Firstjob

She was 17 when she got her first job, at a Burger King. Soon after, her older married supervisor allegedly followed her around, touched her, asked her about her virginity, told her to have sex with him and other male employees, and asked how much that would cost. The young woman complained to management, but ...

A friend of mine recently landed a new job with a sports news outlet. The employer who hired him followed my friend's sports tweets on Twitter for several months and was very impressed by the sports knowledge he conveyed via his tweets. My friend was called in for an interview and hired a few days later. ...

If you're merely posting your résumé online for open positions on job sites like CareerBuilder or Indeed.com, you're not effectively job hunting. As a recent college graduate, you should be reaching out to every possible contact you can think of. Then, after you speak with your various contacts and ...

It took me less than four months of working for a major TV/Radio network in Manhattan to realize that I was headed on the wrong career path, but boy did I wish I had figured it out before taking the job. My regret? I never took the time to really sit down and weigh all of the positives and negatives of the ...

Have you ever watched the final scene of "My Cousin Vinny" starring Joe Peci and Marisa Tomei? Peci (playing Vinny, an inexperienced attorney) conveys his disappointment that other people had to help him win his murder trial. In response, Tomei's character sarcastically says to Vinny: "You know, this could be a ...

It's generally accepted and probably even assumed that as a college student, you were more often than not going to be short of cash on a regular basis. With all of the expenses that go along with a college education, it is understandable that you ended up counting your spare change to pay for a meal or two. ...

Whether it's day one, or day 101, always show initiative at work. Allow me to relate a personal story: While in college, I worked as a desk associate for one of the major TV/radio networks in New York City. I assisted the producers with phone calls to reporters and possible interview leads, gathered facts for ...

A dean of the Hofstra University School of Communication recently told me, "Your cover letter and résumé are the first things an employer sees -- and if they're not right, they're the first things an employer throws away." So, how good do YOU look on paper? ...

The interview is your one opportunity to convince the employer that you are the best candidate for the job. Don't get tripped up on questions designed to separate the good applicants from the BEST applicants. For example, here's a question I had on an interview "What would you say is your greatest weakness? ...

A reputable business website is reporting that AOL is about to expand an experiment big time. Business Insider is reporting that a community-based news website called Patch.com, which is owned by AOL, plans to expand from a couple dozen sites to hundreds across the country. Patch.com is a group of the web ...

If you're a recent college graduate, there's a good chance you're a member of the Millennial Generation (also known as Generation Y), which comprises individuals born between 1977 and 1998. I'm one of them. There are numerous qualities and phrases that are frequently used to characterize us Echo Boomers, ...

This is what Troy Tillis got out of working as a Peace Corps volunteer: a great job and a graduate degree. Tillis is a planning and performance analyst with the federal General Services Administration. He helps manage and analyze the long-term direction of a major federal agency. And he credits both the work ...

Can serving the world lead to a great job? Yes it can! In my last post, I talked about how volunteer work with federal organizations such as the Peace Corps or VISTA can help you gain job skills and contacts that will land you a job afterward, even in this tough economy. Todd Valdini provides a good example ...

As I watch the coverage of the rescue and rebuilding efforts in Haiti, it brings a lot of thoughts and emotions. Several years ago, when I was working in Miami and the military junta in Haiti was about to hand the government back to the elected president, I got sent there for a couple of weeks to help in our ...

As we help folk look for and, more importantly, get that first job, each week I am going to profile someone who beat the odds and landed a great job in this tough economy. The goal is to show you successful strategies for landing that first job. Christina Pascucci is a recent grad of USC, and is working as a ...

Everyone knows the saying "It's not what you know, it's who you know." This aphorism rings true in the business world, especially when it comes to the initial step of getting your foot in the door of a particular company or organization. Let's see, who is more likely to get the job... the well qualified applicant ...

A recent article about job trends says that the U.S. may become a nation of freelancers. While the tone of the article was gloomy, this made me think about the reasons being a recent college graduate may make it easier for you to find a job. These are my five reasons why: 1) You are not tied down: A lot of ...

Is there any good news out there for college students who are about to enter the job market? If you read most of the headlines these days, the answer is "no". But if you dig a little deeper, there are some signs of hope. The National Association of Colleges and Employers tracks hiring trends and their latest ...

There is an old adage that goes "Know Your Enemy". It means that you will do a better job of defeating an enemy if you know a lot about them. If your enemy is the other person trying to get the same job you are, then rewrite the adage to say "Know Your Company." If you have done enough legwork to get a job ...

I have always been a fan of the new-graduate advice "Get your foot in the door." By that I mean find a job in the industry you want to work in, even if it is below your expectations, and get yourself on the inside. Then, work your tail off and prove you can do a lot more than what you were hired to do, and work ...