Yes, It Gets Hot In Atlanta

To answer the question: Yes, it does get hot in Atlanta ( a.k.a. Hotlanta which refers more to the nightlife than the heat) . However, it does not constantly feel like I am taking a shower somewhere in the 16th circle of hell, every time I get out my car.

LSU does not help matter, by not having any viable form of campus transit ( I mean c'mon can I get a shuttle). So anytime I have to go somewhere, which is more or less always across campus, I end up having to walk and take an impromptu midday sweat shower. Hence the source of my constant complaining about the heat.

END RANT.

Back to the Grind

It's back to work this morning after a fun weekend. I attended my first Louisiana wedding an had a great time. The bride was beautiful and it was a wonderful ceremony/reception. During the ceremony which was overlooking a pond, an alligator decide to make his presence known as the bride and groom were reading there vows. I wonder what does an alligator at you wedding signify. As long as no one gets eaten, I'm guessing it's a good sign :)

I also made some major changes to my hair. After trying for months to tame my curls with this humidity, I finally broke down and put in some mild chemicals. So far , so good. It's pretty easy to maintain, it doesn't frizz, and is more manageable- I can actually do it. I haven't tried wearing it curly- that will be the real test- does it frizz or stay. It was a hard decisions ( there were tears involved) as I had natural hair for 4 years ( that's a big deal to a black woman), but it was no match for this Louisiana heat. Just one more reason for me to move away sooner than later.

So it was a good weekend and I'm ready to go back to the grind. I'm addicted to all this coverage on the Iranian election. I wish I spoke/read Farsi or had at least taken a class to get the basics. My Persian friend keeps posting all these links and notes, but I have no clue what they say! For a while , the Internet was blocked there, but a few tweets did get out ( score one for twitter).

And finally Boooo to the Lakers. Yes, I am a Kobe hater, but let's not get started on that. I had high hopes that my Magic could pull it out.

This morning I sat in on one appointment. I felt a little rusty because I didn't see anyone last week. I think I'm ready to take on the next one by myself and will make sure to update once that happens.

Week In Review

Well I was hoping to talk about my first appointments this week, but they were both rescheduled at the last minute :(.

Instead I'll talk a little about the staff meeting I attended on Tuesday. Attending Staff meeting is listed in out internship packet as an important part of the experience. The reasoning behind that is a no-brainer. The Office here is made up of different "divisions" and each division has their own staff meeting. My division, Job Search is made up of 3 people, so staff meeting are pretty small and informal ( much like in my assistanship). In addition to our "division" , we also attend meetings of other "divisions". The meeting on Tuesday was for another Division, located across campus that deals with the employer side of Career Services.

At this meeting I met the director, as well as the staff for the other division and the communications manager. It was good to meet everyone and to put faces with outlook calenders. Even better is I was actually able to remember every one's name!

During the meeting, we were discussing an upcoming event that Career Services hosts for employers- A workshop on helping them recruit. It was very much a planning meeting which I enjoyed and bought back memories of my first job planning seminars and conferences. There were lots of good ideas being thrown around, and while at first I was very much lost, I was able to piece things together and even get a little excited about the workshop. During the meeting I was also able to a "bigger Picture" of how the many division of Career Services works.

No Higher education meeting is ever complete without talk of assessment. Since the department had a Strategic Planning meeting before I arrived, they were beginning to formulate the best way to assess and implement things from that meeting. Again, this also helped me to piece together how the department works by seeing the outcomes there were trying to attain and their ideas for getting there.

Overall, it was one of the most productive meeting I've ever attended. It was short, sweet and to the point and after sitting in meeting on the opposite end of the spectrum, that's something that is greatly appreciated.

Back from the Beach and Ready to Roll.

After an incredibly relaxing extended weekend at the beach with my husband to celebrate our first year of wedded bliss, I returned to my internship sunburned and relaxed. The time away was relaxing- the beach we went to, while it had all my favorite happy places (mainly Publix and Zaxby’s) the surrounding area was not my cup of tea. In the future I will stick to the Florida coast and resorts. I have tons of stories to illustrate my point, but I will save those for another blog.

Getting back into the groove was a little easier today. The time away had a good result and it's also nice to know that I won't have any more planned interruptions to my schedule.

I attended a staff meeting and met a few more people who have offices located across campus and got a little more insight into the entire Career services operation.

This week I will be shadowing and next week I will most likely be seeing students and leading the meetings with one of my supervisors in the room. That's the last step before they let me loose :). I'm not nervous at all, although today during a mock appointment, I found myself soaking up and writing down everything. I'll type up a little cheat sheet and go over it and make sure to keep a copy near me for those first few appointments. Other than that, I'm ready to roll.

NY Times Article

There were to quotes in today's New York Times Buck Up, Graduates that echoed my post about the post college job search. The first- a play on Dr. Seuss's popular "Oh the Places You'll Go:

Oh, the places you’ll go!

Places like ... the job counselor’s office. The unemployment benefits office. The office of admissions for the graduate program you never knew you wanted to attend, not until you took another look at the jobless rate. The shrink’s office, to help with the visits to all those other offices.

So true except maybe the part about the shrink. They also forgot the part about going back home or moving in with your parents.

Expereince is the best teacher

I was looking over my previous posts and realized that I never went into detail about exactly what this internship entails. Now after four days on the job, mock appointments and attending their orientation presentation, I can fully articulate my job duties.

The goal of Career Services is to assist student in choosing majors and careers, gain relevant experience and then connect those things to finding a job. My particular internship is in the Job Search area, so what we do is focus on assisting student with the job search. The job search includes students looking for internships, summer work and full-time employment post graduation. We see students in different stages of this process, including alumni.

A big portion of the job search process is the Resume and that is another focus of the Job Search team. Students make appointment to get help in writing and revising resumes and cover letters. From a personal experience, building the right resume can be a difficult job and so we help students by providing examples, critiquing and proofing of their resumes. Already I have seen some very interesting and terribly misguided resumes. The majority of the student appointments that I see will be helping them in job search or resume building.

Another familiar aspect of this job will be referring students to the appropriate resources if necessary- for example, students who come looking for a job, may in fact need additional career counseling to help them find a suitable job. At that point I would refer them to a career counselor for additional assistance.

The appointments will most likely take up the majority of my job and oddly enough, after sitting through most of the mock appointments, I feel ready to begin ( which is the opposite of how I felt when I started my assistanship). I think this is mostly because I have been exactly where the students is sitting. I remember being a Job Search Diva as approached my undergraduate graduation. I started looking in February( My prone to being sick immune system needed health insurance), went to our Career Service center ( whom gave me some additional options and resources) and applied like crazy. I feel as though I literally wrote hundreds of different resumes, cover letters and filled out thousands of online applications. While that is ( probably) an exaggeration, I've been there and I know how helpless and frustrating it can seem. You go to college so that you can get a good job, however what they don't tell you is that finding that job is a full-time job. I think so many students think that once you get that B.A or B.S., jobs just fall out of the sky. For some they might, but for most, you gotta work it- network, job search, write, follow-up, and network some more.

In the end though, after all those resumes and applications, both of my previous "big girl" jobs ( ie. jobs that come with benefits and salaries) came from networking. My first employer was a fellow GSU grad who also graduated from the Hospitality Program . My second job was only posted online- so I could apply. I was personally contacted and asked if I was interested in the position. I know better than anyone that the adage- " It's not just what you know, but who you know", is so true.

I also feel prepared because I've been on the other side of the table. I worked at a professional organization that recruited HS and College Students to cultivate them to the profession. We hosted a job board and countless programs to assist these students in making the jump. While I was indirectly involved, I have a general understand of the how the private sector works in conjunction with career services to find and and cultivate qualified students into employees.

I've also been on the hiring side. I've sat on committees and reviewed resumes for professional positions and for student worker positions. I've seen some crazy resumes and in fact, when hiring for a student position, fought the urge to correct some massive mistakes on resumes and email them back to the student. Overall, I feel that since I've been at several junctions in the process that I am assisting students on, I feel more prepared to assist students.

I don't know everything, and I still have a lot to learn, but I hope to be able to use my past experiences as a stepping stone to help and understand students needs and concerns and to help them develop their jobs search, networking and resume ( and cover writing) skills into the job of their dreams ( or at least one that pays the rent).

A Tale of Two Offices

I now have to offices. That's two keys ( thank goodness one is circular so I can tell the difference), two computers, two emails, two calendars.

I feel so weird having two offices. I bought in a little decoration to this office, so It wouldn't feel so sterile, but it feels weird- like I'm being split in two.

The split in half feeling is not just limited to office, but also to my experiences. My current assistanship is in Student Conduct and I really enjoy it and would like to pursue the same field professionally one I graduate next May. On the service, Career services doesn't seem like it has much in common with Student conduct and that was something that I thought about before choosing an internship experience. however, after talking to my supervisor, he pointed out some of the similarities and how they can help me as a Conduct Administrator. For example, in both situations, one must do a little detective work to determine what the underlying problem for example. In conduct, it's "why did you copy Wikipedia and turn it it?" .In career services, it's more like " what type of job are you looking for"?. In the end, you ask similar questions and provide pretty similar information- the ending of the meeting is what differs ( and the tears on the conduct side). That is one link that I have already determined and I am looking for more. It's hard being in training and because it's slow in terms of students on the conduct side. Regardless, I am looking for ways to link my experiences together so that I don't feel like I am doing to separate things.

I have also come to the conclusion that I may not be able to link things right away, so I am trying to be patient and just soak as much in so that I assist students in becoming employed, law-abiding, non-cheating, adults.