Career Blog for CSU Students

The Brazen Careerist is my favorite and why would I write this over? She says how to be successful in your career and this one talks about what to do in college. She is so real. Thanks Penelope.

http://blog.penelopetrunk.com/2006/09/03/what-to-do-in-college-to-be-successful-in-your-career/

Posted by: Wendy Rose

Career Liaison for the College of Liberal Arts

Networking is a great way to build and maintain relationships with people who can help you with your job search. You never know when you might meet someone who could give you a great job lead. For some people however, networking can be quite difficult and uncomfortable. If you feel intimidated by the idea of networking, or just need some tips on how to network effectively, check out this post on Brazen Careerist by Angela Marino: http://www.brazencareerist.com/2008/04/24/an-introvert%e2%80%99s-guide-to-networking/

Posted by: Susan LeBlanc, Generalist Career Counselor

We've reached the approximate halfway point to summer vacation. If you're working either at a summer job or internship, stop for a moment and think about your experience. Then, when you're done thinking – update your resume! Why wait until the summer is over and your experiences fade from your memory? Write down your accomplishments, skills used, and responsibilities in your summer job or internship now, while you can remember them. Updating your resume now will allow you to add the specifics that will make your description stand out. Additionally, you have access to your supervisor and can ask clarifying questions about the results of your work, if need be.

What do I mean? For example, you are working retail in the pro shop at a golf course this summer. While you don't want to work retail for the rest of your life, you've enjoyed your summer, been a top seller, and assumed some additionally responsibility for supervising others. If you wait to add this experience to your resume, you may miss a chance to get actual numbers to support your stellar seller status (e.g., Increased sales of high-ticket items by 56% over the summer. OR Exceeded sales goals by 25% for all three months employed.) Additionally, you may forget that the manager was so impressed with your skills over the summer that you were "Promoted to staff supervisor in 4 weeks." Don't let those eye-catching descriptions pass you by!

Then, at the end of summer, when you're done wowing your employer, polish your resume off by adding any final accomplishments and having it critiqued by a career counselor.

For more information on how to write a killer description, check out the Job Shark podcast. (Windows Media Player, QuickTime/iTunes)

Haven't written a resume but now have your summer job to put on it? Check out Optimal Resume and come to the Career Center to have it critiqued! We're open for walk-ins over the summer at the Career Center@Lory Student Center, M-Th, 10 am – 2pm.

Posted by: Barbara Diehl, Career Center Liaison-Warner College of Natural Resources

Employers expect to hire 8 percent more new college graduates from the Class of 2008 than they hired from the Class of 2007, according to the "Job Outlook 2008 Spring Update" report of the National Association of Colleges and Employers. Despite that positive outlook, the current negative economic climate has had an effect on the hiring prospects of new college graduates. In fact, although hiring projections remain positive, they have cooled off since the fall of 2007, when employers projected a 16 percent increase in college hiring for the Class of 2008. That drop off, however, is tempered by the fact that much of the negative impact is concentrated in specific industries, such as finance, leaving a significant portion of the market for new college graduates robust.

Another NACE report showed that employers are increasingly looking to their internship programs to find new employees. Employers reported that nearly 36 percent of the new college graduates they hired from the Class of 2007 came from their own internship programs, up from 30 percent from the Class of 2005. In addition, employers say they extended job offers to nearly 70 percent of their interns; in 2001, they offered jobs to 57 percent. Survey findings also indicate that interns who become full-time hires are more likely to stick with the organization than their co-workers who didn't go through the program.

Source: http://www.careercornerstone.org/scccnews/issues/2008/scccnews0708.htm#scccnews3

Posted by: Mary Christensen, Career Center Liaison-College of Agricultural Sciences

Despite the gloomy statistics, the hiring picture isn't all bad. Health care and sales are hot areas, but engineering and IT may well be the brightest spots.
By Bridget Mintz Testa

lass of 2008 graduates who neglected to search for and accept a job during their senior year will likely be kicking themselves as summer wears on.

    "If a college grad didn't start looking until April or May, he or she likely won't have a job this summer," says Rich Milgram, CEO of Beyond.com, a global network of 15,000 job boards. "The smart ones started looking in the winter of 2007-2008 and did summer internships last year."

    A survey of 298 students from across the U.S. conducted May 2-8 by Vault, a company that provides research and multiple-media resources on careers, supports Milgram's observation.

    "Fifty percent of the students surveyed had received no full-time job offers," says Vault CEO Erik Sorenson. "Companies may just have been slow, but that was unusual."

    Other surveys and reports reinforce the current hiring pinch. Employer surveys conducted during the past three years by the National Association of Colleges and Employers show springtime hiring was up by 14.5 percent and 17.4 percent in 2006 and 2007. For 2008, it was up by only 8 percent.

    In 2007, 70 percent of MBA students at Rutgers Business School had accepted job offers by the end of May; this year, preliminary numbers suggest only 65 percent had offers. Further, between the last quarter of 2007 and the first quarter of 2008, job postings for candidates with less than three years' experience dropped by 25 percent at Beyond.com.

    Hardest hit are graduates in business, finance, accounting and management. Master's- and doctorate-level candidates in these fields aren't faring well either.

    "There's less of a demand for higher salaries, so there's less demand for Ph.D.'s unless they're willing to accept a master's degree salary," Milgram says.

    Despite the gloomy statistics, the hiring picture isn't all bad. Health care and sales are hot areas, according to Milgram. Engineering and IT may well be the brightest spots.

    "For engineering, including computer science, the job market is excellent," says Ralph Mobley, director of career services at Georgia Tech. At commencement ceremonies in May, Mobley says, nearly 72 percent of Georgia Tech's engineering grads had job offers, as did 78 percent of its computing grads.

    He says 2001 was the Atlanta university's high point, "with 80 percent of engineering and computing grads having offers. So we're approaching that level. We pretty well reflect the national job market in engineering."

    Graduates who don't yet have jobs shouldn't give up. They should instead adopt a strategy of flexibility.

    "Students … need to expand their searches," says Wanda Mendez, assistant dean and director of the MBA office of career management at Rutgers Business School. "They need to make an effort to meet the job profiles. They should work on their skill sets through internships, projects and part-time work. They need to have a plan A/plan B for their job search."

    It's what graduates surveyed by Vault appear to be doing.

    "A lot of students were expanding their search," Sorenson says.

    Of those surveyed, 48 percent were looking beyond their original preferred locations, and 56 percent were looking into industries in which they weren't initially interested.

    Although bachelor's-level graduates from the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton Business School enjoyed the same level of recruitment this year as last year, Barbara Hewitt, senior associate director of the university's career services says, "I think we'll see a pullback in offers in the fall [of 2008]."

    Mendez sees the same possibility at Rutgers.

    "This coming year might be a little more difficult," she says. "Companies are waiting for the economy to improve, so they will be very careful with their [employment] forecasts."

    In fields where the supply of graduates exceeds the current demand, employers appear to have an advantage, but that's mostly an illusion.

    "[The situation] gives employers a little leverage in dealing with the Millennials," Sorenson says of the young workforce born after 1980. "But it's still a numbers game in favor of them. There are so many more boomers, and as they retire, they leave more openings than the Millennials can fill. So it puts companies in a bind as far as recruiting."

    Any employer leverage may be short-lived and limited.

    "You don't want word getting out about a company taking too much advantage of graduates this year," Sorenson says. "Word gets out on the social networking sites."

Workforce Management Online, July 2008 –

Posted by Cliff Pacaro

Have you been in your job for a while and noticing it's not as exciting as it was in the first year?

The article from the Wall Street Journal online has some good tips for those that need to challenge themselves.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121425124881097625.html?mod=

Source: Wall Street Journal Online

Posted by: Kelley Rees, CVMBS Career Center Liaison

Last night I met a script supervisor. She works with directors to make sure a movie has the right continuity, and one scene fits the next. It's a fascinating job, hobnobbing with top directors, writers, and celebrities. No two assignments are the same. How do you get that kind of career? She earned a degree in anthropology and just "fell into it" through a series of events.

I know the feeling. I majored in economics, got an MBA, worked at a bank, then a phone company, and became a cartoonist.

For every person who studies something specific, such as the law or medicine, and actually ended up in that sort of career, I think there are five who let chance pick their careers. That works out more often than you'd think, but you can't recommend it as a career strategy. Instead, I recommend a general formula for success. Allow me to explain.

If you want an average successful life, it doesn't take much planning. Just stay out of trouble, go to school, and apply for jobs you might like. But if you want something extraordinary, you have two paths:

1. Become the best at one specific thing.
2. Become very good (top 25%) at two or more things.

The first strategy is difficult to the point of near impossibility. Few people will ever play in the NBA or make a platinum album. I don't recommend anyone even try.

The second strategy is fairly easy. Everyone has at least a few areas in which they could be in the top 25% with some effort. In my case, I can draw better than most people, but I'm hardly an artist. And I'm not any funnier than the average standup comedian who never makes it big, but I'm funnier than most people. The magic is that few people can draw well and write jokes. It's the combination of the two that makes what I do so rare. And when you add in my business background, suddenly I had a topic that few cartoonists could hope to understand without living it.

I always advise young people to become good public speakers (top 25%). Anyone can do it with practice. If you add that talent to any other, suddenly you're the boss of the people who have only one skill. Or get a degree in business on top of your engineering degree, law degree, medical degree, science degree, or whatever. Suddenly you're in charge, or maybe you're starting your own company using your combined knowledge.

Capitalism rewards things that are both rare and valuable. You make yourself rare by combining two or more "pretty goods" until no one else has your mix. I didn't spend much time with the script supervisor, but it was obvious that her verbal/writing skills were in the top tier as well as her people skills. I'm guessing she also has a high attention to detail, and perhaps a few other skills in the mix. Probably none of those skills are best in the world, but together they make a strong package. Apparently she's been in high demand for decades.

At least one of the skills in your mixture should involve communication, either written or verbal. And it could be as simple as learning how to sell more effectively than 75% of the world. That's one. Now add to that whatever your passion is, and you have two, because that's the thing you'll easily put enough energy into to reach the top 25%.  If you have an aptitude for a third skill, perhaps business or public speaking, develop that too.

It sounds like generic advice, but you'd be hard pressed to find any successful person who didn't have about three skills in the top 25%.

What are your three?

Written by Scott Adams, Dilbert.com http://dilbertblog.typepad.com/the_dilbert_blog/2007/07/career-advice.html

Posted by: Renée Welch

From Yahoo! Hotjobs:

Don't Panic: The Right Job Is Just Around the Corner

by Caroline Potter, Yahoo! HotJobs

Fuel prices are up. Food prices, too. And don't forget foreclosures. The U.S. is still at war and unemployment has reached 5.5%. It's the real-life equivalent of "Lions and tigers and bears!" But, oh my, does a job seeker really have to think the worst is yet to come -- if it isn't already here?

Nah!

Don't focus too much on the bad news. There's plenty of good news -- and good jobs -- out there.

John Challenger, CEO of Challenger, Gray & Christmas, the nation's first, oldest, and premier outplacement consulting organization, points out, "There's no reason to start panicking. Jobs are opening up all the time." And while the economy is a bit sluggish as of late, Challenger says, "You can't think of the job market as too monolithic. A number of industries out there are doing very well currently. Health care, energy, international business, agriculture, and commodities are thriving."

To read more: http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-articles-don_t_panic_the_right_job_is_just_around_the_corner-428

Posted by Barbara Diehl, Career Center Liaison to the Warner College of Natural Resources

The application process for graduate school can be time-consuming, so make sure you start yours as early as possible to ensure success. Below is a general timeline to follow for applying for graduate school, but it might vary depending on the specific programs you are applying for. Be sure to keep track of these different deadlines.

Immediately:

• Maintain highest GPA possible.
• Gain relevant field and research experience.
• Get to know your faculty members.

Junior Year:

Spring/Summer

• Start researching graduate programs and potential faculty advisors.
• Send out requests for information from schools.
• Determine application procedures, exam requirements, and application deadlines.
• Study for and possibly take required entrance exams.
• Think about additional classes you may need for senior year.

Senior Year:

September/October

• Request letters of recommendation from faculty.
• Take required entrance exams if you haven't done so already.
• Contact prospective faculty advisors.
• Start preparing your application materials.
• Inquire about assistantships/funding and research other financial aid possibilities.

November/December

• Order transcripts.
• Mail applications (possibly earlier, depending on the program).
• Apply for assistantships, fellowships, and grants.

January/February/March

• Arrange school visits and schedule an interview (if applicable).

April

• Make a decision.

Posted by Brian O'Bruba, Associate Director, The Career Center

The YGL website has awesome links, a great blog and details life in the federal government world from a perspective of those engaged in beginning careers.  It also links great websites to help find jobs and internships and describes federal government programs.  Anyone interested in Federal Government work should check it out.

http://www.younggovernmentleaders.org/about.htm

Posted by Wendy Rose, Career Center Liaison to the College of Liberal Arts

Tis' the season…

People usually take advantage of vacation time during the summer months.
The article (linked below) discusses how to be smart about your, and others, vacation time.

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB121288458836054941.html?mod=

Source: Wall Street Journal Online

Posted by: Kelley Rees, CVMBS Career Center Liaison

Scott Newberg flew into Logan airport in the middle of the night. He went straight home to his office, and in the dark room the blue light of his computer glared – a screen full of unfinished work that piled up while he was gone. He sat down at the keyboard, and that's when he had the revelation. He gave notice. He has no other job lined up. He has no real plan for how he will make money. But the career he had was not fulfilling.

One of the contributions Generations X and Y have made to the workplace is the quarterlife crisis. It's not the midlife crisis, typified by a baby boomer in a Porsche obsessively speeding. The quarterlife crisis happens in one's twenties and more likely involves takeout pizza and obsessive IMing.

The journey toward crisis begins at college graduation, when the typical student has about ten thousand dollars in loans and no skills to land a decent job. Frank Furstenberg, professor of sociology at University of Pennsylvania, says the transition to adulthood is "more arduous today than it was fifty years ago." Employers are not hiring people in their early 20s for staff jobs. "Employers hire temps for positions that don't require experience. Society can incorporate people only when they get some experience working and there is a better match between employee and employer."

With little to lose, most twentysomethings use their post-college time as an opportunity for finding oneself, seeing what's available, and trying a lot on for size. (Which translates to more than eight jobs before turning 32.) The new behavior, which looks remarkably like flailing, is appropriate for the new workplace. Jeffrey Arnett, psychologist at Clark University and author of Emerging Adulthood says, "People have different personal time tables and it's nice that people can make choices that are right for them."

Yet this new phase in one's career is unnerving in light of the stability of previous generations of people in their 20s. And if the job-hopping doesn't stop by age thirty, the stress intensifies to crisis.

Emerging adults "have high expectations for work. It is not just a way to make a living," says Arnett. They want work to be fulfilling and to be an expression of their identities."

This is true for Alexandra Robbins. She took the first job offered to her after college because she was "seduced by the trappings: Short commute, friends at the company, office with a door. The pay was fine, but the work was not rewarding."

She realized that in the post-college world, people are judged by their answer to the question, "So, what do you do?" And she knew she needed to do something that could define her.

Typical of her generation, she does not claim to have extravagant dreams: "I never had a big dream. I wanted to make a living writing. Dreams that are too specific lead to missed opportunities." As a writer she has become a sort of spokesperson for the generation of lost college graduates. Her recent book, Conquering Your Quarterlife Crisis, chronicles the ups and downs of people like her, who finally found their way.

Like Furstenberg, Robbins sees that previous generations were more equipped to make the transition to adulthood. "We cannot gain a foothold in society until age thirty. But our parents' generation has twenty in their head. The crisis is a clash of generations." Fifty years ago, people expected to find a job for life right after college and be married with kids by 24. But for the current generation, Robbins declares, "Thirty is the new twenty."

Sure, GenXers and Ys have high expectations for work, and maybe they're unreasonable, "but the only way to find out is to try," says Arnett. "Most people will fail. But by the time people are in their late twenties most have made peace with their dreams. Psychologically people tend to accommodate themselves to whatever they have."

The problems start around age 27 or 28, when most people find a career. For people who do not feel settled, there is panic and what Arnett calls "desperate and dangerous" measures in order to reach their goals.

Which brings us back to Newberg, whose wife is about to give birth. His plan is to stay home with the baby while she supports the family. And he will write music for commercials, though he has scant experience in the trade. And he will "write some novels and shop them around." He wants to support his family in five years but has not figured out how many novels or musical compositions he would need to sell to do that. Those people who are not turning thirty might bristle at Newberg's plan. But he says, speaking for many in his generation, "I don't want to be eighty and regret not taking this risk."

Written by Penelope Trunk who is a columnist at the Boston Globe.

By Deborah Brown- Volkman

Interviews bring up nervous questions for job seekers, such as:

• Will I fit in?
• Will they like me?
• Will they see that I am the best candidate for the position?

Interviews bring up nervous questions for employers, such as:

• Will this candidate be a good choice?
• Will they make me look good or bad?
• Will they be able to do this job?
• Will they get up and running quickly?
• Will they follow through with what they said during their interviews?

If you answer the employer's questions better than anyone else, you will have a good shot at getting the job. This means being prepared. If you prepare, you can go into problem-solving mode. So, rather than "please pick me," you will be able to tell a company how you are going to be an asset.

So How Can You Successfully Prepare For Interviews? Follow These Five Steps Below:

1. Research, research, and then research some more. Prospective employers expect you to be well-informed about the company, its products and services, and the industry as a whole in general. Plan to spend quite a bit of time on the company's web site. Look at their mission, news releases, product releases, etc.

Read articles about what the company and the industry are going through. Speak to people who work there. Know the company's view of itself, as well as what people who don't work for that company think about it. You are looking for indications of where a company is going and what problems the company and the industry are having. Knowledge is power. The more you know before the interview, the more confident you will be when you are there.

2. Know the job description intimately. If you want to do well during an interview, you have to know what the company wants you to do. This information is in the job description. Go through the bulleted list of requirements in the job description, one-by-one, and come up with an example of how you have successfully done what they are looking for in either your current or past positions.

3. Make a list of questions you may be asked during the interview. List questions you can easily answer as well as those you wish would not be brought up, but you know will be. Go through each question and write out your answers for each.

4. Know who is going to be in the room. A job interview can be with one individual or with many. You want to know who will be attending so you can gear your answers toward what's important to the people you will be meeting with. Each interviewer will want to know how hiring you will make their life easier. List each individual, their job title, what they are responsible for, and what you believe they will gain by having you employed there.

5. Know what the job is paying or what your position is worth. Inquire what the position is paying before you go into the interview. If you cannot find out, know what your position is worth by checking out salary sites on the web. Don't let a paid service stop you. Look into salary surveys done by associations in your industry. Look at similar job ads and not necessarily just ones near where you are located. Look for those ads that list salaries. You can get paid more-thousands of dollars more-if you know this information.

Deborah Brown-Volkman, PCC, is the President of Surpass Your Dreams, Inc. For more information on preparing for interviews visit the News/Articles section of AgCareers.com at http://www.agcareers.com/info.cfm?task=narticles

Original Article: http://www.agcareers.com/newsletter/prepare.htm

Posted by Mary Christensen, Career Center Liaison-College of Agricultural Sciences

About 33 percent of young women 25 to 29 had a bachelor's degree or more education in 2007, compared with 26 percent of their male counterparts, according to tabulations recently released by the U.S. Census Bureau. The report showed that among adults 25 and older, men remain slightly more likely than women to hold at least a bachelor's degree (30 percent compared with 28 percent). However, as the percentage for women rose between 2006 and 2007 (from 27 percent), it remained statistically unchanged for men.
The tables also showed that more education continues to pay off in a big way: Adults with advanced degrees earn four times more than those with less than a high school diploma. Workers 18 and older with a master's, professional or doctoral degree earned an average of $82,320 in 2006, while those with less than a high school diploma earned $20,873.

Workers 18 and older with a bachelor's degree earned an average of $56,788 in 2006, while those with a high school diploma earned $31,071.
In addition, the report showed that more than half of Asians 25 and older had a bachelor's degree or more (52 percent), compared with 32 percent of non-Hispanic whites, 19 percent of blacks and 13 percent of Hispanics.

Source: Sloan Career Cornerstone Center

Posted By: Kelley Rees, CVMBS Career Center Liaison

What's the latest book you've read and what impact did it have on you?

Think you'd be able to answer this question in an interview? Sometimes employers just want to know a little bit more about who you are and may ask some questions that you may not be prepared for. Sometimes students don't have a whole lot of time to read books for pleasure and it's often hard to keep track of all of the books you have read. A friend recently recommended a website to me where you can catalog the books you've read, write reviews of the books you have read and recommend books to friends (could be helpful to review your shelf before an interview). The site is called "Shelfari". Here's a link to check it out: http://www.shelfari.com/

Here are some other questions you may not thought of ahead of time:

What do you do in your free time?

If you could be an animal/fruit what would you be and why?

Tell me about a class that has changed the way you felt or believed about something.

If you could change one thing about your education thus far, what would it be and why?

You get to invite 5 famous people, living or dead, to your dream dinner party. Who do you invite and what do you serve?

Tell me about your worst supervisor.

Posted by: Renée Welch, Assistant Director Career Counseling Services

Career counselors agree that values can drive decisions and impact job satisfaction. As a student, knowing what your values are is a key component of the career decision making process.

Here are some ways you can begin to work with your values in the context of your career exploration:

• Generate a list of "top values," usually not more than 10. You can use an on line assessment like Choices Work Values Sorter to begin the process.
• Define your values in your own words. Look for positions that would fit your descriptions. You can use O*Net to help you in this area since there are values associated with each career description.
• Use your top values and position descriptions to begin to generate a list of questions and careers for informational interviews.
• Don't leave your values behind as you get into your career decision making. It's easy to get side tracked on things like job location, salary and benefits. When your values and your career choice align this is where you will find the greatest satisfaction in your work.

Some information taken from Career Counseling Insight from Elevations, the Career Discovery Tool

Posted by Judy Brobst, Career Center Liaison, College of Natural Sciences, Colorado State University

Summer is here! It's a great time to go home to family, hang out with friends, and have a well-deserved break from classes (or take some summer classes to stay ahead of the game). If you feel like you have a little too much free time, here are some suggestions of great things to do that can help you explore careers or build up your resume:

• Get a job. Whether an internship or going back to that high school job, work experience can help you gain the transferrable skills that employers are looking for, like communication skills and interpersonal skills.
• Volunteer. Volunteering is another great way to build up your resume and also gain experience in a field you may be interested in working.
• Job Shadow. One of the best ways to figure out if a career is right for you is to experience it first-hand. Job-shadowing a professional in your field can give you an insider's perspective on what it is like to work in a given field. If you need help finding someone to job shadow, check out the CareerRAM Network on CareerRAM: http://career.colostate.edu/careerRAM/login.html. CareerRAM Network is an online database of CSU alumni and friends who WANT you to contact them about your career questions.
• Visit the Career Center. Did you know that the Career Center is open Monday through Friday, 7:30-4:30 all summer? We also have walk-in hours starting May 27^th in our LSC satellite office next to Sweet Sinsations. Walk-ins will be available Monday through Thursday from 10am-2pm. Our career counselors can talk with you about career options, choosing a major, job/internship searching, resumes, cover letters, interviewing tips, and much more. If you were too busy during the school year, now is the perfect time to drop by and see us with all of your career questions!

   

Posted by: Susan LeBlanc, Generalist Career Counselor

As we approach graduation weekend, you'll be getting a lot of advice from various sources. Some good, some bad. Some funny, some strange. I'd like to share some advice that was originally published 11 years ago. Good luck graduates!

"Everyone is Free" (to use sun screen)

(Written by Chicago newspaper columnist, Mary Schmich -- recently recorded with music by Baz Luhrmann)

Ladies and gentlemen of the class of '97:

Wear sunscreen.

If I could offer you only one tip for the future, sunscreen would be it. The long-term benefits of sunscreen have been proved by scientists, whereas the rest of my advice has no basis more reliable than my own meandering experience.

I will dispense this advice now.

Enjoy the power and beauty of your youth.

Oh, never mind. You will not understand the power and beauty of your youth until they've faded. But trust me, in 20 years, you'll look back at photos of yourself and recall in a way you can't grasp now how much possibility lay before you and how fabulous you really looked. You are not as fat as you imagine.

Don't worry about the future. Or worry, but know that worrying is as effective as trying to solve an algebra equation by chewing bubble gum. The real troubles in your life are apt to be things that never crossed your worried mind, the kind that blindside you at 4 p.m. on some idle Tuesday.

Do one thing every day that scares you.

Sing.

Don't be reckless with other people's hearts.
Don't put up with people who are reckless with yours.

Floss.

Don't waste your time on jealousy. Sometimes you're ahead, sometimes you're behind. The race is long and, in the end, it's only with yourself. Remember compliments you receive. Forget the insults. If you succeed in doing this, tell me how.

Keep your old love letters. Throw away your old bank statements.

Stretch.

Don't feel guilty if you don't know what you want to do with your life. The most interesting people I know didn't know at 22 what they wanted to do with their lives. Some of the most interesting 40-year-olds I know still don't.

Get plenty of calcium.

Be kind to your knees. You'll miss them when they're gone.

Maybe you'll marry, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll have children, maybe you won't. Maybe you'll divorce at 40, maybe you'll dance the funky chicken on your 75th wedding anniversary. Whatever you do, don't congratulate yourself too much, or berate yourself either. Your choices are half chance. So are everybody else's.

Enjoy your body. Use it every way you can. Don't be afraid of it or of what other people think of it. It's the greatest instrument you'll ever own.

Dance, even if you have nowhere to do it but your living room.

Read the directions, even if you don't follow them.

Do not read beauty magazines. They will only make you feel ugly.

Get to know your parents. You never know when they'll be gone for good. Be nice to your siblings. They're your best link to your past and the people most likely to stick with you in the future.

Understand that friends come and go, but with a precious few you should hold on. Work hard to bridge the gaps in geography and lifestyle, because the older you get, the more you need the people who knew you when you were young.

Live in New York City once, but leave before it makes you hard. Live in Northern California once, but leave before it makes you soft.

Travel.

Accept certain inalienable truths:

Prices will rise. Politicians will philander. You, too, will get old. And when you do, you'll fantasize that when you were young prices were reasonable, politicians were noble and children respected their elders.

Respect your elders.

Don't expect anyone else to support you. Maybe you have a trust fund. Maybe you'll have a wealthy spouse. But you never know when either one might run out.

Don't mess too much with your hair or by the time you're 40 it will look 85.

Be careful whose advice you buy, but be patient with those who supply it. Advice is a form of nostalgia. Dispensing it is a way of fishing the past from the disposal, wiping it off, painting over the ugly parts and recycling it for more than it's worth.

But trust me on the sunscreen.

Posted by: Barbara Diehl, Career Center Liaison-Warner College of Natural Resources

While the interview is an opportunity for potential employers to learn more about you, it is also a great chance for you to ask questions about the position and to learn more about the company. There are also many different types of interviews, so depending on the type of interview you are having, you may plenty of opportunity to ask questions, so it is important to be prepared. Additionally, arriving to an interview with questions that you have compiled, demonstrates to the employer that you are actively engaged in the process and genuinely interested in the opportunity.

Below are some typical interview questions that you may ask from the interviewee seat. Remember that you possibly won't have time to ask all of these questions, so concentrate on the ones that are most important to you

• What can you tell me about the corporate culture?
• Why did you decide to work for this company?
• What do you like most about this company?
• What does the company do to contribute to its employees' professional development?
• What are the skills that are most important for a position in this field?
• How would you describe the working atmosphere and the people with whom you work?
• Is there a basic philosophy of the company or organization and, if so, what is it? (Is it a people, service, or product-oriented business?)
• What is the average length of time for an employee to stay in the job you hold? Are there incentives or downsides for staying in the same job?
• Is there flexibility related to dress, work hours, vacation schedule, place of residence, etc.?
• What work-related values are strongest in this type of work (security, high income, variety, independence)?
• How is the economy affecting this industry?
• What obligations does your employer mandate on you outside of the ordinary work week? What social obligations go along with a job in your occupation? Are there organizations you are expected to join? Are there other things you are expected to do outside work hours?
• Who is the department head or supervisor for this job? Where do you and your supervisor fit into the organizational structure?

While this is a short list, it may help you create a list focused on your particular interview. During the interview, be attentive to the conversation and ask a question when something isn't clear. People are often happy to discuss their positions and the company, and will likely be willing to provide you with a wealth of information.

For interviewers seeking help in being better prepared for conducting an interview, check out AgCareers.com's upcoming workshop 'Interviewing for Organizational Fit.' This web seminar is designed to cover the basic styles of interviewing and when they should be used, questions that dig to get at the answers you are looking for, which questions to avoid, and insight on how to analyze the candidates so you can hire the best contender! For more information, visit http://www.agcareers.com/workshop_details.cfm?id=62280.

Original Article: http://www.agcareers.com/newsletter/questions.htm

Posted by: Mary Christensen, Career Center Liaison-College of Agricultural Sciences

A very interesting article in Fast Company:

The United States leads the world in two categories: work and waste. American employees put in more hours and take fewer vacations than just about anyone else in the industrialized world, and our individual ecological "footprints" are much larger.

Read more at: http://www.fastcompany.com/magazine/125/all-in-a-days-work.html

Source: Fast Company Magazine All In A Days Work By: David Roberts

Posted By: Kelley Rees, CVMBS Career Center Liaison