Quotes

Phone Interviews? Good or bad?

On Friday, I participated in my first phone interview. I get extremely nervous for interviews in general, and in particular, I was terrified for this one. I was interviewing for a sales internship in Denver. I assumed the other potential candidates had in-person interviews. Am I disadvantaged? I believe so.  The interview process is about showing your personality through body language, handshakes and appearance. I couldn't read their body language, and they couldn't read mine. What if it was negative? 


I already have a slightly high voice, and I know it gets higher when making 'professional' calls. Why is this? I have no idea. Why do I have to have different voices? My professor told me to write "slow and low" on the mirror. Did this help? I certainly hope so. 


Overall, I am terrible at the whole interviewing process. How can someone judge my potential based on a conversation and a piece of paper? Shouldn't we have a two-week trial period where I can show them my hard work, and abilities? After two weeks, if I haven't impressed them, then dismiss me. Don't dismiss me based on questions that are potentially irrelevant to anything I am going to do. 

Eleanor Roosevelt

"The purpose of life, after all, is to live it, to taste experience to the utmost, to reach out eagerly and without fear for newer and richer experiences."


"Life was meant to be lived, and curiosity must be kept alive. One must never, for whatever reason, turn his back on life" 


"Do what you feel in your hear to be right -- for you'll be criticized anyway. You'll be damned if you do, and damned if you don't." 


"It isn't enough to talk about peace. One must believe in it. And it isn't enough to believe in it. One must work at it."

To.Be.Considered...

How to be a minimalist:

Stop buying unnecessary things.

Toss half your stuff, learn contentedness.

Reduce half again.

List 4 essential things in your life,

stop doing non-essential things.

Do these essentials first each day, clear distractions

focus on each moment.

Let go of attachment to doing, having more.

Fall in love with less.

Leo Babauta @ mnmlist

The Book of Awesome!

The Process of Applying for Jobs

My generation has it pretty easy when it comes to the job application process. New jobs are posted  on the Internet daily. You can do a simple search, and a myriad of job opportunities appear. The career services center on campus has a database on the web of potential jobs. All are easily accessible. The only risk is that you may fall into a scam (if you don't do your research correctly). But seriously, how freakin' simple is it to do a Google search for a job you want and in the town in which you want it? Pretty freakin' simple. Making it even easier is the microblogging site Twitter. Follow industry experts, or even a hashtag and magically jobs appear. Continuously. Finally, e-mail your resume, cover letter, and references, and you're golden. Right? 

Not so much. Think about the sheer volumes of people who are also applying to the same positions.  Think about all of the e-mails that address is getting. Think about how quickly your resume can be deleted. Think about how you electronically sign your name. You aren't even putting your real signature on your cover letter. How do you make your type stand out from everyone else's? Think about the fact that you are branded by what a potential employer finds out about you on the Internet. Yes, good things can happen, but think about those photos you didn't want you friend to post, but they did. Now imagine your ultimate dream job comes and goes because of those photos. You could get rejected from a job without ever having spoken verbal word to an individual. Crazy. 


Think about having to address snail mail envelopes. Tedious. Think about having to lick all of those envelopes. Gross. Think about having to call, or blindly write to see if a company was hiring. Not so easy. 

So, while we are a generation that hides behind our MacBooks, think about applying to your ultimate job that you are qualified for via mail, and never hearing a word. Well, you sent it to the wrong address. Now, while sitting at your computer imagine typing in the wrong e-mail address. At least you get an e-mail bounced back giving you a second chance! 


"There seems to be some perverse human characteristic that likes to make easy things difficult." -Warren Buffett 


Images from: http://www.units.muohio.edu/rsp/recsports/images/aquatics/email.jpg
http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/communicate/blog/teacher//images/snailmail_1_.jpg

Look...I'm Famous!

I had my 5 seconds of fame last night on WIBW Ch 13 news in Topeka, KS. I had the opportunity to be interviewed regarding my campaign class' project. Check it out! Click here.