in the past year. That translates to a median starting salary increasing from $55,087 for 2011 graduates to $56,383 for 2012 graduates.
The “Salary Survey” also reports that employers in the information sector – the collection of businesses that produce and distribute information and develop the products that transmit and process data, such as software publishers – had the highest number of new graduate applicants, with starting salary offers of $64,400.
Starting Salaries for various Computer Science Majors include:
- Computer Science: $58,300
- Information Sciences and Systems: $52,000
Potential Value: “Do you know an organization that doesn’t have a computer system? I don’t,” Butler says. “They are a fact of life, and we need people who can keep them running and make the most of those important tools. Your company is dead in the water if it doesn’t use computer technology.”
Area of Study #4: Health Sciences
Overall Median Starting Salary: $43,477*
Ever been interested in working in a hospital setting as a nurse? Want to learn what it takes to keep a body going strong into its twilight years? If so, a bachelor’s degree in one of the health sciences could be the vehicle that helps drive you to your destination of helping others.
And check this out: the median starting salary for all health sciences graduates was almost unchanged, with a noteworthy salary of $43,477 in 2012 – less than a one percent change from the previous year, which was at $43,802, according to the “Salary Survey.”
Starting Salaries for various Health Science Majors include:
- Nursing: $48,400
- Health and Related Sciences: $36,400
Potential Value: Butler says health sciences majors could see added value in their degrees because health care workers are in great demand as the baby boom population ages.
“We are healthier and living longer, so we need assistance in maintaining a livable lifestyle,” Butler says. “The 79 million boomers need a lot of infrastructure to take care of them, so there are jobs in the health care field. It’s supply and demand in my opinion.”
Area of Study #5: Engingeering
Overall Median Starting Salary: $58,581*
Do you have natural problem-solving skills that you’d like to use on a professional level? By earning a bachelor’s degree in engineering, you might be able to hone those skills, and even get some potential value from your education.
How so? Consider this: The “Salary Survey” found that engineering grads hold the bragging rights for being the highest paid of all disciplines that NACE evaluated. Engineering grads who majored in computer engineering, for example, had a median starting salary of $67,800 in 2012.
Starting Salaries for various Engineering Majors include:
- Aerospace/Aeronautical/Astronautical Engineering: $64,200
- Civil Engineering: $55,300
- Bioengineering and Biomedical Engineering: $41,800
Potential Value: Butler credits the creative aspects of the engineering field for providing value to this degree. “Engineers are the ones who create new things,” Butler says. “Next year, we will be using technology that hasn’t been invented yet, and engineering is at the core of that.”
*Overall median starting salary figures for 2012 are taken from the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ April 2012 “Salary Survey: Starting Salaries for New College Graduates.” NACE Salary Survey data is produced through data taken from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the Census Bureau, and a master data set developed by Job Search Intelligence.
Full article at Yahoo Education
Post-College Blues Part One
Contrary to the title, this isn’t meant to be a depressing post. It’s more of a self-realization, coming-to-terms-with-adult-life post. For those who have jobs, and even for those who do
n’t, the end of an era (aka college) can leave you confused, uncertain, and nervous. I think the best way to cope with these feelings is to realize that a) you’re not alone, b) there’s always a light at the end of the tunnel, and c) you will overcome it. Eventually.
One of the most important things you can do even before you start your “adult life” is to develop a solid sense of self. Without a solid sense of self, how do you expect to meet your goals, surpass your dreams, and live the immensely fulfilling life you’ve always wanted for yourself? There are four things to take into consideration:
Eliminate self-limiting beliefs- Consciously acknowledge the limitations you may be setting on yourself. To do this, brainstorm and think of all the general beliefs you have about who you are, beliefs through which you filter all your experiences. For example, you may filter your experiences through general beliefs about yourself, such as “I am so lazy” or “I’m a fast learner.” In other situations, you may use more narrow thoughts such as “I know nothing about investing money” or “I am really good at event planning”. The major difference between these two thought processes is that one is generalized about who you think you are, while the other is more specific to the situation you are in. This can be very harmful in the sense that you are making a negative global judgment. Judgments such as “I’m not smart” may be true in one area of your life (let’s say investing), but not in other areas. So, this doesn’t necessarily mean that you “aren’t smart.” This can undermine your self-esteem and set up a negative belief system about yourself that is not in line with the reality of who you are.
- Grab a sheet of paper and mark a line down the center of the page. Write “Empowering Beliefs” on the top left-hand side and “Disempowering Beliefs” on the right. Write down all the beliefs that come into your head for 15 minutes.
- Circle the three most empowering and the three most disempowering beliefs. For the most empowering beliefs, ask them how they help you. How do they give you strength? How do they enhance your life? How do they make a positive impact on you? Continue to look over this list and make a conscious effort to strengthen your hold on these empowering beliefs. This will “integrate” them into your psyche. Repeating them to yourself will increase your sense of certainty that these beliefs are real and true.
-Now, let’s look at the negative nellies. You need to get down to the root of these self-limiting beliefs. Where do you think they are coming from? How do these beliefs affect your life? How do they limit you? Do they enhance your life in anyway? When you begin questioning the validity of these self-limiting beliefs, you will soon see that many of them are not based in reality and are the result of irrational thinking. Find their antithesis and write those down instead!
We all have moments where we feel down and out. But knowing and believing in your sense of self will guide you even more brilliantly than the brightest light. You can always finish what you started and start what you haven’t already begun.
Silence the pathological critic. This critic makes you feel bad about yourself, especially in your twenties, because the loss of college structure combined with the instability of the working world can make you feel uncertain and helpless in your new environment. You start feeling bad about yourself because you have this distorted way of thinking. This distorted thinking cuts you off from reality by causing you to not only misperceive yourself, but also the world as a whole.
Control what you think and feel. To stop the critic mentioned above, it is essential to always stay aware of the fact that how you feel about yourself is ultimately dependent on how you filter and interpret your experiences. Before you can fully experience an event, you have to process it within your head first to give it meaning. Then, before you can feel something about an event, you first have to develop an opinion of whether it is good or bad for you. If your understanding of what is happening is accurate, then your emotions will be normal, rational, and appropriate.
Stop Cognitive Distortions. To stop this destructive way of thinking, think about a situation that has been causing you to feel bad. Write down what your pathological critic has been saying about the situation and the cognitive distortions it has recently been creating. For example:
Self Statement: No one will want to hire me.
Distortion: Mind Reading
Rebuttal: There is no way of knowing what they will think of me. It’s up to them and all I can do is show them my best.
Self Statement: I’ve already been rejected by so many jobs. I am just not good enough.
Distortion: Over-generalization
Rebuttal: The people they’ve hired may have known someone in the company even though I was the better candidate. A few rejections doesn’t mean that I am unqualified.
By doing this, you can get a more accurate picture of what you’re feeling, why you’re feeling it, and what you can do to change it.
Thank you to M.R. Salazar for the inspiration to write this post.
Come on, economy. Show your new grads some love!
I can’t believe it is already mid-September. I feel like just yesterday it was August, and I was packing my life up to move to Texas. Not to mention the fact that I’ve been working in my new position for almost a month now! How wild is that?
After reading a large number of Yahoo articles, I found a few that were quite interesting. My focus for this post will be on the economic pain that was supposed to ease in July, yet didn’t. For the sake of your eyes and mine, I am mostly going to summarize this article because it can be quite confusing with its “fancy” AP Economic Stress Index. I haven’t lost you already, have I?
Who should read this post: Those of you still looking for a job because you may be looking in the wrong states! Read more below to understand why and where you should be looking.
First of all, this AP Economic Stress Index is basically a tool economists use to calculate economic stress for particular states by looking at three rates: unemployment, bankruptcy, and foreclosure rates. This index is on a scale of 1 to 100. So, just like in elementary school, a higher score means MORE economic stress. As a rule of thumb, a county is considered to be under economic stress if its score exceeds 11. (Hahaha)
For July, about 42% of counties were found to be stressed. If you’ve been looking at these states for job openings, you may want to think again and refine your search:
“Nevada, with a score of 22.1, was again the most stressed state. Put another way, 1 in 4.5 Nevadans in July was either unemployed, owned a home in some stage of foreclosure or had filed for bankruptcy. Rounding out the top five-most-stressed states were Michigan (17.44), California (16.88), Florida (15.94) and Arizona (15.41). (Trust me, I too was upset when I read this. Bummer.)
The healthiest state was North Dakota with a stress score of 4.24. Its score dipped slightly from June, aided by a lower unemployment rate. Next best were South Dakota (5.05), Nebraska (5.92), Vermont (6.29) and Wyoming (7.13).
The national unemployment rate remained the same from June to July, at 9.5 percent. So did the foreclosure rate (one in 62 homes) and the average state’s bankruptcy rate (1.2 percent).
The government stated the unemployment rate for August ticked up to 9.6 percent. Most economists say it will take years for the rate to drop to near 5 percent, where it was when the recession began in late 2007.
Economic stress fell mostly in the Western states of Alaska (7.96), Colorado (11.07), Montana (7.9) and Wyoming; the Plains states of Nebraska and North Dakota; and the Southeastern states of Alabama (11.73), Louisiana (9.17) and Tennessee (12.33). The main reason for the improvement was seasonal job gains.
The states that endured the sharpest month-over-month increases in stress were Michigan, New Jersey (12.79), California, Connecticut (10.71) and Rhode Island (13.44). These states have struggled with high unemployment and foreclosures.
The most stressed counties with populations of at least 25,000 were concentrated in California and Nevada. Leading the way, as it has for more than a year, was Imperial County, Calif.(34.28), followed by Yuma County, Ariz. (30.6); Lyon County, Nev. (26.89); Nye County, Nev. (25.66); and Merced County, Calif. (25).
The least-stressed were Ward County, N.D. (3.16), followed by Burleigh County, N.D.(3.68); Brown County, S.D.(3.9); Buffalo County, Neb.(4.16); and Ford County, Kan. (4.47).”
Economic conditions likely will stay static until after the November elections. Then, the stock market may respond positively to the results and kick-start the economy. Come on, economy. Show your new grads some love!
Information Credit: Mike Schneider and Martin Crutsinger
Photo Credit: http://www.somaticvision.com/img/apple_green.jpg
You’ve tried everything, now what?
Maybe finding a job just isn’t in the cards right now. You’ve done everything I’ve said on this blog (and more, I hope!), yet your fate is still undetermined… also known as unemployed. Don’t worry because that’s completely normal. I do believe that starting a career takes a lot on your end, but a lot of it may also be due to a little thing I call LUCK. I think my situation is a prime example because of a couple of reasons. I do attribute a lot of my success to the preparation I put in beforehand. I had started applying for jobs way early during my last semester of college. After not receiving a number of phone calls, I took a break and decided to enjoy my last semester as a college student. After I graduated, I restarted my job search. After getting a couple of offers, I realized that those particular jobs were not exactly what I wanted to pursue. Okay, now get this! The company I happily work for now was one I didn’t even apply for! Somehow, out of the millions of resumes and cover letters floating around in cyberspace, THEY found ME. So yes, I did prepare as much as I could to be a top candidate for any position… but in the end, I was lucky and fortunate to have been located on the internet and contacted for a position. 
So even if a career isn’t quite working in your favor right now, you still have another option. Yep, you guessed it! Graduate School. (By the way, I plan on going to Graduate School, I just think the picture to the right holds some truth.)
From medicine to education to business to law, going to a prominent institution for your Master’s Degree or P.h.D may be very beneficial to your future career (and your resume!) This article by Brian Burnsed from U.S. News & World Report really covers what a lot of recent grads may be feeling:
In the wake of 2008′s housing crisis and the recession that ensued, college graduates are finding it harder than ever to penetrate the job market. Many now find themselves competing against recently laid off workers who possess a decade or more of experience. Though it’s been nearly two years since the onset of the financial meltdown, the country’s unemployment rate still hovers near 10 percent. Rather than wade into such a treacherous job market, many have opted to try their hand at graduate school. Plus, many who were laid off are opting to apply to grad school either to enhance or change the direction of their careers entirely. The combination of these factors, plus changes in financial aid, has caused a precipitous rise in graduate school applications at many institutions. In 2009, for instance, Duke University saw a 33 percent hike in applications and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology saw a 15 percent jump.
Little has shifted at the top of this year’s rankings of major graduate programs. Harvard University once again took the top spot in medicine and tied Stanford University for first in business. Yale University continued its near two-decade-long streak as the nation’s best law school. Stanford not only tied for the top spot in the business rankings, but ranked highly among law schools, finishing third. Also making the top five in both categories is the University of Chicago, which moved from sixth to fifth in the law school rankings.
Harvard and Stanford also place in the top five in the rankings of schools of education. Vanderbilt University once again ranks No. 1 in this category. MIT repeats as the top-ranked engineering school, with the top five remaining unchanged from last year: Stanford, University of California—Berkeley, the Georgia Institute of Technology and the University of Illinois—Urbana-Champaign.
Also, this year, U.S.News & World Report has refreshed its rankings of Ph.D. programs in various scientific fields. These rankings, updated every four years, include biological sciences, chemistry, computer science, earth science, mathematics, physics and statistics. The California Institute of Technology headlines the new rankings, with top billing in three categories: chemistry, earth sciences and physics. Stanford also measured well against its peers in the sciences, having the top Ph.D. program in both biological science and statistics. Other schools that took the top spots in the new rankings are Carnegie Mellon University (computer science) and MIT (mathematics).
In an effort to add more color to our coverage of graduate programs, we’re introducing Q&As with admissions officials at business and law schools across the country. These features are designed to give potential applicants a chance to read how the schools describe, in their own words, what they look for in students and how to approach the application process on a school-by-school basis. The Q&As will feature schools of different sizes and in different regions across a wide spectrum of our rankings. This will give students of all backgrounds and varied interests more confidence as they take on the often daunting applications to these professional programs.
Photo Source: http://www.sfnewshub.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/gradschool1.png
Finance: Learn it, live it, love it.
Finances. We all know it isn’t fun, unless of course you majored in it. But even then, you probably still don’t thoroughly enjoy it. This article has been one of the most (if not THE most) helpful when it comes to financial decision making.
After countless hours of studying, late nights, final exams and some parties, it’s now time to head out into the “real world”… or at least that’s what everyone has been calling it as long as you can remember.
When moving on to the adult phase of your life, be sure to take care of your financial situation. Your actions now will have significant impact on how the rest of your life shapes up financially.
Many older adults look back and say the number one thing they wish they would have done differently was learned about money management while they were young. Here’s your chance to jump start your finances!
Financial Tips for New Grads
- Get health care coverage immediately. If it hasn’t already, your parent’s health care coverage will probably end with your graduation. Get a quote for an individual health insurance plan or sign up with your new employer’s plan. Going without coverage could have a devastating effect on your finances if you have a severe illness or accident. Make this the first thing you do… and don’t put it off!
- Get your own home and auto insurance. Now that you aren’t a student, you’ll need to get your own auto and renters insurance policies. Start by calling your current insurer, you might be eligible for a discount based on the length of time you’ve been with the company, but don’t forget to shop around to save on insurance premiums.
- Save money for your future self. Join the retirement plan at work. If you are young and your company offers it, you may want to explore the Roth 401k at work. In addition to your plan at work, begin saving money on your own for both retirement and other goals. Now may be the perfect opportunity to save a lot and use the reverse savings strategy before you have lots of financial obligations (kids, house, etc.)
- Start an emergency fund. Earmark some of your first dollars from your new job to build up a savings account to serve as an emergency fund. You never know when an emergency will hit, but it is inevitable.
- Learn about taxes. What? I know, this isn’t a fun one. However, hopefully you’re going to go from a poor college student to a highly paid worker. With that luxury comes higher taxes. Educate yourself about taxes, and you’ll be able to take advantage of incentives and deductions to cut your tax bill. Pay particular attention to the student loan interest deduction and the savers credit for retirement savings contributions.
- Begin payments on student loans. Begin paying your student loans right away. Your future self will thank you.
- Handle credit cards wisely. Use credit cards carefully to earn cash rewards. Always pay your balance in full every month. If you ran up some credit card debt while in school, begin paying it off aggressively. To save interest while paying it off you may want to transfer the balance to a 0% balance transfer credit card or explore other ideas in how to payoff credit card debt.
- Create savings goals. Before you commit your paycheck away, create savings goals. As a new grad, you may want to focus on retirement or a down-payment for a house.
- Spend money slowly. It can be very tempting with a new job to buy a new car and rent a fancy apartment. Not so fast! Wait a few months to see how your finances work out.
- Follow your heart. Did you meet the man or woman of your dreams at school? If so, and you are planning a wedding in the future, don’t forget to keep these money-saving tips in mind! Especially when planning a wedding or buying the ring!
This isn’t necessarily fun stuff, but it’s stuff you have to know. Keep things in perspective: at least now you won’t look like an idiot when filling out your tax forms!
Thank you to mydollarplan.com for this amazing article!
Photo Credit: http://jerryong.com/blog/wp-content/uploads/2008/12/money-tree.jpg
Resilient as ever.
Why, hello there. I apologize for being incredibly M.I.A. lately. I feel as though I’ve been running around trying to get 730265 things done in such a short amount of time. Per an incident this past Sunday, I will be leaving to search for apartments on my own time. I am working through the many frustrations this past week has brought me, but I feel as though I am conquering them tremendously.
As usual, I was schlepping around on the internet and finally came across a humorous article that talks about what it takes for new graduates to get an entry-level job. Once again, I may not agree with everything stated in this article, but in my opinion, it’s always best to get numerous points of view before forming your own opinion:
Alright, college grads, here it is: the real deal about finding work in this economy. Let’s start with the obvious: more than anyone else in three generations, you got macro-screwed with the economy. But you are not only screwed, you are also human… and that means you are resilient as all hell.
The human spirit does not die, and does not wilt, in the face of long term adversity.
Like lupine flowers after a forest fire, the human spirit blooms when challenged. You are going to bloom. In direct defiance of your struggles, you are going to keep driving forward until you bloom bright as all hell, even if it kills you. Why? Because you are human, you are resilient, and you have… no… other… option.
So get ready, this is going to sting. It’s also what you need to get yourself ready for a work life you never expected.
10 Things That You Need to Know to Land an Entry Level Job
1. I’m not hiring a resume. I’m hiring a person.
The resume is a proxy. A sketch. A thumbnail. A cheap representation meant to give someone just enough of a taste of you to want to experience the whole person. YouTube creates thumbnails automatically. Do you care? Of course not. But guess what would happen if YouTube let people design their own thumbnails. Let me help you: people would freak out. They’d spend hours on those little boxes. They’d recalibrate their videos to ensure awesome thumbnails, most likely by including a gratuitous shot of a hot, bikini-clad woman and then selecting that frame for the thumb. And how much additional value would you and I get from that? Zero. None. Zip. All it would do is create noise and confusion: all the thumbs would look the same—”Oh, look, there’s another pic of Marisa Miller… with the headline ‘BBQ hijinx.’ WTH?” So when it comes to your resume, stop freaking out. Figure out what it needs to say, make it say it, and move on.
2. Working for someone else only sucks until you realize… you’re an idiot.
Dilbert, “The Office,” and Office Space haven’t done society any favors. Portraying bosses as universally bumbling idiots—while often hilarious—may have left you with the mistaken impression that working for a boss = selling your soul. OK, let’s run with that idea a moment: you opt out of the corporate track and start your own gig. You’re successful. Great! Then what happens? Oh, right: you need to hire people to work for you. Except you can’t hire anyone because the people you want, before even meeting you, decide that you’re an idiot and refuse to work for you. (You must be an idiot, you’re a boss.) What a shame, because you’re not an idiot, you’re being prejudged… unfairly! We could play this out further to reinforce the point other ways, but hopefully this is enough to show you that your logic is faulty, your reasoning is bunk, and the only reason you don’t want to work for a boss is because your ego has fooled you into thinking that you—with no training, no experience, and no clue—could do better. (Nice try.)
3. This is worth touching on a second time: Working for someone else only sucks until you consider the alternatives
So, you want to start your own gig? Maybe raise a little moolah to do it? OK, here’s a test: (1) Were you born into the Lucky Sperm Club? (2) Do you know what you will do for health insurance? (3) Are you prepared to send your own faxes, make your own copies, answer customer complaints yourself, work 20 hours a day, hear from everyone how much they don’t approve of what you’re doing, suck up to them anyway because you need them as customers, not know what your income is going to be month-to-month, earn probably something like $10k your first year in business, mock franchisees for being fauxpreneurs, not be able to get a bank loan for two years (because they want to see your paycheck or 2 years of steady earnings before they’ll give you one of those!), and convert all your friends into customers whom you will probably piss off and lose (both as friends and customers) within 3 years? ANSWER KEY: Even if you answered “yes” to all three questions, it doesn’t matter. True entrepreneurs don’t have time for articles like this. If you’re reading this, you’re job bait. Sorry.
4. Interviewing. Also known as, “Going through your day.”
You are always on. Always. Because you never know where the opportunity lies, and you’re not earning enough right now to turn up your nose at anything. Imagine the scene: you go to have lunch with a friend. You don’t know this, but the friend’s dad is hiring and needs someone with your skill set. If you keep everything purely social, your friend won’t have the information s/he needs to make the connection and put you and his/her dad together. Even if you do share what you’re looking for, if you act like a moron, your friend will be too embarrassed to make the connection. Upshot; even when just “hanging out,” you’re still interviewing. If this sounds like one of those final exams where you know you’re going to get a single essay question but don’t know what the question will be, then you get it.
5. Schadenfreude makes you ugly.
You probably don’t think about the TV you watch at night as having an impact on your job searching activities during the day. More likely, you see your TV and movie viewing habits as an escape. And sometimes, that’s true. But more often than you realize, the crap you fill your head with infiltrates your personality. Example: you love E! You love watching about all the crazies in LA and who’s banging who this week. You get your nightly fill, go to bed, and wake up ready to tackle the day and… hey, a call back! You’re talking to this recruiter and, to make small talk, you share something you learned about Lindsey or Katie or the Gosselins, or some other flavor of the week. It’s a great conversation, but when he hangs up, the recruiter has an uneasy feeling about you. Why? Because in the back of his brain, beneath his consciousness, his psyche is screaming at him: “That person’s a gossip! You don’t want that here—it’s not worth the risk that the gossip goes from famous people to intercube relationships!” And… you’re done.
6. If the statement you’re about to make requires explanation or a pre-emptive apology, skip it.
I don’t care how funny it is! A good rule of thumb is if it requires backstory or a pre-emptive apology in order to be taken “the right way,” it’s inappropriate. Note well: some people can naturally tell off-color stories without being offensive. It’s not necessarily about the words you use, it’s about who says ‘em, too. The only exception to this is that pesky job interview, where you need to be on your best behavior and not do anything that would give someone a reason to fire you. Oh yeah, and don’t forget that you are ALWAYS interviewing…. next.
7. Once in the process, don’t try to get yourself hired. Instead, try to not get cut.
When you try to get yourself hired, you look desperate. Trying to get hired makes you do things like make one phone call too many, share one piece of information too much, or go one inch too far over the line. Don’t take that risk. Instead, concentrate on making yourself Teflon: assume the company has already decided you might be their guy/gal and is now looking for any flaw they may have overlooked. Don’t give them anything that sticks.
8. Gaps in your history? Own ‘em.
Did you muck up? Own it. When asked about it, (wo)man up, share what happened, why it happened, and what you learned from it. Not in a fumbly, apologetic way, but with conviction and certainty. Then, don’t explain that you won’t make the same mistake again, demonstrate behaviors that indicate you are a changed person. For example, maybe you were fired from a sales job for not making quota. You are asked why you left your last job. You might be tempted to say, “I had a jerk of a boss who didn’t support me and fired me in order to cover his own butt.” But instead, you will show maturity and a learning orientation, by saying something like, “I was in the wrong field. My boss did me the greatest favor he could have done—for two years I had struggled to make quota, and he saw something I didn’t want to see: I’m not built for enterprise sales. I was great at the one-on-one relationships, but I don’t have a mind for those types of products. He fired me. And angry as I was, I called him two weeks later and thanked him. He’s been a mentor to me since and helped capitalize on my strengths and understand what kind of opportunities I’ll really excel at… which is what led me to want to work with you. I think this is a much better fit; I don’t see quotas being an issue with the type of selling we’re talking about me doing here.” (Did you notice how you owned your problem long before the interview, by going back and reconnecting with your old boss? Ownership doesn’t mean don’t lie, it means OWN!)
9. Your degree may already be obsolete
We only need so many psychologists, marketers, and lawyers in the world… especially when our long term recovery is going to require engineers, scientists, infrastructure experts, climatologists, food production experts, health care specialists, water experts, and the like. Before you freak out that you studied the wrong thing, remember: it’s a lot easier for you to switch gears than someone who is trained in a dying field both by education and experience. Open your eyes and look around. The game is changing in real time. Roll with it.
10. Learn to sell.
No matter what happens in the world, no matter what kind of job you get, you will have to sell. Maybe you’ll sell products to consumers, maybe you’ll sell ideas to top management. Whichever, you’ll need to understand the steps of establishing trust, building relationships, learning about needs, pitching solutions, closing, and following up. More than understand them, you’ll need to experience them, because they don’t always feel the way you think they would. Whatever you do, look for opportunities to learn sales. You will not regret it.
Now get out there… and stay out there… until you make something happen!
Thank you to Jason Seiden, Willy Franzen, and OneDayOneJob for this article.
Photo Credit: http://www.nuwireinvestor.com/blogs/investorcentric/uploaded_images/College-graduate-jobs-777456.jpg
Take it slow, but not too slow.
After a long awaited and intense decision process, I have decided to accept the job offer in Houston. I’m about to take off on another adventure this weekend to Texas to go apartment hunting with my father. Fortunately, the HR person at my company had a ton of advice as to what areas are ideal to live in and what apartments are affordable but still nice. As I’ve been packing, I’ve been thinking about advice I could give when moving to a new area. A lot of this knowledge comes from my father because he knows what he’s doing way more than I do (thanks Dad!)
1. Relocation Package- If you receive a relocation package (like I did), then you’re in store for great news. Depending on how much the package is worth, it may be easier to move your essentials, ship a few boxes, and buy new furniture once you’re in your new apartment. Rather than rent a U-Haul (which can cost up to $1,000/day), it might be worth it to go to an affordable store like IKEA and buy new furniture. So far, this is my plan!
2. Find out details about the area- The person I immediately went to when I needed information about where to live was the HR person. She provided me with a ton of websites to check out. It may also be a good idea to find a realtor in the area who can show you around, especially if you’ve never been to the city before.
3. Find your apartment as soon as possible- I received notice that my start date for work is in late August. This means that the cheapest airfare is two weeks from this date. Since Dad and I weren’t going to pay $700 each for a roundtrip ticket, he came up with a great idea. Search Craigslist. He found people who were selling “buddy passes” (even though you aren’t really allowed to), and he called Southwest to make sure we could use them. Now we have 2 roundtrip tickets for $250 each and we can depart whenever we want. Much better than paying $1400, I’d say.
4. Start packing early- Because I leave in 2.5 weeks, it’s safe to say that I am beginning my packing this evening. The sooner I figure out what to take, leave behind, and donate, the less stressed out I will be.
5. RELAX- You (and I) have the job, so take some time to breathe. Enjoy the last few weeks with friends & family because you never know when your next visit will be. It does no good to stress out when all that’s left to do is wait until you arrive at your new destination. This is something I’ll have to work on because I tend to stress easily…
As I encounter more experiences throughout these next few weeks, I’ll make sure to take note of them and pull any advice I can. Until then, good luck and happy job hunting!
Even more information than I was looking for.
My sister has been so incredibly helpful when it comes to finding great articles for young adults who are currently job hunting and trying to figure out what to do with their lives. With great thanks to Caitlin Dewey, and taken directly from http://realestate.yahoo.com/promo/10-great-cities-for-young-adults.html, I present to you the most interesting article I’ve read thus far:
Free from ties to kids or a mortgage, young adults can settle virtually anywhere they choose. So which place is best for you when the world is your oyster?
Here are 10 cities in the U.S. that offer exceptional opportunities for those starting out in life. We began our search using the criteria we used to select our overall list of Best Cities for the Next Decade: healthy economies fueling new job growth. We fine-tuned our search using other youth-friendly factors such as large percentages of people under 35, cost of living and rental costs, culture, nightlife, and the time you’re likely to spend in traffic. Take a look – and tell us what you think.
Austin, Texas
Metro population: 1,705,075
Cost-of-living index: 97 (average is 100)
Median monthly rent (includes utilities): $864, nat. average+$819)
Average annual wage: $41,380 (as of 2007)
Unemployment rate: 6.9%
Percentage of Gen Y residents: 30%
Top employers: Austin School District, Dell, city and federal government, IBM, Seton Healthcare Network, St. David’s Healthcare Partnership, University of Texas at Austin
Austin has the fourth-lowest jobless rate among cities with populations of one million or more. Living costs fall below the national norm. It doesn’t hurt that this is the capital of Texas and home to eight colleges and universities, including the University of Texas. Austin’s cultural scene is exceptional, with two giant music festivals each year, a vibrant nightlife, and eclectic, up-and-coming neighborhoods, There’s certainly more than enough here to keep a recent grad busy.
PROS: Below-average cost of city living, hundreds of bars and music venues for the twenty-something set, reasonable rent
CONS: Long, hot summers, accelerating urban sprawl, limited public transportation (though the average drive will last only 23 minutes)
Charlotte, N.C.
Metro population: 1,745,524
Cost-of-living index: 94
Median monthly rent: $803 (average is $819)
Average annual wage: $41,190
Unemployment rate: 10.9%
Percentage of Gen Y residents: 21.7%
Top employers: Carolinas Healthcare System, Wells Fargo/Wachovia Corp., Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools, Bank of America, Wal-Mart Stores, Presbyterian Regional Healthcare, Delhaize America
Charlotte has seen explosive growth over the last 20 years, and is now the second-largest banking center in the country (after New York). The city took it on the chin in the 2008-2009 meltdown, but it should offer lots of entry-level jobs for college graduates as the financial sector recovers. Despite the towering new skyscrapers, and a vibrant Uptown district, it’s still possible to live comfortably here on a tight budget.
PROS: A cost of living that skews well below the national average, reasonable rents, a bustling downtown still being developed, high-paying advancement opportunities in the financial sector
CONS: Hot, humid summers, smog alerts, high (but falling) crime rates, you’ll need a car (average commute lasts 24 minutes)
Chicago, Ill.
Metro population: 9,580,567
Cost-of-living index: 118
Median monthly rent: $861 (average is $819)
Average annual wage: $45,119
Unemployment rate: 10.3%
Percentage of Gen Y residents: 24.6%
Top employers: City, state and federal government, Chicago Public Schools, Wal-Mart Stores, Advocate Health Care, Walgreen, JP Morgan Chase, Abbott Laboratories, AT&T
Chicago is an exceptional value in big-city living, packing the cultural punch of Manhattan at nearly half the cost. Its lakefront district, with beaches, parks, a zoo and several museums, is a model for other waterfront cities. There are great sports teams, theater companies, and music festivals. And it’s the home of the deep-dish pizza. The jobless rate is higher than the national average, but the Windy City’s financial sector is thriving and promises more entry-level jobs in the future.
PROS: Low cost of living for a major city, cheap and widely available rentals, an efficient and user-friendly public transportation system, high-paying jobs in business and finance, great nightlife and entertainment venues
CONS: Extreme winter weather, high crime rate, and it’s a long car drive to other major cities
Houston, Texas 
Metro population: 5,867,489
Cost-of-living index: 91
Median monthly rent: $775 (average is $819)
Average annual wage: $41,074
Unemployment rate: 8.3%
Percentage of Gen Y residents: 23.9%
Top employers: Wal-Mart Stores, Memorial Hermann Healthcare System, Administaff, The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center, Continental Airlines, Kroger, Exxon Mobil
Like its rival Austin, Houston offers great job prospects and exciting big-city amenities at a price so low, even struggling grads can afford it. Diversity is one of its unsung strengths. More than a million of Houston’s inhabitants were born outside of the U.S. H-Town’s economy is varied as well: The city has strong energy, manufacturing, aeronautics, transportation and healthcare sectors, and 25 Fortune 500 companies have headquarters here.
PROS: A small-town cost of living in the country’s fourth-largest city, rents well below the national average, one of the country’s best restaurant scenes, vibrant nightlife, an hour from Gulf Coast beaches
CONS: Oppressive heat and humidity, infamous bumper-to-bumper traffic (the average commute will last 26 minutes), heavy air pollution, a crime rate well above the national average
Kansas City, Mo.
Metro population: 2,067,585
Cost-of-living index: 96.4
Median monthly rent: $697 (average is $819)
Average annual wage: $40,950
Unemployment rate: 8.3%
Percentage of Gen Y residents: 22.2%
It may not have the big-city buzz of a Chicago or Houston, but KCMO is on its way up. The “Paris of the Plains” is in the midst of a $9 billion downtown development project, which will create a swath of new condos, apartments, offices, bars and restaurants- many of them targeted to young professionals. Unemployment and cost of living are low here as well, and job prospects are promising. Six Fortune 1000 companies call Kansas City home.
PROS: Below-average rents, low cost of living, money and momentum behind future development, innovative jobs in business, research and technology. The average commute is only 21 minutes.
CONS: Mediocre nightlife and limited cultural offerings (at least until the downtown development is finished), high crime rate, poor public transportation (though a light rail is under construction)
Lansing, Mich.
Metro population: 453,603
Cost-of-living index: 100
Median monthly rent: $630 (average is $819)
Average annual wage: $41,773
Unemployment rate: 10.2%
Percentage of Gen Y residents: 26.9%
Top employers: State government, Michigan State University, Sparrow Health System, General Motors, Lansing Community College, Ingham Regional Medical Center, Lansing School District, Meijer
Home to five medical schools, two law schools and Michigan State University, Michigan’s capital is a little-known hotbed for young professionals. Granted, this Great Lakes community can’t quite compare to the larger cities on our list in terms of job prospects or things to do. But it has a relatively low cost of living. And its youthful population, downtown renewal projects, and emerging technology sector make Lansing a stand-out in mid-sized cities.
PROS: Cheap rent well below the national average, a respectable bar and club scene, high-paying job opportunities in bio and Internet technologies. Average commute is only 20 minutes.
CONS: Public transportation is unimpressive, extreme winter weather, unemployment rate is a full point above the norm (the opportunities here skew toward the highly-skilled)
New York, N.Y.
Metro population: 19,069,796 (includes Long Island and Northern New Jersey)
Cost-of-living index: 218 (Manhattan), 179 (Brooklyn), 158 (Queens)
Median monthly rent: $1,025 (average is $819)
Average annual wage: $50,784
Unemployment rate: 9.4%
Percentage of Gen Y residents: 21.9%
Top industries (New York does not release specific employer statistics): General medical and surgical hospitals, individual and family services, restaurants, securities and commodities contracts, legal services
There’s no place for recent graduates quite like the Big Apple: the job prospects are exceptional and the culture and nightlife are without parallel. Yes, it’s tough to live here. The cost-of-living is the highest in the continental U.S. Conveniences most Americans take for granted don’t exist here, like places to park a car. Fortunately, however, there are still areas of the city where young professionals can eke out a living: Brooklyn’s Prospect Heights has recently come into vogue, Sunnyside and Long Island City in Queens are youth-friendly, and the money you save on rent in Hoboken will help ease the stigma of being a “B&Ter” (bridge-and-tunneler – someone who works and spends time in Manhattan, but actually lives elsewhere).
PROS: Incomparable job opportunities, an extensive mass transportation system that makes car-owning superfluous and allows young adults to live well outside the city.
CONS: Expensive, sometimes ridiculously so. But hey, if you can make it there, you’ll make it anywhere.
Portland, Ore.
Metro population: 2,241,841
Cost-of-living index: 110
Median monthly rent: $779 (average is $819)
Average annual wage: $43,346
Unemployment rate: 10.2%
Percentage of Gen Y residents: 21.9%
Top employers: Intel, Fred Meyer Stores, Oregon Health & Science University, Providence Health Systems, Kaiser Foundation Health Plan of the NW, city government, Legacy Health System
A haven for bohemians, punk rockers, aging hippies, techies and other creative souls, Portland is renowned for its progressive, DIY spirit. The city’s creative-class profile comes at a price, however, as cost of living is now above average. Nearby Olympia, Wash., a two-hour drive from Portland, may be a reasonable alternative for grads who don’t mind sacrificing some street cred – it’s a much smaller city, but unemployment and cost of living are lower.
PROS: Below-average rent, a walk-able (or bike-able!) average commute, plenty of microbreweries and hip coffee shops, innovative art and music scenes, no sales tax
CONS: Above-average cost of living, surprisingly high crime rate, notoriously rainy weather, an unemployment rate that skews almost a point above the average
Salt Lake City, Utah
Metro population: 1,130,293
Cost-of-living index: 100
Median monthly rent: $698 (average is $819)
Average annual wage: $39,722
Unemployment rate: 7.0%
Percentage of Gen Y residents: 28.8%
Top employers: University of Utah, state and county government, Salt Lake City School District, Novus, Delta, LDS Hospital, Salt Lake City Corp.
Here’s an affordable alternative to trendier Rocky Mountain cities like Denver and Boulder, where job growth, nightlife and climate are similar but living costs are prohibitively high. A year’s rent in Boulder will buy a year and a half in SLC – though maybe not in its explosive downtown district, where dozens of luxury condominiums, high-rise office buildings and clusters of shops and restaurants have sprung up since the 2002 Olympic Games.
PROS: Low rents and cost of living, urban development, job opportunities in manufacturing, finance, and technology, nearby ski slopes and cycling trails. The setting is breathtaking.
CONS: Mediocre nightlife, occasional smog, relatively low wages, the average commute requires a car (but takes only 19 minutes)
Washington, D.C.
Metro population: 5,476,241
Cost-of-living index: 139
Median monthly rent: $979 (District of Columbia, average is $819)
Average annual wage: $54,371
Unemployment rate: 6.0%
Percentage of Gen Y residents: 27.2%
Top employers: Federal government, McDonald’s, Northrop Grumman, Science Applications International, Verizon Communications, Safeway, Ahold USA, Wal-Mart Stores, Macy’s, Citigroup
Like New York, D.C. is a place of great opportunity and great cost for young adults. Job creation is constant in the government and government-related sectors. But rents and living costs are quite high. Fortunately, a constant influx of college grads, as well as immigrants, has spawned several off-beat, affordable neighborhoods, such as Adams-Morgan, Chinatown, and Ballston and Shirlington in nearby Arlington, Va. Group homes abound.
PROS: Stable government jobs, extensive public transportation system, a young workforce from all over the nation and the world, up-and-coming neighborhoods, vibrant nightlife
CONS: Hot, humid summers, regular Metro breakdowns and traffic gridlock
