Balancing Act

The question that I pose in our blog today is for students who are trying to balance work and school with life. What do you find is an appropriate school/work/life balance? I question this because recently at VCCS we had a client who had the world at his feet. He was just accepted to attend a full time College program and had an employer who wanted to hire him for full time work. It was really time to sit down and decide what was next in this new and exciting venture.

This got me thinking about how much work/school is too much and on the other hand how little work/school is too little. This seems to be a balancing act for many. I remember the days of my College career, which were full time studies. I started College and within my first semester I was working 5 hours a week. I found myself becoming bored and lazy. I wasn’t feeling overly challenge based on the school and homework load and didn’t feel busy enough with work. Within the next semester of school my work hours changed from 5 to 20 hours a week. This was great. My energy was boosting again, I was feeling pretty busy and life was good. Second year of studies came around. I was still working 20 hours a week and my marks were okay. An opportunity came up working at the College and my 20 hour work week became a 35 hour work week. Things were good but becoming a little too stressful at times. I was trying to balance homework while keeping my marks up, and since I was working for three different employers at this time I was trying to balance my work schedules too. I did this for the next year, but I can’t say it was easy all the time. In my third year of College I was still working 35 hours a week but then I also had to complete a placement for school. The placement was typically 8 hours a week but there were times when I was working upwards 20+ hours a week. This resulted in a 50+ work week on-top of school and homework. I was so busy I often thought, is this experience of school and meeting new people passing me by and am I too busy to truly enjoy it. It was time to seriously evaluate my schedule and my goals.

In talking with other students at this time they mentioned that they were working so diligently in school and on homework that they really didn’t have time to work. What I am trying to get at is that everyone’s situation is different and requires some self-reflection and thought. For some work may be required for financial assistance during school. Others may have a high workload required for school and may not be able to balance school and work. It important to ask yourself a few questions:

1. What are your goals
2. Why are you attending school and how does work compliment or hinder the experience
3. Do you find that you work well under stress or, not so well under stress
4. What do you realistically need to do for financial support while attending school

If you’re reading this I would love you to help answer this question. If you were a past student what worked for you? Maybe you’re a VCCS client and you may be starting school in September or January, I want to hear from you! What do you think works or what questions do you need to ask yourself when dealing with this balancing act? Please comment below, I look forward to reading your thoughts!

If you have any questions about this blog or the services offered at VCCS Employment Services please feel free to contact me directly at amiddleton@careerservices.org or 705-328-0180.

Until next time,

Amanda Middleton

Job Developer, VCCS Employment Services

705-328-0180

 

EMPLOYER PRESENTATION!

WHY AREN’T YOU GETTING CALLED BACK???

As an active member of LinkedIn, logging in daily, I come across a variety of interesting articles that lead me to ponder further. The article that I read yesterday was titled “5 reasons why you never hear back after applying for a job.” (Meghan M. Biro, Glassdoor) This article mentioned many points and in some cases I agree with what the writer identified, and in some cases I don’t fully agree. Below are a few highlights and thoughts pondered...

REASON NUMBER 1 – WHY YOU AREN'T GETTING CALLED BACK:

You Really Aren’t Qualified:

The article stated that job seekers should not apply for work if they don’t meet the qualifications outlined in the job advertisement and I don’t fully agree with that. Yes, I agree not to apply if an employer is looking for a Master’s Degree with 10 years’ experience, and you’re a recent Degree/Diploma graduate with no work experience however; don’t always judge the qualifications outlined in the advertisement to determine if you should apply for a job that you really want. Apply for positions where your skills match the key responsibilities outlined in the job advertisement. If you are a recent graduate and the job calls for 2-3 years’ experience, still apply! You might just get your lucky break. Also, be aware of the language used in the job advertisement. If you see "University Degree, College Diploma and/or relevant years of experience" STILL apply! If you have 3-5 years of experience in the field, and no Post-Secondary education, you still meet the qualifications. The employer is asking for education OR relevant years of experience.

REASON NUMBER 2 – WHY YOU AREN'T GETTING CALLED BACK:

You haven’t keyword-optimized your resume or application:

This is a tricky one that I love and hate all at the same time. For those of you who know me, you know that I have a creative flare and love to use it. Keywords can hinder this creativity, if they are not used properly. However; they prove to be very beneficial in the recruitment process. Quite often, when a job seeker submits a resume, a Management teams reviews the documentation or the Human Resources Department would do this. The review of the resume is what you have to offer based on the job advertisement, hence the keywords. If the organization is extremely large in nature, all resumes could first go through a scanning device. If you resume matches an appropriate number of keywords a human being may actually look your resume in detail. If your resumes do not match an appropriate number of keywords the scanner sends your resume to a documented location based on other keywords, in case a position more suited to your resume and skills becomes available. My best advice here is to learn to utilize keywords and become familiar using them. Your resume should be targeted and modified for each position you apply for. I know this can be confusing, so come visit VCCS and we can certainly help you with this! 

REASON NUMBER 3 – WHY YOU AREN'T GETTING CALLED BACK:

Your resume is not properly formatted:

To ensure that an employer can review your true attention to detail your resume must be consistent and properly formatted. Ensure that your resume is not coming up “jumbled” on the employers’ computer database and that if one employment title is formatted to bold, that all employment titles are bold. Just stay clean, neat and consistent. A good idea may be to put your resume in PDF format before you send it to an employer, so that your margins and formatting don’t become “wonky” when the employer opens the file. If you’re not sure what I’m talking about, come visit VCCS or send me an e-mail. I can take you through the steps on how to send a resume as a PDF file.

REASON NUMBER 4 – WHY YOU AREN'T GETTING CALLED BACK:

Your resume is substantially different from your online portfolio:

The online portfolio that the writer is talking about here is your LinkedIn page or your Facebook page. Make sure that the dates of employment, education etcetera match what’s on your resume. Sell your skills on social media! Always make sure your profile is appropriate! Employers are looking!!

REASON NUMBER 4 – WHY YOU AREN'T GETTING CALLED BACK:

Your company received 500 resumes for one job posting and yours was #499:

Apply on the first day of the posting whenever you can! Some employers receive so many resumes that they only look at the resumes collected within the first day of the advertisement going external! The early bird truly gets the worm. While in some cases resume number 499 of 500 is still considered as much as resume number 001, it is best not to test that theory and just apply as soon as you can.

To read the full article visit http://www.businessinsider.com/top-5-reasons-you-never-hear-back-after-applying-for-a-job-2012-7

For more information, questions or concerns please don’t hesitate to contact me, Amanda Middleton, at amiddleton@careerservices.org

Until next time, take care and good luck with you job search!