Kristyn

Standing Out In Interviews with George Costanza

I was watching Seinfeld the other day and it was the episode where George Costanza has his interview for the New York Yankees. I found it quite funny because he does everything that you are basically told not to do in an interview. He uses a very laid-back and unprofessional conversational style, he is wearing non-professional clothes, he explains why he quit his previous job in a negative light, he didn’t shake the boss’s hand, he critiqued everything the organization stood for, and is the complete opposite of every applicant that applied for the job. Ironically enough, he ends up getting hired. Although George Costanza had a horrible interview, you can actually learn from him. Now, I am not saying to act how he did in interviews, in fact I encourage you to do the complete opposite. What I am saying is that you need to stand out from the other applicants. Obviously your competition will be emphasizing the same qualities as you might be, so you need to think critically about how stand out from the other applicants. Make yourself memorable in your interview, just not the way that George did. Also, the only reason why George got hired after a horrible interview was based on the fact that Seinfeld is a hilarious TV show – and unfortunately not real life.

What Do You Want To Be When You Grow Up?

As a child you were always asked, “What do you want to be when you grow up?” Well guess what? I am currently 20 years old and I am still asking myself the same question. But now instead of, “What do you want to be when you grow up?”, the question has changed to, “What do you want to be in a couple of years?”

I always thought that coming to university would provide an answer to that question, but unfortunately that is not always true. I have learned that university is a time to find yourself and explore many different career opportunities that interest you. Laurier is not just a place of education, it is a place of self-discovery and it offers many resources to help you find the perfect fit. A lot of those resources can be found at the Career Centre; they offer personality and interest assessments and many hard copy and online resources to assist with your career research.

Start your self-discovery now by booking an appointment with a Career Consultant at http://www.navigator.wlu.ca. Don’t worry if it takes you longer than you hope to find a certain career that you are completely committed to, everyone arrives at that decision at their own pace.

Fun Study Tips

I love university, the atmosphere, the people, even the classes, but the one thing that is not the most exciting that you have to do at university is studying and career planning. They both seem boring and take up a large portion of all your days here at Laurier. If you are like me and dread studying and career planning, then take a look at my favourite tips that I have found are the most successful for keeping me motivated to study and career plan:

1.Reward yourself. Set goals each time you study and reward yourself when you complete it. Give yourself a gummy bear every time you finish reading a paragraph and give yourself a chocolate bar every time you finish an informational interview.

2.Make yourself laugh. When is the last time you laughed when you were stressed out? Laughing is a stress reliever and it calms you down when you are nervous!

3.Use scents. I once read somewhere that if you study (either for school or for an interview) while wearing a certain scent (i.e., lotion, perfume, hairspray, etc) and then put that scent on again while writing the test or doing the interview; it will help your brain use association to remember what you were studying.

4.Don’t ignore your stomach! If you have a full stomach then it will make you sleepy, whereas if you have an empty stomach then all you will focus on is how hungry you are and not what you are studying or researching a company.

Hopefully these tips will help you during your studying and career planning endeavors. Remember these are just motivators and tips, in order to actually achieve success you still need to put time and effort into further research! Good luck on the rest of your semester, you can do it!

It’s Never Too Late to Start – But Now Would Be Good!

While Jess talked about it never being too early to start your career planning, it is also never too late! The point is that you start, and that ‘start’ is coming to the Career Centre.
There are many resources to help you discover careers that match up with your personality and interests. The Career Centre features a useful career planning workshop, a diverse lending library, and a knowledgeable team of consultants who are there to help you succeed.

As the saying goes, “better late than never.” That is especially true for career planning. Even if you are in your last year of study and have no idea what to do after life at Laurier, the reality is you have 40+ years remaining in your career and you want to make sure it begins on the right foot, and that right foot is beginning your planning and career exploration process…now.

Hello World! I’m Only 20!

By: Kristyn Mott, Peer Advisor

With my birthday just a week ago, I have had a lot of time to reflect on my life. Wow, I am no longer a teenager! Ahhhh! 20 years old seems so much older than 19 and it is no different than 19 was to 18, but nonetheless, I feel like I just took a major step forward when in reality I would much rather take a giant step back. I am not ready to face the real world yet and I would much rather just stay at Laurier for 10 more years (don’t worry, I actually won’t because that is way too expensive).
The older I get the closer I get to leaving school and entering the workforce, and honestly that thought scares the crap out of me! We are told that we are the future of this country, but how can I be the future if I can barely force myself out of bed in the morning! We are told in university to start thinking about the rest of our lives. What we do now affects our future and our kid’s future. To that I want to yell, “Hello World! I’m only 20 and I have no idea what I want to do for the rest of my life, leave me alone”. “
It is hard to think that the actions you take now can affect how you live tomorrow. One relief that I have found in this tornado of life – is that I am not alone. There are many other students going through the exact same struggles that I am, and the University offers many resources to help us all float back to safety. Among those resources, is a giant resource called the Career Centre. They have helped me so much finding out who I am and what type of jobs might be of interest to me based on my interests, personality and major. Although I still freak out time to time about which direction my life is going to take, I have found that my three years at Laurier have taught me a lot about myself and showed me that I am not alone in my struggle to find out who I am, and neither are you!

At Laurier you just need to ask for help and help will be given.