The Turkey Day Aftermath....

I am still full after this years Thanksgiving celebration! Just kidding! Although, I am pretty tired after all the eating and then shopping the day after! Yes, I was one of those crazy people who went out on Black Friday and what did I buy you ask....NOTHING! My boyfriend was set on getting a TV that was on sale at Best Buy and we knew that people would be out there waiting for a few days prior to, so he finally kicked into gear and realized, it wasn't worth the wait, especially since when researching the TV, there wasn't much information available, so it seemed like a big waste of time, to me at least!

So after an unsuccessful shopping adventure due to the crazy crowded stores, I did go out on Saturday and got a lot of items for my family and took advantage of the great deals that continued on through the lovely weekend! So while I am happy I didn't wait in crazy lines on Black Friday, I am also disappointed I wasted my time on Black Friday when I could have been sleeping away my hours! It was good quality bonding time with my boyfriend and it ended up being a nice little adventure for the time being.

Now, it's back to reality! I started back at the company I was interning at last Monday, so getting into the groove of working is taking a little adjusting since I'm just use to school and my little part time job in my town. It feels good to be getting up and going to work though! As much as I would LOVE to sit home on some days and vegetate, I feel really good about getting up and going to work! I am working part time at this company now, so of course I am looking for something full time, but in the mean time it will help me get my feet on the ground and also gain some more knowledge and experience in a job that I LOVE to do and that some of the other companies I looked at, are looking for that experience!

When it comes to a job search, it's always about the EXPERIENCE, EXPERIENCE, and oh yeah, EXPERIENCE! It's a bummer especially being right out of college, but you have to remember, without a college degree, you are really at the bottom and how do you show you could do a job, without a degree or without experience? I can understand it's difficult because I have personally gone through this myself, but STICK TO IT! If you give up, you live off of what? You earn a college degree, just to sit on it? No way...It's all about pushing yourself and finding something. Even if you start out doing something not related to your degree, you can gain experience and work yourself toward that specific area. I see so many people give up and what for? You get knocked down once, doesn't mean it's going to happen every time.

I went on an interview, 3 interviews in fact, and I ended up not getting the job due to lack of experience, but that didn't stop me. I did make an impression on the company, so if something were to come up in the future, they may come back to my resume and reach out to me. You never know what could happen, so it's best to take in the criticism or the rejections because they only make you stronger. You get bummed for the little bit of time in between, but you got to push, push, push!

I hope everyone is having a great quarter and to all my alumni, I hope you are all having a great time with your jobs or job searches! Feel free to share your job search tips with us!

ENJOY THE REST OF YOUR WEEK!

TGIF!

Friday, Friday, Fridayyyyyy! Oh wait, did I mention IT'S FRIDAY! I am so ready for the weekend, I don't know about you! It feel so weird to be out of school, but I hope the quarter is going by quickly for everyone! As we approach the holidays, time sure does seem to fly right on by, which could be good and bad!

Alumni life is great, although I do miss my Berkeley family! I have been on my job search and recently was asked to go back to where I was interning, so I have decided to go back and work there. This will give me more experience in the Marketing field and will also help me develop better skills that I only had brief knowledge of during my internship! I am so honored to be able to go back there and contribute to their marketing department! I will be going back there on Monday and it will be one great week because that is also Thanksgiving week! It will be short, but I will start getting back in the routine and it will be great!

As we prepare for Thanksgiving week, I will offer some advice to all current students...get all those papers and homework out of the way NOW, so you can spend all of your time with your family, because that is what Thanksgiving is all about! Who wants to give thanks to their homework? I'm sure you don't! LOL




What about Black Friday? Who is going to be braving the crowds at all crazy hours of the morning? As crazy as it is, I think I am! I went last year sick as a dog and man I told myself, NEVER AGAIN, but at one point, we all say tat and still go back to do it again!

I hope everyone is having a great quarter thus far and hang in there, only a few more weeks to go! Get ready to kick off the holiday season next week with all your families and friends! That will sure make time fly right on by.....

Finally out from the dark....

Well, since I missed you guys on Halloween, Happy LATE Halloween! The snow storm affected my home town big time, so I was without power for a few days but I am happy to be back in action! I hope everyone was still able to enjoy Halloween despite this ridiculous snow storm and I hope you all were safe & sound! The worst thing is losing power for a few days because you start to go crazy, much like I did! The lack of technology....

So these past few weeks have been busy, busy, busy! I applied for a job about a month ago, did the phone interview, did my second interview (in-person), and then went back for a final interview, and now I am sitting here going crazy to hear the answer! I worked myself up so much preparing for the interview, that when I look back at it now, I think to myself, "You were so ridiculous!" I literally was pulling my hair out of my head because I had no idea what to expect! I prepared like crazy, printed out a million copies of my work, and just kept thinking over ways to answer questions and all that fun interviewing stuff! In order to save you from half the craziness I put myself through, I want to share some tips to help you really prepare for the interviewing process.

Some of you may get called to come right in for an in-person interview and skip over the phone pre-screening interview before the real deal. That wasn't the case for me, but everyone is different. Here's the deal, Berkeley offers you the convenience of sitting down with a career counselor to go over your resume and help you get everything together for the interviews. My advice would be to visit your career counselor PRIOR to submitting an application for a job because if you send over your resume and you either missed some things or didn't provide much in the resume, it may be overlooked and you lose the opportunity.

First things first, write out your resume or review your resume, if you already have one put together. This will allow you to make sure everything is up to date and that you have included EVERYTHING that you want your potential employer to know about you and your experience. Next, contact Berkeley College Career Services via phone or email, which I will provide contact information for below. Once you touch base with Career Services, they will either schedule an appointment with you to go to one of the campuses or they could help you out right over the phone. They are there to help, so don't be afraid to ask!! Once Career Services has given you the OK on your resume and cover letter, this is when you want to submit your application and all necessary papers to the company. (Keep track of the day and time you sent over your information, in case you need to refer to it at a later date.)



Ok, so you got an email or phone call regarding your application and they want to interview you! GREAT, but now what?! Be excited, go crazy, but don't worry, you got this! There is nothing more an interviewer hates when someone comes unprepared to an interview. It's just like going to class without your books or a pencil/notepad to take notes! ***DO NOT GO TO AN INTERVIEW WITHOUT ANYTHING TO SUPPORT YOUR WANT FOR THE JOB*** If you have no idea why you want the job or why you are even going to an interview, chances are you really do not care and aren't truly interested in the job.

Now, in order to prepare, take a look at the job spec again. Do they want examples of your work to show that you've done something in relation? Do they want to see recommendation letters or have references to contact? What is this potential employer expecting of you if you land the job? You will be asked questions among questions, so you better know both your resume and the job specs inside out!

In the process of preparing for your interview, make 3-4 extra copies of your resume. You never know who may pop in during your interview. Secondly, bring copies of your work, whether it be copy for a newsletter or whatever type of work that relates to the job spec that you could share. (For example, the job I applied for requires knowledge of Social Media (Facebook). I brought along with my copies of a Facebook Fan Page I manage and showed how I used Social Media to promote an event. I also brought along copy I did for a newsletter and other materials.)Materials always help, but make sure they are in a presentable format! I also recommend bringing recommendation letters with you just to have in case you get asked, "Do you have someone that would recommend you for this type of position or would recommend you based on the work you do?" If you have a rec letter on you, this could be a great way to lead into bringing out that rec letter to share. (Again, BRING EXTRA COPIES!)

You may also want to prepare questions to ask the potential employer. It's very common at the end of an interview for the employer to ask, "Do you have any questions for me?" Think about it, they spend a great amount of time picking your brain, so return the favor and ask some questions pertaining to the job. One question I used was "What do you expect of me within the first 90 days on the job?" This shows that you are very interested in the job and want to make sure that you can accomplish any tasks they put you to! You can always use Google to search some of the top questions to ask during an interview! (Do your research!)

Here's the simple run down:

1) Contact Career Services to review your resume
2) Apply for the job/submit all materials requested
3) Research the company
4) PREPARE, PREPARE, PREPARE (extra copies of EVERYTHING)
5) Dress the part (ALWAYS WEAR A SUIT)
6) Don't stress yourself out!

I know, I know, easier said than done, but Berkeley is always there to assist you along the way, so go get em' and GOOD LUCK!

Berkeley College 7th Annual Charity Car Show!

I was a happy attendee to the 2011 7th Annual Charity Car Show at Berkeley College on Sunday, October 23rd! Once again, we reached astonishing numbers in the number of cars that came through the entrance to take part in this continuously growing car show. Last year we had just about 250 registered cars, and this year we reached 345 registered cars! That is so awesome! Thank you to everyone for coming out and supporting such an important cause!

Throughout the day, there were lots going on! There was a live band, lots of food choices, a bouncy house for the kids, and lots of Halloween decorations and festivities for everyone to enjoy! It was great to see the kids dressed up in their costumes and it was also great to see the owners of the cars decking the cars out in Halloween decorations and making it have that spook-tacular feel!

This was my second Berkeley College car show that I have attended and from those who have attended the others in the past, they say it just gets bigger and bigger, and I can definitely see that from the turnout we had yesterday! Everything was put together and planned really well so I send a huge THANK YOU to all the students and staff who were so willing to put this together and volunteer throughout the day! You guys did a great job and you make everyone want to come back each year!

As I was walking around, I took video and photographs of the cars. The photos can be seen below and I will be working quickly to get the edits done to my videos so I can share that with you as well!

I want to say thank you to everyone who was able to come out to the Berkeley College 7th Annual Charity Car Show yesterday! We were all able to come together and raise awareness for a great cause! Hope to see you next year!

The Alumni Life....

Hi everyone! Well, it's been 2 weeks since I've been living the college alumni life, and it certainly feels so weird not logging onto Blackboard everyday and checking to see if there are any updates or announcements from my professors. I guess what I am trying to say is, I miss Berkeley already! Although I am finished, it doesn't mean I won't stay involved in some of the events that are going on. I will definitely be attending the Berkeley College car show, which is coming up on October 23rd! I will attach the flyer below so that everyone can get a feel for how great this car show really is. It also is a charity event and Berkeley raises a lot of money for a great cause, so I encourage everyone to come out and have some fun! Hope to see you there! Check out this flyer for more information!



So being that I am an alumni, I have been on the hunt for a full time job! You start to realize it does put up a challenge, but with patience and dedication to finding something that suits you best, you will achieve what you set out to achieve. Everyone I have spoken to about a job, have all told me to remain patient and calm because if you rush, rush, rush, you will feel overwhelmed and you may miss out on some opportunities that would be right beneath your nose! I've been paying close attention to my resume and updating anything that needs to be updated and also focusing on making my cover letter very strong and to the point as well. To all my fellow grads out there, just keep your head up and stay focused on looking for the job that suits you best! A job you LOVE, leads to a very happy life, so don't settle for less when you have lots of potential for bigger and better. My other word of advice would be to never get discouraged if you can't find something right away. You just have to keep looking and also, Berkeley is here for you, so you can ALWAYS contact career services and ask for some job assistance! They are here for life, so always remember that!

I am looking forward to keeping up with my blog through my alumni life and sharing all of the experiences I have with my ob search and interviewing processes! I wish all of the new and continuing students the best of luck this Fall quarter and I am looking forward to seeing some of you at the Berkeley Car Show on October 23rd!

And I would like to send my condolences to the family of Steve Jobs, who has passed away last night due to his long battle with Cancer...May you Rest In Peace Steve and thank you for all the great products you have introduced us to...http://finance.yahoo.com/blogs/daniel-gross/steve-jobs-earned-place-american-business-pantheon-001840746.html

We did it!

Congrats everyone! We have successfully made it through the Summer Quarter and sadly, this was my last one of all! Hard to believe that 3 years ago, I was just getting ready to start college and now, I am walking away completely done! It's actually kind of sad when I think about it because while you always wait for the day to come, you never really want it to because now it's time for the real world!

I finished up at my internship today where they took me out to a very nice goodbye lunch and just wanted to let me know how much they appreciated everything I had done for them. It was tough. As I'm saying goodbye, I was holding back the tears because it really was a great opportunity in my life and I will miss them a lot!

The grades I believe are to be posted by tonight or tomorrow, and then that is it! I hope everyone did well on all their final projects and their exams! I have been on my job search for the past few months, and I got some bites here and there, so I am just really hoping something comes along now that I am officially done! I want to also remind everyone, who is done with school like me, to definitely contact Career Services if you have issues trying to find a job or need help in the future. They are there for life, so take advantage of it! All they want to do is help, help, help!!!

I want to wish everyone a very happy vacation and remember classes start again on September 26th! Hopefully I will be able to keep you updated about my life as an alumni and all my new updates regarding my job search! And also congrats to all my other fellow grads!! We did it!!

Happy Labor Day Weekend!

That's right! We all get to enjoy a lovely 3 day weekend all thanks to Labor Day! Looks like the rain is holding out for the most part, so we are lucky for that! I hope those of you who were affected by the storm last weekend, were able to recover and enjoy this weekend.President Obama set out to visit the devastation in Paterson today and the surrounding areas. The news broke my heart this past week to watch, but he is going to do his best to help those in need.

Some good news for us Berkeley students though, only 2 more weeks until we wrap up the Summer quarter and for me, only 2 more weeks until I am college free! I have been on my job hunt so I am hoping to come across something soon! In the meantime, I have just been staying on top of all my work and finishing up with the end of quarter papers and projects.

I didn't get the opportunity to intern last week due to Hurricane Irene, so I am looking forward to getting back into the swing of things this upcoming week and next before I make my departure from there. I've definitely learned a lot in my internship and I am so thankful I was given the opportunity to intern before graduation. There are some schools who don't require an internship, but I honestly think it's such a great thing to offer students before they graduate. It will allow them the opportunity to enhance their skills and also allows for them to learn how to apply their given and learned skills to a real position. This is a great thing Berkeley offers and when it comes time to find an internship, the career services staff is more than willing to help you out!

As we wind down these next two weeks, watch out for the faculty evaluations that will be coming around whether you're an online student or on campus student. As an online student, we fill out our evaluations right within our course. I haven't been on campus in a few months, so I am not sure how much the evaluation process has changed there. It's important to fill out these evaluations so your professors know where they need to make improvements, if you can suggest any at all. They don't take your feedback as criticism because it allows them to better plan for the next quarter.

Since you know the end is near, don't start dragging those feel. Just keep up with everything, and finish out on the best note! Finals are also quickly approaching so just remember the ASC (Academic Support Center) is always there if you need some assistance!

GOOD LUCK & Enjoy your Labor Day Weekend!