Category Archives: Ann

Lessons from the Employer Panel

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Last week, Scripps CP&R hosted “Life after Scripps Week,” featuring a variety of workshops and talks about career-related topics such as networking, graduate school, and preparing oneself for the job market.

I attended an employer panel that focused on how to make oneself stand out during the application and interview process, featuring recruitment and outreach managers from Walk Disney Parks and Resorts, Los Angeles Opera, and Vaco. (There also was supposed to be representatives from BCBGMaxazria and Target, and I was greatly disappointed that the Target representative was not able to make it, seeing as the Minnesotan in me loves Target just a little too much…)

The panel was moderated by India, our SAS president, but it was a very friendly set-up and many students asked questions on their own.

A lot of the information was already familiar to me, such as tailoring resumes for the specific job, and that I should my Facebook set to private. A lot of other information was really interesting to hear from the employer’s perspective, though.

A few things that stuck out to me:

  • When an interviewer asks me to say a little bit about myself, that they don’t care actually care to hear a mini-bio. I knew this to an extent—there’s no reason a potential employer needs to hear about my twin brother and my cats, for example. But since the question, though common, always takes me off-guard, I know I always start it off mentioning St. Paul, MN. But now I know to emphasize more current work, relevant activities, and recent accomplishments.
  • Thank you’s. Once again, the idea that one must send thank-you’s after interview has always been in the back of my head, but I have not yet been in the position to do so. I’m the sort of person who imagines myself as so friendly and personable that people just automatically know I’m grateful for the opportunity to be interviewed, but of course that’s not true. Must. Remember. To. Send. Thank. You’s.
  • Making resumes “word search friendly.” Once again, makes sense, but really makes me question my current resume, which I thought was very well-done.
  • Always wear a suit, even if it’s from a thrift shop. I was definitely thinking skirt and button-up blouse for my future interviews—I didn’t realize a suit was such a necessity.

Overall, what I mainly got from this panel is yes—lots of helpful tips, but another reminder of how hard the internship and job-search process will be. Researching the company and position, writing a cover letter, tailoring your resume, preparing answers for certain questions, sending thank you emails, sending thank you cards, etc. etc.

Now that it’s October, I am going to soon start looking into specific internships I want and when their due dates are. Since the internship will be for next summer, I know that many of the smaller companies will have later due dates, next spring probably, but I also know that many companies have early ones, and I don’t want to be caught off-guard. Although I’m excited for this process, I can’t help dreading it too, knowing how much time it will take, especially with all this new information!

Being an “Expert”

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Nothing impresses me than people who know everything about one topic. I have some friends who are like that about fashion; they can eagerly discuss every individual collection from that fall’s Fashion Week, can name a favorite designer and actually explain what it is they like about that designer’s style and look, and then name a bunch of other designers I’ve never heard of. One of these friends also knows everything about politics, naming off politicians and their policies like she does fashion designers and collections. I’m not quite sure how she has the time to absorb so much information, but good for her.

I am not really this sort of person naturally. I like fashion, I (kind of) like politics, but even when I’ve made attempts to gather information about such subjects it kind of leaves my brain after a few hours. I read VOGUE regularly but still cannot name more than the designers everyone knows. During campaigns, I make a point of visiting politicians’ websites and looking them up… but a few days later I no longer remember their stance on the issues. I’m not sure why this happens, but it just does.

However, nothing appeals to me more than “being an expert in my field.” Last spring, when I realized that I would love to be a book critic, I decided that it was time to start my self-education on literature, and I realized that I would have to immerse myself and constantly make an effort in order to self-educate myself to the extent the information would stick.

I made some obvious changes in my life, such as switching my homepage from the New York Times homepage to the New York Times Review of Books homepage. I can now list more new releases and authors than I used to, but recently realized that I know even less about politics than I used to.

I try to do more subtle things, such as taking mental note of the author of every book review I’ve read. Slowly, I’m starting to recognize names more and more, such as Aimee Bender, who has reviewed for the New York Times and is an author herself; Mark Athitakis and Jane Ciabattari, who are both members of the National Book Critics Circle (I read this organization’s blog quite frequently now, too); Megan O’Grady, who is the book editor for VOGUE; and Lev Grossman, who often reviews books for TIME. Nothing would be cooler than, for example, meeting Megan O’Grady and actually knowing who she is.

By spending more time at literary blogs like the NBCC’s, I also learn more about new releases and famous literary critics from the past, such as Susan Sontag and Edmund Wilson—both of whom I have yet to read.

As part of my self-education, I am constantly on the quest to read all the “classics” I managed to miss in high school. (I feel like I missed so much because I went abroad junior year, which is when my high school taught American Lit.) I want to be able to speak about literature and make comparisons between books because I am actually familiar enough with the world of literature to make concrete statements about it.

The problem with literature is that there is so much out there, it seems like I am always behind other people. Luckily, I have a lifetime to keep teaching myself about the world of books, and once I am out of school I will perhaps have a little more free time on my hands.

Although I did partly make the decision to focus so much of my life on being better informed about literature because I want to be more desirable candidate for future jobs, I also simply love learning more about it. Maybe I can’t retain information about fashion or politicians, but at least I seem to be getting more and more knowledgeable about literature.

Surprise… Internship!

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This Career Planning & Resources blogger is proud to admit that she actually just got an internship! I am working with the Scripps College Public Relations office four hours a week this semester, with a concentration on the web.

It was something of a surprise internship, actually, that sort of just fell into my lap. (Which is, of course, a wonderful kind of surprise.) The student-run magazine I’m editor-in-chief of this year, [In]Visible Magazine, has worked with a couple people from Public Relations before, so I was emailed as a potential candidate for the internship. (I was also told to spread the word to any competent friends and other [In]Visible workers; I think they were really looking for people.)

I had never really thought about Public Relations before as a possible career path. It’s such a vague title… something to do with people and the public and the media, as far as I knew. When my potential responsibilities were being described to me, however, I realized that it sounded like something I would actually really enjoy. There is a lot of writing involved, even when concentrating on the web and social media. And, of course, I like working with people and promoting activities, lectures, and overall image of organizations I fully support, such as Scripps College, in this case.

Public Relations is so versatile too. I could easily (well, hopefully easily, we all know what I already think about the job market) find a public relations-type job with some literary organization, such as publishing or a literary magazine, and that way I could still stay with my literary passion.

As much as I love just writing articles and blog posts, I am also quite ready to expand and learn other skills—one of the reasons I love being so involved [In]Visible this year. I am especially excited about being paired with the webmaster, because I feel that, with any future career, knowing how to navigate the web and the various forms of social media (Facebook, Twitter, etc.) will be so necessary to move anything forward whether that be myself, a magazine I’m working for, or a book I’m publicizing.

And so, last week I filled out the application, sweated through an interview, and landed the internship! Overall, I am very excited for this opportunity. I had my first day today; everyone seems very nice and I think the work will be interesting. Today, I mainly dealt with logistics like timecards, and then learned more about Twitter, which I had never really understood before… I feel accomplished, having already learned some new skills!

No Longer Wanting to be a Journalist?

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I have always wanted to be a writer, and ideally within the realm of creative writing. However, being realistic, I have also recognized for a long time that one cannot simply graduate from college and become a full-time novelist—at least not if one wants to actually be able to pay rent and eat. This in mind, being a novelist has always been my “slightly unrealistic” career choice that I am determined to pursue, but is also secondary to something slightly more… likely to have a salary.

But what was this “real” career going to be? As much as I want to be a writer, with my busy life I find it hard to sit down and write consistently without solid motivation. Asking myself what best motivates me, and figuring that out to be a looming deadline and the idea of being accountable to others, I put two and two together and settled on magazine or newspaper journalism. For the past two or three years, when asked what I wanted to do after school, I would answer, “Well, I want to be a writer but I’ll probably go into journalism.” It sounded perfect to me, since I would still get writing published frequently, would write because I would have deadlines and topics assigned to me, and could explore other interests such as popular culture and current events.

The past couple of months, however, I’ve started to question this “perfect” career path more and more. Being a journalist still appeals to me; it’s easy to imagine the places I could possibly go and the people I could meet. It sounds like a job that would lead me to be much more engaged with the world more than, say… being a writer, sitting alone in a room with a laptop. And being engaged, through having a variety of experiences, meeting new people, and making a difference, is very important to me.

At the same time, I’ve started to realize that image of the Journalist is less that of a supreme writer—though this is important—and more that of a Researcher, researching the latest scoop and following a story through to its end. The journalist is out there to relay the “truth” or, at least, their opinion, to the public—not just to write. As my passion for literature continues to develop, I’m starting to wonder which I would like more—being a journalist and involved with the world? Or concentrating on something literary, my true passion? (Of course, the ideal job for me is a combination of these two: book critic.)

It is because of this re-thinking that I have recently turned to publishing as another plausible career path. Although it is a business that does not necessarily involve writing, I would be constantly emerged in the world of literature and books. This is not to say I would never try journalism; I’m still very young and am open to a variety of possible careers and internships. I have also started to consider continuing studies and eventually becoming an English professor, which is a profession I used to always believe I would not like. I’m not sure if I would be a good teacher or not, but the idea of being so knowledgeable about a field and then sharing my passion with others appeals to me. It’s too early to truly decide what I want to do, especially since it is now apparent that my ideas are changing constantly.

Of course, no matter what I ended up doing, I will always work on my creative writing on the side.

Already Worrying about the Job Market

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On the last day of my sister’s internship, my mom texted me with some good news: “Lauren got a job offer at Target [Headquarters]!” Later, she confided in me her relief at the offer. Lauren is a fashion design major, and throughout her higher education (of which she still has a year left), my mom kept envisioning her future as an overpaid fashion assistant to an unknown designer, unable to pay back her student loans or even rent.

With this economy, I almost feel bad sharing my sister’s good news with other people. This summer, I met up with a recent grad of Scripps to catch up. Although her (current) career interest is fairly basic—fundraising—she has been working at a couple internships this summer, unable to find real work. Luckily, these internships were paid, though not much.

Over cups of coffee, she told me about the countless job applications she has filled out and the lack of replies. The process sounds so discouraging—personalized cover letter after cover letter, perfected resumes, hours of searching for positions. She got accepted to a graduate school in New York City and is moving out there in a couple of weeks, but she has decided to defer further schooling and take the year off. I told her I have recently begun considering grad school.

“Unfortunately, lots of recent grads are going straight to grad school because there are no jobs available,” she sighed. I responded that I hope that doesn’t happen to me, because as much as I love learning, I will want a break after college and work.

I have always been confident in my abilities to have a solid job after college. I take pride in my resume and my activities at school, but my alumna friend was quick to point out that her resume is quite impressive too. It is too early to worry about not getting a job, since the state of the economy in three years is pretty much unknown, and plus… basically, the old saying goes: “you never know.” Even though I know my friend is supportive of me, it can be discouraging to hear such (even if truthful) comments.

At moments like these, I remind myself that I am doing, essentially, all that is possible to make me a good candidate for jobs in the future. (Even if publishing and writing are not necessarily the fastest growing fields at this time anyway!) Writing-related activities? Check. Personal blog? Check. Staying informed on the current world of literature? Check. Attending informative meetings, looking for internships, talking with Career Planning & Resources staff? Check, check, check. I also remind myself that, even if I do not get a job in publishing (or whatever I want, if my chosen field changes before I graduate), I may find a job in a different field and get a broader life experience that way. I also am surrounded by supportive friends, family, and attend a great school.

The economy may be down, but that in of itself is enough to worry about. I’ve come to realize that as long as I’m realistic—as in knowing that I must work in order to achieve my goals in life, such as being a writer—I still cannot spend my precious young years stressing out about the job market in three years, since it is out of my control.