February, 2010 | ThinkTalk Networks - Career TV for College

A Very Important Piece of Paper

By Morgan on February 26, 2010

Resumes are essential. If you want to have any kind of professional working experience, then you need to prove that you deserve it. More often than not, you prove yourself with a single sheet of paper--a single sheet that shall determine your destiny. Or, at the very least, help you to make a good first impression!

Your resume is what gets you an interview. It is what catches a potential employer's eye and sets you apart from all of the other applicants. So, needless to say, you should put a fair amount of effort into making your resume represent you at your very best.

An important first step is to figure out what to include and what to exclude. A good rule of thumb is to ask yourself if it is relevant and recent. If you are looking for a job at a daycare center, then it may be a good idea to mention all of the babysitting experience you have gained in the last three years. However, if you want to be a cashier at a department store, then it probably doesn't matter that you used to watch your neighbor's kids when you were in middle school. It is this streamlining of employment history that helps your future boss determine whether or not you've got what it takes. You want to cut to the heart of who you are and what you've got to offer while keeping in mind that the average resume gets skimmed over in less than 20 seconds.

Cutting out extraneous details is a must, but the effectiveness of changing a seemingly useless experience around to sound as important as possible should not be underestimated. Resumes are all about wording. Mentioning your "well-developed people skills" and "ability to react decisively in high pressure situations" is certainly applicable to customer service (and a department store cashier job). Suddenly that time little Georgie got his head caught in the banister and you had to explain to his parents why he had a sore neck has become a valuable learning experience that you can transfer to the workplace.

Poor little Georgie.(image courtesy of The Onion)

It is important to remember that you learn from everything. Leave out jobs that have nothing to do with your intended career path, or were so long ago that you cannot even remember your supervisor's name, but do not totally discount an experience without carefully considering the impact that it had on you. Even the most mundane tasks require that you show up and complete them, which teaches "accountability" and "time management". See? It's all about the wording!

Here are some useful resume writing links:

A cautionary tale about lying on your resume. Please do not include anything that you cannot truthfully and thoughtfully discuss with an interviewer!

Some templates to help you with basic resume structure and outline.

Explains how to strategically target the job that you want as you are writing your resume.

They are asking for a CV? What is that??

And finally just some basic dos and don'ts of resumes.

Why Everybody Needs a Mentor

By Monica on February 26, 2010

Hey everyone! My name is Monica Karkhanis and I am currently a sophomore communication major with a focus in public relations at the University of Maryland, College Park. This is my first semester as an intern for Think Talk and I am really excited to blog about social media and how it can help your career. Find me on Twitter and be sure to continue following ThinkTalk!

This week I wanted to focus on something a little different than social media (okay maybe a lot different): mentors.

I am teaching a public relations related course for the University of Maryland, and the professor is notorious for over-emphasizing (in good way!) the importance of having a professional mentor in the field that you plan to work in. Before taking the role as a teaching assistant for this course, I took as a student.

When he first assigned every student the responsibility to find a professional public relations practitioner in the field we are most interested in (mine being entertainment) I felt awkward and unsure. Now, I have my fair share of socially awkward encounters and experiences with people, but the thought of e-mailing a professional- or even calling- really freaked me out. Why do I need to contact someone I do not know and expect them to provide me guidance? I thought, hey I have my academic advisors and an internship lined up, I'm good to go. WRONG.

Having a professional mentor while you are still a college student can be incredibly beneficial to your own professional and individual growth. Professional mentors can answer any inquiries you have about a given field and offer helpful tips, advice and wisdom. I am actually very thankful that my professor required us to all have a mentor”my mentor has given me great advice about public relations internships and has even gotten me in contact with other professionals in my industry.

Now that I have the role as teacher, I really try to get through to my students that they too will have even more opportunities thanks to a mentor. Establishing a relationship with a professional can give you a leg up on getting an internship and/or a job. If you form a bond with your mentor they may be willing to provide you with a formal recommendation when needed and suggest opportunities for you.

Mentors have been where you are sitting and they understand what it is like to be a college student; they have already run down the path you are trying to find and can encourage and guide you in the right direction. According to this article at The Internshiprs blog, not only can mentors be a great source from you to learn from, but also acquiring a mentor expands your connections (which can be of great help after graduation).

So, where can you find mentors? For starters, if you visit your campus's career center your advisors can recommend and help get you in contact with university alumni. And, for those of you taking advantage of all the social media and networking tools available for free online **wink** you can find a mentor through researching different companies and contacting a person who works there. Contacting a mentor can go beyond e-mails and phone calls. You can follow them on Twitter and tweet for their advice, or make a connection on LinkedIn. Good luck!

We have a winner!!

By Mindy on February 26, 2010

Congratulations to Michael Agee for winning the Share Your Dream Internship contest and a new Flip video cam. His dream internship is to work as an assistant animator for Disney, Marvel Comics or DC Comics so he can learn how professionals put together stories. Hopefully, his new Flip video camera can help. Or he can just use it to film his roommates' most embarrassing moments and post them on YouTube to get a million views and become famous.

Either way, yay for Michael! If you didn't win, don't get too upset. We'll be holding more contests in the upcoming months. And in the meantime, we have a bevy of useful career advice that can use to, you know, get a career.

Thanks to everyone who participated!

Friends and Lovers

By Jane Lovas on February 25, 2010

Guest Blogger Jane Lovas' weekly series called "What I Wish Someone Had Told Me About Life and Career" runs each Thursday

Two weeks ago I wrote about your relationship with yourself and last week I wrote about your relationship with your success team. Now it's time to write about your personal relationships. This week I'm going to share some tips with you that will help you have great personal relationships.

1. Know yourself: You can't expect someone else to know you if you don't know yourself. Spend some time getting clear about who you are and what you enjoy doing.

2. Schedule time: Every relationship takes some work and you can't do that without spending time together. Schedule time together and don't cancel unless there is an overriding reason.

3. Honest Communication: Talk about what is going on inside of you, not just what's going on with you. Also don't let that elephant in the room get too big. You'll be surprised how much smaller it becomes when it's addressed. For the person not speaking: listen with both ears and your heart (thinking about what you're going to say next is not listening, neither is texting or checking email).

4. Celebrate: Celebrate events such as birthdays, and accomplishments such a goal achieved. Sharing events and accomplishments also creates common bonds that help keep relationships together.

5. Be a friend: If you're someplace new and you haven't begun to make friends yet, be a friend to someone that looks like they might also be lonely. Start off with something easy such as coffee or lunch. Ask them some questions to get them talking about themselves.

No one should ever be lonely unless they choose to be lonely. If you are lonely,reach out and support someone else. I can assure you that if you are reaching out to others; there will be others that will reach out to you.

Have a great day!

"- Good Friends" courtesy Juliana Coutinho via Flickr Creative Commons

Jane Lovas is a career specialist who is the creator of the life changing 12 week tele-seminar "Creating the Life of Your Dreams". She is also our guest blogger, whose column will run every Thursday. If you would like to contact Jane, you can reach her here, here or here.

Your Guided Tour of ThinkTalk: Please Remain Seated Until We Come to a Complete Stop

By ChristianTintle on February 23, 2010

Welcome to the ThinkTalk career blog. We're glad you're here- but you should also head over to our Facebook page and enter our contest to win a new Flip Video camera (because they're sweet). All you have to do is fan us and tell us what your dream internship would be. Contest ends Thursday Feb. 25. It' s almost too easy!

Hey ThinkTalk fans! This is Christian Tintle. I'm a production intern, a senior Media Studies major at Catholic University and a huge Redskins Fan. When I started college I thought I wanted to be a writer, maybe an investigative journalist. But it didn't take long to figure out that I'd rather be behind the lens of a camera or messing around with editing software. I'm in my last semester of school and have to figure out how to turn my fascination with filmmaking into a career.

If you wandered through the ThinkTalk website yet, there is an array of interesting and informative resources available for your many varied career paths. ThinkTalk's TV shows are the feature attractions in our corner of cyberspace. These programs give YOU, the student, an opportunity to learn from some of the most successful and respected people in the professional world. Our crews venture out to various local college campuses to field career-specific questions from actual students. As the charismatic hosts of ThinkTalk TV, Zack Sherwood and Erika Thomas give our guests a forum to help you, the prospective hire, get started down your chosen career path.

We have five different shows on ThinkTalk.com, each exploring a unique professional field:

Director's Cut features informative interviews from an array of talented filmmakers, such as Danny Boyle (Slumdog Millionaire, Trainspotting), F. Gary Gray (Friday, Law-Abiding Citizen), Lone Sherfig (An Education, Italian for Beginners), just to name a few. Each guest chronicles his or her rise through the ranks of the film business and offers invaluable advice on how to pursue a career in filmmaking. All of our guests display a passion for cinema, which is undoubtedly the driving force behind their success. They've inspired me to strive for my dream of joining their ranks in the future.

Recruitville is dedicated to aiding graduating college students with the job search process. We bring in executives from some of the most successful companies in the world, who offer invaluable advice on how to catch on with the top businesses. If you want to get your resume noticed, Recruitville gets the inside tips on what gets your resume past the gate-keeper and how to nail that interview.

She.E.O. highlights some of the most successful women in the business world, who offer their unique perspective on the endeavors of entrepreneurship and business management. Our guests provide strategies for creating, promoting, and maintaining a successful business in this rapidly changing world. They relate a breadth of skills and lessons that can help you refine your business plan to help you become a self-made success!

Spotlight is a show that focuses on exceptional success stories from a wide range of professional fields. You'll find advice on how to break into a career in politics, business, or entertainment. We've interviewed many incredible people, including: hip-hop mogul Russell Simmons, legendary film and TV producer Jerry Bruckheimer, and the talented and versatile film star Emile Hirsche. Find the inspiration to achieve your dream career in the Spotlight.

The Blank Page is the destination for anyone seeking a career in writing. Whether you are interested in being a novelist, journalist, or screenwriter, you'll find some great resources for setting out in the professional literary world. Our guests include such respected names as, Lou Dobbs, formerly of CNN and Washington Post sportswriter Mike Wise. Find out how to carve out your own niche and utilize your skills to the fullest extent.

After checking out our featured TV shows, subscribe to our career blog to keep up with new content. It's chock full of articles and blog posts from national publications and our staff here at ThinkTalk. It's a great way to find even more insider information that will help you navigate the post-graduate gauntlet, nail that interview, and land your new job. Thanks again for your interest in ThinkTalk, Career TV for College. Feel free to let us know what you think about our website and its contents. We're here to help you, so your feedback is always welcome!

ThinkTalk Facebook Contest: Share Your Dream Internship to Win a Flip Video Cam

By Mindy on February 23, 2010

Our goal at ThinkTalk is to help you land great internships and even better careers. In order to bring you the information you need, we want to find out what kinds of internships you would love to get. What is your dream internship?

ThinkTalk is running a Facebook contest from 7 am on Tuesday, February 23 through 7 pm on Thursday, February 25 (EST).One lucky grand prize winner will win a Flip video camera!

Here's how it works:

First off, in order to participate in this contest you must a) be a fan of the ThinkTalk Facebook page and b)be a student at an accredited institution of higher learning (that's a college!). You can be an undergrad, a graduate student or anything in between.
After you fan the ThinkTalk page (if you're not already), decide what your dream internship would be and post it on the ThinkTalk wall. The short post should briefly include where your dream internship is and why. Once you tell us about your dream internship, you are entered into the contest. That's it. It's easy!
To receive a bonus entry, tag 3 of your friends in your post on our wall using the following format:
My dream internship would be ________ because _______. I think Jim (TAGGED), Bob (TAGGED) and Jane (TAGGED) should share their dream internship to win a Flip video camera, too.
To tag a friend, type the "@" symbol in the Publisher text field (either to start the post or as a new word with a space before it) and the person's name. If we see that you have tagged 3 of your friends in the internship post, we'll give you a bonus entry.
The winners will be drawn in a raffle, so take advantage of the bonus entry for a better chance to win. All posts must be made by 7 pm on Feb. 25 Eastern Standard Time. The winner of the ThinkTalk Dream Internship Contest will be announced on Friday, February 26 on our Facebook page and at the ThinkTalk blog. We will contact the winner by sending them a Facebook message.

Here's what a sample ThinkTalk Dream Internship post (with your friends tagged for a bonus entry) would look like on the ThinkTalk wall:

My dream internship would be at the New York Times, because I am studying to be a journalist. I think @Huckleberry Finn, @Holden Caulfield and @Lauren Conrad should share their dream internship to win a Flip video camera.

If you could have any internship you wanted, what would you do? Let us know! If you have any questions, please leave a comment down below or send us a message on Facebook.

Internships and Experience Beyond The Classroom

By mikefox on February 22, 2010

In the last Indiana Jones film, Indy yelled to a group of students, "If you want to be an archeologist, you have to get out of the library!" Though that was just a line from a movie that had mixed reviews, I think that statement certainly applies to anyone studying to become a professional in any given field. Many students often wonder why they should even bother taking on an internship or even just an extracurricular activity. In my opinion, if a student can't handle the classwork load, then it may not be a good idea. However, if a student is getting decent grades, then going beyond the classroom is a wise decision if they want to put their skills to work. There's only so much a class can teach you.

This is my second go at college. In 2002, I graduated from Clarion University of Pennsylvania with a BA in Speech Communication & Theatre. My decision to move to Washington was motivated after I did a radio broadcasting internship in the summer of 2001. I moved to the Washington area in 2002 but upon arrival, there weren't any radio jobs available for a 22 year old. I stuck around and ended up getting jobs that didn't require a college degree in fields such as market research, childcare, and tourism. The skills I obtained from those jobs were useful but I wanted something more.

In 2008, video editing was nothing more than a hobby but members of my family and a couple of friends encouraged me to try to get a job in that field. That's when I shopped around for schools in the area and ended up enrolling at the Art Institute of Washington. In my opinion, the instructors act like employers by treating their students like employees. The coursework and project deadlines are often a wake up call for students that think show business is all glitz and glamor.

I ended up getting involved in the Visually Wired Film Festival, an annual film festival that showcases the most creative films made by students that attend the Art Institute. After one professor showed us films from previous Visually Wired festivals, I decided to pitch my idea before the faculty. After they accepted my pitch, I felt like a million bucks but had no idea what I had gotten myself into.

I produced, wrote, and directed a documentary about swing dancing titled Swing Night. I'm glad I got to work with a reliable crew of student colleagues. The challenges we faced included having to pay a permit and location fee to the National Park Service to shoot the Spanish Ballroom in Glen Echo Park. One of the group members took a money order out to cover the location fee and I paid the permit fee. Good man. This documentary was going to be made.

An instructor told me it was a good thing that we were facing such challenges because it was giving us valuable experience. We still had to get additional footage and gather archival footage of swing dancing in the '30s and '40s but post production was still a down to the last minute success. Our DVD was handed in on time and now we await the verdict from the faculty jury. If our entry is accepted, Swing Night will be screened at the Visually Wired Festival, on May 5th at the E Street Cinema in DC.

Considering this is a ThinkTalk blog, it would be crazy to think that I wouldn't mention how much I enjoying interning here. I found out about ThinkTalk when they came to the Art Institute to gather questions for Kevin Heffernan that aired on Directors Cut. Internships are beneficial but only if the intern is willing to light their own lamp. In my experiences, I found that if I do the footwork and maintain a willingness to learn, I will gain the necessary experience and more. The bare minimum is never enough.

...but I don't wanna grow up!

By Morgan on February 19, 2010

Hey there! This is Morgan Noonan, junior at the University of Maryland pursuing a Bachelor's degree in Studio Art. Yes, I get asked "So what are you going to do with that?" quite a bit. I plan on becoming a medical illustrator. Booyah!

College students are not real people. They are on their way to becoming real people, but they are not there yet. Being a real person means being out of your parent's house, having a job, paying your own bills basically being independent. Most college students are not ready for this. They take their laundry home for their mother to do. They don't know how to use the oven. They can't balance their checkbook and have no idea what an overdraft is.

Not knowing that you are supposed to separate your colors from your darks is not really important in the scheme of things. Real-world knowledge that is practically applicable, however, must to be learned before you can go from being just a kid to a respectable young adult.

In my high school, there was a course called "Successful Living". The whole concept behind this class was to prepare students for the real world. At the time, I thought it sounded really lame, so I didn't take it. Flash forward to my freshman year of college and me at the bank not knowing to endorse checks before you try to cash them, now that, is lame.

It doesn't stop there. Everything from filling out the dreaded FAFSA to figuring out tax exemptions and income withholdings has presented new and challenging obstacles for me and I know I am not alone. At least, I hope I'm not.

Students at the University of New Hampshire are being extremely proactive about educating themselves and others when it comes to financial matters. A recent article in their school newspaper documented an innovative program in the accounting program. The students at UNH are volunteering to help local residents prepare their tax returns. Hundreds of state residents have benefitted from the program, and the students get what second year Master's student Jerry Cahill calls a great experience. In the article, Cahill points out that the program reinforced skills I was learning in class and gave them a real world applications.

Programs like this are exactly what college students needs and not just accounting majors. Yes, it is exceptional that young people already interested in finances are getting to show their stuff, and help people while they do it. However, students who are perhaps less mathematically minded most art studio majors, for example,need to develop these skills, too.

Everyone has to enter the real world eventually. Things like your credit score start to matter, and a misplaced decimal point can result in having your electricity shut off. That is why I am urging you college kids (little adults in training!) to take the time to educate yourself when it comes to financial independence. No one is going to be there to hold your hand. Be responsible, be smart, and maybe some day soon you will be a real person!

Social Media 101: Don't Forget About The Blogs

By Monica on February 19, 2010

As I've been going through the endless amounts of information on social media and networking present on the web, a light bulb went off! Blogs! (I feel as though I may be stating the obvious). Blogging, as one of my fellow ThinkTalk interns linked to on Facebook (thanks Morgan), is an excellent way for college students to showcase their thoughts, opinions and strengths to potential employers.

In the article, E-Book: Career Blogging for College Students, the author Ryan Healy mentions that using social media tools like Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn, while helpful, are not enough to market yourself online to hiring managers and employers. He says that blogging is the way to go to really show off your skills which by the way, writing is one of the top skills employers are looking for in new employees. In order to hone in and develop your writing skills, especially if you are not feeling too confident in them, start a blog!

Healy brings up a good point in his article that most college students are in a dire need to burst out of their small campus bubble and routine of frequenting campus establishments and really only associate themselves with other individuals from their own school. And how does one do so? Well, Healy says, "The best way to do this is through social media. The connections you make and the knowledge you gain by immersing yourself in these tools cannot be achieved offline.

In another one of Healy's articles, 5 Reasons Every College Student Should Start Blogging In 2009,(I know it is already 2010, but they still apply), he gives reasons on why blogging can help you land your dream job:

You stand out from the crowd:

People find you:

You can show your true personality:

The connections are amazing:

You grow up, quick:

And as our economy is still in a flux, making it harder for those ready to jumpstart their career to do so, students need to take advantage of every tool they can to get a job now more than ever! So take advantage of the numerous free sites you can use to jumpstart your first blog. Write about anything;politics, fashion, technology, and your petsn...anything!

Just remember, although it is your own blog, you still need to follow the same social media etiquette tips and rules that go along with other online profiles.

"Keyboard" courtesey john_a_ward via Flickr Creative Commons

Do The Application Shuffle

By MollyMathews on February 19, 2010

Hey ThinkTalkers, my name is Molly and I am a senior English Major at CUA. As part of my internship for ThinkTalk, I will be blogging my epic search for a job in the D.C. area, giving you all my take on what has worked, what has failed miserably, and hopefully giving a splinter of insight to those of you who haven't quite reached job hunting maturation yet in your young adult life.

Greetings ThinkTalkers, I know it's been a week since I've written due to the "Snow-mageddon" here in the Northeast. If you've felt the inches, I hope you've been more productive with your job hunt than I was. Unfortunately I got around to completing only one job application. I've told myself that it's my lack of organization that kept me from using those snow-days as application days. So, I made a list of things I can do to make my application process easier and more efficient.

First, I printed out all the job descriptions and made a folder for them. So I have a physical copy as well as an electronic copy. That way you can bring the folder to a boring class or your work-study job to make notes on. I keep an electronic copy on my USB key with my house keys so I can take advantage of any free moment at work.

Then, I made a calendar of when each application was due. On the date it was due I even wrote down what time the job description specified. Pay special attention to that because I almost missed a great opportunity for the Federal Government because I thought it was due before midnight when really the application window closed at 12:30 pm. That is a careless error that could have lost me a potential job. I suggest you email your applications a day early and assume that it should be in before 5 p.m. because that is when many businesses conclude their workday. Also, have someone read your cover letter, resume, and other application documents over for mistakes- everyone makes little ones all the time that are easy to overlook.

Next, create a spreadsheet containing your application progress information. Make a column for where you applied, the application due date, the documents you sent (cover letter, resume, writing sample, transcript, recommendation letter, etc.) if you contacted them for a follow-up, and when. This will ensure that you donâ€™t forget to contact a recruiter or contact he or she twice by mistake.

Most importantly, make sure you read the job description or application instructions at least twice! I almost missed the recruiter's request for a transcript. Again it's a careless mistake I would have been kicking myself about for months for losing such a great opportunity. This brings me to my next tip; keep a spare transcript around just in case, especially if your school gives it to you for free! It usually takes at least one business week to receive one, so just in case you miss a request for a transcript or get contacted by an interested recruiter for one, have an unopened transcript in stock.

Finally, no matter how proactive you think you've been with the job hunt, there is always room to do more- much to my dismay. It's frustrating because it all seems endless, but I can't afford to be lazy. That's why I signed up for my university's Etiquette Dinner. Attending these events is crucial right now, because in the current job market it's more likely that grads get hired through a contact rather than a faceless application. Still I find myself making excuses not to go because I would rather spend a free evening watching re-runs of Beverly Hills 90210 (don't hate, relate) than go smooze with alumni and professors. However, as Mary Katherine Ham the wise once said, "No one is above networking". So join me in the potentially lame "mock-tail" hours hosted by universities and snag those contacts. You never know what great people you could meet.

Next week, check out my report on CUA's Etiquette Dinner- how to dine with the finest!

"messy desk" courtesey yatoobin via Flickr Creative Commons

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