business analyst/ social skills/ library

Jul. 26 Business analyst: I do have an interest in business, and I analyze a lot.  Let's research this job.  Here's an informative article.  You have to analyze information, then test them before you implement them.  Here's the definition: "Business Analysts must analyze and synthesize information provided by a large number of people who interact with the business, such as customers, staff, IT professionals, and executives. The Business Analyst is responsible for eliciting the actual needs of stakeholders, not simply their expressed desires." http://www.businessanalyst.com/what-does-a-business-analyst-do/ I have to know what education is to get the job.  According to Wikipedia, most have an engineering or computer science background.  A friend of mine is a business analyst and took business. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Business_analyst Non-profit organizations: In 2010, when I was unemployed I was thinking of working for a charity.  I applied to some as an admin assistant.  I see that the Norwood Child and Family Resources Child and Family Resource Centre has receptionists position that pays at least $16/hr. Then I thought about that Desperate Housewives episode where Carlos is a counselor at a non-profit place, and he gets paid $12/hr.  Of course that was TV.  I guess the pay varies from place to place and the position. I found this site about being a fundraising manager.  It said "not all charity work is voluntary and unpaid." http://www.totaljobs.com/careers-advice/job-profile/public-sector-jobs/fundraising-manager-job-description I want to help people.  I can't donate to charity because I don't have enough money.  I mainly sign Amnesty International petitions, put them on my blog and Facebook, and forward it to all my friends. Jul. 27 Social skills: Today I talked to these 2 new co-workers that I didn't know very well.  One girl was working at another restaurant too.  She told them she can't work days there because she's working at our restaurant, but they keep scheduling her days.  It's in St. Albert.  She may quit that place.  I asked if she thought of working at the restaurants and stores around here, and she's thinking about it. She thinks being a dental hygienist is "cool" because you get to use all these tools and she likes biology.  Then I talked to a young woman and she said she did go to college for a year to be a medical office assistant.  Me: I have been applying to those positions and office assistant positions too. Server: I worked for a year as one a couple years back.  I got paid $11-$12/ hr.  I got bored sitting there and typing the same things and filling out the insurance papers all the time.  When I work as a waitress, I can get paid $23/hr including tips. Me: Yeah, but a server position is not as respectable as an office assistant position.  Yeah, well if you like your job and can make money, then go do it. Jul. 29: I had a similar conversation with another server who was 50yrs old.  She said she's been a server for years, and had thought of going to school to be an office assistant, but finds that being a server pays more with the tips. Phone interview: I did a phone interview earlier this week, and it's a preliminary interview before they decide who to choose to come in person.  They said they will call on Fri. if I was chosen.  I was not. Marketing consultant: I was reading a non-business article and it said someone was a marketing consultant.  I did some research.  I found this good article about the duties from a woman named Bryony Thomas. "This ranges from working out how to present their products, to getting the right marketing tools in place, to configuring a set of marketing activities to get their name out there." http://careers.guardian.co.uk/careers-blog/marketing-consultant Wikihow: On Wikihow, there is a 14 step guide.  It did say go to school and take business, but also minor in graphic design, writing, or journalism.  Well I did take graphic design and writing.  It gave the practical tip of keeping your day job and building your consultant business on the side because it takes awhile to build clients. http://www.wikihow.com/Become-a-Marketing-Consultant Consultant Journal: This is a good site because it's informative. http://consultantjournal.com/blog/become-a-marketing-consultant I have learned that to become a marketing/ business consultant, I need to take business.  Have your own consulting business is like being an entrepreneur.  There is a risk that the business won't succeed and no job security. Library: My Career Counselor told me about working in libraries.  I was going through this notepad from 2010, and it turns out I did apply as one.  I then set up an account and applied to some positions there. Now I'm thinking about the job security.  A lot of people are going digital and don't use libraries.  On About.com there was a quiz to see if you fit into the library technician role.  You have to be organized and learn certain computer programs.  It said it gets paid $29,000 a yr and $14.22/hr.  As for job security: "expected to grow about as fast as the average for all occupations through 2018." http://careerplanning.about.com/od/occupations/p/library_tech.htm Education: According to this website, to be a librarian you have to have a master's degree.  This is from the United States Department of Labor. http://www.bls.gov/ooh/education-training-and-library/library-technicians-and-assistants.htm#tab-7 I could go and take Library and Information Technology at MacEwan.  For mature students, you need to have a certificate, diploma, or degree from another post secondary institution.  Now that I think about it, this job doesn't pay very well and I'm not really interested in going to school for it.  I will work as a library assistant. http://www.macewan.ca/wcm/SchoolsFaculties/Business/Programs/LibraryandInformationTechnology/AdmissionRequirements/index.htm Jul. 29 Professional Communications: I then visited my program at MacEwan's website.  It used to be called Bachelor of Applied Communications, now it's called Communication Studies.  My major used to be called Professional Writing, now it's Professional Communications.  I did listen to the 7min. video of how Communications can change the world.  Very inspiring. http://www.macewan.ca/wcm/SchoolsFaculties/CFAC/Programs/BachelorofCommunicationStudies/AdmissionRequirements/index.htm Jul. 30 Callbacks: I got all these phone calls today.  One was from this company I applied to, but it was for their west end location instead of the downtown one so I didn't set up an interview.  Then I got a call from a Toronto number, but it was for an office job in Edmonton.  I called and left a message.  I don't know.  This has happened to me before, but for another company and I didn't get an interview.  I also got a call from an out-of-town company for a job in Edmonton.  However, I looked it up, and the Edmonton office is really far away so I didn't call back. One call was actually a scam after I looked it up.  Phone interview: I did get home and do a phone interview.  I felt there was kind of a rapport. Aug. 9 Rant: Here's a mild rant.  I was going through my 2009 agenda, and I see that I have written down this question I asked Call Centre #3 back when I worked there.  "Am I signed on for full-time?"  Yes, I was.  Then I see some of my shifts were from 3pm-9pm, and then they started cancelling them. Aug. 10 Work-life: I remember talking to my friend Angela about that Yahoo article about a bar maid who has a master's degree, but doesn't have a career in her field.  She is working constantly to save up money and lives with her parents.  Me: The lesson is to work as much as you can, and save as much as you can. Angela: That sounds kind of sad to be only about work. The thing is, if you have a career and you make a good amount of money and save your money, you're fine.  You don't have to worry.  As for me, I have to worry.  I don't have a career, but I do save my money.