Decorating your apartment

Photo courtesy of ikea.com

This morning I attempted to do some much needed decorating in our apt, specifically in the bedroom. Since we moved in this past September, the bedroom has left much to be desired or lacked some "flare" as some said. I used to think I had an eye for interior design. Well, I do not. I also have no skills whatsoever in hanging things on the walls or putting up curtains.

When I tried to put up the curtain rods, I was pretty set on doing it myself and not asking my boyfriend for help. Especially since he was sitting at his desk with his head buried in work. I thought I could seamlessly and quietly put them up without a problem. Ha. I may lack the skills, but more importantly I lack the height. Within 30 seconds, I managed to almost fall off the chair and the hardware went flying. So my boyfriend had to intervene. Since he was busy and had to interrupt his work to put up curtain rods, he joked that he'd do it for $30. I hope he was joking, because I'm not handing over that money.....

Ok, so the curtain rods were up and I was able to easily slide on the curtains. Presto, our room was transformed. Now for a few pieces of artwork. I know how to put some nails in the wall and hang up frames, no problem. Pat saw what I was about to embark on and he skeptically began asking me how I'm going to go about the process. "Well, I'm going to nail the picture hanger into the wall and then proceed to hang the frame on it."
"Ok, but you need to find a stud first or the nail will fall out. The stud finder is over there."

Long story short it was an hour later and I was using every other method I'd read about to find the stud, other than using the malfunctioning stud finder. I was about to give up when I called a trusted friend on the situation. They informed me, that you don't necessarily need to hang a frame right on a stud, only if it's very very heavy.
Thank goodness and with that the pictures were up. Only time will tell if they stay. And by the way, if anyone is interested in some interesting facts about wall studs, give me a call. I spent an hour researching them. grrr..

Next up, my dream is to go to IKEA and buy all the pieces in the HEMNES series...in white. SO pretty....

Working with recruiters on the job search

Have you ever worked with a recruiter or "head hunter" as they're sometimes called, while on the job search? Have you found them helpful?

I've been on the job search 2-3 times since college and my overall consensus is that they can be good for temporary work, but when it comes down to needing that full time placement, they're not exactly the best.

During my latest job search, I consulted several recruiters in my desired field of work with the thought that it couldn't hurt. It didn't hurt, but it did waste my time. Of the 3-4 recruiters that I contacted, 2 of them actually got back to me and they seemed to bark opposite opinions at me.

One told me I don't exactly have the skills that a marketing professional would look for in a candidate, the other said I did have the right skills yet suggested that I fabricate my title. "Now wait a minute, I don't think you can do that" I exclaimed as she stood very seriously in front of me. "Oh, sure you can. People do it all the time. You have to spin your resume." Somehow, her suggestion didn't strike me as spinning, but more like lying. So, after that appointment, I gave up. I decided that in a semi-healthy to healthy economy, recruiters may be able to help you with temporary work. Yet if you're looking for someone reliable to find you the permanent job of your dreams, you're better off on your own. Anyone agree or disagree?

What’s a “Tweet-Up”?

This is the response I’m likely to receive upon telling anyone who doesn’t actively use Twitter that I’m here to attend a tweet-up. (a meet-up of those who converse on Twitter) Luckily, I actively use Twitter so if there’s ever a situation when someone drops the lingo on me, I’m good to go and don’t run the risk of looking foolish.
This past Thursday evening, I attended a tweet-up that wasn’t my first, but it was the first where I had a hand in organizing the event. Back in December, I attended the Mass Conference for Women where 6,000 area women came to hear career speakers and network with each other. Being that there were so many women there, I didn’t feel that I networked in the ways I had hoped and didn’t make nearly the number of connections I was hoping for. Yet right after the event, some women started to converse on Twitter and I wrote a blog post on the event. This blog post was re-tweeted out to other users and before I knew it, I had several friends from the event that I hadn’t actually met there. I wanted to continue riding this momentum, so I suggested that we hold a post-conference tweet-up to give us a chance to meet in person and rehash the conference. A handful of women were interested and I found myself helping to plan the event and brainstorm future events for Mass Women.
Not only was I able to work with great women to make this event happen, but I also worked closely with the brains behind “Boston Tweet-Up” (@bostontweetup) a man by the name of Joselin Man who keeps an online calendar that lists Boston area tweet-ups and promotes them. When we asked him to post our event on his calendar, he gave us invaluable information on the best ways to create and promote our event. I cannot thank @JoselineMane enough!
I’m very excited to plan the next and continue to meet wonderful, smart women in the Boston area!

Change with the times or they'll change without you

A perk for being a Boston College employee allows me the opportunity to take free classes. I'm taking a Marketing course right now and I'm in the midst of writing a paper on a case study of the Levi Strauss Co. Baby boomers: remember them? They were the super cool jeans you wore out on the town when you were a kid. Well, after researching this case study, I found out why the cool factor didn't stick with the jeans through the 90's and into the 21st century. The Levi Strauss company didn't change with the times. Therefore, the times up and changed without them. The baby boomers became parents and "mommy jeans" were about as cool as hangin' with your mom on a Friday night. Secondly, the level of variety that Levi's offered was slim. The new generation wanted choices. What did all this mean for Levi's? Their branding took a turn for the worst and so did their sales.

History does tend to repeat itself as today there are similarities with companies who aren't changing with the times, the social media times that is. If you're reading this blog, you're most likely in the know of the social media world and it's aggressive impact on business today. Yet we live with such a span of generations, the social media knowledge can be far different between the 20 somethings and the 50 somethings in the work force. So what's the consequence of someone who's out of the loop on social media yet trying to market their business effectively? Well, for all intensive purposes, the consequence is most likely lower visibility and lower profits. We need to go where the customers are, and they aren't the eyes in front of a magazine or ears next to a radio. Chances are, they are at a computer screen on Facebook, YouTube or Twitter. The many companies who have been able to embrace this fact have done well and will continue to do well. Those who refuse to get on board may face an imminent downfall. (unless of course their only clientele also refuses social media) What are some of your favorite brands and products out there? Try googling them and see where they come up. Do they have a facebook page and a twitter account? If the answer is yes, you can bet they'll be sticking around for a while! Ahh, back to paper writing I go, but thank you for allowing me to think out loud.

How many contacts on LinkedIn do you have?

I was reading a post on Graduated Learning's blog the other day regarding LinkedIn contacts and how many is too many. So, how many is too many or is there such a thing?

It all depends on how you use LinkedIn and how you benefit from your contacts. I'm of the school of thought that says you should only connect with people with whom you've had enough correspondence with that should your name be dropped, they would know who you are. I have a handful of contacts who I barely know and haven't actually had a real conversation with. While it's rude to turn down a connection invite, is there a point to connecting with people you hardly know? For instance, several weeks ago I was researching a company I was interested in applying to for a job. I noticed a friend of mine is connected to an employee there so I asked for an introduction. My friend's response was that she doesn't really know this person and they probably wouldn't remember her should she contact her. So, I can't help but wonder how that's helpful.



Insight?

My day at The Mass Conference for Women

Image courtesy of Mass Conference for Women

I'm home from the Mass Conference for Women which was held at the Convention Center today in downtown Boston. I went in early this morning, as many mass women did, not knowing exactly what I would get out of it. I left satisfied and with a renewed sense of optimism and confidence in myself, my life and my career. Now I just hope that elated feeling lasts!

The Highlights from my point of view:

1) Tory Johnson: A NYT best-selling author, CEO and GAM contributor, her career advice is up there with Oprah in my opinion. I found her inspirational, yet down to earth and reachable at the same time. When she was done speaking, she wasn't whisked away in some limo, but I was actually able to talk with Tory at her booth later on in the day, letting her know how in awe she left me. She asked her audience "When was the last time you felt like a rock star?" You can do what you love and you should. So many women, myself included, get down and out about our achievements and feel that we'll never make our dreams come true. If anything, we'll settle for a life that is just ok. But we don't have to. Find what makes you happy and go do it! If you don't know of her or her organization Women for Hire, go look her up! She is a great motivator.

2) Suze Orman: I didn't go in being a huge fan of the financial genius, and to be honest, all I could think of when her name was thrown out was the SNL parody they do on her (which is quite funny) I must say I was a bit star struck when she spoke and I found her to be quite inspirational as well. Not just in the money field, but she encouraged us as women to reach for our dreams and told us the "only thing stopping you is you".

3) Marcus Buckingham: Oprah's career guru was only so many feet from me today as I listened to his awesome speech on life and "living your strongest life" He's got great data to back up his claims, so definitely check him out and his book!

4) Brittany Bergquist: Haven't heard of her? That's probably because she's only 19 years old yet has done more for the world than most women twice her age. When she was 13, she and her younger brother saw a news segment about a solider in Afghanistan who rang up a cell phone bill that equaled about $18,000. He was trying to keep in touch with his family and lent his phone to fellow soldiers for the same reason. She felt for the soldier and consequently created the non-profit Cell Phones for Soldiers which has now received over $2 million dollars in donations and over 500,000 prepaid calling cards to soldiers overseas. You go girl!

All in all, I may not have left with good concrete job interviews or contacts, but I feel inspired and sometimes that's all you need. Looking forward to next year!

Are you ever done working on your resume?

How many of you would say you are continually working on perfecting your resume? Do you ever find a point where you think it's perfect?

I've found in the last few years that while looking for a job, my resume goes through so many revisions and not only do I end up with several different versions, but after sending it to employers, I continually update and re-work. The work of making it better is never done!

I've also found that asking for help from family, friends and professionals can sometimes be more than I hoped for. In the end, even if it's perfect, there will always be someone who has a different idea of how it should look. The same is true with employers. No matter how hard you work, there will always be some hiring manager who feels it isn't presented in the way they'd like.

To prevent yourself from over-dosing on resume advice, start with a few people, maybe one friend and one professional. Then put it down for a few days and look back when you have a fresh set of eyes. You can only work so hard, and if you allow an opinion from everyone, you will be glued to your desk forever!

What do we think about this?