Tag Archives: linkedin

A Brief Look Into My Work Schedule

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I haven’t really settled on one field of work that I want to pursue, so I have been basically been snapping up any job I can since arriving at Scripps to gain experience. Making money along the way helps too!

I now work four part-time jobs. Pretty crazy, I know.

Out of the four, three are on-campus jobs as a: design editor for the Scripps Voice, Phonathon caller for the Scripps Fund, and usher for the Scripps Performing Arts Center. My fourth job is with a company based in Gardena called Trinity International Industries. During the summer, I work at their home office. At school, I work remotely on my computer doing data entry.

Landing jobs are not easy. I probably sent dozens of applications in the course of my on-campus job search and I was very lucky some level of networking, since Trinityii hired me with little/no experience. Trinityii’s CEO hired me solely on word-of-mouth from her family friends… I was very lucky indeed.

Balancing the workload and responsibilities of four jobs can be really difficult and time consuming, especially since I consider myself a full-time student. I am very fortunate that my bosses are very considerate of my vigorous academic schedule, so my time is flexible. However, despite the flexibility, I still often find myself sleeping later and later, so I can finish all of the work I have to do.

I do not recommend others to follow in my footsteps, unless they have ridiculous organizational skills or if the work is absolutely necessary. I love having money at my disposal, but I love challenging myself to see what I am capable of. So far, my social and academic life has not dramatically changed with my increased level of work. I hope that remains as I continue to push through the rest of the semester!

Have any questions? Feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn! I won’t bite! It would be a good start building your network. You never know when you might need a hand!

Live long and prosper!

Professional Online Presence

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Ever since social media became “a thing” experts and parents alike have been telling us to “watch our online image.” There’s so much information getting put out there on Facebook, Twitter, Tumblr, WordPress, Instagram, and LinkedIn. But where’s the line between fun and professional? While I wish to explore the “professionality” of all of the social media sites, I think the most important at this point is LinkedIn.

When you start coming into CP&R on a somewhat regular basis, they’ll ask you about your LinkedIn profile. What does it mean to update that? What’s the conduct for connections? That dreaded LinkedIn photo? That’s what I want to explore.

LinkedIn helps to keep track of people you meet after attending networking events. It’s like an online folder for business cards. It can also be used as an informal and casual way to get advice from alumnae or other connections. It can also be used for your friends and colleagues to connect your with their connections for networking and getting internships and jobs. (If you don’t know how important these are, look back at my previous post.)

In my Core II class about gender and economics, we read a study that explored the implications of sending a photo along with your resume. The results explain that you should not submit a photo because women who are making decisions often feel jealous of an attractive woman and men who are making decisions feel that attractive women are less credible. As a result, when CP&R told me to start a LinkedIn I didn’t want to have a photo. Here’s why I finally gave in:

Despite my qualms about sending a photo with a resume that could potentially have employers make implicit judgments one way or the other, I realized that it’s also unprofessional to have a profile without a photograph. Even though they have the same implications for employers and employment, it is appropriate to include a photo on your LinkedIn page (almost inappropriate if you don’t) while I would highly suggest not including a photo with your resume at it seems as though you are trying to get by on your looks. On a more personal note, picking a LinkedIn photo is really important. You need to pick a photo with good lighting, you shouldn’t be making a weird face, you shouldn’t be sweaty and in work out clothes, etc. This may sound fairly obvious, but I can’t even tell you how many photos I’ve seen like this and it makes the rest of your profile seem less credible.

In terms of connections, don’t treat LinkedIn like Facebook and become friends with someone you were friends with at camp or in middle school or had class with last semester. You should only connect with friends who you can talk about in a professional capacity, speak to their character, work ethic. Think about it this way: connect with someone on LinkedIn if you feel comfortable being a reference for them during the job search process.

LinkedIn is an important aspect of your professional image and development and should be taken seriously, more seriously and with more intentionality than the other social media sites.

The First Foray into Professional Life: Finding A Summer Internship

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When I came to Scripps, I had a three-page resume and could not define “curriculum vitae” or even “business casual.” Fortunately, I never had to implement any of these professional necessities before seeking a heavy dose of TLC from CP&R.

But alas, the time has come to start putting all the skills, documents, and important career information I have built up over the past year to the test. Summer internship season has arrived.

I underwent the gruesome processes of assembling my resume into a single-page document, wrote cover letters, and perused The Gateway, Idealist.org, and Life Connections. But with no definite major and no concrete decision about my future plans, what was I to do next about summer plans?

Never turning down the chance to explore, I attended the Panel on Careers in Writing, Publishing, and Media earlier this month. After speaking with CMC and Scripps alums with experience working in fields I might be interested in pursuing, I connected with them via email and LinkedIn to keep in touch and begin to build my network.

A minor, somewhat comical, digression about LinkedIn: I am new to the professional networking site, and if you are too, I recommend avoiding humiliation by not sending requests to connect to your entire email contacts list… I unwittingly sent invitations to my uncle, the mayor of Claremont, and half of the CP&R office simply because they were in my contacts list. I am now happy to be connected to these people, but be careful and be sure to (intentionally) send personalized requests to anyone with whom you wish to network.

To return to the topic internship searches, my advice is this: never turn down an opportunity or a chance to travel down roads you can potentially see your future heading towards. My resume took its maiden voyage into the professional world when I sent it off to a nonprofit organization that works to create policies regarding environmental protection and restoration. My dad, as an environmental lawyer, works with a man who attended Pomona as an undergraduate student and was excited enough about my status as a Claremont student that he was happy to put me in contact with the organization. After a phone interview, I was offered a position of communications intern. I am still working out the logistics of this opportunity, but the fact remains that I would not have gotten this chance had I not taken all the necessary steps and put myself out there beforehand.

Making sure to have all the basics down is the first most important step, but if it is unclear about where to go from there, sniffing around potentially interesting opportunities almost always turns something exciting up. I was able to secure an opportunity after probing opportunities offered by the panel, LinkedIn connections, and the discussion I had with my dad. At any stage of career searching, an open mind and an assertive willingness to experiment might be all it takes to find an incredible opportunity. Now is the time to say yes to everything… and even to risk making mistakes while they are remediable (and while there are resources like CP&R available to help work with them). So build that network (purposefully and responsibly so as not to annoy every person you know)! Talk to that professor about research opportunities! Attend that lecture! You never know where it might take you.

Facebook and I are #Frenemies

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Alright, I admit it, I have Facebook stalked myself. I have started at the beginning of my tagged pictures, clicked through all 1,000+, untagged, retagged and reposted the ones I find to be particularly embarrassing or sentimental. While I have admittedly considered deleting my Facebook account on more than one occasion, the fact is that I just love social media too darn much to ever consider living with out it. In fact, I love it so much that I spend hours (sometimes too many) on Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, Reddit, LinkedIn and Instagram daily. And, while reading the entire 1,000-tweet Twitter feed of my long lost pre-school bestie is admittedly a time-suck, I have found that my presence on social media forums has increased my awareness of the world around me and may be an instrumental tool in pursuing a career path.

First, social media allows you to not only stay connected with your close friends, but also see what general acquaintances are up to. It is possible that someone you know either works for or was just hired to work for a company you would love to work for. LinkedIn and Facebook would provide an opportunity to network with people to learn about what it is like to work for a certain company or what their hiring process was like. Additionally, many jobs require some sort of knowledge of current events. This could range from politics to the economy to advances in science. While I do read sites like CNN.com and NYTimes.com practically daily, I find that Facebook and Twitter give me the first overview of what is going on in the world. Finally, it is important to acknowledge that a social media is providing entirely new career opportunities. Companies hire social media gurus as part of their PR division in order to increase their effectiveness online. Therefore, social media can help in all stages of the application and employment process.

If there’s anything I’ve learned from my amateur social media experience, it’s that what you do is just as important as what you don’t do. My very first social media experiences were surrounded with parents and teachers cautioning me about what I should not post online. My ninth grade English class learned about predators, cyberbullying and identity theft through Myspace (yes, Myspace) and Facebook. However, from my own experience, I’ve come to think of social media as a platform that allows me to market myself and convey what I stand for. Having a Facebook page filled with your own commentary on new articles says way more to an employer than the fact that you’re not pictured with a red solo cup. So, by all means, be careful about what you post online, but I hope social networking can also serve as a great opportunity to share your thoughts and opinions with your peers, colleagues and friends.

#ThanksForReading

@Laureljaclyn

Much needed advice

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Though spring break was meant to be a relaxing and peaceful, I instead spent the whole week freaking out and having minor heart-attacks about post-grad plans. As a result, I aimed to write a couple of cover letters and a few emails to alumni/ae everyday. Though I was not as productive as I hoped to be (which usually happens) I was lucky enough to have an informational interview on the last day of break. Through one of my mum’s friends, I met up with a woman who works at a big cosmetic company and who also just moved to Hong Kong from New York City a couple of years ago. The meeting was filled with great advice and interesting stories, but in the end, she gave me a reality check with a lot of constructive recommendations. Here are some of her key points:

  1. “In an interview, you need to voice your passion.” Even if you don’t specifically know what you really want to do within the organization, proving that you love the industry and that you know a lot about it will impress your interviewers.
  2. “Really study the company that you are interviewing for.” She told me that before LinkedIn and Facebook existed, she would go to the reception of the company days before her actual interview and try to ask as many questions about the company.
  3. “Understand that internships are hard.” One of her horror stories: An intern at a fashion PR company, had to fly once a week for three months to Abu Dhabi to drop off clothing samples and fly back to New York the next day. She doesn’t know what happen to the intern in the end, but I really hope that they gave her a job afterwards.
  4. “Try and find your interviewer on the LinkedIn website.” Knowing where they have worked before can bring huge benefits. While chatting away during your interview, you might be able to bring up some connections, which may make you a more memorable candidate.
  5. “Work super hard and people will notice.” Many employers have worked from the bottom up, so they understand what it’s like to be an intern or newly employed. Most people will not hand you more responsibility or a job if you are lazy.
  6. “The more glamorous the company, the less the pay.” But if you love your job, then hopefully it won’t matter as much!