Life After Colllege Speaker

So yesterday the CDC helped to bring Andy Masters to campus, a speaker from Ft. Lauderdale. It was called Life after College. He spoke about reasons to be inspired to be the best you can be. He mentioned attempting to get that perfect job that you have always dreamed of. About how to get the resources to start your own company if you wished. About not jsut accepting your future but planning it and executing it at the best of your ability. Some of the things that he mentioned that stodd out to me was concepts about the "hidden market". This is the theory that explains that 90% of people are just blindly applying online to 10% of the jobs out there. The other 90% of jobs are not marketed because companies don't like to market. He urged us to be part of the 10% of people who use their contacts to network and find your dream job. He mentioned that an article described that hte average person knows 250 people. So each of those 250 peopke that you know, knows on average 250 people. So each of us potentially has access to at least 62,500 people on average between the people that you know and the people that they know. He suggested that we treat every relationship as a potential networking favor that we might receive in the future. It was interesting to hear this, considering that I got my job through a friend by just sending her my resume hoping she had anything in her department for me. A position hadn't been posted online but there seemed to be a need. Finally, Andy Masters suggested that when we were talking to people and especially interviews we always asked more and more questions. All in all, it was a good speaker to listen to. He was very motivational, especially to underclassmen I find.

winter break continued...

so other than the lots of sleeping and catching up with family that I did over break... the most productive thing I did was go to an interview... after lunch during the interview I met up with Human Resources which went over the potential benefits of the company. Then I had "meet and greet time" with new hires. I asked them questions about their responsabilities and transitions to the job and city itself. It was very informativre and fun as well. My last interview was a little weirder and the person wasnt as talkative as the other interviewers. Eventually he asked me if I had any questions and I asked a couple of specific questions about the information i hasd received throughout the day. Finally he asked if I had any OTHER questions. So naturally I asked him what process should I follow, and he asked what I meant. I asked if I should expect a call or e-mail at some point or if I should call. He asked "what for?". I was extremely confused. "To see if the job is available and suitable for me?" And he responded "you what a job here? ohhh. why?" it wasnt until this point that I realized that he was humoring me. So I answered why and how I thought it was a good fit for my skills and personality. And he said they agreed and handed me an offer. Interesting to see all this happen. I was so frustrated last term with all the interviews that didn't end up working out. I'm glad I didn't give up and just kept interviewing. It finally came!

interview #4!

well I went to Houston on Jan. 8th for my interview with Company X... I went to dinner with two new hires and my hostess (the WPI grad of 08). I asked questions about their current responsabilities, their transitions to Houston and the company, and their training. It was actually a lot of fun. I had breakfast with my hostess on the day of my interview. I had 4 (45 minute) interviews before lunch. My first one was with a WPI grad of '76. The interviews were very conversation based. It was more an exchange of information between their experiences with the company and this department in particular and my experiences and projects to see if it was a good match. Throughout the four interviews I asked questions about the different departments within the company that they were describing and the differences on daily tasks etc. I also asked about the current economy crisis and its effect on the work this department did. I also asked about the training offered, how long it would be, and what it consisted of. Throughout the day, different individuals gave me information about the living situation in Houston, exciting things to do and visit, and involvement in the company such as intercompany leagues (including kickball and beach volleyball) and philanthropic events hosted by United Way. This all got me very excited about the company and this department specifically. More to come on this... :)