It’s been too long!

It’s been awhile since I have posted on here! My last post was about giving up my loving addiction to coffee for the season of Lent. I am can say with all honesty that I lasted the whole season without a sip of it. I must admit it was challenging at times, but what I did to help myself was substitute the coffee with tea. To my surprise I enjoyed tea, but once Easter Sunday came it was back to my real love.

On different note, it’s less than a month until I graduate from college. It still hasn’t hit yet, but I feel once we start with the rehearsal for the big day then I will start to freak out. I am ready to move on, but at the same time I have always been one of those people who hold on to everyday moments. I never wanted to grow up so fast and try to take my time really enjoying and appreciating each day. 

College has been an amazing experience, but there was one thing in particular that I think I didn’t get out of it that most students do. Most people say that when you are in college you find yourself and who you really are. It was quite the contrary for me. If anything I am even more confused now than I was in high school. College has opened up so many opportunities for me. I go to a liberal arts school that makes you take credits in various courses. At first I didn’t like the idea of that, but now I appreciate it because it has taught me much more than I would have thought. 

I’m not scared of the change that college has brought me. Just like when I first came to college, graduation will bring change as well. Even though I do not have a job yet, I am looking forward to the near future. I cherish the memories I will take away from the college experience and wouldn’t change it for anything. 

 

Bubbles in the Music, Communications, and Arts building at my college. 

It’s official, I’m giving up coffee for Lent!

 Ash Wednesday marks the start of the season of Lent. As a Christian, I find that each year I have a tough time deciding what to give up for 40 days. I think only one season I have made it the whole time without cheating. Another reason… I simply end up forgetting that I gave it up because it was a necessity in my day to day schedule. So what will I give up from now until April 8th, which is a long way from now? Can you believe it… coffee!!

As a second semester senior I find it extremely challenging to give up coffee. Just by studying alone it will be tough, but also because I have 8 a.m. classes. With that being said, I think it’s about time I take a more serious approach in challenging myself for this season of Lent. After all… what Jesus did for us? What he suffered? I think I can at least give up coffee.

On a side note, while pinning away on Pinterest this afternoon I came across this picture. I think it’s fitting with this post. I like it because it’s true. Living in the world we do today, it’s easy to take things for granted and be obsessed in our daily lives. But when you take time, pray, and ask for forgiveness… you can remember that God loves you. In Jesus’ name we pray…

Take time to read this quote! I hope you enjoy it like I did!

 

The Applicant Tracking System

As the job search continues, I am constantly reading articles posted on twitter or various online sources about how to improve resumes and such. Being new to applying for jobs I didn’t understand totally how the application process went. A few weeks ago, I came across an article that talked about the applicant tracking system.

Here’s a quick breakdown of the process so you can understand how to optimize your chances of getting picked up via online job applications:

1. You see an ad and think: “This is perfect for me.” So you immediately hit “apply here.”
2. Your resume is received, along with hundreds of others.
3. Your resume is run through a program called a PARSER. This program removes styling and breaks down your text into recognized strings of  characters for further processing.
4. The PARSER re-assigns your resume content to fit the the ATS. Your education, contact info, experience, etc. is entered into the system so it can be searched.
5. The recruiter uses predetermined keywords to search the ATS for fitting candidates. ( NOTE: These keywords are usually found in the ad.)
6. Your resume is scored for relevancy. Relevancy is based on the correlating matches between your resume and the job description’s keywords.

After reading this article, I now am more knowledgeable on the application process. When I apply for jobs via online, I use those keywords found in the description. I know I might be a little late on this, but since reading the article I have had a better response rate from potential employers. I hope this article helps others in their job search!

Job Searching Tips via Twitter– Hashtags

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As a second-semester senior, everyday I am job searching. Whether it’s searching on linkedin or simply hired, I am always finding new links and new ways to look for jobs. This week I researched more about finding jobs through twitter. I came across this article that I found very helpful, and would like to share. 

The 50 Hottest Twitter Hashtags for Job Seekers:

I like that in this article they break it down into sections. There are different hashtags for all aspects of job searching.  Like finding an employer or attracting one, and much more. For example, ones for the “To attract and employer” category are: #hire me, #MBA, #linkedin, #resume, #need a job, etc. 

I really enjoyed this article and now I find myself checking twitter for jobs frequently. Hope this helps! 

Twitter thoughts… to be private or not.

For quite some time now I have been debating whether or not I should set my twitter profile as public. Since I have created one it’s been set on private. The reason? Some tweets I create are about my personal life and/or keeping in touch with friends. Also, some pictures I tweet are of friends and what if they didn’t want that picture being posted publicly?

However, as a PR professional I am finding that most have their profiles set to public. This doesn’t surprise me since public relations is all about building relationships, gaining a large audience and maintaining that status.

Here are some facts I researched about protecting your tweets from a social media blog:

1) People can’t see your tweets.

It won’t appear on your timeline and it won’t appear on the Twitter search engine. Literally, you don’t exist at all unless someone requested to follow you.

2) People can send you a tweet, BUT…..

If they have not requested to follow and you have not approved it, they wouldn’t be able to receive your tweets, see your tweets, or reply.

3. Protected tweets aren’t real time.

The reason why I say so is because it takes time to request to follow, wait to get approved and then I am able to received tweets. Twitter was built to be in real time, so don’t make it troublesome for someone who wants to get in touch with you.

As a senior PR major, I am slowly warming up to the idea of making my profile public. That way I can easily get in contact with other PR students or even professionals in the industry. But for right now? I think I am going to stay private since I tweet personal things. As twitter puts it, “If the idea of strangers reading your Twitter updates makes you feel a little weird, try protecting your Tweets. You can always change your mind later.” Could be!

Blogging… a way to challenge myself.

As a public relations student I am finding more and more that blogging is becoming important in the industry. I’ve debated whether or not to create one. Do I have the time? Is it even worth while? Am I up for the challenge? The more I researched I found that blogging is a great way to showcase your portfolio. Not only that but I recently found that you can follow other blogs. After reading some other blogs about the PR industry and job searching I decided that it’s time that I should start one.

This article was the driving factor that lead me to create a blog. 7 reasons every job seeker should blog.

In the article, 2 tips stood out the most.

1. Show them what you are made of. When applying for jobs I always thought that resumes were enough. After completing my second internship I was made aware of how important a portfolio is. It’s instant proof of what you are capable of when it comes to writing. I’m happy to say that I have a binder put together of all my work in a neat fashion. With this blog, I am using it to not only put my portfolio online, but to also develop my blogging skills which leads into the second tip.

2. Sharpen your professional skills. The whole reason of creating this blog. As I am starting off my job search, I find that a lot of PR professionals are blogging. As a PR student this is of obvious importance. The closest experience I have to blogging is when I used to post on Xanga back when I was 15. Blogging has transformed over the years and with it’s popularity in the work force I want to gain insight and skills over time for it.

With that being said, I aspire to continue blogging, develop new skills and become a standout PR professional in the near future. Best of luck to all students graduating soon and starting the job search!