Career Services

Career Services has created a more comfortable space for those working on building their dreams. A new living room area has been added to the office.

A larger work area with table surface is now available for those utilizing the graduate school directories, career encyclopedias or large format employer directories. Room to spread out without balancing on your lap. Relocated computer work stations provide immediate access to the office's many electronic resources. Check it out! Come in for a visit and stay for awhile.

The last point made here was that it is "who knows you" not "who you know". We all claim to know Barack Obama, Kate and Joe, Katie Curic, or Sarah Palin. The problem is we "know about them". We do not know them.

Let's assume that you would like to be part of a major non-profit, ngo, serving the medical needs of indigent people. Your family are all business people or teachers. You do not know people doing this type of work. If you will view networking as a process for creating people who know you, you can readily become a known talent for your targeted audience.

Networking can be viewed as simple four step process that you repeat as often as possible. Start with someone you can reach and may already know.
This allows to become comfortable with the process before you begin contacting new people. Anyone can do this if you think of it as a simple 1, 2, 3, 4.

Write the person you are targeting a letter / e-mail explaining that you are a college junior and you are very interested in learning how they became a leader in indigent health care issues. Close by indicating you will call to arrange a mutually agreeable time to meet.

Telephone as you promised and reiterate your request. Indicate that you know they are very busy and you only need a few minutes of their time. Schedule a time to meet.

Attend the meeting and ask leading questions about them. Through your questions and reflections on their answers, you will communicate about yourself. At the close of the meeting you will either request a second meeting because they have communicated a continuing desire to speak about their organization OR you will ask for the names of others that would be in a position to give additional advice and information just as they have. Do not ask both questions. Remember, you are trying to learn about them and their organization - not jobs. Most importantly, you want them to know and remember you when you walk out the door.

Sit down and write up your conversation and then write a thank you letter. Reiterate your appreciation for what they taught you. Indicate that you will quickly follow-up by contacting the inidividuals they suggested.

This is the fastest way to find an opportunity even though you never ask for one. 70% to 90% of all employment is secured through networking processes. What are you missing by not asking for advice?

If you're considering law school, come to a Law School Forum. Admission is free. At the forums you can ...

■ talk with representatives of more than 150 LSAC-member law schools from across the United States and Canada;

■ attend workshops including financing a legal education (10:30 AM), the law school application process (11:15 AM and 12:15 PM), a panel discussion
on being a lawyer (2:30 PM), forum insider tips (9:00 AM and 10:00 AM), and an LSAT overview (11:30 AM);

■ attend a panel presentation for minority applicants (10:00 AM and 1:15 PM);

■ obtain admission materials, catalogs, and financial aid information;

■ review LSAC publications and LSAT preparation materials; and

■ visit the prelaw advisors' table if you want general advice about the law school admission process.

Registration is easy. Register at the forum or avoid the wait and register online at
www.LSAC.org

Miami, FL
Saturday September 12, 2009
10:00 AM - 4:00 PM

Hyatt Regency Miami
400 SE Second Avenue Miami, FL

For directions, log on to www.LSAC.org. Forums are also held in Houston, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Washington DC, New York, Boston, Chicago, and Atlanta. For further information contact: Law School Forums Law School Admission Council Box 40 Newtown, PA 18940-0040 215.968.1001

Aides for persons with visual or hearing impairments may be available with adequate advance notice. To make arrangements, call the number above.

There is a lot of confusion about holding doors. In social situations, a gentleman opens and holds the door for a lady. But in the business world, business etiquette is gender neutral, so the one who reaches the door first - man or woman - opens and holds the door.

If you are going through the door and there is someone right behind you, pause, so the door does not swing back and flatten his or her nose. If someone holds the door for you - man or woman - the proper response is, "Thank you." If you open the door for someone and the person barks at you, "I can open the door MYSELF!" Do not be a "door boor"- do not respond with a personal attack and do not defend yourself. ("That's the way I was taught!") Simply smile and go about your way.

This etiquette tip is provided by the Culture and Manners Institute at http://www.cultureandmanners.com/.

I spent the past week in California moving my mother into an assisted living facility. My brother lives three hours away from her and I live about eleven hours away when I fly non-stop from North Carolina. As we went through all of the machinations of the move, the thought constantly presenting itself was: why don't I live closer.

If I lived closer to her, I could visit often and she would not be so lonely. I could deal with the doctors and nurses for her. We could handle the finances that have become horribly confusing for her. In general, we could make life better for her in the second half of her 80's.

While this may be a larger example, many things in life are impacted by where you live.

family

education options

employment options

weather

recreational options

cost of living

Do you love downhill skiing? Why do you live in Florida? Do you make enough money to engage in your passion for skiing? Can you find a job closer to the slopes? Powder or ice? Willing to take any job to ski for awhile? Geography can enable or limit your exercise of your passions.

There are four basic decision points in looking at options for yourself: industry, function, employer and geography. While all of these are important to good decisions, geography is often overlooked.

Sit down and look at your values. Is family high on your value list? How close will this location be to your family? Is this an acceptable distance given the other values the location may offer? Are the arts important to you? Does this location feed you desire for symphony? theatre? art?

I have been a nomad all of my life. I never lived in one town longer than six years until Davidson. California, South Carolina, Illinois, Iowa, Colorado, Washington, Indiana and North Carolina have all been my home state at least once. 18 cities or towns have been home. I have greatly enjoyed the places I have been, but, I am a nomad. The whole family has always been nomadic.

Little did I realize until last week, family is a very high value for me. It is a value not served by my current geographic location.

Pay attention to the geography of your decisions.

July 31st - Summer is passing swiftly and Fall is fast approaching.The heat feels like summer, but the news is about hurricanes, football, and harvest. Surely summer can't have already passed by while we blinked.

The media is full of discussions about the economy and the stimulus pakages. Unemployment numbers are slowing, but, still at record levels. As you look about you many are struggling to keep the jobs they have or to find a new one to replace the one they have had for years.

Combine these thoughts together and you must find a way to actively engage your future to maintain your sanity. Looking at returning to College for your final year, it is imperative that you decide to act on your behalf. Action is the only antidote to the news of the day and the quick passage of time.

We hear stories everyday of candidates being admitted to graduate school or finding a new job. The trick that they have all learned - work on your search everyday!

Sending out letters every day to any address you can find is not the way you want to stay busy. Responding to every ad you can find is not the way you want to spend your days.

You want to be working on what others have called "warm" contacts. Networking with people who have a reason to say yes to your request for advice is where you need to be investing your time. These "warm" contacts are your family, friends, classmates, faculty, college alumni, ex-supervisors, or those you might meet in a professional networking site like LinkedIn.

These are "warm" because they already know you. They have seen you preform. They share the Davidson experience. They share an interest in a particular industry, issue or problem area. These are not cold contacts. They are "warm". They will respond because of the prior connection. This is where you need to be acting.

Act! Work on your search every day. Invest in the highest yield activities and people. Network with "warm" contacts. Promise yourself to enter the Fall actively working on your own behalf!