Working While Away

I’m someone who has a really close relationship with my family and friends from home, and I can easily say that I’m happy to be going home to them over breaks. I think I’ve finally adjusted to being at school without them even over spring and fall breaks, but at the same time I know that whether it’s this summer or a future one I may not be home all the time then either.

If you’re worried about loosing touch with your roots while working away from friends and family over break, try some of these tips to keep connected while still enjoying your exciting job or internship.

  1. Set up a regular call time:ย We’re all pretty busy, but if you can find the same time every week to do so (sharing GCals is super helpful here). It may not necessarily be weekly or even for the same amount of time every time, but it’s good to try to regularly touch base and get into a routine with that to keep you from missing home while you’re working away.
  2. Try Socialย  Networking Sites (SNS):ย As much as I have trouble admitting to enjoying social networking sites, I think that they are a fantastic tool to keep up with what’s going on at home. I personally like Snapchat (again, I can’t believe that I’m saying it) because the construct of Snap Streaks reminds you to keep in contact with people that you want to or already talk to frequently. A good morning or a good night snap is nice even if you’re on the go. If Snap isn’t your thing, there are TONS of sites out there. I’m also a fan of Instagram, but lots of people use Facebook. LinkedIn is not the best way to stay in touch with mom and dad though, even though there is a messaging feature. LinkedIn is great for career things though ๐Ÿ˜‰
  3. Write ACTUAL Letters:ย I’m pretty sure it’s not *just* me that loves snail mail. If you have a consistent address for your summer, trying sending some notes back in forth with your people back home! Stamps aren’t always the cheapest, but that 49 cents will give someone a million-dollar smile when they open up their mailbox. I find that a good old fashioned handwritten letter is a wonderful way to catch up on news (even if it’s not as immediate) and let someone know that you’ve been thinking about them.

Remember that summer isn’t forever, so you should make the most of what you have going on, and remember that you will be able to connect with people even from far away.

I hope that you all have a lovely summer!

Signing off,

Olivia

What Keeps me Blogging

In early high school, I had a blog of my own. I had an alias and kept the blog a secret from my friends but open to the internet as a sort of online diary. I talked about school, books that I was reading, and what (in general) was on my mind. It’s unpublished now, so you won’t be able to find it. ๐Ÿ˜‰

After a year or so, I discontinued blogging and went back to good old paper and pencil writing and continued with poetry as well as journaling fiction to produce the same reflective or cathartic effect.

When I entered college, I didn’t expect to go back to blogging. However, when I was looking at positions on campus on Handshake, and I saw that a position to blog was open for the Career Planning & Services center was available and began to think about starting to blog again. I emailed to ask some initial questions about post content and time commitment and was happy with the answers that I received. So, I submitted an application โ€” the process was straightforward โ€” and here I am today.

First semester and for part of this semester I blogged weekly, but now I am blogging bi-weekly. I’ve been happy with the flexibility of my blogging schedule, and I’ve been able to get a week or two off if I had big deadlines as well.

I haven’t had much time to write or read independent from school work this semester. I’ve barely touched a book I’ve been reading for ages except for over breaks, and I feel bad about not updating my stories on Wattpad for more than a month…

However, blogging forces me to set aside time for me to have the reflection time that I need. Thorough blogging, I create space for myself to take some time to consider some of the things going on with academics or careers and synthesize them in a way that is hopefully helpful and productive to readers as well as myself.

Blogging for CP&R has made me more comfortable going in to ask questions about my resume or cover letters during drop in hours and to check out other services. I’m happy to have been able to be part of the blogger team at CP&R my first year, and I’d recommend it to anyone hoping to set aside time reflect and to think about what she/he/ze wants to do moving forward.

 

 

Professors Can Help

Toward the end of my Writing 50 class first semester, “Too Much Information,” Professor Elam brought in a Scripps College alumna, Briana Smith, to talk to us about her career journey and how she started working at Pinterest. Though I’m not planning on going into the same career field as the alumna, I think that the conversation we had with her was helpful and intriguing. It showed a real-life example of things I have heard or wondered about. It showed proof that people end up somewhere intriguing to them, even if they have to make a few (equally interesting) detours along the way.

Though professors don’t alway bring in alumna or students to talk about about jobs, I find that I can extrapolate information from these presenting students/alumna to apply to other areas.

For example, a student came into one of my Core class, Making Sense of Power, on Thursday to talk about making change and active intolerance and resistance as related to the Foucault criticisms and theories that we have been reading for the discipline theme described by the course syllabus.

From what she talked to us about, a couple things stuck out that I can apply to careers.

1. Be persistent

Not everything works out on the first try (though if it does, that’s also great!), and sometimes what you’re going for takes a bit of extra work and time. If you don’t get your dream internship for this summer try again next year and/or the year after that! There’s a chance they’ll ask if you’ve applied for it, or they might remember your name. Seeing your determination can be a helpful too. Maybe if you haven’t heard back about a job, give the recruiter โ€” DO NOT harass them, but let them know that your interested and are thinking about the position or opportunity. Not everywhere will post a name/number/email for the person managing the hiring for the position, but try to figure it out and reach out if you can.

2. Follow what you think is important

No matter what you’re doing in the future, try to do things that you think you can learn and grow from. Chances are you aren’t going to be in love with every job you ever had, but there’s a reason you’re there, right? Look for your passions and follow them where you can! You may have to look a little harder to see how some things tie in, but there’ll be something.

Your professors know a lot more than what they teach in class, and they always are looking out for students and trying to connect them with people and ideas. Make sure to listen carefully to who your professor brings as a guest next ๐Ÿ™‚

 

 

 

 

 

Spring Break Musings

I’m not sure about all of you guys, but it’s been a bit of a crazy semester. Second semesters are always a little harder than the first. I have to say, it feels wonderful to have a break (mostly) without schoolwork.

Even without schoolwork, there are always plenty of things to think about. From when Leslie Knope’s park will get built (I’m late to “Parks and Recreation” but I love it, I’ve been watching a fair amount of it over break) to getting ahead on course readings to (more) job applications.

My theory is that Ben and Leslie will date at some point (no spoilers please!)

From what I heard, the summer after one’s first year is the hardest for finding jobs. We’re young, we haven’t been in college for long, and we may not have much experience in out majors (if we have one!).Even so, a high level of motivation and patience are strong assets to the process, whether or not you score your dream internship.

This afternoon I spent some time looking at some job links on Indeed and clicked around for keywords and for locations that I want to be in. For this summer I’ll want to be closer to home, but who knows about years in the future. I’m hoping to end up in Minneapolis-St. Paul or my hometown. I have family and friends in the cities so it’d be a fun place to try living for a few months.

I’ve also expanded my job search criteria. Before I was mainly looking at marketing or copywriting related work, but I’m also looking at journalism, legal, subtitling/translation, tutoring, and copy editing. While I was paging through, I’d see an amazing job from time to time that was for post-grad only, which was a bummer, but I know I’ll be there soon enough. ๐Ÿ™‚

There were also a few results for Spanish tutors that we strangely vague, but hopefully not sketchy. Maybe I’ll ask my dad about those…After widening my search criteria I found many more positions. Especially considering that I’m only looking at one site, my results have been more than satisfactory. With some of the time I have left, I look forward to doing more work on applications and (hopefully) hearing back from prospective employers in the near future.

Things may not work out perfectly, but I’m doing all I can to make it work.

It’s All Conncted

Some things we do for fun, and others because we are actually pretty serious about them. Maybe the activities are related to long term goals, or maybe they are something that have a significance because of what they stand for.ย I know my activities have run the range of those categories, and though it may seem unfocused, I don’t think that’s a bad thing.

One of the most interesting twists I’ve noticed from high school to college is the amount of activities I’m doing outside of classes, and how they are similar and different. Back in high school, library volunteering and Science Olympiad were my two favorite activities. Nowadays, library volunteering is a peripheral activity (I did a lot of it more back home), and science is all but absent from my schedule outside of my lab science GE that I’m taking this semester.

I did dabble in science… Above is a photo from Science Olympiad at State my junior year of high school.

From all of the activities I did in high school, I find that I’ve funneled down into a smaller number that I commit large chunks of time to per week, versus in high school where it was medium chunks to many activities.

This funneling has allowed me to zero in on things that I have identified as continuing (or even new) interests. Like library volunteering, I also did a bit of journalism and yearbook in high school. Flash forward to now: I’m working for The Student Life and for the yearbook at Scripps. I’ve started ballroom here at the Claremont Colleges as well (one of those I’ve-always-admired-this-but-never-tried-until-now things).

If I look at what I’m doing for extra curricular activities, I can gather some helpful tidbits of information about what I’m interested in. First off, as much as I enjoy ballroom, I do not have the skill set to become a pro (nor an interest in being a pro). It’s a more casual, productive, and fun activity that stretches my artistic side.

Some things that I’ve ascertained from my other activities are that I enjoy collaboration/working with people, I like being able to support a cause, and I like to help deliver ideas clearly. Though I may never work as a copy editor for a newspaper after college, being one has given me some ideas about what type of work could interest me, or at least be an application of my interest area.

What have you learned about your interest through the activities you participate in? I’d love to hear your comments below!