Sunday, October 2, 2011

companies/ artist's job/ job essay

Sept. 27 Companies: At the career fair, I learned about all these companies I've never heard of before.

Champion Petfoods: There's one in Edmonton and Morinville. I didn't know about this company because I don't own any pets so I wouldn't have bought pet food at all.

Hria.ca: Have you ever heard of Human Resources Institute of Alberta? It's located in Calgary. It's all about HR people like Certified Human Resources Professional (CHRP) and students taking Human Resources Management.

CAPS: I got this also at the U of A. It stand for Career Services for Graduate Students and Postdoctoral Fellows. It even has this "Mock Interview". You give them your resume, cover letter, what position you're interviewing for. They will create questions in the interview that will seem as appropriate and real as possible. It can be taped and saved on a CD for you to keep and watch.

It's $20 for students and recent graduates within the last 8 months. $40 for others. I kind of got free career advice from my friends. Like that time I said the questions and answers I gave at interviews, and told them to my friend Jessica, who then gave me tips on what I should say.

CPRS: I signed up to get Canadian Public Relations Society with these job postings that needs someone with an education in Communications like I do. The job postings are looking for people with experience, but I did bookmark the companies that are hiring.

Arise: I got this email from Jobserve.com about Arise. It's about working from home. There are a lot of work-at-home scams out there, so I'm wary of them. You can check out the website:

http://www.arise.com/index.php

Jewelry stores: I was talking to one of my friends on Facebook and she said she got a jewelery store and she gets paid a base wage, with 1% commission for everything she sold. She said she sold $2000 worth of things in 3 weeks. I then went and did the math and it's $20. I guess that will be put on one paycheck.

I did do an interview at Pandora jewelery store, and they said base wage with 2% commission. I did talk with Sport Check and Urban Behavior back in 2006 and they said that it's either your paycheck or 100% commission. Whichever is higher, they will give you the money. Like say you sold $100, but you worked for 20hrs at $9.40/hr. The paycheck would be $188, so they will give you that.

Grant Thorton: This is an accounting firm in Canada. I did go to the site and you can vote which charity gets $10,000 and you can win a free iPad2.

http://www.grantthornton.ca/careers/makeadifference

Nextgen.org: This is mainly for teens and it's about the RAP program. It stands for Registered Apprentice Program for teens who want to get into trades.

http://www.nextgen.org/

Sept. 28 Artist's job: I got this flashback a few days ago. It was in 2001 and I was a teenager reading the teen magazine YM. They interviewed this artist who was making: "$15,000/yr. (She lives very cheaply)." I saw her paintings and they're really good. There are a lot of people who don't sell their artwork. I was 15 back then and I didn't know the cost of living.

Now I'm 26, and I have all these questions: "How does she live really cheaply? Does she live with her parents, boyfriend, friends? Welfare? What city does she live in to be able to afford to live like that?"

I would tell her: "Get a second job." There are a lot of people out there who have day jobs that make a living, and their creative/ art job is on the side.

Second jobs: I'm also now getting a flashback of the old reality show Joe Millionaire. It talked about the guy Evan who pretends to be a millionaire, but is really a construction worker making $19,000/yr. I did read an interview and there were pics of him modeling, because that was his 2nd job to make ends meet.

I was watching a little bit of Chinese TV news because my grandma was watching it. There's a bit about a 23 yr old white woman who works 3 jobs to get 60-70hrs to be able to live in Vancouver.

Job essay: I found this in the Globe and Mail life section. It's called "My short-lived door-to-door career" by Marc Thompson. I can relate to parts of the essay. He said he was 18 and answered an ad that said: "Talented, motivated people wanted to join an expanding marketing team! Get paid up to $60,000 a year!"

Me: That sounds like some of those job ads I find on Kijiji.

He goes to this room with teens and retirees. As soon as they were told to be selling things to get people to change their long distance carriers, lots of people groaned. People got up and left. Lots of people over 25 got up.

Then each person was interviewed. He was told by the interviewer about how he has 3 piles of resumes; 1 pile to definitely hire, 1 pile maybe hiring, and 1 pile don't hire. Thompson was in the maybe pile, but he will be hired. A teen with ripped jeans and t-shirt also got hired. Thompson asks him if he got hired, and he did and was told about the piles of resumes.

Me: That reminds me of an interview I did at Abercrombie and Fitch last year. I was with 5 teenagers being interviewed, and they were wearing jeans and t-shirts. But I know this store is not a job scam.

Back to the essay, the employees had to pay $60 for the promotional package. You sell $20 package door-to-door and if you make 3 sales, you get your money back. The pros were people were too polite to swear at your face unlike telemarketing. The cons were the anger and pity you can see in their eyes as they close the door on you.

He made one sale to a college professor who asked him why he wasn't in college. Thompson then quit after that. When someone comes to his door to sell something to him, he doesn't buy anything.

Me: I did an interview for a door-to-door sales, but it was one-on-one interview without a group of a people in a room. I didn't get a call back.

Sept. 29 Bank: The other day I got a call from a bank to do a phone interview. I did a phone interview before with them months ago, and didn't get the job. They were supposed to call me yesterday and they didn't.

Sept. 30 Job articles: I was going through my old Marie Claire's that my sister gave me, and I notice that the "work life" section didn't appear until 2008. I know Glamour and InStyle don't have anything about careers.

I went to Cosmopolitan and there's a article: "Three signs you could be canned:"

http://www.cosmopolitan.com/advice/tips/three-signs-that-show-you-are-about-to-be-fired?click=cos_new

I should really look for job articles in the business section of the newspapers, and job sites.

Oct. 1 Blockbuster: I read in the newspaper that 253 Blockbuster stores in Canada are closing down. I did read that other video stores have increased in profits by 10% because they're picking up all the business when Blockbuster closed down.

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