Where Do I Go From Here? College and Professional Career Counseling

How To Network

2010-05-04T13:39:00.000-07:00

I am posting an interesting read from Silicon Alley Insider that interviews some high powered folks in Silicon Valley about how to "network like a pro." If you are working on your networking skills (and we all should be improving them), this is a good read for you.

JV

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-network-like-a-pro-2010-4

Using YouTube To Find A New Job?

2010-05-04T13:31:00.001-07:00

Especially in this uncertain economy, there is a lot of anxiety for those that are looking for jobs--how do I compete with the other candidates? There are so many candidates vying for few jobs--how do I separate myself from the others? How can I find a job in this tough economy? These are a few of the questions that I receive from students, especially those that are graduating this Spring.

I will often work with students on ways that they can leverage their expertise and experience by using the internet to advertise. The conversation will typically cover using such sites as Facebook, LinkedIn, Ryze, to name a few. But I just read this article about how a Canadian College Football player went undrafted in the NFL Draft. He prepared a recruiting tape with a collection of his vital information along with a "best of" compilation of his games. He posted it to YouTube, and the Cleveland Browns found it, brought him in, and he is now signed. What a success story. The full story can be found at this link on Silicon Alley Insider.

Now, obviously this may take some massaging to adapt to other industries and careers, but it does open some new possibilities! I'm not completely sold on making a promo video for YouTube yet, but I am going to do some more research and report back to you on my findings. Done right, I think this has some promise!

JV
http://www.businessinsider.com/undrafted-football-players-youtube-video-gets-him-a-contract-with-the-cleveland-browns-2010-5

How Non-Profits Are Using Social Media

2010-05-04T13:23:00.000-07:00

I have recently spoke with a number of students that have an altruistic purpose in their career direction--that is, their ambition is to help people. For some, this means that they will be working for non-profit organizations to help people. While this is certainly an admirable goal, it can be hard to get your foot in the door with a reputable organization. What's more, applicants need to bring skills--they need to add value to the organization, especially if it is a paid position. (almost by definition, non-profits usually don't have a ton of cash to throw at employees)

I have been working with a few students on how they might build their skillsets to make them more appealing to non-profits. One way is to learn the latest trends, and skills on how the organization may spread the word or cause to a broader audience. A natural way to do this is to take advantage of the internet, and specifically, social networking sites. Done well, this can be an effective way to reach a broad audience with little money and time.

I have posted an article that I recently read on Mashable.com about this very tactic that is becoming more popular with non-profits. This is a good read for anyone, but espeically those that are interested in going into this sector!

JV
http://mashable.com/2010/05/03/non-profit-social-media-results/

New Facebook Settings-Must Read!

2010-05-04T13:15:00.001-07:00

At their developer conference, Facebook recently announced they are making their user' "interests" and "pages" public. The idea is that they can make your web experience better by making associations with your interests and pages. They would also be able to help advertisers help target people better, based upon your interests. This is a shrewd move by Facebook, as they look to increase their presence on the internet to increase advertising revenues. Unfortunately, their default privacy settings are now left at share all information with others. If this is not what you intend to do, you must go back and change them to private settings. This is different than the privacy settings you may have changed back in January! You must go back and change these as well.
In a detailed article in Silicon Alley Insider, the step-by-step instructions to change your privacy settings are listed. Please click on the link to this article to learn how to change your settings!

JV

http://www.businessinsider.com/careful-facebooks-new-settings-publish-your-interests-even-if-theyre-private-2010-5

Cleantech!

2010-04-20T12:03:00.001-07:00

I recently attended a Cleantech Panel at UC Berkeley, where I listened to 4 industry people talked about the recent "emergence" of the cleantech industry. What I found itneresting was the perspective of these people, they were able to talk about how they got to where they were, what space they are in, and also give a perspective of the direction and current trends of the industry and a few sub-categories of the industry. It was very informative, I definitely encourage those of you who are reading this to broaden your knowledge by learning more about this industry. To me, it has the feeling of the 1990's when the technology industry was really starting to explode along with the popularily of the internet. Some of the "cleantech" technology has been around for some time, but it seems as if the perfect storm of events are happening to act as a catalyst to propel the industry into the forefront of discussion and political agendas.
To this, I have accrued a list of different cleantech energy related sites that are devoted to cleantech news. If you are looking to do research or just to read up on the industry, some of these sites may be a good starting point. As always, feedback on these are always appreciated!

JV

•GreenTech Media
www.greentechmedia.com
News website covering solar, smart grid, enterprise, events, and market research

•Mondo Times:
http://www.mondotimes.com/2/topics/5/business/31
CleanTech News Site Aggregate

•GreenWire
http://www.eenews.net/gw/
Energy and environmental policy news

•Energy Central
http://www.energycentral.com/
Energy news website covering utilites, energy generation, storage, smartgrid, and end-use

•Renewables Biz:
http://www.renewablesbiz.com/
Business of renewable and sustainable energy

•Alternative Energy Stocks
http://www.altenergystocks.com/archives/2007/06/the_launch_of_cleantech_news_1.html
Following the financials of alternative energy companies

•Cleantech Blog
http://www.cleantechblog.com/2006/01/cleantech-news-californias-3-billion.html
Cleantech site for commentary on news and technology relating to cleantech, greentech, energy, climate change and carbon, and the environment

•Venture Beat
http://green.venturebeat.com/
Follow Cleantech venture capital funding

•Alternative Energy News
http://www.alternative-energy-news.info/
Alternative energy news and information resources about renewable energy technologies

•Green Energy News
http://www.green-energy-news.com/
Covering technology, issues, policy, and the business of clean, efficient and renewable energy

•Energy Industry Today
http://energy.einnews.com/
News service for energy industry professionals

•Energy Source Guides
http://energy.sourceguides.com/news.shtml
Renewable energy resource: news aggregate

•Renewable Energy World
http://www.renewableenergyworld.com/rea/home
Renewable energy portal that contains relevant news, blogs, finance, products, companies, events, and jobs

•Wind Energy News
http://www.windenergynews.com/
Wind Energy News is a comprehensive source of news about wind power issues and projects from media sources from around the world, as well as an international marketplace of people, companies, products and services connected with the wind energy industry

•Alt E-News
http://www.altenews.com/ Alternative Energy News Site Aggregate
Alternative Energy News Site Aggregate

•Department of Energy
http://www.energy.gov/

•Next Energy News
http://www.nextenergynews.com/
Alternative energy news website

•Solar Buzz
http://www.solarbuzz.com/
Solar energy website covering industry, corporate, people, products, and jobs

•Energy Daily
http://www.energy-daily.com/
News website covering alternative energies such as biofuel, wind, solar, and nuclear power

What is the Future of the Internet, and How Will It Affect Businesses?

2010-04-20T11:24:00.000-07:00

Another interesting blog title, eh?
I read another article from the Pew Research website that talks about the direction of technology, more specifically the internet, and how the direction may affect business in the future. What is the direction of the internet? And do you think the internet will drastically change business models in the next 10-20 years? These are a few of the questions that were asked of a sample of business executives. The insight is interesting, and worth a read.

What do you think???

James

http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Impact-of-the-Internet-on-Institutions-in-the-Future.aspx

Will The Internet Make Us Stupid?

2010-04-20T11:19:00.000-07:00

An interesting and catchy title, I know.
But there is an interesting series of articles that are on the Pew Research website that address this question, as well as some other pertinent ones. (like recent internet trends, polls, etc)
This is a conversation that I have had with friends--in my opinion, one worth having. Will sites like Google and Wikipedia make us more lazy or complacent, or curb learning? Will this trend of finding quick information slow the research methods that encourage depth in learning? Will texting and emailing, expecially with the Millenial generation lead to lower English composition skills and reduced understanding of grammar and sentence structure? I think there is an argument on either side. Click on the link below (or the title of this blog) to read the article on Pew Research's site.

What do you think?

James

http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2010/Future-of-the-Internet-IV.aspx

Article on the Reasons Why and How You Should Blog

2010-04-20T11:11:00.000-07:00

Again, I am writing a series of posts on the benefits of blogging to enhance your job search and networking ablilites. The idea is to increase your web presence, and to broadcast to interested parties about your expertise. Provided that your content is compelling, and contains useful information relevant to your career field, this will increase your credibility amongst your colleagues.
My personal feelings are that the web 2.0 experience is steadliy gaining traction in the job search and networking world. If you are searching for a new job, or know that you may do so in the future, creating an online presence can be a godsend. The traditional model of sending your resume to companies and posting your resume online is still useful, but is becoming less relevant as time goes on. It is more efficient for some companies to search for people on the internet by visiting blogs, social networking sites, and personal websites. Most recruiters I know, have become very savvy in the art of searching for people by combing these different sites.
Anyway, I have linked an article I read on Silicon Alley Insider about how and why you should start a blog. The article is slanted more towards those that are starting a business or a company, but many of the principles apply to your own personal blog you may keep.

As always, I am interested in hearing your feedback!

James

http://www.businessinsider.com/should-you-blog-yep-and-heres-how-2010-3

Chartbeat: Blog Analytics

2010-04-20T11:08:00.000-07:00

As a continuation of this theme of creating internet content, I read another interesting article on a new (to me) blog performance tracker on SAI. For those that have started a new blog and would like to track the performace of your blog, you might want to read this article from SAI about Chartbeat.

James

http://www.businessinsider.com/why-chartbeat-is-my-blog-performance-tracker-of-choice-2010-4

Increase Your Google Presence

2010-04-20T10:59:00.000-07:00

Especially for students that are entering the workforce, it is important to get your name out there for potential employers and colleagues to see and recognize that you are a serious career professional. The importance of doing this increases in tough economic times like this. But a lot of students (and working professionals for that matter) have a lot of questions about how to do this. I always tell people to increase their presence by meeting people in-person and on-line on the internet. One way to increase your presence online is to create a blog or website. You have a lot of freedom in what material you choose to include, and how you go about posting it. But once you get some material down, how to do you get people to actually find and visit your online space? Google is an obvious answer. Despite a lot of competition, Google remains the top choice for people to search for content. Unfortunately, Google is very good about finding a lot of information--so much so, that your content can be buried with all the other information out there. This is where SEO metrics come into play--that art of getting your information found on Google searches. I have posted a link to an article I read on Silicon Alley Insider which gives a description of a few simple ways to get your page noticed. In other words, if I do a Google search on a topic related to your page, what steps can you take to increase the likelihood that your page will come up near the top of the search results rather than on page 10. This is an interesting read, I highly recommend it.

James

http://www.businessinsider.com/how-to-get-a-good-pagerank-2010-4

List of Social/Professional Networking Sites

2010-04-08T12:18:00.000-07:00

LinkedIn, Ryze, and Meetup.com, are a few websites that are well-known and produce results for a number of people. They are certainly the go-to websites for a large number of people out there. I highly recommend using those sites if you haven't already signed up.
As always, I am looking for more information, and new resources that might be able to help myself or others. I stumbled across a few new websites when doing a search the other day. I also found this list of websites on Wikipedia's website. There may be some useful ones on the list.
Take a look:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_social_networking_websites

You can also click on the title of this article, which will take you directly to the same link.

James

Health Care Reform: Can't Live With It, Can't Live Without It

2010-03-18T13:36:00.001-07:00

There has been much coverage over the past year on the health care debate. Most of the debate has been over the level of the government's role in providing accessible health care to Americans. The Obama administration has made health care reform a top priority, and this topic seems to have polarized Americans over just how the health care system should be overhauled. Should health care be mandated? Should the government provide an alternative to private health care coverage? Should benefits be extended to all residents, or only citizens? This is a complicated topic that includes many layers of delicate material and reaches many different industries, special interest groups, and populations.
Besides the obvious political implications, the decisions politicians make have, and will continue to have an effect on the job market now, and for years to come. One argument for universal government sponsored health care is that employers will have more options to provide health care benefits to employees. More options may mean lower costs to small to mid-size companies, that are currently getting hammered with rising costs. This also has implications on unemployment, and how quickly the job market improves. With so much uncertainty surrounding not only the economy, but the future of health care, there is a feeling that employers are waiting on the sidelines before they make decisions on whether to hire more employees. The data show that there is an increasing number of companies that are ready to hire, yet the actual number of new jobs does not match this information. In other words, employers are cautious, and waiting for more certainty before hiring again.
The moral of this story? Health care reform will have an impact on the job market.

Move Back In With Your Parents? How About Your Parents Moving in With You?

2010-03-18T13:27:00.000-07:00

This is another interesting article I found on the Pew Research Center's website. I highly recommend you visit this website from time to time, as it has very interesting articles that follow trends in various themes such as economics, politics, education, foreign policy, etc.
This particular article talks about a recent trend that they attribute to the Great Recession. That is, that there is a growing trend of more than one generation of family living in one household. This can happen for several reasons, but there are certain cultural and economic trends that one must consider before making conclusions. Some cultures are more likely to live in a multigenerational household than others. Another factor is economics. People may live under one roof to save on rent or mortgage. This makes sense for some people as well, especially if grandparents are retired and available to provide childcare. This can be seen as a symbiotic relationship: the parents receive childcare from person(s) they trust. The grandparents may benefit from having a more affordable housing option (especially if they are on e fixed income), and they may be more likely to be connected with other people, so that they have more interaction with others. (a common problem for some elderly when they retire)
The economic factors are what this article focuses on. The Great Recession, as many people call it, may be a contributing factor to the growing incidence of multigenerational housing in the United States.
As always, click on the title at the top to follow the link to the article.

7 Things You Should Never Say to Your Boss

2010-03-18T13:19:00.001-07:00

This is an article I ran across today that lists 7 things that you should never say to your boss. Now, there are probably more than 7 things that you should never say to your boss. And I don't typically recommend that you get your career or life advice from the rotation of the articles that appear on your Yahoo! page when signing in to read your email, but sometimes they are fun to read.
Click on the title up at the top to read the article.

12 References You Do Not Want To See

2010-03-18T13:14:00.000-07:00

This was an article that was sent to me recently by a colleague. It is more fun to read about someone else's mistakes and/or poor fortune. But I think the message is somewhat clear, and is also directly relevant to the topic of this blog. That is, be midful of the people that you choose to be your references. Make sure you choose people that know you well, and will talk positively about your work! This seems somewhat simple, but as the article points out, it is not a message that everyone has gotten!

Top Ranked Job Search Sites

2010-03-18T13:01:00.000-07:00

Top Ranked Job Search Sites by Dept. of Labor
A link to the article can be reached by clicking on the blog title.

It's official: The list of top job search tools on the web, according to the US Department of Labor's Tools for America’s Job Seekers Challenge.

Divided into six major categories, here are the results in alphabetical order:

Career Exploration Tools

ASVAB Career Exploration Program
Career Coach
CareerNoodle
CareerOneStop
FastWeb
Great Job!
JobTitled
Kuder Journey
Monster Career Advice
Monster Career Benchmarking

Career Planning Tools

50+ Career Coach
Career Ready 101
CareerScribe
GadBall.com
Monster's Making It Count Program
National Career Readiness Certificate
Optimal Resume
ResuWe
Susan Ireland's Resume Site
The Riley Guide

General Job Boards, Listing Sites, and Aggregators

America's Virtual OneStop
CareerBuilder. com
Careerstallion. com
Indeed.com
JobSearchUsa. org
LinkUp.com
Monster Newspaper Partnerships(PDF)
Monster.com
Simplyhired. com
USAjobs.gov

Niche Job Boards

Specific Occupations:
Excelle
HR Guru
Inside Tech
Media Buzz
Sales HQ

State/Local Job Tools:
Employ Florida Marketplace - Florida's Online Career Resource
IHaveAPlanIowa - Everyone Needs a Plan To Succeed
Illinois workNet
WECAN- Wisconsin Education Career Access Network
Workforce Central Florida

Military/State/ Local Government:
Fire Link
Military.com
Police Link
Transition Assistance Online
VetJobs

40 and Older Worker/Senior:
AARP Job Board
OurExperienceCounts
Retired Brains

Diverse Populations:
Diversity & Inclusion Networks
MarylandDiversity. com
TexasDiversity. com

Ex-Offender:
GoodWill services for Ex-Offender
HIRE Network
The Next Step/WOTC Solutions

Students:
AfterCollege
Monster College, a Monster Community
OSU-OKC Job Postings

Social Media Job Search

Door64.com
GreenJOBS.pro
JibberJobber. com
JobHunt.org Twitter
Jobs-Assistant
LinkedIn
Linkedin Jobs Group
Susan Ireland's YouTube Playlists
Susan P. Joyce's Linkedin Group
TweetMyJOBS. com

Other Job Matching and Career Advancement Tools

Alison.com
Career Directors International
Department of Education- Training Grants
Human Capital Institute
Monster Evolutions
Monster Real-Time Labor Intelligence
Monster’s Keep America Working Tour
SkillUP
Step 9: Apply for a Job Using Shortcuts
WaggleForce

Demographics of Social Networking Sites

2010-03-18T12:39:00.000-07:00

I came across this interesting artcle on a website that I regularly read, The Silicon Alley Insider www.alleyinsider.com.
The article provided basic information about the demogrpahics of the user base of three of the most popular social networking sites, Facebook, LinkeIn, and Twitter. It did not include MySpace in the data, there are probably a couple of reasons for this. One, they received their information from anotehr source, and the source did not research the data for MySpace. The other might be that MySpace's popularity is declining. Active users have been declining steadily over the last year or so, while Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn have been enjoying a growing active user base. Because they have a growing interest, they are more relevant to those that are researching trends of how people use social networking sites.

The graphs and breakdowns are listed in this news article:

http://www.businessinsider.com/is-your-target-audience-on-twitter-facebook-or-linkedin-2010-2

Interesting Article About the Millenial Generation

2010-03-18T12:21:00.001-07:00

I read this interesting article the other day about some research that the Pew Foundation did on behaviors of the Millenial Generation. Millenials are defined as the population that currently fall in the 18-29 year old demographic (born in years between 1981 and 1992). For career counselors, it is interesting to study this generation, as it can represent a large population of the people we serve, especially if we work in a college setting. In other words, I must know the people that I am working with on a daily basis.
According to the research, compared to other generations that came before them, they are more more racially diverse, less likely to be affiliated with a religion, less likely to have served in the military, and are "on track to become the most educated generation in American history."
This is powerful information, especially the quote that states this generation is more educated than any preceding them. As the article points out, they are entering the job market in one of the most difficult times in recent history. The recession we are currently experiencing is considered by many to be the most far reaching and devastating since the Great Depression. Yet, this population of Millenials tends to have far more of an upbeat and positive attitude than other demographics. Why is this? There are several possible scenarios. One theory is that younger people tend to be less focused on the future in general, and that they still have that feeling of invincibility. Are there other reasons? And what are the consequences for an entire generation of young people that have been, and continue to be affected by economic hardship? If they enter the workforce later than other generations, despite being more educated, what are the long term effects on their careers, and their financial stability? One growing problem is the lack of retirement planning that Americans face. American savings rates have been declining on a steady pace over the last 10-20 years. Combined with the latest economic hardship, what affect will all this have on the Millenials? The generation coming out the Great Depression tended to save more money, knowing what was possible. Will today's Millenials follow that pattern as well? Or will their optimism keep the overall savings rate declining? What do you think?
A link to the Pew Research article is posted here:

http://pewresearch.org/pubs/1501/%20millennials-new-survey-generational-personality-upbeat-open-new-ideas-technology-bound

Web 2.0 Experience

2010-03-03T21:14:00.000-08:00

I read an interesting article on SFGate.com the other day. I found it to be an excellent introduction to my recent area of focus: using the internet to effectively market yourself. In a relatively brief article, the Chronicle describes how the Web 2.o platform has not only changed people's online usage habits, but changed how many users search, share, and receive information. It describes the decline in ad revenues for newspapers and traditional television news, which is fueled by smaller audiences in each medium. Not only do people find their news on the internet more than they did in recent years, they often turn to social networking sites to perpetuate stories of interest (kind of like this blog). Of particular interest is the usage of the term "social currency", which describes how people use news to interact with one another online. This piqued my interest, I will research this to see if I can find more on this phenomenon.
If interested in reading this full article, you find it here:
http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/c/a/2010/03/01/BU7T1C7C5F.DTL

JV

I'm Back!

2010-03-03T13:46:00.000-08:00

Hi All,
I have taken a bit of a hiatus from posting over the last year to catch up on my school work, and welcome my first child, our daughter! Yes, this last year has been somewhat of a whirlwind of events. My wife finished her Master's Degree last May! We gave birth to our daughter last September, which in itself was a life-changing, but fun event. She is now 5 months old--she is really starting to show her personality more with each passing day. I have been told this is a really fun age to witness, and so far I agree. Her mental progress seems measurable almost on a daily basis. It is also interesting to be a father now, as I have been working with children and adults on development, so it is an experience to practice a bit of what I preach.

Anyway, over the next several weeks I will be focusing my posts on something very relevant to me: Online networking, and how to leverage your online profile to get into your next job! I will be graduating from San Jose State this May. Despite the tough economic conditions, I am faced with finding employment at one of the local colleges. My emphasis is on career counseling, but I have experience as a generalist at Foothill College.

As I continue to leverage my own experience online, I will document the information that I find that works for me, as well as the information that does not work. I hope this information may find it's way to someone that will find it useful.

Anyway, good to be back, I look forward to many future posts, and hopefully discussions! Please send me a note if you have any questions and/or comments!

JV

Planning For A Major! Part 2

2009-03-04T09:57:00.000-08:00

In the previous post, I wrote about the importance of declaring a major. This post will concentrate on how declaring a major will affect your college career.

It is okay if you are undeclared, you do not need to panic! But there are advantages to declaring a major sooner, rather than later. As a counselor, I see students on a regular basis to advise them on topics related to their pursuit of a college degree. The next few paragraphs will outline the impact declaring a major will have on your college career, from a counselor's perspective.

Chances are, that if you have seen a counselor here at your college, you have been exposed to the "ed plan", which refers to the process of a counselor going over a proposed plan to satisfy your general education (GE's) requirements for degree or transfer. Especially for students looking to transfer to a 4-year school, declaring your major will give you more focus and clarity of your class seletion going forward. Once your degree is chosen, your decision may impact which schools you consider transferring to. Every school is different, some schools may not offer the degree program you are interested in pursuing. Some schools have a "stronger" program than others in specific areas. Choosing your major may affect whether you transfer to a UC or a CSU. There are programs offered at CSU's that are not offered at UC's and vice versa. Instruction at UC's tend to be more research based, while degree programs at the CSU level tend to be more hands-on. This is avery important factor to consider, one that you can follow up on with a counselor here at Foothill.

If you have seen a counselor, you may know about www.assist.org. This is a very useful website that allows students access to specific admission requirements for each public school in California. Users are able to search or find majors that each school has available. For example, if you were interested in obtaining a BS in Biology, you can find which schools offer that degree. It will also break down specific specializations each school has. For example, Business Administration is a common area of study. But this is a broad scope of study, so often times schools will break this down into areas of specialization. Form the site, you can see which areas of specialization each school offers. You can see how this may be helpful in researching which schools offer programs that are of interest to you. Once you have selceted a specific school and degree program, you can tell the webiste which school you are transferring from to see what specific classes the 4-year university requires for admission into that major. In addition to the GE requirements, each school, and each major may have separate requirements to transfer under a specific major. Classes specified under this area are required in addition to your GE classes. You can see how it will be to your advantage to know the major prep classes, so that you may add these classes to your ed plan. Again, the sooner you can successfully declare a major, the easier it will be to set your education plan for your stay at school. You are less likely to take classes that are not necessary for your successful degree completion or transfer to another school.

Yes, it can be a bit intimidating to make major life choices, but remember how exciting it can be to really make decisions for YOURSELF. Remember that you will be the one studying, writing papers, and taking exams. It will be you that will graduate and look for a job in your chosen career. It is important that you take this process seriously, but also be thoughtful and aware of things that will hopefully bring you satisfaction. Once you have chosen your major, you may also find that you become a little more motivated, and your new sense of direction may help you achieve more in class.

The next pose will explore different resources to assist you in the process of choosing a major.

JV

Planning For A Major! part 1

2009-03-03T18:26:00.000-08:00

So you are enrolled in college and taking classes, but have you declared a major? If you have, great! If not, you are not alone! It is natural to be a bit apprehensive about choosing a major. Although every student is allowed to change his/her major, there always seems to be a bit of finality in deciding a major. It can definitely be an intimidating experience, but it does not need to be.

Declaring a major is one of those very important steps in your college career and life. A large percentage of students will examine and choose majors that relate to jobs and careers they would like to enter into after graduation. This is closely tied to one's personal interests and skill levels. If you are going to work 40+ hours a week for 30+ years, at the very least, you should have a mild interest in the work you are performing. Your interest will have a direct impact on your overall quality of life. A large percentage of people cite work as one of the few factors that influence happiness. In other words, if they are happy at work, they are more likely to be happy in life, or overall. If they are not happy at work, they are more likely to have a pessimistic outlook on life.

It also makes sense to explore and identify where your strengths and weaknesses are. This does not mean that you need to choose something you excel at over an area that you find harder. It means that you are better off if you are aware of these things. Self-awareness and preparation are the name of the game. For example, if you are writing a research paper, there are several steps that you need to do to complete the assignment. You would need to pick a topic, from there you would go to the library and research the topic by finding and choosing the appropriate sources. From there you would read and take notes. Once done you might gather the notes and form an outline, then start writing the paper. Once done you might proof-read the paper, then add a bibliography, then a title page, and make sure the overall format is correct. Quite a few steps, yes? If you have a certain amount of time to complete the paper, you may make a timeline that allocates a time period to each step. If you are stronger in research and writing the bibliography and formatting the quotes and citations, it may be helpful to know. You still need to write the bibliography and insert the citations, but you may allocate more time to these tasks, if they are not your strengths. Again, self-awareness and preparation are very important when making decisions about your future.

Remember that the decisions you make now will affect your careerpath, and life in general. This process can be fun and exciting, as this is YOUR FUTURE! You are investing heavily in your future as you are preparing by attending college. Take advantage of this time to take a keen interest in deciding your major. As a general rule of thumb, I typically will do more research/diligence/ask more questions/find answers to my questions/think about/reflect as the decision becomes more important or life-changing. The more informed you are about the major that matches you and your interests, the more likely you are to enjoy and be more successful in your career.

There are a lot of resources and people that will aid your quest for knowledge. As you find more information, the decision will likely become more clear, and you will be more confident moving forward.

This is part 1 of Planning a Major, I will move onto the next topic of how declaring a major will impact the rest of your college education in the next post.

Volunteer! Part 3

2009-03-02T16:47:00.001-08:00

PLACES TO LOOK TO GET STARTED

As promised, here are a few places that often have volunteer work available. (depending on your interests). Remember that this list is only a fraction of the opportunities that exist. If your interests do not match any of these places, look for others. The internet is a wealth of information, start with a google search to see what other organizations may exist. Remember that not all jobs and internships are advertised--the same is true for volunteer opportunities. Sometimes old fashioned phone work can pay off. Get a list of organizations and call each one to see if there are any possibilities. Be creative, and take the initiative. Your diligence will most likely be rewarded!

Now, onto that list:

www.Craigslist.org: has a VOLUNTEER section to search

www.volunteermatch.org: site dedicated to matching volunteers with volunteer jobs

City Programs: youth programs, boys and girls clubs, afterschool programs, etc

Literacty: reading programs for various ages, etc

Libraries:

Senior Citizens: spend time with senior citizens, help care, etc

Homeless Shelters

Food Banks: www.secondharvestfood.org is a good one

Habitat For Humanity: help an organization that helps provide housing for low income and disadvantaged people globally

Special Olympics: www.specialolympics.org

State Parks: www.parks.ca.gov

Political Campaigns

Environmental Organizations: www.gridalternatives.org/volunteer "empowering communities in need by providing renewable energy and energy efficient services, equipment, and training."

Web Site Creation: A great way to hone skills and get industry experience if website creation is a career you are looking at

Salvation Army: www.salvationarmyusa.org

Red Cross: www.redcross.org

United Way: www.liveunited.org/volunteer

WWW.MLKDay.org: community based volunteerism

Animals: www.hsus.org

Shanti: www.shanti.org: SF based group dedicated to helping those with debilitating diseases such as AIDS/HIV and cancer.

International/Abroad: www.crossculturalsolutions.org

United Nations Volunteers: working together to make the world a better place (reduce poverty, democratic governance, promote energy and environmental policies, strengthen resources to respond to crises, fight global spread of HIV/AIDS. www.unv.org

Volunteer! Part 2

2009-03-02T16:45:00.000-08:00

HOW TO GET STARTED

You've decided that you want to volunteer, but where do you begin? How do you get started?

Most people will volunteer doing something that is something of interest or passion. Chances are you will enjoy the experience and ultimately get more out of the experience if you enter a field that you are passionate about. So think about things that are of interest to you? Often times volunteer work is related to social help, but doesn't need to be. The key is to get yourself into an environment that is of interest to you. If animals and pets are of interest to you, then working with animals at a local animal shelter may be a great way to volunteer. Animal shelters are often under-funded and overburdened, and are in need to volunteers to help run them. If travel and working with people from different cultures is something that really gets you excited, then joining the peace corps or a similar organization may be worth a look. The peace corps will obviously take you outside of the United States for a couple of years, so this may be one of many factors to weight when thinking about strategy. It is an example used for this blog, but the idea is to take an interest and run with it. Research different ways you may volunteer. What organizations may have opportunities to volunteer? And if I were to volunteer, what are the requirements? The end of this blog will have a few places to look to get started, but research is important. You don't want to get yourself into something that is not a fit for you.

Skills: What skills are required for the volunteer work that you are researching. And what skills would you learn? What skills do you want to learn? Would you be working with people? Some volunteer opportunities will consist of a lot of office work: filing, typing, data entry, etc. Is this something you are comfortable or qualified to do? Will the volunteer work require you to solicit door-to-door? Will it require public speaking or writing skills? These are all things to consider. There are no right or wrongs here, just preferences that may be a better match for your personality and goals. Sometimes the entry point into a field or organization is not exactly what you would like to do for the rest of your life, but you must feel comfortable doing it. Assume that you will be doing these tasks for an extended period of time.

Schedule: Have a realistic idea of how many hours per week you can contribute. Management in volunteer organizations often work with people that cannot commit a large number of hours. It is helpful if you can provide a consistent schedule to the organization for scheduling purposes. It will make everyone's life easier. Cannot find the time? Start to write down what you do on a daily basis for a week. TV is one of the biggest time consumers today. Is it possible to give up a few hours of TV per week to make time to volunteer? Writing out what you do on a daily basis may help you get a better idea of your habits, and ultimately help you organize your time more efficiently.

Mentor: It is helpful if there is a mentor or supervisor that can oversee your work and to lend a hand if possible. This person will also act as a teacher if you are learning a new skill or trade. The relationship of the mentor can be very valuable in learning new skills, and acting as a reference or someone to go to for advice later in life.

Start!: Find a volunteer job, start, and stick with it! It may be hard at first, but it will most likely pay off if you stick with it. Yes, volunteer work does not pay, but often times the experience is the pay. You will come out of the experience a better person for it. Don't be afraid to ask questions. Especially when training is provided, the assumption is that you are learning something new. Asking questions is okay! Work with as many people as possible and take on new responsibilities if appropriate. This will expose you to more people, and more areas to learn about. In the end, employers like employees that can take on more work. Be a problem solver: no workplace is without its share of problems. If you see a solution to a problem, and it is a practical solution, share it with your boss! It may or may not be practical, but most of the time your supervisor will appreciate your thoughtfulness. And lastly, have fun! Enjoy the work you are doing.