Career Applications

02 September 2010 | Uncategorized | Mike Breslin

To our new students, welcome.  to our returners, welcome back.  I hope your summers were spent engaging in activities that will look great on resume!

For my first post of the year, I’m going to talk about the Fish philosophy.  I went to a short session at our opening meeting.  There I learned the Fish Philosophy.  It formed out of a fish market in Seattle where the folks who work there have an absolute blast every day….even though they work at a fish market.  While Sage is not at all like a fish market, there are days when I need a boost to my enthusiasm.  The Fish Philosophy is ideal.

There are only four concepts to wrap your head around:

1.  Play.  Have fun at whatever it is you do.  If you are not having fun, why are you there?

2.  Make Their Day.  Whomever it is that you serve in your job, do your best to make them feel important and valued.  Do your best to make their experience with you the best it can be.  I’ve used this quote multiple times but it bears repeating:  ”There is always some kid who may be seeing me for the first or last time, I owe him my best.”  Joe DiMaggio.

3.  Be There.  Be present.  Don’t ignore or try to minimize interaction.  This person is there to see you and the least you can do is pay attention and make them feel valued.

4.  Choose Your Attitude.  Every one of us will have one of those days.  Flat tires, kids up all night crying, disagreements with friends and family, and so on.  How in the world do we not bring that stuff to our jobs?  We choose our attitude.  When bad things happen, we are forced by no one to have a bad mood.  We choose that mood.  So why not choose to have a good attitude instead?  You’ll be happier.  Folks around you will be happier.

These simple concepts can be transferred to your life at school.  For this semester, choose to have an attitude that embraces learning new things.  Choose an attitude that makes you open to having new experiences.  Choose an attitude that allows you to honestly assess yourself (strengths and weaknesses) and plan based on them.

Choose an attitude that will put you on a path toward challenge, fulfillment and success.

Happy New Year!

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14 May 2010 | Uncategorized | Mike Breslin

According to this article from NACE (TheNational Association of Colleges and Employers), more soon to be grads have jobs that at this time last year.  The main reason cited was soon-to-be-grads are accepting positions offered more than last year.

I’d venture a guess that these students are fearful about when the next job offer might come along and so are jumping at the chance to work and get paid and be insured.  This time last year, there may have been some arrogance as students thought the perfect jobs were on their way but never materialized.

Here’s a fun bit of data:

“Employers taking part in NACE’s 2010 Internship & Co-op Survey reported that 44.6 percent of their Class of 2009 hires came from their own internship programs.”

Article here. You go get an internship now.  At least 44.6% of you will not regret it.

Tomorrow is graduation so congratulations to all of our Sage Colleges grads.  Celebrate and be merry…and then make an appointment with a Sage Colleges career counselor because you have access to our services for free, for life…and I know not all of you have a resume.

Happy summer!

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28 April 2010 | Uncategorized | Mike Breslin

Let us look at this logically.

When putting together a job advertisement, employers have the option of requesting references in the ad.

So when you submit your resume…

DO NOT PUT “References available upon request” ON YOUR RESUME.

They’ve already been requested.  You will look like you cannot follow simple written directions.

Let us assume you get an interview.  It is common sense and common practice to bring a copy of your references to the interview.  At some point during the interview you may be asked, “Do you have a copy of your references?”  At this point you will produce the copy and happily hand it over.

Pay close attention to this:  Whether you put “References available upon request” on your resume or not, the employer will still ask for your references if they want them.  So we must again conclude….

DO NOT PUT “References available upon request” ON YOUR RESUME.

Let us assume that you make it through the interview but no one has asked you for your references.  You may then say, “Would you like a copy of my references?”  They may say yes.  They may say no.  Either way, I am forced to conclude…

DO NOT PUT “References available upon request” ON YOUR RESUME.

At the root of this is the fact that it is assumed everyone has references.  If we accept this as true then we must also assume that everyone’s references are available if requested.  Put another way, I have yet to hear of a situation where it was appropriate to give no references or include the line, “References not available upon request.”

References are a vital part of an employer’s evaluation process.  To make it seem as though they are optional or only available if needed does not make sense.  The employer will always want them if they want you.

Again, everyone has references.  Why waste a line on your resume pointing out something the employer already knows?

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