Books for new grads

Just to let you know I’m still alive, I’m going to write an entry! I don’t know if I’ve ever told you guys what I do in my job and I don’t know if you guys care about it at all but I don’t really have anything else to write about except that I’m working on my cooking and am super lazy to write about it (I will eventually though)!

Anyways, I work in the publishing industry marketing books. Super fun stuff really. So I’ve come across two books that I would totally recommend to new grads. Here they are:

Gradspot.com’s Guide to Life After College: http://books.simonandschuster.ca/Gradspot-com’s-Guide-to-Life-After-College/Tory-Hoen/9781935707233

Get the Interview Every Time: http://books.simonandschuster.ca/Get-the-Interview-Every-Time/Brenda-Greene/9781427797148

If you’re looking to transition from school to real life, these are definitely great books to refer to! Now guys, I need your help. What do you want me to blog about? I need ideas, pronto!

I don’t have any experience to put in my cover letter/resume

Never done an internship? Never worked in an office? Never volunteered? Do not fret because you have a lot more experience than you think! Many people have asked about what they should include in their resume, especially when they have no experience. You went to school right? Then you have experience! Include some school projects in your resume and detail the skills needed to complete it and note the result.  In your cover letter, talk about that project experience and what skills they demonstrate. School programs have tons of labs and projects you can choose from and little do many know, they ARE experiences you can talk about.

Example:

TECHNICAL PROJECTS

First Year Engineering Design Project
Humidity Sensor for Home Dryers

* I was part of a team that designed an environmentally friendly prototype of a humidity sensor for home dryers. It aimed to reduce the consumption of energy and operating costs.

Engineering Communication Proposal Project
Waste to Energy Using Plasma Gasification

* Prepared a technical report outlining the benefits of constructing a waste to energy facility using the process of plasma gasification. A presentation was prepared and presented to Senior Engineers.

See how my friend’s resume sound like a pro with just this section. It was just a research paper, but you would never be able to tell with the way it was written. It’s how you present your experience that counts. So next time you’re struggling with your job application, think of writing about your school projects!

This is what it would look like, ”If My Cover Letter For A Job I’m Unqualified For Told The Truth.” Great little blog entry I found!

 

Should I blog about my cooking disasters?

Hey all, it’s me once again after a long hiatus. I’ve been super busy that I’m barely at home. Makes me think that my rent is going to waste. I spend maybe 3-4 waking hours at home — it’s kind of sad. So you’re probably bored listening to my rant about work again so I’ll try a new topic. With work going well and stuff, my next goal in life is to learn how to cook better. Yes, I can cook somewhat but I can’t survive on fried rice and pasta for the rest of my life. So I’m going to expand my food vocabulary so that I don’t die from malnutrition! If anyone have great recipe/recipe sites, please post it in the comments below! My life is in your hands! *Plays dramatic music*

By the way, a year go, I started a blog documenting my cooking disasters when I moved to Vancouver for university and lived alone. It’s called Yucky Food: Disasters in a Newbie’s Kitchen where I blog about my cooking adventures from mayonnaise cookies to severely burnt salmon (Clearly, my mom cook for me up to the ripe age of 23). I’m thinking of reviving it again since I once again have to cook. What do you think? Yes? No?

Do I even have any more readers here? I know there are some people coming to this site so speak up, will ya?

Apartment is finally coming together

Man, it’s been 4 weeks but everything is finally coming together — mainly the apartment. The toilet finally works BUT whoever came in and fixed it while I was at work left a giant mess resembling an intergalactic explosion, all in one toilet. There was dark water all over the floor, bathtub, my sink counters, my toothbrush, my rinse cup, my towels…. It was disgusting. It was like, someone tried to clean it up but gave up half way, seeing as my now stained bath towel was hung back on the hook. Whoever did this, you are an ass.

On the bright side, I’ve finally got my curtains up after 3 weeks of trying with some help from my friends. 16 extra holes on the ceiling though but at least the rods are up! I finally got my sofa and wired my little home theatre system. I’m pretty much set. Now, it’s time to decorate the place. I wish I had an ikea designer with me.

Sweaty people, broken AC & 45 min commute

This is probably more of a rant than anything. I take the subway to work every day and this particular week has been brutal. The heat wave that’s sweeping across Canada made Toronto a fiery inferno. The ac broke down on the subway and I swear I saw the heat rise on the train! Hundreds of people were jammed into the tiny subway cars during the rushed morning commute — all sweating and starting to not smell so good. So, I stood in the train, panting in the heat, counting down the stops until I could get off. When I finally got off, I felt a rush of cool air (which in reality was actually super hot air but the outdoors were actually cooler than the mini subway of fiery death).

I arrived at work drenched in sweat. Yay.

New Apartment, New Job

I haven’t updated for a while. The new job and trying to move to a new apartment consumed my life! I’m still learning a lot of new stuff on the job. Most of the time, I’m thinking I must be the slowest employee in the company! I don’t even think I’m doing a good job right now =S It’s only been a few weeks so I still have that window of opportunity. Everyone has been supportive and I’m still trying to get used to life here.

I just moved to a new apartment. Not huge or anything but enough room to comfortably hold my basic furniture. Still waiting for my new bed to arrive. I’ve been sleeping on an airbed for the past few days and in dire need of one! I also want to do a bit more furniture shopping but I barely have time to do that! I’m acquiring one piece of furniture at a time (and I’m only one person so I need to buy small). I have lots of cleaning and fixing to do. The fixing part is more important. I need my landlord to fix my TOILET! It doesn’t flush TOILET PAPER! That’s right, it don’t flush TOILET PAPER! Not only that, I don’t have a toilet paper holder. These two things are my two priorities in life right now. Very Very important!

Not dead yet

I bet you all thought I was gone after I found a job. Well, I’m still here. Probably will be doing weekly updates on weekends.

Work has been hectic. The learning curve is steep and fast paced but it’s something I really like doing. Lots of creative marketing work going on AND I get to market mangas! I love it!

Besides that, I saw something utterly disgusting and will now proceeded to taint your minds with this. I was at Walmart and I really had to go. I walked into the washroom and it smelled like poop (as with most walmarts) so I thought nothing of it at first. I quickly walked into the stall kind of holding my breath (hoping I can finish my business before the stench kills me) when I stopped. My worse nightmare came. Sitting there, all steamy and mellow, was a large plop of poop on the toilet seat! Shocked and almost frightened, I ran…. so fast, I forgot I needed to pee. I don’t know how people can miss the toilet but whoever made this one did. It was an epic fail. I wanted to take a pic but I couldn’t stay there. The imagery is still fresh in my mind… too fresh.

*Edit 2. If you’ve read this already, you’ve probably noticed weird words and spellings in this entry. I wrote this on my phone and the stupid dictionary thinks its smart and started replacing my words. Never used your phone to blog — even if your commute is 1.5 hrs!*

The ideal apartment? Moving and starting work soon!

Well, it’s official. I’ve signed the contract and am ready to start work in less than a week! I’m moving this Sunday to my uncle’s place temporarily until I find my own place. So far, lots of sketchy places came up in my search. Can’t believe how expensive renting a one bedroom apartment is! I found this one place that looked really nice with an indoor swimming pool, kind of close to work, and within my price range. I google mapped it and checked out the street view and my hope of finding a nice place shattered. Across the apartment was the biggest cemetery ever. So if you look out your window from the apartment, you’ll see a vast land filled with gravestones. What a start to a morning! I decided not to even consider that apartment not because it’s depressing looking out your window (maybe it bugged me a lil) but because I don’t…. want to be… haunted! I don’t want to see ghosts, poltergeists, aliens, or anything suspicious. NO PARANORMAL ACTIVITY (I’m such a big chicken that I refuse to watch that movie).

So I continue on searching for my apartment. Ideally, I would like it to be reasonably close to work (within a 1 hr bus ride). I’ll be visiting apartments this Sunday.

 

By the way, did you guys notice my blog’s kinda new title? It’s not Adventures of a Job Hunting New Grad! It’s just a New Grad! Lol, so when I’m not a new grad, I’ll have to change my title once again. When am I not considered a new grad? 6 months? 1 year?

I GOT A JOB OFFER!

Guys, I finally did it! I got a job offer in a big city! I’m sooooo excited right now. Kya!

Now I’m not sure what I’m gonna write about in this blog or if I should keep the name of the blog the same lol. I want to keep writing, but maybe on different things? What do you guys want to read about? I’m extremely into health and fitness, design and production, and recently, learned how to garden (maybe I’m a farmer in the making?). What do you guys normally read about?

Tags: job offer

Things are looking good

So I went for my interviews. First of all, it was super hectic. Because of rush hour AND three accidents happening on the highway, it took my a total of about 3.5 hours to get there. I left at 6:30 in the morning, got there just before 10, my interview time. I was inching on the highway, panicking, and wondering if I’ll make it in time. (I did, on the dot).

The interview went well I think. This was my second interview with them so I met with one of the higher ups as well. They asked for my references so I think that’s a good thing. At least I know I’m still in the running!

Next, I went to my other interview, which was about 1.5 hours away during rush hour. I, again, made it on the dot because of all the construction that was happening in the city! Again, I was inching forward on the road and hit every red light along the way. The interview was super long and detailed but I got a second interview coming up! Yay!

I’m really hoping for the first interview. Their office was super nice and I really like the stuff the company does. I sent in my references this morning so I hope to hear back soon!

I’ll keep you all posted! How’s everyone and their job search? Any luck? Or for those who found their first job, how’s it going? What’s it like?

Tags: interview