The Front: a Job-Hunting Perspective
Blaine is a guest contributor who graduated from California Polytechnic State University, San Luis Obispo with a BS in Aerospace Engineering.
I have been searching for a job now for about a year. I would not let this scare you as I graduated from college at the worst possible time ever — at the beginning of a recession.
But regardless of the fact, I have had much experience in job hunting, so I have compiled a list of things that I think might help an undergrad student in finding a job.
Chuck E. Cheese Redemption
Cheese!
Ponder this. You must be 21 to gamble on the floor of a Las Vegas casino. Yet you don’t even need to be house-trained to gamble on the floor of a Chuck E. Cheese restaurant.
The Chuck E. Cheese business model has always fascinated me. As a child, there was something almost magical about it: the lights and sounds, the fun games, the unyielding drive to collect tickets, getting prizes, begging your parents for “just one more quarter”. This drive was undeniably a gambling-complex — one that was directly aimed and marketed toward children. Now in truth my uncle taught me Blackjack when I was 5, so those feelings weren’t new to me. But I still bought in.
LCROSS
LCROSS - Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite
“No, we’re not going to break the moon. But we’re gonna put a dent in it.”
It’s Thursday, June 18th, 2009 and LCROSS is patiently waiting atop an Atlas V-Centaur at Cape Canaveral Florida. Patience is the word of the day. 2700 miles away at Northrop Grumman Aerospace Systems in Redondo Beach California, James Wehner, the LCROSS Deputy Program Manager, is taking questions from a roomful of engineers and their families.
LCROSS, the Lunar Crater Observation and Sensing Satellite, was a dual build between Northrop Grumman and the NASA Ames Research Center. What was described as a “fast-track, low-cost” project, LCROSS is billed as an overwhelmingly successful display of system engineering. A piggy-back to the Lunar Reconnaissance Orbiter (LRO), LCROSS was quickly designed and built by Northrop Grumman to fill excess space on NASA’s launch vehicle. Using many recylced and off-the-shelf parts, LCROSS was delivered early this year — on-time and under budget.
Mr. James Goes to Nigeria [part two]
The anti-climactic conclusion to my Nigerian scammer adventure. [Part One]
Subject: RE: Playstation for Mr James ready for to go!!!
Thanks so much for sending me the pictures of the Game and am so glad to recieve the picture from you, yes am ok with it and have it send to my cousin as you promised this week. Also the game wont break in box if you pack it well ok? As soon as you pack it wel in the box it wont break and have told him that you will be sending the game to him this week hope he will get it next week. As soon as you send the game, do let me know and get back to me with the confirmation number which i will pass to him over there.
Do send me your payment details..
Sincerely, Mr James.
Big Brother
“A buddy of mine is obsessed with government conspiracies. Almost a little too much.
He subscribes to a lot of them, but more than anything he’s concerned about Big Brother. He’ll rarely leave his house, he always shreds his mail, and he’s suspicious of anyone with a Bluetooth headset.
So last week I hid a geocache in his front yard.”
The First Job: Referrals
photo: bizzia.com
Quick tip today.
Still not hired? Getting your foot in the door at your favorite company can be difficult. The dirty secret is that companies like to hire reliable, smart, competent individuals. But before you copy/paste those keywords into your cover letter, consider an alternative route. The best way for a company to check if you meet these obvious standards is to ask someone who they already know. And there’s your ticket.
Referral programs may be the holy grail of the job market. Now all that partying networking in college pays off.
Hop on Facebook or MySpace or whatever you kids use these days, and hit up that successful old roommate of yours. If you can score a job, your buddy gets a nice paycheck bump while you get the opportunity to squander your youth in a job you’ll eventually resent. Win-win.
Mr. James Goes to Nigeria [part one]
Subject: Reply to Online Classified Ad: Playstation 2
Good Day,
I hereby to inform you that am interested in your Playstation 2 for sale.
Do let me know if you still have it for sale. Tell me your last offer also
send me the pictures if you have them with you and let me know the present
condition ok? Looking forward to hearing from you and take care. Do write
me back through my personal address below jamessmith1960jss@yahoo.co.ukSincerely, Mr James.
The First Job: Shotgun Approach
That diploma suuuure looks good, doesn’t it? All that hard work and sacrifice, spelled out in curvy letters and signed by the Governor. But now, after your post-graduation trip to Europe, you can’t even afford a damn frame for that beauty. Time to get some money.
With the economy sitting in a negative first derivative and US companies digging in for the long-haul, getting an entry college-level job is as difficult as it’s ever been in our lifetime.
Now that you’ve got your resume nice and pretty, send it out in bulk. In this job market, I highly advocate the shotgun strategy. Most tech companies these days have a decent career page with a bulk-apply option. Just make sure to attach a somewhat personal cover-letter to mask your job-sluttiness.
Fringineering: The Crane Game
photo: geekologie.com
I pretty much rock at the Crane Game.
The “Crane Game” or “Claw Game”, for the fortunate few who have never been to Denny’s, consists of an enclosed glass closet full of toys, usually stuffed-animals, and a mechanical claw hanging from the ceiling. Inserting money grants you an allotted time frame to position the claw over your desired toy. The claw drops, closes, and most likely fails to grasp your prize. Your child cries, and your girlfriend leaves you.
Tell Your Friends
