Sunday, September 28, 2008

Trying to Decide....

As I approach graduation, I have a lot of things on my mind about my life. First of all, somedays I think about college..a lot. It seems so strange to me sometimes that everyone lives here, eats here, works out here, talks here, makes friends, sometimes find their spouse, and earns a degree. It is as if all of a sudden you have a new life...with all new things!

Anyway, I have this extreme passion for teaching and I know that I want to teach younger children. What I can't decide is how I want to use this passion. I am really interested in teaching in the classroom...don't know if I want to teach at a public school, private school, Head Start program, or get a job in Early Intervention. This is something that has really been of interest to me lately. I am in an Early Intervention class right now and I am really interested in everything that it is about. There is also a grant masters program where you can get your masters in early intervention for free with a stipend!!! That is really cool but I would have to stay an extra year and I am just itching to get into the classroom!

This is random but I went to the Helping Hands thrift shop the other day and I talked to the lady that came to our class. She was so sweet and very excited about what we were going to do. She also told me that as she left, a Clemson student backed into her car and tried to say it was her fault and she had to deal with all of this for like two weeks, I felt so bad....hopefully, we can make it up to her with our proposals :)

Sunday, September 21, 2008

Cover Letters

Overall, I agreed with the advice from collegegrad.com. However, one point that I didn't agree with was the fact that bosses don't usually read cover letters. I believe that bosses do read cover letters because my Dad is the President of his commercial furniture company and he continuously reminds me how important the cover letters are. This is something that I think could variate depending on who the Hiring Manager is.

The section that was most useful to me was the "Best Use of a Cover Letter Section." Especially the formula for cover letters. For example, what is supposed to go in each paragraph. I think this will really be of use to me when I write my cover letter. Also, I really learned a lot from the Cover Letter Checklist, this can be somewhere that I can visit when I am finished with my cover letter and want to make sure that I have everything correct.

Some things that I was not aware of was the fact that cover letter is supposed to be about the company that you are applying for and not about you. I guess I had always just assumed that since it was a cover letter introducing your resume you should talk about yourself but I am aware now that this is not the case. Also I did not know that in your cover letter that you were supposed to refer to a specific person in the company. This also leads to the fact that your cover letter is prepared differently for each resume because it is meant to relate to that company only. I thought cover letters were like resumes, you had the same thing down no matter where it was going. I thought it was really interesting that the website said to be personal and to hand write a P.S. at the end of your letter. This comes a relief to me in some ways because the business world has always seemed so uptight and tense.

The most enlightening quote to me, in this article was: "The resume explains your features, your cover letter explains your benefits."

Sunday, September 14, 2008

Preparing for Interviews

I have only been to about three or four interviews in my lifetime and only one of those really had something to do with what I want to do as a career. I really liked this blog topic as well as some of things we are doing in class because it helps me to prepare for what the real world will be like...which is really only two years away...I can't believe that!!!

The first article I read from hotjobs was called Mastering the Interview. This article discussed three important components to "master your interview." They were preparation, presentation, and perception. Preparation involved what you wore, doing research about the company that you are interviewing for, and being familar with your resume. Most of these things made sense to me, except since I will most likely be applying for a teaching position, I was wondering what kind of research I would do about the school. I thought of ideas such as the demographics of the school, if the school has received any awards in the past, as well as information that would be on their website (mission statements, etc.). The presentation portion of mastering the interview involved introducing yourself to the receptionist, making sure your cell phone was off (what a bad first impression this could make-ringing in the middle of an interview!), your body language, and also focusing on the accomplishments you have made instead of just the job description. This one made sense to me because the company already knows what the job description is, they want to learn more about you and in what ways you can contribute. The last part of mastering the interview was making sure that your perception was efficient. This included asking questions to make sure you were understanding everything the employer said as well as any confusion you had about the company. In the interviews that I have been in, I am often so concerned with myself and making myself look good that I forget what I'm really there for and end up walking out not remembering what went on, this is definitely something I need to work on for my mock interview as well as real-life interviews.

The second article I read dealt with telling stories in your interview, it was called An Interview Strategy: Telling Stories. This was a very interesting article! It discussed how you can really make an impression in an interview if you focus on more than just facts. The article cited examples of what the company wants to know, some of these included: Are you a team player? Will you fit into the company's culture? and Are you an asset or liability? These questions can be answered by giving your employer certain instances (stories) where you saved money for your company, how life circumstances affected your work-these could include various crises or stress, and also times when you exhibited outstanding leadership skills. This article helped me to think about stories from my own life that I could use in an interview, and it was some that I had never even thought of before.

Overall, I really enjoyed reading these articles. They are in plain language and help me to focus on how I can make changes to my routine interview strategy to make it superb!!

Sunday, September 7, 2008

In Ten Years....

First of all, in ten years I hope to have graduated from college with a degree in Early Childhood Education, a masters in Early Childhood Intervention and received my Montessori Certification. My dream is to be working as a first grade teacher in a public Elementary school in Greenville, South Carolina (close enough to the city and to Clemson!)

By this point in my life I hope to have traveled to China to work in the orphanages as a missionary. I also hope that I am married and have at least two children. I don't want to have any debt of any sort at age 30.

I hope to have traveled to Italy, France, England and Spain and to have ridden in a hot air balloon. I also hope to have seen all the classic movies and read as many classical novels as possible by this time.

I want to be able to support my mother and father at this stage in my life if they need me.

I want to be active in my church body where ever that may be.

The truth is I have many hopes and dreams about where I want to be 10 years from now. However, I am afraid of planning my life out too much. I want to go where I'm led and maybe experience something that I never thought would happen!