April 30th! Berkeley College Graduation!

I know I'm a little late but I just send a bunch of emails and voicemails reminding everyone and their mom about GRADUATION DAY!

That's right. G-R-A-D-U-A-T-I-O-N! I started creating my playlist and figuring out what shoes to get that'll match the gown. *wink*

I have a few co-workers graduating with me (I'm talkin to you, Juan Torres!). I promised I would give him a shout-out.

In a seriousness, this is one of those life defining moments. Walking up to that stage and having a whole stadium cheer for 4 years of hard work...I can just imagine the feeling!

Clean Up Your Name

"Vanessa Gomez...is waking up in the morning feelin like P.Diddy."

Google your name..your full name. What do you find?

This is one of the first things you should do when starting off your job hunt. Not only will it ensure a squeeky clean "googlability"but, it'll remind you to delete some old accounts you may have forgetted about.

For example, I had a podcast back in high school. I completely forgot about it. I also had a webcam chat account. Totally forgot. It took me about an hour and a half to remember all the passwords and delete the accounts.

Think about this. Do you really want a potential employer to see your status updates? Even it you publicly announce your vices, its still a bad thing to update between the hours of 9a-5p. Then your boss-to-be may think you're always online. Not needed.

Instead of "harvesting your crops" on Farmville or answering Tweets or "Tumbl-ing", amp up your LinkedIn! Google my name and my LinkedIn pops up on the very first page.

This is totally necessary if you're going for a job that's up with the internet times. If the company has different online platforms (website, twitter,myspace, etc.), this is a MUST.

I'm not suggesting you call up your internet provider and cut yourself off from the world. Just keep it clean, kiddos.

And if you absolutely cannot let go of the crazy status updates and photos from last weekend's parties,....use your nickname!

Article to Check Out:

More Employers Use Social Networks to Check Out Applicants

The Scary Plunge into Job Hunting

Happy February, everyone. After that epic storm we had last week, Verizon finally came around to fixing my internet access. I got my wireless back! (High Five!) Now, I can share my ~job hunt~ experience with everyone!

In the beginning of the year, I made it a point to excel in my career. I will admit that I did get comfortable once I picked up my diploma. I fell into the "eh..I'm done" sandtrap a lot of post-grads fall into. I had my degree and my job. But, as my generation is so known for, I wanted more! I felt that I had done everything that I could do at my former job. It was a great job that gave me excellent skills and experience. I just felt it was time for me to test out the waters in other industries.

I interned and worked in Entertainment for almost a year. It was fantastic. I got to meet and even assist in managing musical artists. I even got to travel around the Caribbean. All that was great. The only tough part were the hours. Sunrise to sunset, pretty much. Since I'm planning on going to Graduate School, I felt that I HAD to find something a little more 9-5 without so much traveling.

Hence, I gave in my two weeks in mid-January.

Two weeks later, I started at my new job. Steady hours, good pay, and coverage! The best thing is that its a 5 minute bus ride from my house. How's that for hitting the jackpot!

I can contribute my easy find to a couple of factors. I'll be dedicating the next couple of posts to some key components to job hunt success. I'm not saying I'm a pro but I did take the points given at Berkeley and applied them to real life.

It'll be a Wednesday thing. Tomorrow, except the first post: Online Clean-Up. All about making your google-ability squeaky clean.