Tag Archives: Job Search

Quit Playing Games…

No, but seriously, quit playing games with my heart.

Dear scammers who send “job scam” e-mails to Boston University students, DON’T. A couple of days ago, I received this e-mail from College of Communication Career Center.

Subject: Beware of email employment scams

Body: Please be aware that there are a number of recent email scams that are targeting BU students. We are aware of most of these scams and have alerted the BU Police Department. If you receive a suspicious email stating that a company received your resume from “university/college career services”, and is asking for personal or financial information, do not respond! The BU Police Department has asked that all suspicious messages be forwarded to them.

Really? I personally have not received any e-mail offering me a job in exchange for my personal financial information, but simply thinking about the fact that someone out there has the guts to send out scam e-mails disguised under prospect of a job…

Imagine, you go to your inbox – usually my first stop in the morning – and you see an e-mail saying something about a job. Obviously you get excited. You open up the e-mail with extremely high hopes, only to be crushed 5 seconds later when the e-mail actually asks you for strange information, clearly indicating it is NOT a potential employer.

Devastating.

Especially as a senior with only a couple of months left in college, “job search” is an extremely sensitive topic. In this economy, trying to stay positive about post-grad life is hard. With so much uncertainty ahead of us, we do not need yet another scammer trying to take advantage. Definitely not.

All seniors out there, don’t fall for scams and keep your hopes up. We will ALL be hired soon enough… Soon enough…

Life of a Second Semester Senior

First, sincere apologies for not updating Yooj(in)Boston in WEEKS. Although I shouldn’t make any excuses, in my defense, nothing happened over winter break, and since my return to Boston, from sorority recruitment to 1,000 pages of reading – NOT exaggerated, my life desperately needed some sort of time off.

With that said, something called “graduation” has crept up ever so quietly. About four months from now, I’ll have to walk across the stage in a red gown to receive my diploma, call Boston University my “alma mater” and lose by ycho@bu.edu e-mail address. Yikes.

I am about 80% sure I’m looking forward to graduation. Past two summers, I have gotten a little taste of “real life…” Lovely 9-5 work hours, a steady income and no homework. After all, 16 years in school catalyzed some hatred toward readings, homework assignments and tests.

On the other hand, though, can’t I just stay in school FOREVER? No?

The idea of having to find a job, especially in my industry – TV reporting, is honestly extremely daunting. Oh, and having to leave Boston. I moved here from Plano, TX when everyone else from my high school went a “great distance” to University of Texas in Austin or University of Oklahoma. Sure, at first, living in Boston was a struggle. But now, I absolutely love it.

So here’s to our last semester in college, and in honor of the very last semester ever, some of my goals..

LOVE ON BOSTON.

Well, obviously. There is so much to do in Boston, and even after living here for a good chunk of my life, I feel like I haven’t done everything that the city has to offer. I haven’t even gone skating on the Frog Pond yet!

MAKE MY OWN WEBSITE – UNDER MY OWN DOMAIN.

Well, this is a more generic life goal. As an aspiring, journalist, it’s quite essential for me to have a professional website where all my work can live. I promise, an awesome website coming very soon.

TAKE ADVANTAGE OF STUDENT PERKS.

Student discounts… Cheap movie tickets at the GSU… Sympathy interview from prestigious professionals because you’re a student reporter… The list goes on.

ENJOY SPRING BREAK.

VEGAS, VEGAS, VEGAS! Enough said. Once the “real world” comes around, no more taking a week off for a nice little vacation in LA & Las Vegas.

WEEKEND TRIPS – NY ANYONE?

Going along with the idea of randomly taking days off for fun things, weekend trips!

GET HIRED!

Kind of obvious, isn’t it? Someone please please please hire this entry-level on-air and multimedia reporter!

Just Get Me to the BEACH ALREADY!

Happy Summer!!! With the start of a much-awaited summer vacation comes the stress of finding internships and jobs. Especially after a semester abroad, I have much of restore-my-bank-account mission to complete – and may I add, that needs to be done AS SOON AS POSSIBLE. In the end, despite all the cool things that come with summer – sun, beach, free time, friends, etc., sometimes the first couple weeks of summer comes down to this: (Yikes!)

(picture courtesy of washingtonjobpost.com)

Luckily, I managed to secure a part-time internship with CBS TV in Boston and a part-time office job with BU’s School of Management for weekdays. Quite sadly, though, building up the résumé and learning to be a journalist come at a high cost. Well, actually, absolutely none. My wonderful internship that I’m very much looking forward to is unpaid, which leaves me with 21 hours of actual paid work. True, it will pay my summer rent and fill up my fridge, but what about my pathetic checking account? Ahhhhhhhhhhhh!

NEED A THIRD JOB!

For the time being, since I sit in front of my laptop for endless hours (thanks to certain boredom caused by just being home), I started looking up some part-time job opportunities. Consequently, I found some cool ways to receive suggestions and ideas for some extra sources of income.

1. BU STUDENTLINK: If you’re a BU student, just go through the Job Board & Quickie Job listings. Surprisingly BU keeps a massive list of babysitting, office assistant, gardening, tutoring and such opportunities. I am currently in contact with a nice lady looking for a babysitter. Hope it works out!

2. Twitter: Sounds silly, but if you use the hashtag and just post a little shout out for help, someone will @reply to you. i.e. “Still looking for a job in #Boston – #Babysitting, #Writing #Freelance. Ideas?” Works like magic.

3. Freelancer.com: Courtesy of an @reply tweet, I discovered this website that allows you to bid on different projects. You can choose from categories, such as WordPress, Twitter, Facebook, Article Writing, Copywriting, and bid on a project you’re interested in doing. It doesn’t guarantee you that job, but at least gives you a chance to browse many freelancing jobs, and who knows, you might be that lucky winner who gets $250 to update a Twitter account.

4. Elance.com: Same idea as above. I thought Freelancer.com was a bit easier to navigate though.

5. Donanza.com: Complies all the jobs posted on Freelancer, Elance and many more of same kind. You can search for other jobs, too – Graphic Design, Brochure Design, Website Building.

Go ahead and give it a try!