Someone once asked me, “If you could do anything, what would you do?” To answer this question, I had to first do some research and self reflection. I spent the bulk of fall term gathering job descriptions, taking a career awareness class, conducting informational interviews, reading various career exploration books, and researching graduate schools in pursuit of the answer.

Although this seemed like a lot of extra work, a number of themes emerged for me: I love college-age students and higher education; I want to inspire and motivate this age group to achieve their passions; and I thrive on the details involved with planning events. Those themes helped me identify three potential career paths: working as a motivational speaker, serving students as a college career counselor, or becoming an event planner.

I can also credit my realization to one of the books I read. In The Element, Ken Robinson states:

“The element is the point at which natural talent meets personal passion. When people arrive at the element, they feel most themselves and most inspired and achieve at their highest levels.”

I felt very drawn to this quote. It has helped me evaluate my strengths and talents and assess how they could complement my passion for event planning.

After combining my natural abilities with my passions, I was faced with yet another challenge: I would need more experience to get hired. I struggled with this for weeks, tossing and turning at night, trying to figure out how I was going to be able to live in my element.

And then it happened.

I walked into a small boutique on 6^th Ave., excited to be shopping for a friend’s birthday gift. I got to talking with the store owner and after some polite small talk she asked me what I was doing after graduation. I confessed that I really wanted to be an event planner but that I had very little experience and didn’t know how I was going to do it. She looked at me, smiled, and offered me an internship helping her plan fashion shows and dinner events!

Not every conversation is going to result in a job offer, but every encounter is a chance to make another connection–to share your story. And then…who knows? What I learned that day was the importance of knowing what I want, and how to express it when the opportunity presents itself.

I’m excited to continue my personal journey and see where life after Puget Sound takes me; and I’m glad that all the work I did to figure out potential career paths is starting to pay off! I encourage you, my fellow Loggers, to find your element!

Einstein’s opinion aside, science offers a wide range of career opportunities, and many Puget Sound students pursue them. Peruse Career and Employment Services’ Alumni Sharing Knowledge (ASK) Network on Cascade, and you’ll notice that many science majors go on to successful, fulfilling science careers in education, medical, engineering, and research fields.

And those are all great options. But what if they don’t appeal to you? Clearly, your major doesn’t lock you in to a particular field. Puget Sound alumni pursue all kinds of careers — some related to their major, some not. But what if you still want a career that has a strong scientific component?

There you stand. You with your love of science and technology, your writing and communication skills sharply honed by your fine liberal arts education. What might you do with this potent combination of passion and ability, other than write for Popular Science?
(Hey! You could write for Popular Science!)

Science Writing is a broad field, but ultimately, all science writers contribute to the general public’s understanding of science and technology by describing and explaining scientific concepts and technical terminology in simple, yet accurate, language. They write news articles, magazine features, textbooks, instruction manuals, documentary scripts, grant proposals, marketing materials, content for Web pages, and so on. As a science writer, you might specialize in…

Science Journalism: Report about scientists, discoveries, inventions, events, issues, and other happenings in the science and technology world for newspapers, magazines, journals, television, radio, and internet news services. Yoo-hoo…Popular Sciiennnnce!

Public Relations: Communicate the latest scientific research made by your employer (universities, medical centers, laboratories, research institutes, science museums, nonprofit health organizations, etc.) to media outlets. When genetic variants associated with lung disease are discovered or giant mutant guinea pigs escape the laboratory, you’re on call.

Medical: Write clinical study reports, position papers, regulatory documents, patient handbooks, and other materials for biotechnology firms, medical schools, hospitals, pharmaceutical companies, government agencies and nongovernmental organizations. Side effects may include: hyper-Latin-pronunciation tongue sprain, physician’s handwriting eye-squint, and I’ve-fallen-and-I-can’t-get-up-itis.

Educational: Write textbooks for science classes. Create educational materials for science museums, nature centers, and science programs. Imagine! An entire generation of O Chem students might praise or curse your name!

Technical: Develop manuals and other documentation for technical devices, software programs, computer hardware, and other consumer products. This field goes way beyond the creation of DVD operation manuals and stereo installation guides.

Most science writers complete writing assignments or writing projects on a contractual basis for different clients. You have freedom from “the man” but you are essentially running your own business — you have to meet deadlines, but you also have to purchase office supplies, balance your books, and schedule time to seek out future work.

So, if you have excellent writing, organizational, research, communication, interpersonal, computer and self-management skills, consider Science Writing as a potential career path. Ignore Wernher Von Braun*, and use these resources to aid your research:

• “Career Opportunities in Science” (from which most of the information for this article was lifted) is available for check-out from the CES Career Resource Library in Howarth 101.
• Career Cruising on Cascade provides profiles for a variety of writing careers.
• The Alumni Sharing Knowledge (ASK) Network on Cascade lists a number of Technical Writers who you could contact for informational interviews.
• Council for the Advancement of Science Writing: http://www.casw.org
• National Association of Science Writers: http://nasw.org
• Elements is a full-color science magazine published semiannually by student enthusiasts in the sciences at the University of Puget Sound. They are always looking for new writers, and if you get published, it will look great on your resume!
  web: http://asups.ups.edu/clubs/elements/ e-mail: elements@pugetsound.edu

*Research is what I’m doing when I don’t know what I’m doing.  ~Wernher Von Braun

Except in a career context.  

When it comes to managing a career I’m an etiquette convert, a lover of hand-written note cards, and a believer in the power of saying a proper thank you.

Hypocrisy? Maybe. I prefer to think of it as strategy.

In an age when you have to struggle to stand out and get noticed by employers, the best advice I can give you is to see where the herd is going and head the other direction. If everybody is looking online for jobs, focus your energy on finding opportunities through the people in your network. If “nobody” is writing thank you letters, the easiest way to stand out is to be the one who does.  In fact, the employers who attended the Career Fair this week told us:  “Follow up is key,” that students should “Always send a thank you,” and that it was vital to send that thank you promptly.

As you go through your college experience you will have many opportunities to stand out from the crowd by sending a brief, sincere, and hand-written thank you.  If you would like to be remembered by someone you interact with, sending a thank you card/note/letter will help you stick in their memory. A career fair employer you have a great conversation with deserves a thank you, as does a speaker who comes to your class that you really enjoyed. Anyone that you interview with or who gives you even a few minutes of their time to help you with your career direction should be thanked appropriately. It’s good practice, and if you do it regularly it gets easier and easier to come up with the right words.

Once students are convinced of the need for thank you letters there is always a discussion about e-mail vs. typed letters vs. the handwritten letter. There is a hierarchy to them, and I think you can guess which fits where. The hand-written note takes the most care, provides an opportunity to showcase personal style, and makes the longest lasting impression. I have a drawer full of thank you cards from students and professionals I’ve worked with over the years, and I remember every single one of their names. E-mails? Not so much. My recommendation is to think about whether expediency trumps the need to stand out. Sometimes speed is of the essence. But even a speedy e-mail can be followed by a proper hand-written note.

The most common resume mistakes that I see on a daily basis are all related to content. Structure and format hang people up a lot, too, but even the most beautifully laid out resume in the world is useless without the content that makes an employer pay attention.

What can you do to ensure an employer wants to call you? Two things: show the employer you have the skills through the tasks you performed, and prove your abilities through the accomplishments you achieved.

I’ll show you what I mean.

Responsible for answering phones and filing.

A sentence like the above example doesn’t provide any context to understand the role you played in the organization. Passive phrasing like “responsible for” is too vague and doesn’t tell a story. What exactly did you do? What skills did you use? What can you do as a result of this experience that could translate to the next one? These are the kinds of things an employer wants to know.

Often I’ll ask a few questions about a student’s experience and find they did far more than answer phones and file, which generates multiple statements to showcase skills and accomplishments:

–Managed front desk operations for a busy office, handling multi-line phone system and calendars for four senior leaders
–Coordinated travel arrangements and tracked expenses using Excel
–Revamped filing system to improve efficiency and prevent lost client data

Passive phrases encourage you to merely list the duties of your position, rather than explain the skills gained as a result of that position (see also: Assisted with, helped with, and worked with). Students often use these phrases when they didn’t have sole responsibility over a task or project. You’ll need to reframe how you’re thinking about your experiences to get past this mindset:

–Think about what you can do now that you couldn’t do before you started that position.
–Consider the actions you took and the results of those actions.
–Describe your experiences so that they tell the story of your time with that organization and focus on the skills that the new employer is hiring for.

Don’t fear the action verbs! They jump off the page in a more dynamic way than passive, humdrum phrases like “responsible for.” The CES resume packet has a list of action verbs to help jump start your thinking about the tasks you did in your roles.

Do you need some help taking your “blah” language and making it more dynamic? CES offers resume critique appointments 5 days a week, with quick drop-in advising from 2-4 p.m. Monday through Friday. Bring your resume in and we can work with you to make it as strong as possible!

Loggers, you are welcome to attend the Career Fair just to browse, and you will make the best impression if you prepare.

Prepare now to make the most of the Fair, and you’ll be ready to demonstrate to employers that Loggers are a cut above!

Polish your resume, research organizations who will be attending, select your Career Fair outfit, and sign up for a Fast Pass!

Here are some earlier CESblog posts that might also assist with your preparations:
Connect & Impress in 15 Seconds or Less!

Calling All Loggers! Come to the Career Fair!

The First Time You Write a Resume

Nose Rings and Interviews…

Gen-Y Has What it Takes!

The Career Fair is Wednesday, February 17 from 4-7:00 p.m. in WSC Marshall Hall.
If you have questions or need a quick resume review, call CES to make an appointment (253.879.3161) or use our drop-in hours Monday-Friday from 2-4:00 p.m.

Go Loggers!

The Career Fair is next Wednesday, February 17. Understanding Gen-Y stereotypes can help you prepare!

For the past year, I have been hearing more and more about what is expected of Gen-Y in the workplace. After hearing all the stereotypes of our generation (Gen-Y/Millennials), I decided to look into them so I could better understand how they might affect my job search. After all, if you know a potential employer’s concerns and needs, then you have an opportunity to address them head on and emphasize your strengths. Plus, if there is anything I’ve learned about social networking and interviewing, it’s that you can pull out amazing traits from nearly all of your experiences and co-curricular activities in order to build a solid resume despite having spent little time in the workforce…you just have to know what strengths to capitalize on and what stereotypes to avoid.

In case you don’t already know, here’s what the world is saying about Gen-Y: we have a sense of entitlement, we’re needy, we’re self-centered and flighty, we’re oblivious to time, and we have no work ethic. But guess what? They said strangely similar things about the Baby Boomers!

Instead of feeling discouraged, this just means that it is more crucial than ever to really listen to the needs of our future employers. If we know what employers want, we can highlight our relevant strengths…like our interest in learning, and our willingness to adapt to change. According to Dr. Phil Gardner, the expert on the job market for college students, adaptability and flexibility will be key elements employers will be seeking. Focus on the positive–help employers recognize your ability to work efficiently with diverse groups of people and your readiness to take on tasks without detailed instructions or constant reassurance. As for the negative stereotypes, turn them into positives or take initiative to disprove them–take advantage of the chance to stand out and awe the employers with your amazing strengths.

This is our time to shine. We just have to make sure our strengths are strongly articulated through our resumes and interviews. Employers need us, and Gen-Y has what it takes!

FYI: Plugged In by Tamara Erickson is a great resource if you want to learn more…Check it out in the CES Career Resource Library or follow the link to find it online.

Networking fascinates me.

I used my time in school to get as many informational interviews as possible. The statement, “I’m a graduating senior, and would love to hear more about what you do” became my mantra. I also began utilizing LinkedIn much more thoroughly. Other social networking sites were great for staying in touch with friends, but didn’t feel appropriate for my professional network.

I had a slow start, connecting first with former colleagues, internship managers, and the people who provided me with informational interviews. But that got the ball rolling. Over time, LinkedIn became my digital rolodex — one that kept me updated on what my network was currently doing. Unlike an e-mail address that changes any time someone switches companies, causing weeks if not months of challenge to get back in touch, I now had a way of staying connected no matter where someone moved.

After graduating and entering the field of Management Consulting, I continued to develop my network at a steady pace. I made one or two connections each week. I maintained this pace until the economy’s downturn created a change in my circumstances. Lay-offs came unexpectedly over night, and I was suddenly, weeks before Christmas, a victim of my company’s revenues running dry. That morning, I had less than an hour to get what I needed off my company laptop. That was when it hit: Unlike an episode of Madmen, where when you leave, you must stealthily sneak your contact’s information out with you, LinkedIn allowed me to take my network with me.

Post-holiday season, I began making phone calls, and sending e-mails and LinkedIn messages to everyone I knew. I let them know of my circumstances, and set up coffee dates, lunches, happy hours, and dinners. Without LinkedIn I would have struggled to remember the names of everyone I had met over the past few years.

At the same time, I realized I needed to continue to build my network. I set a goal of 3 connections a day.

I found people I had initially resisted adding because I had put them in the “friends” category, not realizing that upon graduating, they were also part of my professional network. I connected with professors, university administrators, and others with whom I had informational interviews. I was put in touch with HR recruiters, alumni who owned businesses and friends’ family members who had leads on hiring within their firms. All of these people worked their way into my LinkedIn network.

After months of searching and realizing I wanted to be in a different field than consulting, I landed back at my alma mater, the University of Puget Sound, in the office of Career and Employment Services. I am now working in a role where I am able to use my knowledge of networking to assist students going through the same struggle I endured — trying to figure out what to do when you can’t find a job, or where to begin your career search.

LinkedIn provides a 21^st Century Rolodex that not only holds a name and phone number, but updates, history, and opportunities to further develop one’s network. It kept me actively connecting with new people during my time of unemployment, and held my morale from waning thanks to the ease with which I could keep in touch with my network.

There is a sense of comfort in knowing that a network built with LinkedIn is yours, not that of your company. When you leave, whether by choice or economic pressure, your network is not being “let go” as well.

Want to know more about using social media in today’s job search? Ben and Sue will be leading a discussion on this very topic next week – we hope to see you there!

For graduating seniors, it’s time to get focused and start thinking about what happens next.

We have some book suggestions to help you get started on a job search. The following are some of the best books we’ve found about conducting a job search in the current market, and all are available to check out in the CES Career Resource Library (in case you’d like your own copy, we’ve provided the links for purchase). Each has different strengths, but all provide solid guidance on conducting a search for a first professional position:

Get the Job You Want Even When No One’s Hiring

Publisher’s description: “Today’s job market is the toughest in recent history, and the challenges are here to stay. Even so, you CAN get the job you want – IF you discard conventional approaches to the search. Get the Job You Want, Even When No One’s Hiring is the ONLY career book that:

• Explains the special strategies necessary to land a job during an economic crisis
• Integrates comprehensive, practical tips on job search and career management
• Provides an extensive online “Job Search Survival Toolkit” to augment the book
• Addresses the realities of this job market with real-world, actionable steps
• Positions the downturn in the economy as an opportunity to develop a better career

In Get the Job You Want, Even When No One’s Hiring, career expert Ford R. Myers maps the new world of job search and reveals essential strategies for your success. You’ll learn how to seize opportunities that aren’t posted yet…how to make yourself an instant asset to potential employers…how to clearly stand-out as the best candidate…and how to leverage social media, blogs, and other Web tools.”

Can I Wear My Nose Ring to the Interview?

Publisher’s description: “A witty, friendly, unexpected job hunter’s bible that finally answers the real questions. Yes, if you’re wedded to your nose ring, wear it to the interview. No, you shouldn’t be e-mailing out hundreds of résumés. Writing with enormous authority and a compelling, lively voice, Ellen Reeves brings together her lifetime of experience of hiring, counseling, and résumé-doctoring into an essential guide for young job seekers.”

You Majored in What?

Publisher’s description: “In You Majored In What?, nationally known career counselor Dr. Katharine Brooks dispels the myths and the old-fashioned thinking that can make your transition to the “real world” so daunting and chaotic. Developed from more than twenty years of teaching and guiding students to successful careers, her Wise Wanderings career coaching system helps you mine your academic and life experiences for career gold through creative yet practical techniques including visual mapping, storytelling, and experimenting. Thanks to the Wise Wanderings system, you can forget what you’ve been told about the job search. You don’t have to know where you’ll be in ten years. You don’t have to have picked the perfect major. The job-finding process doesn’t have to be one more burden on your already overburdened schedule. All you have to do is pay attention. Embrace the chaos. Think. Create maps. Construct small experiments. Celebrate your education. Consider possible lives. Tell stories. And start wandering. Wisely, of course. You’ll be amazed at what’s waiting out there for you.”

Like any big project you do in college, gathering research materials is a great place to start. Feeling overwhelmed by the entire process? Check in with a career advisor to help you gain some perspective and get started on your professional job search.

Attend our seminar to learn how to operate a successful business! (we invite you to read testimonials from success stories)

We work exclusively with top companies hiring for entry-level positions! (all you need to do is pay our monthly fee and we’ll help connect you with them)

Have you seen/heard about these opportunities? At first glance, they might seem appealing, especially in an uncertain job market. However, they may all prove to be too good to be true! Members of the University of Puget Sound Alumni Council Career and Employment Services Committee offer tips on avoiding scams:

“Discern the source of the information, be a critical thinker; apply the critical analysis that you learn in the classroom to your job search.” Ted Meriam ’05

“If you look for opportunities on job boards (including Craigslist), note that legitimate employers will include the employer name. It’s always beneficial to then go to the employer’s website to confirm that the opportunity is available.” Lacey Leffler ’03 and Lael Carlson ’02

“Look for professionalism in the postings (spelling errors, wacky formatting may be red flags).” Shannon Hughes ’92

“Don’t consider anything that requires an up-front investment.” Lacey Leffler ’02

Quick Consumer Tip from the Consumer Protection Agency: “A deal that sounds too good to be true usually is! Be wary of promises to fix your credit problems, low-interest credit card offers, deals that let you skip credit card payments, work-at-home job opportunities, risk-free investments, and free travel.”

Many reputable job boards offer security information to their users. For example, Monster.com’s security center offers advice on “avoiding online fraud.”

Other resources to check out:

CES Job Seeker Beware

Blog post on Identifying and Avoiding Job Scams

FTC Money Matters Job-Hunting/Job Scams

Evaluating Work-at-Home Opportunities

Avoiding “Wealth Building” Schemes

If you think you have been the victim of a job search scam or any other fraud, it is important to report the fraud to the local police department. You may also consider filing a report online with the Internet Crime Complaint Center (IC3). In the meantime, be safe, be savvy, and protect yourself.

Have you ever thought to yourself, “Man it’d be pretty cool if I could actually speak with that person?” About a year ago, I was working on a project about generational change in the workforce, a topic that has really tugged at my interests. It was at that point that my eyes first came across the name, Lindsey Pollak. Lindsey Pollak has become one of the go-to experts for gen-y career topics and now holds many titles, including Global Campus Spokeswoman for LinkedIn. For the past year, I have been more than enthralled with her career advice and books, especially CES’s most popular book: Getting from College to Career. After speaking with my Career Awareness class instructor, Sue, I thought it might be fun to send Lindsey an e-mail expressing my interest in her studies on generational change in the workforce and advice on career development in hopes of landing the informational interview of a lifetime. While I only expected an automatic response sent out by assistants or interns, I was ecstatic to find a message in my inbox from Ms. Pollak herself about setting up a phone interview.

Instead of trying to recap our entire phone conversation, I wanted to share a little bit about how Lindsey and her story have made such an impact on me. While there are many insights she expressed in a more absorbable manner for students, after reading her book and browsing through her blog, I was the most pleased to learn that our career paths shared many parallels. Moreover, to actually see that a successful woman making an impact on people today was once in my same position is, well, reassuring.

Unsure of a direction, Lindsey did all of the advised steps to set herself up for a great job during college. In a brilliant, short introduction, Lindsey explained how she was all over the map in her career search…just like me! From taking the LSAT to living with her parents, Lindsey was in our position not too long ago. It wasn’t until a conversation with a Rotary Ambassador at the right place and the right time that Lindsey decided to attend a graduate program in women’s studies in Melbourne, Australia and was propelled in a new direction—“Was it fate that I met that man and he changed my life? Perhaps. But if I had been sick that morning and hadn’t attended that Rotary meeting, I believe it would have happened some other way. The point is that I didn’t know my right career path until I saw it, heard it, touched it” (Getting From College to Career, xiii).

After experiencing the rut of unknowing after graduation, Lindsey was able to follow a path to a career simply by feeding her own interests and putting herself out there. And, the best part about it is Lindsey has written down what she has learned from it and broken it up into 90 tips! Since I finished her book, I have already followed some of her recommendations—I have compiled a notebook that organizes all of my projects, interviews, and contacts (Tip #6). I have also made it habit to keep up with the news in order to increase my content for conversation, stay informed and figure out my interests (Tip #8). Further, my personal favorite, I have taken it upon myself to watch the top ten greatest American movies of all time (Tip #62).  According to Lindsey, “if it feels relevant and appropriate, go ahead and mention your top ten project on a job interview or during networking events. It will make you memorable, and you’ll no doubt strike up a conversation about one of the films on the list” (190).

Speaking with Lindsey and following recommendations from her book has given me confidence. Even though I have yet to find an opportunity that draws me in, I have decided to stop worrying about finding my ideal career path and start managing something in my control, my preparedness. I have made it my personal goal to continue reaching out to all types of people, even if I think they are out of my reach. You never know when that one great opportunity will be flashed before you.

My holiday wish-list idea: Lindsey Pollak’s Getting from College to Career: 90 Things To Do Before You Join the Real World