College Grad Lessons

I’m looking for part-time work that would complement my grad studies this fall. I’ll be attending University of Maryland for their Master’s in Information Management program. Of course, a graduate assistantship would be great but I realize that state schools are facing budget cuts.

I’ve submitted my graduate assistantship application to the school and have slowly started reaching out to people on campus that might benefit from someone with my skill set (web development and training).

I was wondering if anyone has suggestions for finding part-time work for grad students. I want to continue doing something related to web development so I can continue to build my resume during grad school.

Grad students - How did you find work? What do you do?

Others - Any ideas? What have your friends/family done?

About two weeks ago, @Falldog sent me an article that he thought would be fitting for College Grad Lessons. The article, “Job Forecast for College Seniors: Grimmer Than Ever,” was featured in Time and highlights what many of us are experience or trying to avoid. For recent college graduates, like myself, having any job is considered lucky. This might mean a rough start to our ideal career path, but it’s a reality. For college students thinking about graduating from college, the grim job forecast means flexibility and preparation are imperative.

The article highlighted the colleges and universities are amping up their career services because grad school might not be the best option for student that already have loans and even those with job offers need to keep handing out their resume:

Meanwhile, schools are pulling out the stops to help students beat out the competition. Counselors everywhere are encouraging students to turn to their alumni networks for help. The University of Maryland has conducted workshops with an emphasis on networking. The career office shared by Haverford and Bryn Mawr recently gave each senior 50 business cards listing their name and major.

For students who have already managed to snag an offer, they might want to keep their business cards handy. According to NACE, as many as 8% of employers will be forced to rescind at least some of the offers they made in the fall. “In this economy, we don’t even use the terminology ’sewn up’ anymore,” says Roseborough. More like coming apart at the seams.

The college that I graduated from and currently work for has certainly increased the number of resume and job-hunting workshops, but honestly I don’t know if they are even throwing a career fair.

What is your college or university doing to help students find jobs in the tough economy?

This post was written for Twenty-Something Writers, a new blog that promotes writing, sharing ideas and motivating each other to sit down and write. Be sure to check it out if you haven’t already.

As twenty-something writers, most of us are students or young professionals that wouldn’t mind making some extra money. Although writing might be something that you just do for fun, you can use your blogging and other writing to help land freelance or part-time jobs.

I’m attending grad school full-time starting this fall and have been looking for a part-time job. I currently work full-time as a web developer and training specialist and recently interviewed for a part-time/contract web design position with an interactive design firm. One of the samples I sent to the firm was a blog template that I built for WordPress, so the person interviewing me asked if I had experience writing. Although I hadn’t planned on talking about College Grad Lessons (something that I do for fun and still needs a lot of work), it was the perfect writing sample for web content. The positive response that I received regarding my blog made me realize that I should consider freelance/part-time copywriting as another type of part-time job to pursue during grad school.

As a twenty-something writer, here are ten freelance/part-time jobs to consider:

1. Copywriter - Search job postings and contact local PR and design firms to find potential copywriter positions. Send a link to your blog and few other writing samples and highlight your computer skills.
2. Blogger - Blogs are becoming increasingly popular for small business marketing, but business owners often lack the time to research and write blog posts related to their business. Watch local job postings and search for businesses with blogs that need more or better content to find potential blogging jobs.
3. Web Content Editor - Small businesses and design firms may be interested in hiring a web content editor to edit copy and add content to web sites. Look for job postings with WordPress listed as a desired skill.
4. Tutor - Local schools or private companies may be looking to hire English tutors. Also consider posting flyers or an ad in a school newspaper to find interested parents and students. In high school, I tutored as a part-time job and made a decent amount of money. In addition to helping students with homework, you could offer creative writing lessons. (more…)
   

Today is the official launch of Twenty-Something Writers. The blog/community is a new place for twenty-something writers to talk about their ideas and get inspired. For the blog’s first post, Ashley asked readers to respond to the following prompt:

Tell us about your writing history. Have you always enjoyed writing? Did you hate grammar lessons in school? Who have been your greatest influences? What kind of writing do you enjoy most? Take any creative spin you want. Post your response on your blog and leave the link in the comments below. Check out the responses of others as well.

As a kid, I loved to read and write. Thinking back to my childhood I remember the constant ideas I had for poems, stories, plays and movies. Summers at my grandparents’ farm meant the annual cousin play, written and directed by me of course. I was the oldest cousin, so the role was somewhat logical, but I’m also pretty sure I was a bit obnoxious as a kid. Either way, I miss the creativity that I had as a kid. I didn’t hesitate to fill notebooks with the beginnings of novels. Unfortunately they were always left unfinished, but always because I had a new idea. (more…)

Social networking is a great tool for meeting people in the same profession or city. With Twitter, I have managed to create a small network of people that use the same content management system that the web team I work on recently implemented. I’ve also developed a network of people that have similar blogging interests. Between Twitter, Linked In, blog networks and the many other social networking methods, you find people that are incredible resources and people that can learn from your experiences.

But what happens when I need to look for a new job or hope to find additional freelance work? The fact that I can develop a blog template for WordPress and understand how to use social networking effectively are desirable skills, but I do I really want to share my blog and Twitter page with prospective employers?

Personally I see plenty of benefits of sharing my social networking identity. I don’t see anything that I post being a turn off for employers, but who knows? My blog shares my grad school decision process, how I got my current job and so much more. I often tweet about things I’m working on at work, post questions about web development and occasionally reference going out for drinks. I’m careful not to complain too much or share unnecessary personal information, but I realize that one tweet or blog post could make the wrong impression.

Have you thought about what your social networking presence says to employers? What rules do you follow when posting things online?

Have you ever been asked what your weakness is in a job interview? It’s a challenging question and certainly one that should be thought about before heading to an interview. Even with prior thought about the question, however, you still might not be sure what an interview actually wants to hear.

The Wall Street Journal featured a great article this week addressing this interview question. The article explains that “ideally, your reply also should exclude the word ‘weakness’ and cover your corrective steps.” The article also warns that answers to the question should take the company’s culture into consideration. In addition, there are some common responses that actual hurt an interviewee:

“Some people offer replies they mistakenly assume that bosses love, such as “I am a perfectionist.” That response “will be used against you” because you appear incapable of delegating, warns Joshua Ehrlich, dean of a master’s program in executive coaching sponsored by BeamPines Inc., a New York coaching firm and Middlesex University in London.”

Check out the article for examples of good answers to “the weakness question.”

How would you answer the question?

Yes, the idea sounds a bit crazy, but it turns out that paying for an internship is not that unusual. The Wall Street Journal explained:

“Faced with a dismal market for college summer internships, a growing number of anxious parents are pitching in to help — by buying their kids a foot in the door.

Some are paying for-profit companies to place their college students in internships that are mostly unpaid. Others are hiring marketing consultants to create direct-mail campaigns promoting their children’s workplace potential. Still other parents are buying internships outright in online charity auctions.”

Obviously in an ideal world college students would be able to apply and be accepted to well-paid internship that gave then an advantage when entering the job market after college. Top-notch internships are hard to find, especially when the economy isn’t doing well. However, The Wall Street Journal seems to have over-sensationalized the story. Although there are parents paying tons of money to help their children get ahead, internships come in a variety of shapes and sizes. I’m sure there are exceptions to this, but my experience with internships was that the program I did that had a tuition fee was the most valuable.

My personal experiences with internships included the following:

The summer after my first year of college (though technically a rising junior), I participated in a program called The Washington Center. Yes this program had tuition and room fees, but my college had an affliation with the program that basically paid for the tuition. Since my family lives in the DC suburbs, I lived at home. The only cost I actually paid was for the 8 credits I earn and my internship was a paid internship. I accepted a position with the U.S. Department of the Treasury after interviewing for several others and receiving a few offers. So why do people paid for a program like this? (more…)

Driving back from my grandparents house (also know as “The Farm”), my boyfriend and I got to talking about all the things that we had done in 2008. It was a busy year for both of us, but 2009 might prove to be even more eventful. It’s exciting to think about what New Year’s Day 2010 might be like for me. I hope to start working on a Master’s Degree in Information Architecture, Interaction Design or something similar. I’ve also been thinking about looking for a job in another state (hopefully in the South) since some of the graduate programs I am applying to can be done entirely online. Ultimately I have no clue what I’ll be doing when 2009 comes to a close, but I’m enjoying the uncertainty.

In light of all of the possible changes I may experience in 2009, one of my resolutions is to make sure any changes I make in 2009 move me closer to my long term goals. (more…)