Are you feeling burned out from the semester? Then you are just like me and probably like many other students around the globe. The end of the semester is near and this is the worst time to lose focus. Here are some tips to beat the stress from about.com. You can read the whole article here.

http://collegelife.about.com/od/healthwellness/ht/Stress.htm

1. Most Importantly: Don’t Stress About Being Stressed
   - Be positive, don’t let yourself think that you feel stressed.
2. Get Some Sleep
   -  Your battery needs to be recharged, just like electronic devices. You wouldn’t take a half charged laptop out for a full day of use.
3. Get Some Food
   - Eat healthy foods that give you energy.
4. Get Some Exercise
   - Physical workouts can relieve stress and even give boost your energy.
5. Get Some Quiet Time
   - A little peace and quiet in a hectic college life can be just what the doctor ordered!
6. Get Some Social Time
   - Sometimes you need to take a break from writing that same paper from 3 days ago, and hit the movies with some friends.
7. Get Some Fun
   - Find ways to make your work more enjoyable. Order a pizza when you are working on a project with your group members.
8. Get Some Distance
   - Figure out the things that are complicating your life and take a step away from them. I know facebook is the perfect way to waste time and procrastinate. Log out and stay out!
9. Get A Little Help
   - Don’t let things that bother you cloud your mind. Find a friend that you can vent all your frustrations to. Keeping it bottled up inside isn’t healthy
10. Get Some Perspective.
    - Remember the reasons you are in college. It will be all worth it in the end!

7 Secrets to Getting Your Next Job Using Social Media

Please click the link above for the top 7 steps to using social media to land a position.  This is a really interesting article that shows you how to leverage the information you can find in social networking sites to gain contacts, information, and job leads.

The 7 secrets are:

1. Conduct a people search instead of a job search
2. Use attraction-based marketing to get job offers
3. Be proactive on Twitter
4. Capitalize on LinkedIn
5. Advertise your brand using AdWords and Facebook Social Ads
6. Construct a video resume and upload it to YouTube
7. Subscribe to blogs that have job listings

There are a lot of resources available online, you just need to know how to use them!

7 Secrets to Successful Informational Interviews

By Lewis Lin

What is an informational interview?

An informational interview is a meeting where a job seeker asks for advice rather than employment. Rather than get a job offer, a job seeker uses an informational interview to:

1. Learn more about a company or job function
2. Inquire about job leads
3. Network

For job seekers, informational interviews can secure meetings with managers, shape positive first impressions, and develop relationships that may pay off in the future. Managers are open to informational interviews because:

1. They do not require a big time investment. Informational interviews can be done during lunch or during an afternoon coffee break.
2. They can give managers an opportunity to identify new talent, either for now or in the future, without a formal recruiting process.
3. Informational interviews allow managers to give advice. Who doesn’t like to have their ego stroked?

Seven Secrets to Successful Informational Interviews

Here are my tips on how you can succeed in your informational interviews:

• How to ask for an informational interview. After you’ve identified who you want to meet, ask friends, family, ex-coworkers, & fellow alums if they have contacts at a certain company or a particular line of work. Utilize social networking tools, such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter, to find contacts. In the introduction e-mail, keep it short and simple. Provide some background information on yourself and explain why you want to meet.
• Clearly define what you want to get out of the meeting. If you don’t know what you want, the person on the other side of the table will have a hard time helping you. I’d recommend going for easy wins such as learning more about a company or a job function. So prepare questions such as: “What do you like working for company X?” or “When you think about successful folks in position Y, what made them successful?”
• Getting a job should not be your immediate goal. Job seekers often ask for a job at the beginning. Resist that temptation. If the manager does have a job, asking for it at the beginning is premature, especially if you haven’t proven yourself. If he or she does not have a job, you and the manager have to overcome the early letdown. Instead, focus on asking good questions and creating a good impression. Then, at the end, do ask if the manager is hiring, but don’t push it.
• Go with the flow. Some managers use the informational interview as an informal job interview. If the manager wants to deviate from your prepared list of questions and ask you more formal job questions, let him or her do so. Who knows? You might get a job offer at the end of the interview.
• Prepare, prepare, prepare. Informational interview can range from an informal career chat to a structured interview. Prepare for any scenario. Have those general career questions ready, and at the same time, don’t be surprised if the interviewer asks tough questions like “What’s your biggest weakness?” Remember the saying, “Luck is what happens when preparation meets opportunity.”
• Dress for success. It’s always worth reminding: dress professionally.
• Don’t forget to follow-up and send the thank you letter. Don’t forget to send a thank-you e-mail or letter after the informational interview. In addition, send updates every couple of weeks. The manager invested time into your career; he or she will be interested in your progress. And who knows, that manager may not have had openings a while ago, but he or she may be hiring now.

Find the original article here!

In life, with everything thing you start, you will start as a beginner. After practice you can improve you skill and become better. When you first learn to ski you do not go to the biggest mountain and the most dangerous slope your first trip down. When you first learned to read you did not try to read the epic novel, War and Peace. You need practice before you get to the meat of things. Interviews are no different.

The Value Of Mock Interviews

Doing a mock interview is a great way to practice your interview skills. It gives you the real feel of an interview with real interview questions. Most people doing the interview were recruiters at one point so they know exactly what they are doing. Interviews allow you to practice collecting yourself with tough interview questions. They give you a change to practice, and make improvements to prepare for a real employment one. Your mock interviewer will also give you valuable critique to really get the full benefit of the interview.

Get All The Bad Interviews Out Here

There is a chance that your first couple interviews will not be the greatest, but in this simulated environment you want to get all the mistakes out here. You want to arrive to the employment interview sharp and confident. I am living testament to having bad interviews before good ones. I had two mock interviews. The first one I did pretty bad. The second one I did terribly. But that was okay because they were just practice.  After those two interviews I had a series of 7 employment interviews which I did much better. I had no problems whatsoever. Each interview got easier and easier. The end result I got the summer job.

Use the tools we have here at Fox School of Business. Mock Interviews are a great way to prepare. Just like you study to perform well on an exam, or you join toastmasters to improve your speech. Mock interviews are your way to practice. It will pay off! See the CSPD office to take advantage of these opportunities.

I was asked how do I manage all the activites and tasks that I need to get done in an interview. The answer was quite simple, I do them one at a time. We tend to think multitasking is the only/best way to things done but we are humans, not machines.  We really can’t watch TV and do homework efficiently. Check out this article I found from productivitytoday.com.

Do you multitask?

Of course you do…we all do! There have been several times that I’ve had to email someone, shush the dog, check on dinner, and look up the number for the doctor all at the same time. Fortunately for me, none of those things were life threatening or would have ended my job.

How do we do it all? Let’s face it, today’s world seems to demand it. We’re all working more and want to accomplish faster. In addition to that, we want to spend the optimal amount of time with our families and still have time for ourselves.The solution seems to be simple: do more than one thing at a time. If you need to send a business memo and also want to check on an ill sibling, why not optimize your time and do both at once?

Here’s why: research has shown that multitasking is not efficient. Several studies have conclusively shown that those trying to do multiple activities simultaneously lose time when they have to quickly switch between tasks. Then the time costs increase with the complexity of the tasks, so it takes significantly longer to switch between more complex tasks. In other words, while you think you’re saving time, you’re actually wasting it. In addition to that, the quality you’re able to put toward both tasks is significantly lowered.

Instead of trying to take on the whole world at once, consider unitasking. Focus completely and solely on one goal, achieve it, and move on to the next goal. You will see an increase in your achievements and a higher quality result as well.

Happy unitasking!

source : http://www.productivitytoday.com/unitasking

10 Promising Jobs for the Class of 2009  This summer, diplomas will be handed out, hats will be tossed in the air and college graduates will look to enter that elusive Real World they’ve heard so much about. It’s all very exciting and nerve-wracking, in a good way.Of course, student loan repayments are six months away and, as anyone who’s turned on the news in the last year will tell you, the economy’s not exactly booming.Never fear, graduates. Yes, the hiring market is slower than it was when you entered college, but there are still jobs to be had. To help your search and calm your nerves, we’ve put together a list of 10 jobs that college grads should look for this year.

How did we do it? We looked at the National Association of Colleges and Employers’ “Job Outlook 2009″ survey of employers to see what industries were hiring and which majors interested them most. Then we looked at the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ “Occupational Outlook Handbook” to see what positions fell under both categories and were expected to grow between 2006 and 2016.

Keep in mind that not every employer in these industries will be hiring at the same level and that many factors can come into play during the hiring process, such as your location. Also, the economy’s erratic behavior and the stimulus bill could give some other jobs a big boost. Still, these are 10 jobs that new graduates have a good chance of finding in 2009.

Accountants and auditors
2006 employment: 1.27 million
2016 employment: 1.5 million
Percentage increase: 18
Best for: Accounting majors
Database administrators
2006 employment: 119,000
2016 employment: 154,000
Percentage increase: 29
Best for: Computer science, information science or management information systems majors

Electrical engineers
2006 employment: 153,000
2016 employment: 163,000
Percentage increase: 6
Best for: Engineering majors

Financial analysts
2006 employment: 221,000
2016 employment: 295,000
Percentage increase: 33
Best for: Finance, economics, business administration, accounting or statistics majors

Management analysts
2006 employment: 29,000
2016 employment: 30,600
Percentage increase: 5.5
Best for: Business administration majors

Marketing managers
2006 employment: 167,000
2016 employment: 192,000
Percentage increase: 15
Best for: Business administration majors

Mechanical engineers
2006 employment: 226,000
2016 employment: 235,000
Percentage increase: 4
Best for: Engineering majors

Network systems and data communications analysts
2006 employment: 262,000
2016 employment: 402,000
Percentage increase: 53
Best for: Computer science, information science or management information systems majors

Personal financial advisers
2006 employment: 176,000
2016 employment: 248,000
Percentage increase: 41
Best for: Accounting, business, finance, economics, mathematics or law majors

Sales managers
2006 employment: 318,000
2016 employment: 351,000
Percentage increase: 10
Best for: Business administration majors

The Final Round
Many employers will utilize a “super day” or a full day of interviews for their internship and full time job recruitment.  It is important to be prepared for these events because they are very different than a regular one-on-one interview.  Harish Pathak, a senior econ major, just had the opportunity to experience one of these “super days” and wanted to share his experiences with YOU!  Read closely…because he got the job!

 

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  So you made it through the career fair, then the phone interview, and now you landed your first major interview.  But you soon realize that this isn’t your ordinary interview, it’s a whole day event with multiple interviews, group discussions with other candidates, and most scary, lunch with your potential employer!  Nervousness is the first reaction but with preparation you can tackle it.

Pre-Interview

• Know precisely how to get to the interview location and how long it will take you to get there.  A navigation system saves the hassle of dealing with maps.  If you know the route might have traffic you should think about going by train.
• Know what you are going to wear in advance.  Press it the night before to save time.
• It might seem redundant at this point, but know everything possible about your potential employer.  There are numerous sites but there is nothing more effective than good ol’ google.com.  Every company has well known attributes that set them apart and you should know these by heart.  Not only should you know their strengths but more importantly their weaknesses in the market place.  Fortune, Business Week, and Wall Street Journal all have the latest imformation about the company you are interviewing for.  An interview should be treated just like any other midterm; you need to study for it!
• Talk to your professors!  They know their stuff!  Most professors will be mor than happy to prep students before interviews.  In addition to that, network with previous hires.  They will be experienced in the interviewing process, so they can tell you what to expect.
• Keep ahead of the daily news and sports.  When you are not being interviewed, you will be waiting with representatives of the company or other interviewees.  Awkward silence is…well…awkward.  Make sure you have something to talk about and remember to leave topics like elections or such for your political science class.

Interview

• Take a look at the resume that you submitted.  You should know exactly what is on it and what is not on it.  Any talking points you have regarding education or activities should be on that resume.  “I forgot to put that on my resume” seems unprepared.
• Sleep! I cannot overemphasize this enough.  So you “studied” for your interview but can your brain retain all that informaitonw ith 4 hours of sleep?  No, it cant.  Interivews are like a tennis match, where conversation points are a tennis ball bouncing from side (interviewer) to side (interviewee).  If you are mentally lethargic you might hit that ball out of bounds, on the net, or even worse whiff (uhh….ummmmm….what was the question?).  Whiffing is not only bad, but it’s embarassing and shows that you have poor listening comprehension.
• Be personable.  Your interview can be conducted with other potential hires.  You might see them as your competition but they also might be your potential co-worker so keep that in mind before you try to show off.
• Do you sometimes have food on your face or hair after you eat?  Do you eat that piece of food when you realize that it is there?  If you answered yes, you might want to learn some basic dining etiquette.  Interview breakfast/lunch/dinners are merely a check to see if you can conduct yourself eating in a business setting.  You think you might know all the etiquette there is, but sometimes the basics are forgotten.  A lunch during an interview day is not “Old Country Buffet” where you are encouraged to stuff your face.  Conversation is an important part of the meal, not your roast beef sandwich, so concentrate on those around you.

 After the Interview

• Send your Thank You Letters and make sure they are not the generic “Thank you for the opportunity to blah blah blah…” A thank you letter should reflect what you learned at your interview to show that you are a good listener and that you were engaged during the day.
• Highly organized companies will let you know the specific waiting period before they give a response so dont bother them too much.  However, some companies are not as specific (or organized!) thus a follow-up call or email might be a good idea.
• After all of this, you can relax and wait, and hope for the best!