Stylish Blogger Award!

One of my dearest friends, Robin at Our Semi Organic Life has awarded me the Stylish Blogger Award! I would love to first thank her for her continued support both online and in "real life!" I highly recommend her blog and following her journey!

So, I guess I am supposed to post 7 things about myself and pass the award on to fellow deserving bloggers:

1.  I have lived in 5 states, but feel most at home in Colorado and California.

2.  I love to cook and learned from my mother and grandmother.

3.  While I have traveled to 32 states, I have barely been out of the US but would LOVE to go!

4.  I lost 80 pounds, yes 80, and still have a little way to go.

5.  My family is the most important thing to me.

6.  I was a Laker girl for a day when I was 5 and still love my So Cal teams.

7.  I would not trade anything for my college experience and I still bleed Wolfpack RED and am a Chi O til I die.

Now for some of my favorites who also deserve this award:

Nicole at Stories of a Sassy Stepmom

Sarah at boco bebe

Joy at Joy the Baker

Mary at Zest

Love you all! I am so grateful for such wonderful people!

Monday Monday

I don't know about you, but job searching can be stressful! It is a process of trial and error. Everyone has a different strategy; I thought I would share my own job search plan with you starting with Monday.

Since many of the job search newsletters release new postings on Monday, I spend most of my morning pulling appropriate job listings from all of my regular sites. It helps me to ease into the week and gives me some goals for the week. Plus it is a great time to settle in with my coffee and be productive!

I create a new word document and copy and paste any appropriate jobs that I find into that document. Having everything in one place helps me keep things straight. As I revisit the document later in the week, I use the highlight feature and different colors to code the jobs I have applied for or decided were not a good fit. I love being able to refer back and know that I have already referenced a job. I have also found that this strategy helps me remember websites with great information. When I am drawing a blank and need new inspiration later, I always look at passed weeks!

What works for you??

SEO for Your Resume

Last night I went to a birthday party for a friend of my dad's. I have known this family since I was born, and know them well but only see them periodically. I forget that just getting out of the house can give you some new perspective. I got to talking to people at the party and learned of a potential job opening. Then started talking to someone else about job search tips and learned a new resume strategy to optimize for search engines. I love getting new tips! I plan to work on incorporating this one into my resume this week.

Try taking all the relevant key words that are not already in your resume and add them at the bottom in small font and make the font white so you can't read them when it is printed. It won't effect the way a recruiter sees your resume, but the software that recruiters use are only searching for key words that match the job description. Maybe it will at least get your resume in the right pile. I couldn't believe what a great and simple idea this was! The hardest part now is getting in the door, I hope this gets me one step closer!

In the Zone

Since October, I have been trying out CrossFit. For those of you who aren't familiar, CrossFit is a type of workout that focuses on "functional fitness" meaning you do exercises that make you stronger all over so you perform all of your daily activities better. The workouts combine Olympic weightlifting with plyometrics and cardio. It is an incredible workout and challenges me every time I am there!

As part of my CrossFit experience, we are being encouraged to go on the Zone diet. This is a huge challenge for me! I love to cook and have found a way to lose a significant amount of weight by simply watching my calories and exercising. The Zone is much more complicated than that. You have to find the right combination of foods and eat 5 times a day. I keep telling myself that it is only 8 weeks...I can do almost anything for 8 weeks! We will see how this goes and if I can find creative ways to cook "in the Zone." If Jennifer Aniston can do it, I hope I can too!


Do you have experience with the Zone or CrossFit? I would love tips or stories!!

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Just Keep Swimming

Just Keep Swimming.

I think this is one of the most important lessons in life and is a mantra I often use. Today I spent the day skiing with my sister and she is a much better skier than I. It starts with me being much more of a cautious skier than she. I try so hard to let go of myself a bit and try to keep up with her, but I hate to be out of control. So for me I spend the day saying to myself: "Just Keep Swimming." For me in skiing that means don't stop, let go.

This translates just as well to my life. I always try to Just Keep Swimming. I try to keep moving forward everyday. Even though I have been applying for jobs for over a year, I keep trying because one day something will come through. There is always something on the horizon!

What do you do to Just Keep Swimming?

Appliction Relief

Today I am feeling very accomplished for finally having finished my grad school application! Like so many others going through a challenging job search, I decided the next best thing to finding a job would be going back to school. After doing lots of research, I decided to apply close to home. Colorado State has an excellent program in Student Affairs in Higher Education. I am excited at the prospect of going back to school and the possibility of working in higher ed. I am also thankful that I can get back to focusing on my job search!

Getting back after it after a break for the rest of the day!

Break Through the Wall

Today I will finish my graduate school application. Today I will finish my graduate school application. Today I will finish...Welcome to my mantra for today.

This has been my goal for quite some time and I now have my recommendations in hand and just have to put all the pieces together. To break through my writer's block, I am just going to free write and then edit. It is better to have something to edit than nothing at all!

If you are looking for a strategy to get writing, try these tips from Ragan.com. Good luck!

 

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To School or Not to School?

After leaving my last job, I made myself a promise to work hard to find the right next step for me and not just take the next thing that came along just to get something. Some people criticize that strategy in today's economy, but I have had several jobs in a row that were not the right fit for me. What I learned was if you don't have some connection to your work, it can effect everything in your life. I found myself trying to stay motivated both at work and at home. I know that I have something to contribute, I just have to find that place!


In looking for this "right" next step, I have been taking a three pronged approach. I started my own consulting business to explore what it would be like to work for myself, I have been applying for jobs that look like a good fit, and I am applying to a graduate school program. The last one is my focus for this week. My application is due this week and I have had a bit of writers block in finishing my personal statement. I have to really explore why I want to return to school and why I want to enter this program that is very different from my undergrad degree. When I started looking back at the jobs and internships I have had since starting college, I realized that I loved working at a university. You are surrounded by intelligent and passionate people and there always seems to be so much promise and energy. That is when I came across the Student Affairs in Higher Education program at Colorado State University. The program seems to be a practical application approach and encourages hands-on experience in various offices on campus. I explored several other programs, including NC State where I did my undergrad, but decided that I wanted to stay in state for school (partially for monetary reasons). I am putting all my eggs in one basket on this one and hoping for the best. The application has been a learning experience in itself and for that I am grateful.

Happy Sundays

Even when the holidays are low key, they always seem to throw a wrench in routines. As I mentioned in my last post, I try to do something everyday to move forward. For me that can have to do with my job search, consulting work, an exercise goal, or something personal. Really anything that seems fitting or has a deadline. I have gotten a bit behind on my goal setting and routine and let myself enjoy the holidays. I intend to get back to my routine starting by hitting the gym bright and early tomorrow.

Today was a bit of a last hurrah for the holidays: I got to join my family to see the Chargers play the Broncos today. I am a huge Charger fan since I went to school with Philip Rivers. Even though we had a rough season, it was great to see them win live! It was a fantastic family outing to kick off 2011!!

New Year, New You!

Ok, so since everyone sets goals for the new year, I am kicking things off with mine. This blog has been on my list for a long time and here it is!

Let me share with you a little about me. I am a college graduate from a reputable university. I supported my college experience through loans, help from my parents and grandparents, and some work of my own. I participated in all the "resume builders" and made decent, but not exceptional, grades. I enjoyed myself, got my degree in perseverance (as my mother would say) and moved on to my first "fun" job with a non-livable wage. One of those fantastic experiences that is character building, but can't last forever. I moved on to my first "real job" in an equally "fun" industry that was also not a livable wage. So, I did what any post-college kid with great parents does today: I moved home. I took a stable job at a non-profit with a decent wage to get back on my feet and find myself. I found a way to get healthy, pay off my loans, and build some savings with the good intention of moving out as soon as possible. Now, several years later, I am still at home and without a job in today's economy.

With that overview, I can tell you I have, as of today, been looking for a job for one year. I was the student who took all the "right" steps to get me to the next step. Now I just have to figure out what the next step is. I have now found myself in a position I never envisioned: unemployed. What do you do in a saturated market with a degree in Communication? You write. It has always been my outlet and I am getting back to it, starting now. In my one year of job searching, I have learned a lot and hope to share that with you. I have applied for over 200 jobs. Yes, 200. I am diligent (and I'll admit, a bit neurotic). I have developed my own system and try to do something everyday to take my next step. I do some consulting in my field and try to pick up anything I can. I volunteer at several places around my hometown and do anything I can to network.

I will share with you my struggles and successes as I try to find myself and a job in today's world.