miscommunications at work

Last week a girl that I work with needed to take a test during her shift. I work the same shift, but as a rush server, so i am only there for 2 hours instead of 5-6, but it is usually slow and we don't need everyone to be there. I told her that it would be fine if she went and took the test because we didn't need her. I meant that she could come to work her shift and could leave for her test and then come back. She thought I meant that I would work for her and we just wouldn't have a rush server.
It ended up fine because I sensed that she thought that and I went in early and made sure that she was going to come in after her test so that I could leave when I normally would to study for the test I had the next day.
Next time I will make sure that I say exactly what I mean and not leave room for confusion.

Mock Interview

I expected to be really nervous about the interview, but I was only a little nervous. I think that I was less nervous because I reminded myself that I was just talking to another person who has been in my seat before and understands. I also remembered that I have had interviews before and have done fine.
One question that threw me was "what have you accomplished that you are most proud of?" I answered that I was proud to have moved from New York to South Carolina all by myself with only my aunt and uncle here. I'm still not sure what I am most proud of though.
If I could do the interview again I would have questions prepared for the interviewer so I could get a better feel for the job and the type of company I would be working for.
I learned that you need to be able to think on your feet in an interview because you never know what type of question they are going to ask you. I also learned that I just need to remind myself that I am just talking to another person.

career fair

I went to the career fair this week. It was the first time I have gone to one. Its really overwhelming. There were a lot of companies that I have never heard of. The Michelin center lists the employers that are participating and the companies website. I think that there should be a description of the company and what types of positions they are looking to fill. I went up to one company that said that they were looking for people with a psych degree. They pretty much told me that I wouldn't be using my degree at all. So why would they even say that they were looking for people with a psych degree. I thought the whole thing was frustrating.

cover letter

I thought that all the advice was interesting. It all seemed to be good advice. The person who wrote it sounded like he knew what he was talking about and was in a place where he had seen enough cover letters to give advice on what he would like to see on one.
It was interesting that he said cover letters are the last thing that someone looks at. I wouldn't have thought about it until I read that, but it makes sense. Why would someone waste time reading a cover letter when they could just look to see if it is even worth their time.
I also thought that the cover letter should be about me. I actually wondered why you would need a cover letter if your resume is written well. I didn't know what I would put in a cover letter that my resume didn't already tell the reader. I don't think being redundant is helpful.
I thought that it was interesting that in class we often talk about personalizing the cover letter to the company. My dad has been trying to get me to send out a mass resume just to see what kind of interest my resume draws, but now i know that doing that would hurt more than it would help because if I sent a generic resume to a company I was really interested in they wouldn't think I was worth the time.

Interview strategy- telling stories

This article taught me that it is good to have stories ready when you go into an interview. This is an excellent idea because it is so much easier when you have something prepared. Its also good because when I have to remember something word for word I get flustered and can't speak clearly. Stories are more natural responses to a question about yourself. There were also good ideas for stories. Once I have the stories all figured out for all of those suggestions I think that my interviewing skills will be much better.

in ten years...

Ten years does seem like it is very far off, especially considering ten years ago I was twelve. The fact that I have a sister who is 10 years older than me makes it a little easier. I have an idea of what the main goal is, I just have no idea what I am doing in December after I graduate.
I want to have a masters in neuropsychology. I would like to be doing research on neurotransmitters. I want to work at developing a drug that would effectively treat a psychological disease. I'm not sure if I want to be doing that research through a drug company or if I want to work at a university. I like teaching, but I hate public speaking so I dont know if I would be able to do that or not.
Other than my career I would like to be married and living in a house that I own. Im not sure exactly where I want to live yet, but I know that I want to be somewhere warm and near the beach.

technology

I thought that the video was very interesting. It was very creatively done. I didn't know how much technology had changed. I am not very good with computers so I only know how to do the basic things. Freshman year I made a website and then I made one my senior year. It was amazing how much things had changed. The computer programs made it so much easier to make a web page. I forgot until I watched this video how invloved it used to be and thinking "why would anyone put this much time into a web page if they didn't have to."
I also thought it was interesting when they touched on who was supposed to control all of this information. I wondered if there will every be someone who goes in and weeds out all of the information on the web that no one uses. Will there ever be too much information on the web. Its already hard enough to find the information you want. You have to weed through all the useless information in order to find what you need. Maybe someday there will be an agency that gets rid of all the unused web sites