The Job Hunt #SASearch

Created in March of 2015 – sorry for the posting delay 🙂

I’m writing this while putting off doing homework, but I’ll basically be distracted by anything to put that off in my last semester of grad school. I vaguely remember senioritis as an undergrad, but it was more that I wanted to do anything but homework and never wanted to graduate. In grad school, I am so anxious for this experience to be over, and start the next phase of my professional life that I apply to a job every weekend, which I know was a round about way to get to the actual topic of this post – the #SASearch (Student Affairs Search for my less internet savvy followers).

It’s about crunch time for me as graduation is just under 60 days away (but who’s counting?). I have been applying to jobs since December and currently have about nine application out, and I thought I would share a few nuggets of expertise that I have gained throughout the last three months. These five quick tips are by no means the only things you can do to help you through this process, but these were definitely the most helpful things that I did to manage this daunting task:

1. Keep track of everything! I created a spreadsheet with information like the school I’ve applied to, the specific department, the job title, the contact person, the estimated salary, the date I applied and finally a link to the job description. I also make sure to save files with my last name, first name, institution and job title, which helps when I’ve created specific resumes and cover letters for each position that I will want to refer back to when/if I move to the next process of the search.
2. Create a new cover letter each time, but a resume tweak here and there will do for similar positions. For example, I’ve applied to academic advising positions, international positions as well as campus programming positions so I try to save a few different types of my resume so that I’m not constantly redoing my it. Applying to one position is time consuming enough without starting a resume from scratch each time.
3. Follow up! If it’s been a few weeks since you’ve applied to a position and you know that the position has closed, it never hurts to send out a quick follow up email to see where they are in the search process. The worst that can happen is you find out sooner rather than later that you are no longer being considered. Trust me, a no is better than no answer at all. Limbo land is the worst part of the job search.
4. Network! Network! Network! Attending regional and national conferences can be a great way to meet fellow professionals who may consider vouching for you later on. I have never got a job where I didn’t know someone. The sad fact is something like 70% of jobs aren’t posted, so knowing people in the field you are interested in can be the surest way to get your foot in the door. Attending alumni events at conferences is also a great way to connect, since that person has the same education as you, they will have an idea of what you are prepared to handle. Even attending your undergraduate institution’s event can be a great way to connect to fellow professionals, who will come in handy even post job search.
5. Create job filters on higheredjobs.com. If you’re looking at specific regions, this is a hugely beneficial tool. Additionally, the professional organization that best fits your career goals might also have additional job search tools. For me, that was NAFSA, and I set up weekly email job alerts through them in addition to Higher Ed Jobs. Finally, specific institutions will also often have emails they send out through Human Resources, so consider looking at specific schools that you are interested in as well.

I hope those five quick tips prove helpful for you! The #SASearch, or any job hunt for that matter can feel like a daunting, overwhelming task, but know that it will come to an end, and never ever compare your timeline to someone else’s.

Post-Grad in Athens, who would have thought?

So, I’ve unexpectedly wound up back in Athens, Ohio despite desperate attempts to find employment after graduation all over Ohio and Pennsylvania. I was apparently meant to spend one more glorious year in this fairytale that is Athens, OH thanks to my old student job at the Campus Involvement Center. I must have done something seriously impressive there in the short year I worked there as an undergraduate since I’ve been asked back until May to fulfill the Campus Events Planner position. This whole thing has been an amazing experience flecked with mishaps and missteps as I keep learning how different life is as a big kid even when the real world lies in the entirely unreal world of Athens, Ohio.

Moral of the story is I’m writing this new blog www.athenspostgrad.wordpress.com – for my old fling, Backdrop Magazine, which I wrote and worked with for four years in my undergraduate career which only ended four short months ago. Needless to say, I was still feeling like I was supposed to head to 8:10 p.m. meetings every Tuesday, so we’ve found a way for me to stay involved by writing and raving and ranting about the insanity of being a post-grad employed by the University after just graduating in June. From student to staff, who would have thought?

So be sure to check out my new blog, “She Just Can’t Get Enough,” for hilarious stories of a newfound Athens townie and keep heading back here for any other content I feel like rambling about or investigating. Thanks friends! xx

My 9 Tables Experience

I first went to 9 Tables in April with my friend Cameron, who could not stop talking about how his friends were raving about the place. When I heard the cost per meal was $75, I was pretty hesitant. There is a $50 option that only serves five courses as oppose to seven but I figured if I was going to go for this experience, it was all or nothing. Still, that’s a pretty penny for a poor college student and soon to be graduate such as myself, but Cameron talked me into it, and I could not be happier that he did.

Upon entering 9 Tables I was immediately welcomed by Chef Bill Justice who was busy chopping away in his open kitchen. I was hit with aromas that already had my mouth watering, and soon I was being told to pick a seat anywhere by Bill’s mother-in-law and our waitress for the evening, Sandy Colopy. Cameron, who was already engaged in conversation with Chef Justice decided we’d sit right up close so we could see everything that was being prepared.

As we cracked open our own bottles of wine since 9 Tables is B.Y.O.B. (a definite plus for a college student) our first course of tomato and avocado salad was placed before us. I had never been served anything so beautiful before. Each tomato was arranged perfectly and contrasted the green of the avocado just so. I didn’t want to ruin it with my fork. My hunger soon won out and I was not in the least disappointed that I had destroyed Justice’s work of art. And that was just the first course.

As we continued with an onslaught of courses like carrot ginger soup and mixed green and goat cheese salad, I was worried that I wasn’t going to make it until the end. My mouth had really never tasted such richness and by course three, I had already decided it was well worth every penny of that $75. I continued to be impressed by my favorite course of the entire meal, mussels in white wine sauce with garlic crouton. I’ve had mussels before, in fact I’ve had mussels in Ireland that were plucked out of the Irish sea that day, but I have never had mussels like that. They literally melted in my mouth and practically jumped off the shell. I understand this course has become something of a signature for 9 Tables and I’m glad to see that Chef Justice continues to keep it on his menu which changes monthly. Everyone should get the chance to experience mussels prepared his way.

Cameron and I forged onward through our next course of either seared Ahi Tuna or steak (we got one of each obviously). Savory lamb chops with just the right amount of pink to not make me feel nervous became our last course before desert. Never have I ever been so blissfully full and I didn’t know how I would possibly make more room until the crème brûlée was put in front of me and I was sipping smooth French pressed coffee. I don’t know how I thought I could have passed on either of those delicacies. Chef Justice even let Cameron brown the top of his own crème brûlée

And that right there is the beauty of 9 Tables, how welcome Chef Justice and his wife, Suzanne and his mother-in-law, Sandy make you feel. Yes, the food is amazing. Yes, I’ve never experienced any culinary thing like it, but the friendliness and openness of the staff make it all the more worthwhile. During seven courses, Cameron and I wound up spending around two and a half hours at 9 Tables. There’s no way I would want to spend that much time at a stiff, snooty restaurant. The warmth not only comes from the heavenly food but the amazing people that serve and cook right there in front of you.

For more about 9 Tables, read my feature story below or go to www.9tables.athensfinedining.com

9 Tables: Fine Dining the likes of which Athens has never seen

Approaching a modest white building on North Shafer St. in Athens, Ohio is one of the top 250 gourmet restaurants in the United States according to urbanspoon.com. Welcome to 9 Tables. Enter through the draped doors into a room with only nine tables, hence the name, elegantly set with fine china and candles galore. Look to the left and owner and head chef, Bill Justice will be busy chopping away preparing one of his delicacies in the open kitchen for all customers to view.

9 Tables is a dream come true for Justice who owns and runs the small restaurant with his wife, Suzanne and Mother-in-law, Sandy Colopy. “I get to do exactly what I love to do and I get to spend time with my kids,” says Justice who quit his job as a food scientist at a half a billion dollar a year company to open his dream restaurant. He and his wife decided to make some lifestyle changes so that Justice could be a larger part of his children’s lives, Masy (11-months), Sophia (9-years) and Isabella (9-years). “I have not missed a day of my kids’ lives since Dec. 16,” says Justice.

Just how well a gourmet restaurant of this caliber would do in one of the poorest counties in Ohio was still up in the air, but it was a leap that Justice was willing to take. Spending much of his life in college towns, he understood the diverse income level that often exists in these areas but he decided that there was enough of a market for his product even in the middle of Appalachia. He and his wife, Suzanne, ate at many of the other up-scale restaurants in Athens such as Stephens, Zoe and Cutlers and ordered four courses without drinks. On average, their total per person was usually around $75, which is how they came to their price. Justice says, “we double the courses and say that’s a great deal, and the people that know what we’re doing realize it’s a value.”

And what a value it is. Since opening in January of 2012, 9 Tables has doubled its business every month. Their first night was a family and friends night where they packed the house with 36 guests who enjoyed the seven course meal for free as a sort of test run to make sure that even when things were completely packed, Justice and his wife and mother-in-law could handle it. “36 people to kind of test out and see is my grill going to catch fire? Is everything going do work when we’re really hopping? Is my mother-in-law going to go cry in the corner because she’s never served before? Is my wife going to hit somebody with something? And it went fairly well,” says Justice. The next night they had six paying customers and they’ve relied on word of mouth ever since to get people to head their way.

That is exactly how Cameron Scheetz, Ohio University Senior found out about 9 Tables. He heard through a friend at work about how delicious the food was and although $75 is a steep price for a college student budget, his friend said it was well worth every penny. “The restaurant and it’s staff were so warm and welcoming that it almost felt like eating at home with my family. The only difference is that my mom is nowhere near the culinary genius of Chef Justice. That man is a food wizard, “ said Scheetz.

Scheetz is not alone, out of 24 diner reviews on urbanspoon.com, only one was negative. 9 Tables depends on the positive reviews of its patrons to ensure that they keep coming back as well as to gain new customers. “It’s incredible and it’s a testament to how vocal the people are who come here and experience it are. We have not courted any attention at all. You’ve never heard an ad from us because we don’t do it. I’m just quiet, I do my thing and people tell their friends,” says Justice.

People tend to keep talking about their time at 9 Tables because it really is an experience unlike any other, especially unlike any other in Athens, Ohio. No one sits and devotes hours and hours to dinner in America, which is why Justice talks about how his restaurant is based off of a very European outlook. He came up with the idea to make such an extended dinner because it really allows his customers to connect with whomever they chose to bring whether that be a husband, brother, girlfriend or mother. He and his wife experienced this many times. When they would try to go on a typical date like dinner and a movie Justice felt like they were constantly rushing from one thing to the next and never had even a moment to find out about each others day. So, he began cooking long drawn out meals for them at home as opposed to going out and this is what he wanted to bring to his restaurant.

Justice is also very concerned with presentation. He loves the aesthetic aspects of the culinary arts. “I plan our menu on what I can present to someone that will look really cool,” says Justice. Each course presents a new color scheme to the customer. The 9 Tables experience not only awakes the sense of taste, but makes visual appeals as well.

Justice has created a very unique experience in the middle of a small college town in Appalachia. His dream continues to become much more than he ever could have hoped for and old patrons and new customers alike continue to be impressed by his creation.

For a look inside 9 Tables, check out my slideshow by clicking on the image to the right.

PMA is ever expanding

In my final critique of prettymuchamazing.com, I can not believe that I am still finding new features and innovative techniques that were not there just eight weeks ago when I began these critiques. I noticed upon visiting the website today that a new feature is now available in the right sidebar which usually features links to PMA’s social media and their top album choices etc. It now also includes an area called On Deck, which shows album pictures that correlate to the most recent stories written about each album. I really enjoy this feature, because not only does it save me from scrolling through a lot of stories, but it creates a pretty cool visualization.

I clicked on the today’s most recent post, “Review: El-P – Cancer for Cure,” and was hit with yet another new feature. In the bottom corner of the story appears a small pop up box which indicates similar stories that a reader might be interested in. This used to be available at the bottom of the story, but this once again saves me the effort of scrolling, and  the added convenience of seeing this immediately on the page.

I have really enjoyed following PMA for these past eight weeks. Overall, I think it is an excellent website who has created quite a name for itself among the niche music audience it appeals to. It has been able to do this through consistently excellent music reviews, staying true to its roots, while continue to expand into music news, festival lists, and quite a repertoire of MP3’s. PMA will continue to be one of my top-visited sites even after this last critique.

PMA still does what they do best, Review.

Prettymuchamazing.com started out as a music blog which simply reviewed new music. It has expanded dramatically since then to include lots audio, mp3, news and even some video. However, they still stay true to their roots, and are still capable of producing an outstanding music review.

In the review of Beach House’s new album, Bloom, Chris Barth, regular PMA contributor, sets and excellent stage for his review of his first paragraph. From those last two sentences in the opening paragraph, “The dream pop duo has recorded an album that is spotless from start to finish, an unquestionably beautiful collection of songs. But man, does it sound familiar,” I know exactly where Barth stands.

The rest of the review backs this statement and I leave agreeing with the reviewer. Although I love Beach House, I find that their latest album sounds like much of the same, and they’ve done little to expand their sound.

In my last few critiques, I have talked about some changes I have been noticing on the website, but I am happy to say that everything seems to be back to normal. Under the About section, the founder of the blog is listed as well as regular contributors. PMA has also added a handy new top bar which stays with you as you scroll down the site, which is helpful since on the home page more and more stories appear as you scroll. This bar now features the headers, Reviews, MP3, Audio, News, Video and Search.

I think this a great feature and I love that PMA is still expanding and trying to make the navigation of their website ever easier. I believe this is the reason their website remains so successful.

 

Ohio University Support Agencies

Ohio University offers many different support agencies, but how many students really take advantage of them? According to the 2011 Clery Act Compliance Report put together by the Ohio University Police Department, the university offers over ten different kinds of support agencies, not including various student organizations. These agencies range from counseling and psychological services to legal resources, but are students even aware that some of these programs exist?

Cameron Scheetz, senior Journalism major, says, “I think it’s great that the university provides these services, however I have never really taken advantage of them, but I’m sure the people who need these kinds of programs are easily able to seek them out.”

Whether students want to or not, many will encounter O.U. Judiciaries now known as the Office of Community Standards and Student Responsibility, but they often don’t realize that there is much more than just discipline going on in this office. They also offer a medical emergency assistance program, but many students simply think of them as OU’s version of the court system.

Ashley Cappellazzi, senior visual communications major, says, “As a former R.A. it was hard to get across that Judiciaries is actually here as a resource to students.”

That seems to be a common theme among many of these support programs offered by the university. However, Coordinator of Campus Activities, Brian Heilmeier, says “I think that the students who require these resources are able to easily access them and utilize their services.”

PMA Gives Tour News

Once again, prettymuchamazing.com has got me my music news first. I saw this post first via PMA’s twitter. PMA announced that Grimes, Diplo and Skrillex will be touring together this summer across Canada on the Full-Flex Express Tour.

This post was extra enlightening to me because it showed me how broad of a reach PMA really has. I never realized that their network would extend to Canada, but it obviously does if it feels the need to write about a Canadian tour. I have to say, I was also a little disappointed because I would have loved to attend this tour, but soon found that it was only happening in Canada.

PMA does a good job of utilizing art in this post. They’ve posted the official poster for the tour as well as YouTube video featuring one of the headlining artists, Grimes.

After linking to PMA’s twitter in this post, I decided to do some more digging around their twitter account. I noticed that they often just tweet the name of a post and a link, which seems to work out since they post new content so frequently. However, I like twitter accounts to be a little more dynamic and personable. I like that they are constantly getting me to their site since that helps boost their traffic, however I think they could do more to be a little more dynamic in their tweets.

 

The 12th Annual Mom’s Walk for a Cure

University Program Council at Ohio University hosted their annual Mom’s Walk for a Cure this past Saturday during the university’s mom’s weekend. The event had quite a lot to live up to since last year’s event raised over $13,000 placing it in the top 20 fundraisers for the Susan G. Komen Foundation. This year’s Mom’s Walk seemed up to the task with over 700 attendees who made their way to Ping Center on Saturday morning.

UPC’s University Events Executives, Emma Clark and Sara Monastra, were proud of their event. It’s something they’ve been working on all year, even organizing a Think Pink Week back in the fall to kick off the fundraising process. Emma said, “We do a lot of different fundraisers throughout the year to raise all this money. We’ve had great support from the university and the students and their families.” Their hard work seems to have paid off, although final numbers of how much they actually raised won’t be rounded up until later this week.

Mothers and daughters and sons and even fathers showed up in their light-pink shirts around 9:00 a.m. to show their support for breast cancer research. UPC had organized various activities before the walk kicked off including different raffles and donation opportunities as well as a free photo booth. A stage was also placed in the main  gymnasium where the student organization, Tap Cats, danced their way across the stage. The women’s a capella singing group, Title IX also performed.

An Ohio University faculty member, Lisa Kamody, was the speaker at this year’s walk. She shared her inspiring story of survival and thanks right before participants traipsed out into the damp morning. Despite the rain, everyone’s spirits were high after such an encouraging talk. The rain took note and faded away about half way through the two mile walk.

Mom’s Walk participant and OU senior, Bethany Cook said, “The rain didn’t put a damper on the event this morning. It was still a great event to share with my mom.”

Click HERE for a video featuring a short interview with event coordinators and a blurb from Lisa Kamody’s speech.

PMA does video… sort of.

I have been following prettymuchamazing.com for over a year now and have been looking at it critically for the last six weeks and am somehow still surprised by new content. I don’t know if this something that I just have missed for the last year but I am loving the “Did You See That? Videos of the Week” feature.

In this feature, PMA highlights their favorite videos of the week from late night TV and online performances. I like this feature because not only does it catch me up on some great performances that I might have missed during the week, but this week’s highlighted videos also featured a portion of President Obama on the Jimmy Fallon Show. Once again, PMA is broadening their reach by engaging me in content past their typical reviews of music.

I also like the brief description at the top of each video. It goes along with the concepts we have been learning in my online journalism class that video should add to a story not repeat information. Each brief description simply gets me acclimated to what I am about to view. Luis Tovar, PMA contributor, also adds some witty opinions to each description such as when he introduces a Thom Yorke and Nigel Godrich video. He says, “so far it sounds like the first half of The King of Limbs having an extremely fitful epileptic seizure.”

As far as my concerns from my last critique that PMA may have undergone some ownership changes. Their website background has returned to its typical layout with only simple ads on the sidebars, however, their about page still remains less transparent without a list of contributors. I have not really noticed any change in content, so as long as PMA still remains the music news blog I go to most, then I really don’t care who has taken over ownership.