Job Fairs

For the past few days I have pondered and pondered about what I could write for a blog. Nothing was coming to me. But then it hit me. As I was packing my book bag this morning, I started ranting about the job fair I went to last week. You can ask anyone, I tend to rant often.

Anyway, last week Armstrong had its Fall Career Fair for Liberal Arts majors. Grad schools were also in attendance for those who were interested. Before the career fair, students could pre-register and and look to see what jobs were looking for in terns of full-time, part-time, and internships. When I saw this, I had hope that jobs were actually hiring, but what a scam.

Earlier this semester, Armstrong had a part-time career fair and my fellow classmates told me it was a waste of time because no one was hiring. They said they had printed out their resumes and everything. In the back of mind, I felt like that was going to happen again, but wanted to be wrong.

So the weekend before the actual fair, I printed out ten resumes and looked up potential jobs based on this list posted on the Career Services website. I get to the job fair and a friend of mine told me no one was hiring. I wasn't in complete shock, but I was not happy. What is the point of having a career fair if you are not going to hire?

I spoke to several people and they told they had no vacancies, but to check on usajobs.com. If that was the case, there was no point in me attending the fair and I could continue my search online like I was doing. The whole point of me attending the job fair was to speak face to face about job opportunities. To put a face with a resume. At the end of the fair, Career Services had everyone fill out a survey and I was completely honest. One of the questions was if I found this job fair to be beneficial and I said no. Because it wasn't and a waste of time.

My brother back home in Atlanta, another college graduate, whom graduated from college when the economy first crashed, had the same thing happen to him. He attended a career fair and no one was hiring, they were just telling him information about their organization. I told my mom what happened and she said she didn't know why schools/organizations kept having career fairs.

I understand the we are coming out of a recession and companies have to make major cuts, but don't provide people with false hope like you are hiring and you are not. It is very discouraging when you have worked so hard and did what you were suppose to do and you cannot find something under your field of study or something close to it.

It is very frustrating when you keep hearing the same tune of how to make your resume better or writing a better cover letter, when you can tell they are just trying to buy more time. Companies can only stall for so long, people want jobs!

Technology Fee Proposal

Last week, I was assigned to cover an article about the technology fee. Like most fees, students pay a $60 technology fee each semester. The fee is used for computer lab maintenance, software, and programs. Which is what you expect, right?

What I did not know about the fee is that students, faculty, and staff could send in proposals and request some of the money. Granted, the money must fund a project on campus, such as a smart classroom in Gamble Hall, but the fact is that students could submit proposals is pretty neat.

I will admit when Dash first assigned me the story, I didn't think there was much of a story there, because I did not see the technology fee any differently than any other fee students pay. But, when I found out that students could submit proposals, I was intrigued.

The first person I spoke with was Engineering Professor, Dr. Wayne Johnson. He told me to speak to Physical Therapy Professor, Dr. Anne Thompson and to Mrs. Windy Marshall, who is in charge of the technology in the education department. However, when I spoke to Windy Marshall she told me to speak with Dr. Johnson and Dr. Thompson, because she did not feel like she should be the spokesperson for the article.

At this point, I am nervous that there won't be an article, because it was already Wednesday and I was going out of town Friday. I also work and attend classes, so the only free time I had was Thursday afternoon. I e-mail Dash and tell him I keep getting the runaround and will try to write this story the best I can.

So that night, I tell both Dr. Johnson and Thompson what Mrs. Marshall said and both agree to sit down with me. I was able to ask them all the questions I needed and also consulted the website for my technical information. The article ended up working out and was printed above the fold in the next issue.

Not to much was changed, just a little tightening up of sentences. I am pretty proud of the article and I am excited to write my next one.

Here is the final product:
http://www.theinkwellonline.com/news/technology-fee-committee-seeks-student-proposals-1.2654680#.TqQiSN52Ivk

The 99 percent

I am sure most of you have heard about the protest taking place on Wall Street (OWS) in Mew York. To sum it up, Anti-Wall Street protesters say the rich are getting richer, while the middle class and poor and getting poorer. A lot of this has to do with people who are out of work and foreclosures taking place throughout the city.

While I was on Facebook yesterday, I came across some interesting signs of protesters and wanted to share. But first I wanted to share a youtube video with you.









I am anxious to know what people think? Do these protesters have valid points or should they just go home?

Public Relations

In my last class, we discussed press releases and news releases. My professor pointed out that many of us will start our careers in public relations, which is fine with me. I don't feel as though I am cut out for reporting, but still want to work in the professional writing field.

A few years ago, maybe my sophomore year, I became interested in public relations; however, whenever I spoke to people about it, they kind of frowned at me. And I never understood why.

This past summer, I took a class in public relations and really enjoyed it. I know it is all about saving face when crap hits the fan, but I am interested in the challenge of it. As a matter of fact, I graduate in May and have began my job search. One of the areas I am looking in is public relations. I don't want to limit myself in one aspect of writing, just because of the way the job market it setup today.

More and more people have to have the skill sets for various jobs due to all the cutbacks in jobs. Especially since I am just coming out of college, a specialty is not an option.

So if any of my readers can give me some incite on the public relations field, that will be greatly appreciated. Or any other forms of writing that may interest you, as I know many of you are about to enter the job market soon.

Tell me what you think

A friend of mine posted a week ago on his status, "Way to go UC Berkeley Republicans. Nothing like admitting that you are hosting an inherently racist event on campus and then attempting to justify it,". So of course I took that as my cue to do a little investigation and this is what I found:

The College Republicans of the University of Berkeley planned a bake sale at which the price of items would be determined by the buyer's race, gender, and ethnicity; However, as expected, other students were outraged and claimed it was racists.

Club members said the sale was a way of taking a stand against pending legislation that would let the University of of California consider a student's race or national origin during the admission process (affirmative action).

For this post, I will leave my opinion out because I want to hear yours. Also, I have posted the video version below.