All Posts Tagged With: "coworkers"
When can a job become a career?
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Wed, Dec 02 2009 | 6 Comments
Coming out of college, many people may be facing the same dilemma. Not only can they not find work, but the jobs that they are able to find simply don’t suit them or won’t pay the student loan bill. So, when is it okay to take a lower paying job and hope that it turns into a career?
Well, this is where it comes time to start talking to your coworkers. If you’re working at a retail store and aren’t making too much, start asking around to see:
What other people are making
How long they’ve been there
What kind of education they have
While this may seem to be a bit personal to ask some people these questions, the people who are equal to you are more likely to answer the questions and you’ll quickly discover if your job is a dead end job or if this job can become a career.
Today I came across a girl around my age, who graduated with a marketing degree from the same college I did in 2007 and can’t find work either. She has been working at the retail store for over a year and a half however, she is earning $1 an hour less than I am.
After talking to her and some of the people around the store who are a bit less educated than I am, I have discovered that this is likely a dead end job where the people who work higher up in the store rarely leave and corporate typically will look over this store when they begin looking for new hires in their offices.
It’s easy to tell when your job is a dead end job after you’ve asked around, but what if it’s a career? Well, you’ll likely hear that people are promoted more often than not and you’ve heard of at least a couple of people who have been moved into corporate or at least a regional position after being at the store for a few years.
Related posts:College graduates are finding work in some fields
Tags: dilemma, dead end job, new hires
Things that you may want to leave off your resume
Jennifer McClelland | RSS | Fri, Nov 27 2009 | 1 Comment
Resumes are the first way that employers get a glimpse of you and your accomplishments. However, some accomplishments are greater than others and there are some that aren’t so great to put on a resume to begin with.
Some of the things that you should think twice about putting on your resume include:
No-so-great accomplishments such a a bad GPA and under achiever statuses. If you graduated college with a 2.3 GPA, then it is probably something you should want to leave off your resume. You should try to let work experience shine above that. Also, don’t put things on your resume such as you “get along” with other coworkers, not only is that not able to be evaluated in a unbiased manner but it is also not exactly noteworthy and is easily deemed as a under-achiever type of accomplishment.
Don’t put things on your resume that can’t be measured such as “most talented” or “I’m awesome.” Not only can those not be measured but they really should be left off because they make you sound a bit like a arrogant jerk. Also, an accomplishment talking about what a client said about you should really be left for the potential employer to find out when he or she checks your references.
Also, while it may be quite a feat, a potential employer is likely not to pick you for an interview knowing that one of your most proud accomplishments is your ability to win eating contests or other really off beat contests. You have to keep in mind that luck cannot also be considered an accomplishment. While it might be neat that you won lots of loot off a radio contest, that is just luck and won’t help you get ahead in your job.
Most of these are just kind of obvious things that should be left off of resumes, but there wouldn’t be articles about this topic if it didn’t actually happen from time to time. I have actually seen some pretty funny stuff on applications myself including people claiming jobs that I know they never had and references that included the President of the United States.
I suppose the most important thing to remember for a resume is to be honest but to definitely play down any negative things or holes in it. So…you did graduate with a 2.0 GPA, well if you have a lot more positive attributes, that can be overlooked and left out of resumes altogether. Your resume is your chance to impress your potential boss before you get a chance to give an interview.
Related posts:More resume tips
Resume tips to help boost your chances of getting in!
Tags: accomplishment, president of the united states, radio contest
