COM 250 Jobs

7 things you should say in an interview

ncstatecom250 — Thu, 22 Apr 2010 15:44:26 +0000

http://finance.yahoo.com/career-work/article/109366/7-things-you-should-say-in-an-interview

10 phrases that could sink your resume

ncstatecom250 — Mon, 19 Apr 2010 18:57:13 +0000

Phrases to avoid when developing your resume:

http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-experts-10_phrases_that_can_sink_your_resume-115

What kind of job seeker are you?

ncstatecom250 — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 15:00:51 +0000

After Spring Break, the rest of the semester is going to fly by! Especially for those seniors holding on to the last precious weeks of the undergrad life.

In your Professional Community exercises, you’ve been asked to identify a job you’d want to pursue after graduation. And each subsequent exercise helps you gain more information about this position, with the assignments ultimately ending in providing a targeted resume and cover letter.

As you work on these assignments and start applying for other positions, it’s important to be reflective about the steps you’re taking in your job hunt. The post, “You Can’t Get Anywhere Unless you Start,” by Harvard Mackay on Personal Branding Blog sorts out first-time job seekers into three categories.

Do you fall into one of these three? Do you fall into the category you want to?

Own the Interview

ncstatecom250 — Mon, 15 Feb 2010 00:41:18 +0000

Often interviewees are caught up in being able to answer all the questions in an interview and they fail to consider important questions that need to be asked. Here you will find a link that will address some questions that may be helpful to ask during your interview to show your interest in a particular organization.

http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-articles-own_the_interview_10_questions_to_ask-1123

The 10 Commandments of Cover Letter Writing

ncstatecom250 — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 14:10:28 +0000

Providing a cover letter for potential employers is almost a screening process in itself…the pre-interview interview, so to speak. How that letter looks plays a major role in whether the employer will want to meet with you period. If there are a lot of grammar mistakes (showing the letter was a rough job), or if it’s three pages long (questioning whether you can get to the point), or is titled “To Whom This May Concern” (showing you don’t know a great deal about the employer or the job in question)…basically, if the cover letter looks sloppy, chances are that the employer will believe the sender is lacking as well and won’t contact you.

A blogsite called “Careers in Transition” provides some useful tips on how to make your cover letter shine, which you can see here: http://www.careersintransitionllc.com/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=86&Itemid=69

the job hunt

ncstatecom250 — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 03:35:41 +0000

As graduation day creeps up on seniors, your post-college career is becoming more of a reality. The Professional Community assignments in this course are designed to help ease the pain of your transition to the “real world” by preparing you to conquer job hunts and interviews. These assignments are no less valuable for students at any point in their college days, as you look for internships and other opportunities that will help launch your career.

The first Professional Community assignment is focused on finding a specific position you would want to pursue after you get your degree. There are so many resources online to guide you in your job search, some focused on certain industries and regions. Here is a quick look at a few of the resources that you may consider referencing when preparing your first assignment.

General

ePack: NC State runs it’s own database of jobs that allows you to search by location, major, employer category, and job function.
Craigslist: Organized by location, then by field, Craigslist has become a go-to site for recruiters. Here you will find a great deal of open positions, but you need to be aware of potential scams.
LinkedIn: A professional social networking site, LinkedIn has a powerful job search engine on its site. Jobs that are in your network appear first, allowing you to see who you may know at the employing organization.
Monster and CareerBuilder: In addition to job searching on these sites, you can post your resume and let employers find you.

Industry-Specific

Public Relations Society of America’s JobCenter: public relations and communication professionals
Media Bistro: media professionals
Dice: technology professionals

This is just a brief list, so if there are other sites you find useful, please feel free to post them in the comments section.

Happy job hunting!

Tips for Finding a Job and Excelling in the Interview

ncstatecom250 — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 18:48:40 +0000

Here are two links that provide tips for finding a job and excelling in the job interview, respectively.

1) 5 Threats to Your Job-Hunting Stamina: http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-articles-5_threats_to_your_job_hunting_stamina-818

A rather interesting tip here is that you should focus on a particular job, rather than just applying to every application you’re remotely qualified for. All the negative feedback will tear at your enthusiasm.

2) 4 Steps to a Better Job Interview: http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/career-experts-four_steps_to_a_better_job_interview-51

When going into the interview, be prepared to elaborate on any job experiences you’ve have. The interviewer won’t be as interested in if you did something (if you didn’t, chances are you wouldn’t be at the interview in the first place), but what you did and why, as well as how it affected your performance. Also, be familiar with the company in question and be able to explain why you want to work there. (That may sound obvious, but it’s rarely flattering to an interviewer if you can’t articulate why you want a job or–even worse, as one past supervisor informed me–you say you only applied “because it’s better than being broke” or something like that.)

Welcome!

ncstatecom250 — Mon, 11 Jan 2010 18:52:27 +0000

Welcome to the Spring 2010 semester of NC State’s Communication & Technology course (COM 250).

In an effort to help you prepare for life after college, and complete your Professional Community assignments, we will be continuously updating this blog with links to interesting stories, job postings, and other related information.

We appreciate your comments and suggestions for topics you’d like us to cover in this blog. To start off the semester, here are two quick links:

Interview myths that keep you from landing the job

Multicultural Critical Theory. At B-School?

We look forward to working with you all this semester!

Rachel, Jen, & Jerrod