Thursday, April 29, 2010

My name is katie and I am full-time unemployed

Just after I finished my exams I started to send my resumes and to apply to jobs like crazy because I really needed a job for the summer - because I am becoming poor. The more time I spend sending resumes, the more money I spend and the less income I get. I have possibly applied to at least 15 job postings, and only one got back to me asking for an interview, which I went but they sent me an email saying that they were not able to offer me a job at this time. Maybe I was not doing enough. Maybe I have been making a lot of common mistakes like not sending a personalized resume, sending a generic cover letter, not doing follow up, etc.

But now, I have decided to give up on job searching for the summer. Instead, I am not only going to enjoy my last chance of sleeping in and sleeping as much as I want, but I am also going to do lots of research, learning new skills and things, building up a great resume, learning about the advertising industry, setting up my own portfolio, etc. I am going to prepare myself for the outside war. I'm gonna put that saddle on that horse and get ready for the ride. Buckle my seatbelt, because it's going to be a bumpy ride.

This is how I am preparing for the summer:
- I am going to start getting a list of advertising companies that I would like to work for, and research them about what they do, who the people are, and maybe send emails and ask them questions about the company.

- Since I want to be a creative director or art director or copywriter, I need to research on people who are employed as such and ask about their jobs, learn skills they require when hiring, read online articles about their duties, their role in the company, etc. I am also going to learn InDesign, Dreamwaver, Illustrator, PHP, Flash, Quarkxpress, more than basics of HTML and CSS, etc. Time permits.

- I also wanna learn new hobbies. I want to get a bike so I can bike to downtown and get some work out. Plus it is enjoyable if I wanna get to nice places like the beaches.

- I bought this set of CD's to learn German. I have always wanted to learn German, and this is my chance to do it. If I have more time I would also like to learn Italian. I love learning new languages.

- I want to get out more, meet new people, talk to them and learn new things from them. Make new friendships and build relationships with them.

- I am going to the library and check out more books since they have so much material about things I wanna know

- I am going to take advantage of the job searching workshops that the Career Centre offers.

- I am also going to start a notebook where I write notes about getting jobs and job related stuff, like interviews, etc. articles I read from the Yahoo! HotJobs website, because I have been addicted to them lately. I am going to start recording the jobs I apply to and get some prints of my resumes.

So you see, this summer is going to be all about learning. I have such a thirst for knowledge and I really want to be prepared to what comes. And I know it is all going to be worth it in the end.

1 comment:

  1. "personalized resume, sending a generic cover letter, not doing follow up"

    You probably nailed the 3 most recommended things that people look for... personalized resume, specific cover letter and following up. If you don't follow-up, it shows as if you really don't care and just "throwing yourself out there"... they want people who are 'committed to the cause', not simply a body... there's bodies all over the world and if they wanted one, they'd just snatch one up. You have to make yourself stand above the crowd.

    Get your resume and cover letter looked over by multiple people, for grammar, mistakes and structure.

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