Internal Applicants Only

Another idea for those in similar career peril as me...entry level work in a (hopefully larger) organization that prioritizes internal applicants for their job openings. Lots of wonderful larger companies operate this way and open up positions to internal applicants only before expanding to external applicants if the position remains unfilled. Get a job, any entry level old job and do good at it. Your supervisor should put in a good word for you for the "better" job and you just got another leg up on the competition.

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Every Day is Special

I just discovered that my due date- September 17th- is a special day in history. Maybe I should've known this before I honed in on the date because of my upcoming delivery, but it's the day that the U.S. constitution was approved, back in 1787. Ironically, I knew the year from the Schoolhouse Rock special in middle school. If you've never heard of Schoolhouse Rock, I'm old, you're young (or really, really old) and should just stop reading now.

And for those of you still hanging in there, the song went something like this: "In 1787 a whole brand new country was found. Our people were just starting out and thought what it could be. (And then the preamble) We the people, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice and insure tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare and secure the blessings of our liberty for ourselves and our prosperity, do ordain and establish this constitution for the United States of America.

What a day to have a baby! Meaning, really nothing for me except a going-home outfit might be more appropiate if it incorporates something patriotic.

What does it pay?

Let me tell you about my school's ploy to tease alumni with jobs through their listserv and share with you why I consider it to be the ultimate tease. So, I subscribe to the list serv at my school for jobs geared to UWM alumni. Since I graduated from the School of Information Studies, almost all of the positions I am sent via email are for Masters-level education positions such as librarians, archivists, historians, technology coordinators and information architects.

Now, I had always planned on attaining my Master's Degree in Library and Information Science and working in the librarian (academic or special) field. The data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, MLIS graduate blogs and these job postings from my school have all teamed up to deter me from this pursuit. Librarians are experiencing a negative growth rate as potential retirees decide to stick around longer, more students are pursuing the degree and increasing the competition and the entry-level positions to start out in (job titles including words like "substitute" or "assistant") usually recquire a Bachelor's Degree and some professional library experience and will start out at uncharacteristically low pay- think $11-$12/hour. Yes, you may be able to start at that and get your "foot in the door" or start your professional career, despite being very entry-level, but how do you feel about having a degree and working for that kind of wage in any scenario?

What are your weaknesses?

I've harolded a laugh or two from a couple of interviews I was subjected to, when asked the age-old interview question- "what are your weaknesses?" and I answered, honestly, "chocolate". It really is the first thing that comes to mind- what are you supposed to answer to this question anyway? If we're talking peanut M&M's, there's no stopping me. I think it's fun to have a little fun with those boring, standardized and pre-approved "interview questions", I just hope that's not one of the reasons I'm able to publish a site with "jobless graduates" as the primary audience (laugh out loud). I don't think so.

Am I done?

So, I have accomplished what I set out to do in publishing my website, Jobless Grads (http://www.joblessgrads.co.cc). After all of the research, coding, brainstorming, changing/re-uploading and putting it all together exactly the way that I want it, I ask myself- am I done? A part of me wants to be and I know that continuous time and effort will be spent adding/deleting content, changing the format here and there, but my final answer to really feeling "done" with the site is a loud, resounding "no". Not that I don't like where everything is at, the format that it's currently in or my content. It's not anything major that requires immediate alterations or a drastic change in scenery. It's the PHP forum not yet added- my original was hosted and flopped (overabundance of spammy posts, nothing from real, live people). It's my contact information and the publication of a sitemap. It's all of the wonderful ideas I've had to encourage communication among my audience, to promote return visitors, to add that substantial, little missing "extra" to my prideful little project on the Web.

Who, I wonder, having gone through this entire process of writing and publishing a website, really ever feels "done". Outside of the companies like Amazon, Google, Etc. who work with a knowledgeable and experienced (well paid) IT team, how can you ever really feel done? I am done, but I plan on making it better. It'll be up to you and the rest of the online world to decide just how successful I am.

Current Catalog

Yes, they're the same people who sell all those checks.

But I recently discovered that they also have:


Water Bottle Ice Cube Trays


Hey, they're $4! Slipping a niftly little circular ice cube into your warm water bottle right before heading out the door? Priceless.

Dollar Days
Nifty little unique gifts you never see under $15.


$15 Set of 3 Recycling Bags
I have to admit, this made sorting my glass from aluminum to paper a million times
easier and are kinda pretty in my laundry room.

Are you an Internet Enthusiast?

I am an internet enthusiast.
Who doesn’t like to shop from home? There are millions of discounts just waiting to be found under the jurisdiction of your own fingertips. Sometimes you can find a better deal than you would if you took the time to drive to some of our most frequented physical storefronts. I can’t tell you how much I saved (and how quickly I was able to get) all of my textbooks from online retailers like Amazon
or Swapbooks.com I could buy them used, use them for my classes and resell it again in the same spot. Convenient!

Earn a degree online!
I did! It was great. I graduated with honors from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee last May and never saw the campus. They mailed me my diploma and I used some of the web development skills to publish my own website, http://www.joblessgrads.com.

Connect. This is the area of the Web that really amazes me. If you haven’t heard of Web 2.0, then you’re not familiar with community-supported interactive social applications such as MySpace, Twitter, Facebook, Wikipedia…and the list goes on. Connecting with friends, networking your business, having your own online presence and personalizing your overall Web experience have never been easier. There are forums, chats, RSS feeds and Blogs for every possible niche out there. Again, all readily accessible beneath your fingertips.

The internet provides a connection to your community, your resources and the rest of the world. It has made available to us, vast amounts of information covering an almost-limitless range of topics. How many people do you know who’ve gone to WebMD to see what their ailment might really be? You can find legal advice, get directions, search for housing, check the weather, pay a parking ticket, renew your library book…what have you done on the internet lately?