Monthly Archives: August 2012

When You Can’t Find a Job, Start an Improv Club

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Olivia Fenshaw (left) and Mackenzie Kimmel (right) during Whose Cap Is It Anyway?

Mackenzie Kimmel was stumped. She was interviewing for a customer service-position at a startup company in NYC and had no response for the question, “What have you done to build team spirit at work?” except to say that she had once cheered people up with a sing-along to Adele. Never again, she decided, would she not have an answer to that question.

Kimmel, who graduated from Rutgers this past May with a degree in comparative literature, has been on a couple of interviews since the spring, but hasn’t gotten any job offers. Instead of chalking up her experiences as interviews gone wrong, Kimmel decided she would try to “live [her] way to coming up with better answers” to the questions she flubbed. Simultaneously building her resume. Continue reading →

Intro to Social Media For Business Owners

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The following is a guest post by Jacqui Alexander, Social Media Marketer and founder of Jacquilope.com.

While social media might seem like unfamiliar terrain to some, it’s important for business owners to recognize the value of a well-directed social media presence.

Social media provides many benefits to business owners.  For one, it’s a free marketing tool providing you with a platform to speak about your products and services to the public at no cost.  As you gain followers, you become directly connected to the people who are most enthusiastic about what your company has to offer. Continue reading →

Body Language Don’ts for Interviews and other Career News from the Around the Web

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Are you the head of a company and looking for ways to boost employee morale and productivity? As the CEO of a software company called 37Signals, Jason Fried came up with innovative changes in the workplace that you’ll want to read about. Continue reading →

Amita Maram, 2012 Wellesley Graduate, Talks About Going to an All-Women’s College

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Amita Maram in Italy, where she was studying abroad last year.

Today on JobTalk, an interview with Amita Maram, who is a 2012 graduate from Wellesley College. Currently Maram works at Small World Coffee and plans on applying to graduate programs next fall. If you’re interested in knowing more about all-women’s colleges, you’ll want to check out this interview.

Education: B.A. Classical Civilization, Wellesley College, 2012

Age: 22

What made you decide to go to an all-women’s college?

I was actually at Rutgers University for a year. While I was there, I was on Douglas College, which used to be the all-women’s college on Rutgers. So I lived in an all-women’s dorm, and I had to take a class on women and gender. At that time, I was applying to transfer, and there were a bunch of different factors that affected the schools I picked including size, location, and student body. But one thing I seriously considered was going to an all-women’s college because I felt comfortable in the women and gender class in a way I had never felt comfortable [in a class] before. Continue reading →

What Should You Do If You’re Being Underpaid?

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When I moved to New York last year, I negotiated a salary increase. And even though I ultimately benefited, I loathed every second of it.

Despite having graduated from college seven years ago, I still have my moments of the “I am lucky to have a job and I’ll take (practically) anything!” variety that generally plague many fresh-faced grads who are new to the competitive job landscape. Many of us DO feel fortunate to have a job right now, and that’s OK. There’s nothing wrong with feeling gratitude, but that gratitude shouldn’t trump the importance of getting paid what we’re
worth.

Continue reading →

Brian Tiemeyer: Marine Turned Financial Advisor Turned Fireman

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Today’s jobtalk is with Brian Tiemeyer who has over 4 years of experience in the Marine Corps and worked for 7 years as a financial advisor before becoming a fireman for Newport News in Virginia. Applicants admitted to Newport News Fire Department are required to become emergency medical technicians, so Tiemeyer can also work in a hospital setting.

Title: Firefighter and Medic

Education:

Certified Emergency Medical Technician (intermediate), 2011

Pro Board Certified Nationally Recognized Firefighter, 2012

B.A. Communications, Old Dominion University, 2003

Age: 35

What made you decide to become a fireman?

There were a couple of different reasons. I always liked the military feel of fire departments. A fire department is a paramilitary organization; there’s a chain of command structure, and it’s a disciplined environment. Continue reading →

Career Advice and News from Around the Web

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The Weekly Roundup for this week from around the web. The presence of robots is proliferating in factories, unemployment numbers are up across the country, and lots of great advice for small business owners.

Worried that your poor grammar skills might cost you a job? You’ll want to read this debate in the NYT about whether or not proper grammar is essential in the workforce. Continue reading →

Gender and Bosses: Does It Matter?

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Here’s a surprising find from a recent academic study: women in leadership positions aren’t improving prevailing workplace gender inequalities. (You can read the full MIT-led study here.) So, if you are a female employee working under a female manager, the odds of getting a certain coveted position or a raise are NOT any better than if under a male supervisor, according to this study.

As someone who has worked under both female and male supervisors, I can say that it’s difficult to judge how my career trajectory might have been different if my boss for job X had been male instead of female (or vice versa). Would I have gotten meatier assignments, Continue reading →

From Economics to Theology: An Interview with Matthew Wong, Incoming Graduate Student at Princeton Theological Seminary

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Today’s jobtalk is with Matthew Wong, who has his master’s in divinity and will be attending Princeton Theological Seminary this fall to study theology. I met Wong several years ago when he started working at Princeton’s indie cafe, Small World Coffee, where he has worked on and off for 5 years.

While Wong’s decision to pursue degrees in divinity and theology is a marked departure from his undergraduate career at Cornell, he admits that he really had no idea what he wanted to do as an undergrad and went for a practical degree.

Title: Graduate Student Princeton Theological Seminary

Education:

B. A. Applied Economics and Management, Cornell University, 2007

M. Div. Gordon-Conwell Theological Seminary, 2011

Age: 27

What made you study economics?

I started off at Cornell as a fine arts major. I was planning on going into graphic design, something that was practical, but when I got to Cornell, I really didn’t like the program there, and since it was a university as opposed to an art school I had some leeway as to what I could do. I was thinking about going into advertising, which was kind of related, it’s a creative field. So, the most conducive degree for that was a business degree, but that Continue reading →

Careers in the News and What to Do When You’ve Been Laid Off More Than Once

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Introducing JobTalk’s Weekly Roundup. A collection of career related articles from around the web. Find out why cursing at work might be something you should avoid. Read about Fareed Zakaria’s career gaffe, biggest mistakes jobseekers in their 20s make, and jobs you never knew could land you 6 figures.

From the New York Times:

An article in the Money section, “Laid of More than Once and Seeking a Career,” features people who’ve “recovered” from being laid off. Continue reading →