Questions Answered: Help! My son’s a college senior and hasn’t started job searching.

By admin, on January 7th, 2009

“My son is a senior in college and he hasn’t started his job search yet. I can’t seem to get him to get in high gear. I’m tempted to write his resume for him and just start sending it around but I’m pretty sure that’s a bad idea.Any suggestions?”

First of all, let me say that your son is fortunate to have a parent who is so invested in his future. You are right, however, that it would NOT be a good idea for you to write his resume for him, or to conduct his job search on his behalf.

There may be a number of factors contributing to your son’s apparent disinterest in starting his job search.

Continue reading Questions Answered: Help! My son’s a college senior and hasn’t started job searching. »

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For Parents, Job Search, No Experience, Non-traditional Work, Questions Answered    

Questions Answered: Should I take a “practice” GRE?

By admin, on December 19th, 2008

“I am horribel when it comes to testing. I can do practice exams and score well, (like on the ACT, I scored really high on the practice test but bombed the real test), but always do terrible under real testing settings. I want to take the GRE in a real test setting as a practice. Then take it again. What do you think?”

Generally speaking, I would not advise you to take the GRE more than once in a five year period. ETS sends all of the test scores you have received in the past five years to each institution you have indicated. Unless you are certain that your scores will be significantly different the second time you take the GRE, then it is best to only take the GRE once.

Since the practice tests that GRE offers through its PowerPrep software emulate the real exam, you may want to “re-create” testing conditions by having a friend or family member “proctor” your exam – making sure you are being timed and that the conditions closely resemble a real testing environment.

It sounds like you have significant test anxiety. If you haven’t done so already, you might consider checking with your school’s academic advising (or similar) office. Many schools have professional staff that can assist with a variety of study and test preparation needs.

Best of luck! I hope this helps.

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Grad School Exams, Graduate School, GRE, Questions Answered    

Questions Answered – Following up with an Employer

By admin, on December 3rd, 2008

“I recently applied for a job as a marketing assistant for a local company. There wasn’t really a deadline on the posting and I haven’t heard back from them yet, but it’s driving me crazy wondering if I might get interviewed or not. Should I call the employer or would that seem pushy?”

Yes, I think it’s a good idea to follow up with the employer. First, you want to make sure your application materials were actually received. Second, it’s nice to know who all the “players” will be in your job search. If you’ve applied to multiple positions, you’ll eventually have to decide with which organizations you will want to interview and, when the time comes, which offers you’ll want to seriously consider. Knowing each employer’s hiring time frame will be useful in your decision-making. For more information about following up with an employer, check out my article, “Follow up – an important next step.”

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Job Search, Questions Answered    

Questions Answered – Letters of Recommendation

By admin, on December 3rd, 2008

I was recently asked whether it was better to have a strong letter of recommendation for graduate school from a professor in a different major (who has observed and supervised your academic work), or a positive but not strong letter from a faculty person in your major.

Personally, I would go with the stronger letter, even though the faculty person is from a different discipline. Letters of recommendation carry a lot of weight when it comes to applying to graduate programs. Ideally, you will have 3-4 letters written by faculty in your major. However, if a professor from a different discipline has observed your academic work, (perhaps you switched majors, completed a minor, or conducted research in a different field), then their letter would be preferable to a lukewarm or “wishy-washy” letter from a professor in your major.

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Graduate School, Questions Answered    
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