Wednesday, June 29, 2011
Week 4
Be Prepared, Not Surprised
If you've ever been asked to "tell me about yourself" in an interview for anything more than a part-time job, your interviewer was likely inexperienced or unprepared. Some interviewers will just talk and not let you get a word in edgewise to elaborate on your qualifications. Having the skills to identify the approach of your interviewer can give you valuable insight into their expectations and allow you to give tailored answers that showcase you in the best light.
I was once interviewed by somebody who spent over 30 minutes talking about the position in so much detail I could have started the job that day and performed well. After reading this article, I now know that interrupting in a polite manor could have been to my advantage. I was eventually able to highlight a few points on my resume; however, I left feeling the interviewer knew nothing more about me than the information my resume had already presented. This can leave you questioning your chances of getting the job and lowering your confidence in future interviews.
In addition to "the talker", I've also had interviews with people who seemed to not care whether I was there or not; I felt like they wouldn't notice if I started singing or stood up on my chair. How do you respond to their apathy? Just make sure you maintain your enthusiasm and are polite - mimicking their attitude won't serve you well. They'll remember you as dull and disinterested, likely not realizing that was the vibe they were sending you.
Invest the time in reading and understanding the interviewer types in the article so you can be prepared for your next interview. Have you ever experienced "the brash", "the heroic", or any of the other styles in an interview before? Share your story and reactions.
Tuesday, June 28, 2011
CRI
Friday, June 24, 2011
The Name Game: How Learning Names can make you a More Appealing Job Candidate
Thursday, June 23, 2011
Week 3
Tuesday, June 21, 2011
CRI
Your Office Door Is 2-Way
Friday, June 17, 2011
Changing Perceptions of Higher Education: Do you 'Degree'?
Centerstone Research Institute - Hillel Sapir
Being part of CRI, my job includes research and evaluation, and in this instance I am working on the BE Well Program (Centerstone's Building Exceptional Wellness Program), a 2 million dollar federal grant project which targets patients, 18 years and older, who have serious mental illnesses and a co-occuring physical disease. The grant is designed to improve the physical health status of 250 patients in hopes of lowering physical and mental health symptomatology, medical costs, hospital emergency department utilization, and other health disorders. The specific execution of this grant is to be conducted by the BE Well Program under Centerstone, but the evaluation of the data is to be conducted by CRI. The purpose of CRI is to make sure the implementation of the program fulfills all the federal government guidelines, that the Substance Abuse and Mental Health Services Administration (SAMHSA, an agency of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services) receives the required data, and that the grant program evolves in a way that the patients continue to receive healthcare at an exceptional level.
As stated earlier, I began working at CRI on May 1st, 2011. Instead of stating what I have done over the past week, I will give a brief description of what I have completed over the past month and a half; my following posts will follow the course requirements more strictly and describe simply the past week.
The BE Well Program examines both the patients mental and physical health. Due to this, there is an extraordinary plethora of information at our disposal. This information needs to be first put into computer databases so that future evaluation and examination can be easily accessed. For a majority of May I wrote SPSS databases and entered patient physical and mental information, interviews, and assessments. Between entering the required information I would attend required training sessions, bi-weekly staff meetings and grant advisory boards. Now that most of the baseline patient information has been correctly entered and cataloged, I have been gathering the information required by the federal government and SAMHSA. The information requested by these government agencies is being logged seperately so that all the grant requirements are completed on a timely fashion.
That is a basic overview concerning CRI, my employer, my basic job requiremetns and what I have done at work over the past month and a half. I do apologize for the lengthy post.
Wednesday, June 15, 2011
week 2
On the second day this week I was on an 8 hour patrol in which we made a few domestic calls, 3 traffic stops and a investigatory stops in which there were strange reports. The domestic calls were by far the hardest because the people were having a lot of issues and tended to be very emotional at the time of our arrival on the scene. It is very challenging to get the full story of what actually happened especially when you start talking to witnesses that don't want their family or friends to get in trouble with the law. This was a very hands on experience for me even though I didn't help much with the actually reporting, I was able to be right in the action of what was going on and interact with the subjects.
My third day I was in detectives. It was a slower day but was still interesting to see the inter workings of what goes on in a long investigation. A good example was on a credit card fraud investigation in which credit card companies usually take 30 days to release any information. This makes a case very frustrating because it is usually cut and dry. They get a subject on camera but they have to wait for the credit card companies to release that information. Overall it was a very good week and I learned a lot.
Tuesday, June 14, 2011
Get Your Foot 'In The Door'
Today I was introduced to a new networking site that utilizes facebook to help you with your job search by telling you where your friends have worked and are working, in addition to job openings at those companies. I initially thought this was a less-professional version of LinkedIn; however, after reading the article, In The Door thoroughly impressed me.
As the article mentions, LinkedIn can't always be fully utilized by our generation as many of us are students and have few professional contacts. In The Door is targeted to us - the generation with more friends than are true on facebook. It's not what you know, so find out who you know using In The Door - I signed up and was presented with 51 companies in my network who are hiring. Some were hourly positions such as Starbucks and Chick-fil-A, but Ford, Apple, GE, United, and Delphi were also on the list.
It's important to note that I'm not somebody who adds every person I ever make eye-contact with on facebook. Those 51 companies came from just 200 friends. Sign-up and share your thoughts!
Monday, June 13, 2011
AdamTBrockman
My second job of the week was at SRT training, which stands for Special Response Team. This was very exciting and fun though as an intern I didn't get to do much I was still able to participate in some of the drills and learn a lot. This something I will want to be a part once I get a job.
My final task of the week was WRT training or Water Rescue Team. This again was a very big learning experience and because we weren't using any live rounds I was able to participate in all of the exercises.
Saturday, June 11, 2011
Take The Weak Out of Your Weekend
Friday, June 10, 2011
Summer Better Than Others
It's true, some are better than others and this article on ways to use summer to your career advantage from U.S. News writer Andrew Rosen is definitely on the better list.
In High School, going to the pool everyday and perhaps working a part-time job was perfectly acceptable; however, college students need to take the initiative to seek career-relevant jobs and internships instead of scooping ice cream. Without a full course load and extracurricular activities to worry about, students have time to focus on their personal brand by compiling documents such as a resume, vitae, and portfolio. By preparing these ahead of time, you'll only have to make minor updates before a career fair - not panic because they're not complete.
Rosen's list includes 9 items directed at career professionals, but the list can be altered to fit any college student.
#1: Catch up on professional reading
#2: Make new contacts
#3: Get outside
#4: Skip the casual dress
#5: Meet the temps
#6: Reorganize
#7: Take career inventory
#8: Apply for jobs
#9: Flex your leadership muscle
All college students should heed the bold items on the list and those working or holding an internship can utilize the entire list. Rosen's article can be found here and is a must read for those twiddling their thumbs this summer!
Thursday, June 2, 2011
Getting Personal
Our generation complains when internet service is down for less that fifteen minutes and thinks the world is ending when a cell phone has no signal. A generation of technologically savvy 20-somethings, we rely so heavily on the internet and our cell phones for communication, many of us don't even know where our local post office is. The lack of face-to-face communication is incredibly apparent in our generation...how many of us have texted somebody in a different room of the same apartment or house?!
Using technology to communicate with others can be an indispensable resource - just yesterday I participated in a conference call with people in over 20 different states. On a broad scale, technology does bring us closer; however, in our personal lives we're becoming separated by such heavy use of impersonal communication. This impersonal attitude toward communication often extends toward more professional arenas. Do you know the names of your coworkers or the secretary in your advising office?
Miriam Salpeter's article How Learning Names Can Boost Your Career is a fantastic resource for tips and tricks to use to remember names and makes a lasting impression. How do you feel when somebody can't remember your name or calls you something that doesn't even start with the same letter? It's frustrating and makes you feel like that person wasn't paying attention to you. Salpeter quotes Lee Silverstein, who made a strong and valid point when he said, “How often have you heard the excuse ‘I’m not good with names?’…What the person is really saying is, ‘I don’t have the listening skills, or the patience, to remember people’s names.’ Remembering someone’s name shows you care.”
Salpeter doesn't mention using social media to help remember names, but it can be an additional tool. If you just met a group of people, write down their names. When you get home, you can look for their profiles on facebook to put a name with a face one more time (you usually don't have to be 'friends' with someone to see their name and picture). You can do this before you meet people for a second time to refresh your memory and avoid an embarrassing forgetful moment.
Whichever method you employ to help you remember names, it's an investment in your career and your personal brand that will communicate that you pay attention, are personable, and that you care.
Digital Media Strategy, Marketing and Analytics Position at Accenture
American Idol = Career Advancement Ideas?
According to Anthony Fasano, writing for Careerealism.com, we can learn a lot about how to advance our careers by watching American Idol.
Read how at
http://www.careerealism.com/american-idol-teach-career-advancement/?utm_source=feedburner&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=Feed%3A+careerealism+%28CAREEREALISM%29
9 Ways to Use Summer to Your Career Advantage - 4 and 5 are my favs.
Andrew G. Rosen writes:
BBQ. Watermelon. Sno-Cones. Beach. Summer means something different to everyone, but to most of us, it means freedom. As students, there was nothing better than seemingly endless summer nights. Without the worry of class the next day, life was pretty darn simple.
As adults, most professions require we that we show up at the office, regardless of the season. While summertime can be considered “lazy days,” it’s actually the perfect time to up your game and advance your career.
Click here to read the 9 Tips or copy/paste the URL below into your browser bar.
Wednesday, June 1, 2011
Shift Manager Postion - Full time - at HotBox Pizza WL http://tinyurl.com/3o6vy76
HotBox Pizza in West Lafayette is looking for a full time shift manager. If you're interested in adding management experience to your resume and in full time employement for the summer and beyond call Deb Newcomer, General Manager, 765-743-3400.
Do you have a personal #branding statement for your #resume? Learn more at
From Great Resumes Fast:
Many job seekers don’t understand just how important their personal brand is when trying to outline their capabilities as a candidate. Your personal brand, if clearly defined, tells an amazing story of what you’ve accomplished in your career—and what you can hope to accomplish in the future.
There are a number of ways to go about branding yourself, including giving yourself a title, creating online profiles with LinkedIn and other social networking sites, and even starting an industry-centered blog. But in your resume, you can showcase your brand by creating a 2- to 3-sentence personal branding statement that acknowledges the benefits you can bring to a company.
So how can you create a standout personal branding statement on your resume?
Click here to read more or copy/paste the URL below into your browser bar.
http://www.greatresumesfast.com/blog/2011/05/31/creating-a-personal-branding-statement/