So this week is cool with Quadfest going on but it turns out Thursday has an awesome event. I know everyone is thinking, I am talking about their MQP presentations but no! I am sure those will be awesome and good luck to all the presenters. The presentation I had in mind is a presentation on leaderships skills.

In case the email got deleted, you should check this out:

Time to Leverage Those Leadership Skills – April 18^th, 6pm, OH 107

http://www.empowernetwork.com/withdee/files/2012/11/leadership-skills.jpg

This presentation will help you figure out how to align your skills with the top skills that companies say they are looking for in new hires. The event is co-sponsored with the Student Activities Office and SocComm (as part of QuadFest) and will be fun and interactive for prizes! There will be FREE FOOD, raffles to win gift cards, WPI and SocComm giveaways, and a KINDLE FIRE!  Attendees will also receive a free CDC water bottle!

 Even if you already know how to market your leadership skills you should still swing by! The prizes are sick and dinner is on us! You can’t lose! Oh yeah it will also be insightful!

 Hopefully I will see you there.

Thanks for stoppin’ by
- Sam

http://9gag.com/gag/6336091

Let me know what works for you guys and please share your experience with me!

Thanks for stoppin’ by
- Sam

http://www.medpreps.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/09/tell-me-about-yourself-interview.jpg

Does that sound familiar? Just about everyone I have spoken to tells me that’s their first interview question. At first I thought, there’s no way that’s true, or it was a weird coincidence. It won’t happen to me! Boy, was I wrong…

I started paying more attention to my interviews and believe it or not just about every interview’s first question was “Tell Me About Yourself” or some form of that. “Tell Me About Yourself” comes up in more places than just interviews: Elevators, career fairs, networking dinners, and anywhere else that you could run into a potential employer… That’s crazy! That means anywhere is fair game for “Tell Me About Yourself”

When I got hit with the “Tell Me About Yourself” I said some stuff about what I was studying, what I did in the past that was relevant to them and I said what I was looking forward to doing with them. I feel like there was more that I could’ve said or just a better way to present it.

The problem is that the question seems sooooooooooooooooooo open and I love to talk! So, it’s like what do you talk about? Do you say your favorite color or your favorite food? Do you talk about your family, your childhood or hometown? There is a ton of stuff to talk about when someone asks you “Tell Me About Yourself” Although, no one knows more about you than yourself, sometimes responding to this can be incredibly difficult for people.

http://studentbranding.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/Tell-Me-About-Yourself.jpg

So what can you do to make sure you’re not one of those people fumbling to answer? Easiest thing to do is get help from the pros. The Career Development Center noticed that people could use some help. It turns out that the response to “Tell Me About Yourself” is called an Elevator Pitch.

There is a cool contest that is wrapping up called Job Idol. It is an opportunity for people with rockstar elevator pitches to enter them in a contest and win prizes. So what’s the catch? No catch, in fact even if you don’t feel like entering the contest you can benefit from the new resources that the contest uses.

1. Interview Stream. Interview stream, is our online practice interview. You can record your elevator pitch and 9 other responses to interview  questions. If you want more on interview stream you should check this out.

2. The next resource that you can play around with is the DEVELOPING YOUR ELEVATOR PITCH handout. I wont hand this one to you like I did with the blog. To get this, you need to log onto jobfinder –> click resources –> click podcasts & handouts –> search for elevator

or just stop by the CDC and grab one from the spinning shelf. This handout is awesome, it has tips, questions to think about and even a sample elevator pitch.

Anyway with these resources, the next time you’re hit with “Tell Me About Yourself” you’ll be ready!

Adam had some more insight on elevator pitches.

Thanks for stoppin’ by
- Sam

http://www.zawaj.com/askbilqis/am-i-ruining-his-luck/

St. Patty’s day is pretty soon but things just have not been perfect for many people. Believe me, I hear ya. Getting a job or an internship seems to be pretty much PLAN A for everyone but getting solid results has been the case for everyone.

If you’re like me or anyone else looking for a job, I am sure something like this has been going on:

Find a company, tell yourself they’re awesome, apply online, get an interview, and then……………

some weird way no job.

So then you repeat

Find a company, tell yourself they’re awesome, apply online, get an interview, and then……………

some weird way no job.

No big deal right? third times the charm

Find a company, tell yourself they’re awesome, apply online, get an interview, and then……………

some weird way no job.

http://4.bp.blogspot.com/-CjimRK0WwE0/UA2vdP-YarI/AAAAAAAAAhI/ZxZ7KR84w5Y/s1600/Stress.jpg

Ok what gives? That’s the definition of insanity! Trying the same thing over and over again expecting a different result. It sounds like it is time for a change.

Here are a few things that can really help switch things up in your favor and make you a little luckier.

1. Do not get discouraged!

2. Find a healthy four leaf clover!

3. Schedule a mock interview! If you’re having luck getting the interviews and feeling like things go well but things end up not working out, I am sure there is something you’re missing. The career development center got your back!
We ALWAYS have Mock interviews available. You can do one with someone from our staff or you can do one online through interview stream. Once in a while, we even get employers to come in and help out. I have heard a few people say that the Mock interviews here have been tougher than their real interviews. if you’re still on the fence about setting up a mock interview, the way I see it is pretty simple. If you are hungry, you eat; if you are tired, you sleep; if you need help with interviews, you get help with interviews.

4. Try following up. Being super sincere and sending a thank you is a great way for a company to know that you care about them. Companies want to hire people who want to work for them. It just makes sense.

5. Keep looking! The only way to find a job is to look for a job. Believe me, my experience has been after a few doors shut, or even slammed in my face, tons of doors open right up, but you have to knock at them before they let you in. So please use your resources, if you are unsure how to find these doors, set up an appointment. Job search strategies will help you find more opportunities. If you are too busy for an appointment, mark your calendar, we have programs too:

Life Science Alumni Panel: How to Find a Job, Wednesday, 3/20/2013, 6:00 PM-7:00 PM, Salisbury Laboratories, SL105

How to Find an Internship or Job, Thursday, 4/4/2013, 6:00 PM-7:00 PM, Salisbury Laboratories, SL407

Click here for a complete list of events

Thanks For stoppin’ by

- Sam

If you’re in that boat and looking to get out, I thought of a few things that you can with your free time:

1. DO NOT PANIC

2. Set up an appointment at the Career Development Center (CDC)

There are tons of appointments that can help you find a job. I think the most useful for someone who missed the career fair would be Job Search strategies. One of our career counselors will help you learn about things you can be doing to find a job.

While you wait for an appointment there here are a few suggestions:

3. Log on to Job Finder

* If you’re unsure on how to use Job Finder please attend the Job finder training session

a. Browse through job posts

Don’t just browse, make sure you apply to some as well. Adding a cover letter to your application might be really helpful just to give you that edge especially since you didn’t get a chance to meet the employer in person

b. Check company information session dates

Use the feature that helps you add the company information sessions to your outlook calendar. That will help you stay organized. Company information sessions are a comfortable small setting to meet more employers. Feel free to read more about information sessions on my other blog

c. Look at the list of companies that attended the career fair

With that list, be sure that you’re super proactive. The company list can be filter for certain majors which will give you an idea on who you should research. Once you’re on the companies’ personal websites: APPLY, APPLY, APPLY. Again a cover letter might be helpful for some places a cover letter is necessary.

4. Visit the CDC website for a list of upcoming events.

Wpi.edu/+cdc

There should be events like How to Find a Job, employer resume critiques and even another career fair. How to find a job should be very insightful and full of great advice; Employer resume critiques are a good chance to meet more employers, who knows you could get lucky from one of those; The other career fair is primarily for life sciences and what not but be sure to check out those companies, even if you’re not in the life sciences  just in case there’s one opening for you.

5. Go through the Business Card Database at the CDC

Sometime around Monday, all the business cards from the career fair should be scanned in. If there is a company that you really wanted to talk to you can check out that business card database and reach out to them. The business card database only exists at the CDC so you have to stop in. You don’t need an appointment to search through the database.

6. Reach out to your already existing network.

Ask your friends, family and professors if they know about any career opportunities that could really work for you!

Good luck guys!

Thanks For stoppin’ by

- Sam

WPI’s Phi Kappa Theata (KAP), Bonardi’s Formalwear (on Highland Street) and of course the Career Development Center got to put on a pretty sweet event in the Campus Center!

Bonardi’s decided to hook WPI up with with a super sweet deal. There are a bunch of coupon’s left, so even if you missed the event feel free to swing by the Career Development Center for some resume critiques and on your way out grab an exclusive discount card.

Any Way KAP did an awesome job with the other stations like how to tie a tie and I think that my table pretty awesome too. We decided to do a raffle, about 40 people entered so stay tuned for some winners. In addition to holding a raffle we also gave out interview tips from some of our handouts and personal experiences.

If you want more interview tips feel free to check out some other blog posts like

Technical Interview:

Online Practice Interview:

On Campus Mock Interview:

There are much more so really dig through those blogs!

Also if you want the cool folks over at the Career Development Center to jump on an event with your organization just let us know!

Thanks For stoppin’ by
- Sam

http://www.123rf.com/photo_13625713_vector-purple-stage-with-seven-spotlights.html

Hey WPI!

Are you invovled on campus? Are you a student leader? Has your WPI experience been extremely marketable? Have you been able to use the Career Development Center’s resources to help market your experiences? Did you do a walk-in? Did you set up an appointment? Have you been to a workshop or the career fair? Have you had an interview, a job shadow, an internship, or even a full time job? Did the Career Development Center Help you get it?

There were so many questions and I am sure you all have so many answers. If you answered yes to any of those questions, this is the opportunity you have been looking for… The Career Development Center is looking to update its website. The best content really comes from our students and their experiences.

We have 21 testimonials slots on the website. If you’re looking to be the new face of success please email me with your story.

My email is SamFrancois@wpi.edu

Subject of the email: CDC Testimonial
Name: Your Name
Class year: 201?
Major: Your Major
Campus involvement:

Your Experience:

If you’re struggling to think of something you can take a look at our student leaders from the past.

http://www.wpi.edu/Admin/CDC/testimonials.html

http://gsehd.gwu.edu/students/studentorganizations

Thanks For stoppin’ by
- Sam

Walk ins are awesome for Resume Critiques, Cover Letter Critiques and much more. Make sure you have a hard copy of your stuff with you.

I was able to do a walk in Today around 10:30AM and I was out pretty quickly. I made all the changes to my resume and I can’t wait to get more feed back tomorrow!

I think you all should take advantages of these new hours. Pretty soon you’ll look just like this guy:

http://www.edupics.com/coloring-page-to-walk-out-the-door-i13534.html

Thanks For stoppin’ by
- Sam

The great news is that with a break, hopefully all you have is free time! All this free time can be super valuable time! You can spend it being super productive! You could take some time to reconnect with employers or connect with potential employers. You could log on to job finder and look at a few job posts. You could do some research on companies and really impress them with how much you know about their work. You could and probably should update your resume! I am sure with another semester under your belt you must have completed at least one really cool project. Another thing you could do is visit the Career Development Center (CDC)! Yeah that’s right the CDC is open during Winter break!

So whatever you do, don’t just break during break be proactive! Think Big. Plan Big. Succeed.

Thanks For stoppin’ by
- Sam

I had no idea that my network was slowly dying. I was really content with my stack of business cards but unfortunately, people’s numbers change, people’s emails change and all sorts of other contact information changes as well. My chain was slowly breaking in several spots. Fortunately, Once I created a LinkedIn account, I was able to reconnect with some very important people.

I am not saying you absolutely need a LinkedIn account, but I am saying if you’re not so good at keeping in touch with people and updating their contact information, It might be a good idea to join a website that people update their information for you.

Feel free to check out some of the other blogs. I saw a few posts on LinkedIn that could give you some more insight.

Thanks For stoppin’ by
- Sam