#— one the partner had helped write cover letters for and practice for interviews.

[richmondflyingsquirrels]

actually can i have some friends who hate my ex

[ujyaloinnepal]

EmpowHER at Creating Possibilities

By Kabita Shrestha Newar

This session was all about Career Planning, Resume Writing, Crafting Impressive Cover letters, and Preparing for Interviews. One of the highlights was understanding the exact format for resumes and cover letters, something I previously struggled with. The facilitator also emphasized the importance of setting short-term and long-term goals, which has inspired me to approach my career more strategically. The interactive mock interviews with partners were both challenging and enjoyable, giving us practical experience in presenting ourselves professionally. We paired up with classmates and interviewed as if we were in a real situation.

One of the biggest takeaways for me was learning the exact format for a resume and cover letter. I used to create them randomly, but now I know how to make them impactful and professional. I was a bit sleepy during the early morning class, but the facilitator helped by changing my seat, which significantly improved my focus. That small change made a big difference, and I could do much better.

Overall, I had such an amazing time in the class. A big thank you to the Ujyalo Foundation for giving me this golden opportunity. I am grateful and can't wait to apply everything I have learned

[ajeetsgroup]

Navigating the Maze: Finding a Trustworthy Recruitment Agency in India

The International job market is a vibrant tapestry, woven with opportunities and brimming with talent. But navigating this vast landscape can be daunting, especially when searching for your dream job. Here's where recruitment agencies step in, promising to connect you with the right employers. However, with so many agencies vying for your attention, finding a trustworthy one becomes crucial. This blog delves into the key considerations and resources to help you identify a reliable recruitment partner in India.

Why Do You Need a Recruitment Agency in India?

Recruitment agencies offer several advantages to job seekers:

Wider Job Reach: Agencies have access to a vast database of job openings, often exceeding what you might find through independent searches.

Expertise and Guidance: They can help refine your resume and cover letter, offer interview preparation tips, and advise on salary negotiations.

Streamlined Process: Agencies handle initial screening and communication with employers, saving you time and effort.

Industry Insights: They possess valuable knowledge of specific industries and can connect you with relevant opportunities that align with your career goals.

The Importance of Trust:

Choosing the right recruitment agency is crucial. A trustworthy agency can make a significant difference in your job search journey. Here's why trust matters:

Transparency and Honesty: They should clearly communicate the job details, expectations, and potential career trajectory.

Ethical Practices: They should prioritize your career goals and not just push you towards any available job opening.

Focus on Skills and Qualifications: A reliable agency will focus on matching your skills and experience to suitable positions, not irrelevant factors.

Clear Communication: They should maintain open communication throughout the process, keeping you updated on your application status.

Identifying a Trustworthy Recruitment Agency:

Now that you understand the importance of trust, here are some key steps to identify a reliable recruitment agency in India:

Research and Reputation: Conduct online research to understand the agency's experience, industry focus, and client testimonials. Look for reviews on sites like Glassdoor or Indeed.

Professional Website and Online Presence: A legitimate agency will have a professional website with clear information about their services, team members, and areas of expertise.

Membership in Professional Associations: Check if the agency is a member of reputable recruitment associations like the National HR Development Network (NHRDN) or the Association of Professional Staffing Companies (APSC).

Focus on Your Needs: During initial contact, assess the agency's understanding of your career goals and desired job type. They should ask relevant questions and tailor their approach to your specific needs.

Transparency in Fees: Understand their fee structure upfront. Legitimate agencies usually work on a retainer model with employers, not charging job seekers directly.

Beware of Unrealistic Promises: Be wary of agencies promising "guaranteed jobs" or asking for upfront fees for resume writing or interview coaching.

Additional Resources:

Government Websites: The Ministry of Labour and Employment website can offer insights into recruitment practices and legal guidelines.

Job Portals: Many job boards like Naukri.com and Monster India list recruitment agencies alongside job openings. Read company reviews before contacting agencies listed on these platforms.

Professional Networking: Reach out to your professional network for recommendations. Colleagues, mentors, or former employers might have had positive experiences with specific agencies.

Beyond Trust: Red Flags to Watch Out For:

While identifying a trustworthy agency is crucial, it's equally important to avoid those that employ unethical practices:

Vague Job Descriptions: Avoid agencies that provide limited details about the job role, company information, or salary expectations.

Excessive Pressure Tactics: Agencies that push you towards applying for jobs that don't align with your skills or career goals are likely not interested in your success.

Focus on Personal Information: Be cautious of agencies asking for excessive personal details like bank account information or religious beliefs.

Unprofessional Communication: Agencies that exhibit poor communication skills, lack punctuality, or make unrealistic promises are red flags.

Conclusion:

Finding a trustworthy recruitment agency in India requires careful research and a focus on red flags. By prioritizing agencies that demonstrate transparency, ethical practices, and a genuine interest in your career development, you can navigate the recruitment maze with confidence. Remember, a reliable agency becomes your partner in your job search journey, empowering you to land your dream role.

[eportfoliottpp]

Entry 4

Critical analysis of your internship applications relative to best practice using peer feedback.

I used these internship applications to refine and update my resume. The examples and guidance provided in this unit aided me to develop a more professional resume, cover letter and method of answering selection criteria. Implementing key words for the first time was challenging, but beneficial as it helped me to reflect each position (Smith, 2016) and tailor each application. This is an important element (Tomaska & Nosek, 2018) as it demonstrates that the description has been read and that the application isn’t generic. Cover letters and resumes should be unique for each application, and have listings of education, skills, employment, and experience that are relevant to the role description (Smith, 2016; Schrager, 2021) and a suitable applicant (Schrager, 2021). I tailored each of my applications to the relevant skills and requirements set out in the internship descriptions for Fox Sports, Melbourne Aces and Outer East Football Netball.

This week, we conducted a peer feedback task, in which we exchanged our cover letters, resumes, LinkedIn profiles and selection criteria with a partner. We gave each other constructive feedback, highlighted what we did well and what we could improve on (see Figure 6).

(Figure 6, Peer Review and Feedback - Assessment 2, Mikayla Royal, 2023)

My cover letter feedback is that it was well written, with minimal grammar and spelling errors. This is in line with best practice cover letter writing, as correct grammar and spelling errors demonstrate a form of communication, and applicants with cover letters with less mistakes are more likely to progress to the next round of the interview process. An area that was highlighted for me to improve on, is what order I present the information. I will be changing the order of my current roles and employment paragraphs to have my current roles first, as these are more relevant to the internship position.

The feedback for my resume is that it has a very good layout and is easy to read. I tailored each resume for each job description relevant to what the required skillset and experience was. This made for a comprehensive flow that had a logical order. The feedback I received for an area to improve on, was to expand on the skills that I had listed. I will be adding more skills to the list, and instead of removing skills based on the job, will just be changing the order with the most relevant listed the highest.

The feedback I received for my Linked In profile is that my profile picture looks clear and professional, and that my banner photo of myself in my football team photo shows my passion for sports. Where I can improve on for my Linked In profile to optimise the platform, is to gain more connections and post more content.

My selection criteria feedback is that I provided good examples of my work and my experiences that were relevant to the internship role. I went into excellent detail about each one and elaborated and connected them back to my strengths and skills. The area to improve on for my selection criteria is, when providing examples of my prior work, to have all published work in a single link so it is easier to find. The feedback received will help me fine tune my internship applications, and will also help me further highlight what my strengths are.

References:

Schrager, S. (2021). Tips for writing effective CVs and cover letters. Family Practice Management, 28(5), 4-5. https://primoapac02.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/afosdf/TN_cdi_proquest_miscellaneous_2572526079

Smith, L. (2016). Writing a perfect cover letter. Nursing (Jenkintown, Pa.) 46(3), 47-49. https://primoapac02.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/afosdf/TN_cdi_proquest_miscellaneous_1802731777

Tomaska, L. & Nosek, J. (2018). Ten simple rules for writing a cover letter to accompany a job application for an academic position. PLoS Computational Biology, 14(1), 1-4. https://primoapac02.hosted.exlibrisgroup.com/permalink/f/afosdf/TN_cdi_plos_journals_2049927398

[kokichi-and-co-imagine-blog]

drv3 boys who get a secret love confession letter from their s/o?

Ooooh, secret stuff! I got you covered. Just gonna warn you I’m only doing a few of the boys in this ask. If you’re interested in the others, just ask for a continuation!

Gonta, Kaito, and Kiibo get a Secret Confession!

Gonta Gokuhara

-You had been friends for awhile after he helped you carry your backpack which was like a bag of bricks a few times.

-The more time you spent with him, the more you realized that he seemed to be practically glowing all the time, and his smile was... oh. oh no.

-You started liking the most oblivious boy in the entire school, and you weren’t sure on how to approach him about it. Finally, with a little push from your friends, you brought yourself to write an anonymous confession.

-You slipped it into his locker before skittering away and retreating to the other side of the hall. You pulled out your phone and started mindlessly scrolling, waiting for him to come by.

-After what seems like forever, he finally walked in, quickly noticing you and waving. you put a hand up and waved back, trying to remain calm as he opened his locker only for a little white envelope to fall out of it.

-He picked it up gingerly, getting excited when he noticed the little doodles of bugs on it. How did they know he liked bugs?

-”I know that you’re probably not looking for a partner right now, but I couldn’t just keep continuing like usual. I need to tell you that I think I really like you, and I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you to your face.”

-He clutches it a little tighter, and you don’t think you’ve ever seen him blush before, but it was definitely a sight to see. Before you could look away and play it calm, he noticed you watching him and bounded over, holding the note out.

-“Gonta got this from someone, did you see who left it?”

-You can feel yourself getting warm as you shook your head and say you haven’t been paying attention. Gonta bought your lie and asked if you could let him know if you found anything out. You agreed, and you both headed off to class.

-You saw Gonta still holding it in his hand when he sat down next to Kokichi, who immediately took it into his own tiny hands. He read it quickly while Gonta kept asking him to give it back.

-”Isn’t this (y/n)’s handwriting? It’s obviously from them.”

-You quickly look back down and you could feel Gonta’s gaze on your back. Kokichi’s laughter didn’t help you, and you just tried to focus on the busywork you were given in hopes of being able to forget that Kokichi had called you out.

-The moment the bell rang, you quickly shuffled all of your papers and stuffed them into your bag carelessly, getting out the door as soon as possible.

-”Wait!”

-You can tell that it’s Gonta, but you decided to dash off. His loud footsteps echoed through the hallway, and the chaos of Gonta being riled up caused everyone to start freaking out and running around.

-You think you finally got away from him when you went into the music hall, sighing as you realized you may have dodged a bullet there.

-Or at least, you thought you did until the door slammed open and you turned around to see a fierce looking Gonta, holding the note.

-”DID (Y/N) LEAVE THIS FOR GONTA?!”

-You hesitated, slowly nodding and watching him as he took a deep breath and calmed down, getting closer.

-you weren’t prepared for him to confess as well, fumbling over his feelings just like you had when you were trying to bring yourself to write the note.

-The rest of the day was spent by his side, and a lot of blushing. Honestly it’s super soft 10/10

Kaito Momota

-You had fallen for his exaggerated and supportive personality, and no one could blame you. Unfortunately, you knew you didn’t stand a chance with someone like him, so you decided an anonymous confession was the best way to go.

-He chilled out by his locker with Shuichi and Maki in the morning, so you figured the easiest way to get the letter to him would be to leave it on his desk before he walks in.

-The bell rang and people started filing in, Shuichi noticing the letter before Kaito could even sit down. He nudged Maki, pointing at the note and muttering something unintelligible to you.

-Kaito finally walked in, sitting down and... his head hit the desk before he even noticed there was a letter waiting for him. Some snickering went throughout the room as he groaned. He felt the envelope stick to his forehead, and he brought his head up to watch it flutter back onto the desk.

-He opened it quickly, reading it with wild eyes. You chuckled, knowing he’d be interviewing everyone in his class in hopes of figuring out who left it for him. You’d already learned how to keep a poker face, and were waiting for him to start asking around.

-The bell rang and you heard his chair scoot on the ground and him start showing the note and ask people around. You started getting your things into your bag slowly, pretending to mind your own business while listening to everyone’s answers.

-You weren’t prepared when Tsumugi said something about you coming in pretty early. You cursed under your breath, wondering how you could’ve missed her watching you. You were about to walk out the room when you saw Kaito’s hand on the doorway. You take a deep breath before turning around and smiling.

-”What can I do for you?”

-Kaito practically shoved the note in your face, and looked at you expectantly. “D’you know anything about this? Someone told me that you were in here earlier.”

-You said something about it being there since you got in, and you can see Shuichi’s eyes land on you. Before Kaito could ask anything else, you dipped out of the room and started down the hallway.

-“It’s obvious you gave him that letter.”

-You were not prepared for Maki to be sitting next to your locker when you closed it, and you jumped out of your skin.

-You were about to deny it when she sighed and shut you up.

-”Look.You would be better off just telling him instead of hiding out and not confronting your feelings. If there’s anyone who would notice the effort put into that, it’d be him.”

-You wanted to ask her why she was telling you this when you heard soft footsteps behind you along with a warm hand on your shoulder.

-”No need to scare her into it! If she wants to tell me, she will.” Kaito’s voice over your shoulder made you go rigid. Maki nodded before walking off and out of view before you turned around.

-”So (y/n), you have something to tell me?” Kaito waited patiently for you, and you played with a loose thread on your shirt before nodding slowly, closing your eyes and taking your time.

-The confession fell out of your mouth, and your unadulterated honesty took Kaito back for a moment. He watched you struggle on your words but gently encouraged you to keep going, until you finally finished saying what you needed to.

-The silence between you two while he took in your words was eating you up, and you refused to look at him. A soft hey from him made you look up and you saw his face soften in a way you’d never seen before. He started fishing through his pocket to bring out a note that looked like it had seen some better days.

-He let you take it from his hands, and you opened it to realize it was a note for you. From him.

-Oh. OH.

-”I guess you beat me to it.” His laughter made you go bright red and you hid your face while smiling helplessly.

-You got his number from him and prepared to figure out a time for your first date.

Kiibo

-You’ve been friends for a long time, and you’ve always taught him anything he wanted to know. You were the first one at school to show genuine interest in him, and since then you two have been inseparable.

-What you didn’t know is that sooner or later, you’d find his confused faces adorable, and his questions to be far more endearing.

-He admitted that he had apart that was still in testing, and if he malfunctioned for any reason, there was a replacement in his locker that you could bring to him. He told you his locker number and you silently cheered, knowing he’d just given you the easiest opportunity to leave him a note.

-You spent all night writing him a cute letter about how every moment you’ve had with him is always spectacular, and you’d love to have a relationship with him if he’s willing.

-Your only mistake? You left your name off of it on accident.

-You closed his locker and walked off, happy with your work and your courage to finally confess to him. You could almost see him short-circuiting over the idea of holding hands.

-You waited in class for Kiibo to sit next to you, and you kept thinking of all the faces he would make when you talked about it later.

-You were not expecting... skepticism. He walked into the room, still holding the note and reading it over, a face of confusion.

-”Is everything okay?”

-”I just received this note about a proposal to date someone, and they didn’t even leave me their name. That’s not the most diligent choice of action.” His words pierced you and felt your eyes widen. You asked to see it and he complied.

-He was right. You hadn’t left your name on it, and the wording you’d chosen was just vague enough to make you question who it would possibly be. You fought back the urge to put your head in your hands, and instead asked him what he thought.

-He admitted that the thought was nice, but he already had his eyes on having romantic relations with someone, so his mixed feelings were pretty obvious.

-”Wait, who are you into?” The question made Kiibo squirm, and he shook his head, mumbling about how it’s classified.

-Should you say anything to him? Before you could take that thought process any further, class had started, and he immediately went to working like the diligent student he strived to be. Classic Kiibo.

-When the bell rang, you had packed your bag and were about to leave when Kiibo stops you, the rest of the students filing out and leaving the teacher and the two of you alone in the room.

-It was so quiet, and you could hear your heart beating faster. There was absolutely no way that he would have known, right? Did he figure it out during class, and decide that he doesn’t want a relationship? The moment he looked like he was about to speak, you blurted out a quick apology.

-This boy looks so shocked, his mouth kind of hangs open for a moment before he clears his throat.

-”Shouldn’t I be the one apologizing to you? I’m the one holding you after class.”

-The words hung in the air as you realized he didn’t understand. You relaxed, thinking that was the end of that discussion.

-”You know you could just tell me if it was you, right?” He held out the letter, as if to give it to you.

-Oh. Oh, he knew. The moment that hit you your face got bright red which was pretty close to his face as well.

-”The letter itself was pretty vague, but I sit next to you. I recognize that handwriting. Honestly, I don’t know why it took me so long to realize why it seemed so familiar. Also, it isn’t very efficient to leave your name off of a confession like this.”

-You looked like you were going to bolt out of the room before he realized his words sounded more criticizing than he meant for them to be. He grabbed your hand quickly, hiding his face as he did.

-”W-well... if you really feel that way... I guess it’s okay to say I feel the same way?”

-------

That took forever for me to get out and it isn’t even half the cast... Regardless, I hope you like it! ~Mod Kokichi

[buginateacup]

So I finally figured out the best way for me to plot Rings is to write it out like I did before ie like you;re telling a rapid story/juicy gossip which stops me from writing the same scene in different angst/fluff/horny versions

so spoilers for the next few chapters under the cut if you’re interested

So the first night of the honeymoon is...fine. They spend most of it laughing over whatever the fuck was today and agree that staying married is really not an option. Megamind has conveniently forgotten that he agreed to be a superhero and Roxanne winds up laughing in Megamind's arms as he proves that he can in fact dance like Fred Astaire on the balcony of their suite. Its a remarkably fun night all things considered until Roxanne goes to push open the door to what she assumes is the other bedroom of the suite and finds the kind of closet that she's been dreaming of all her life and that means...

There is only one bed. Fuck

Cue panic

And Roxanne getting stuck in her dress 

help

But Megamind has also been having just a hint of a breakdown because dancing with Roxanne made him realise that oh no he's in love with his wife and he hasn't wished he was human for a long time (not true) but it does mean that she's probably not going to be okay with tentacles which is the kind of thing you should probably tell a prospective partner BEFORE you marry them so he's going to sleep on the couch far far away from temptation. And Roxanne is an absolute horny mess because she is absolutely hiding her feelings behind her libido but Megamind is being very considerate of not being THAT KIND of villain which means she feels like he doesn't want her and nothing kills desire faster than not being wanted so that’s its own problem.

Except the couch is kind of squeaky because its leather and he can't sleep and eventually Roxanne comes storming out and demands he come to bed so they can both sleep because he's keeping her awake too.

And they do.

Sleep

Just sleep

And wake up tangled together on Friday morning.

That's not awkward at all

That's also the morning they find out they have the suite for the rest of the weekend, which, delightful. Divorce can definitely wait a couple of days while they ruin Wayne's credit rating. There may be a bit of a moment where Megamind catches Roxanne trying on his mantle over her pjs that will either be incredibly angsty or incredibly hot but that that is not part of the plan we're just pretending that didnt happen, or it did and that is how they decide to be married for the weekend (IDK, working on it). In the mean time there are casino heists to plan and chess and scrabble to be played and evening brings Megamind back to bed with Roxanne because its just easier at this point. And when he wakes up because UNFAMILIAR in the middle of the night he plays with Roxanne's hair at her askance for an hour until they both fall asleep.

Roxanne is more than okay with having someone permanently willing to play with her hair on tap as all people should be.  

On Saturday Roxanne is awake first and spends some time thinking about how tired Megamind looks and how he should really take some time off and they can go to the beach or something after they get back. This should probably have been a clue about her feelings but hey, leave a girl her river in egypt.

This may or may not be the day she also glues him to the headboard of the bed with the decoupage setting on the de-gun while she has a shower.

Megamind genuinely considers gnawing off his own arm because she didnt quite manage to close the door properly and that is its own kind of torture.

They have a bet about paper airplanes and landing them in the fountain. Megamind wins so Roxanne has to show him a trick (Roxanne is not thinking about that thing she can do with her throat nope not at all) which is how he finds out his wife is a master at throwing cocktails and they get more than a little tipsy and he shows her how to fire the degun which is adorable and a little hot and they wind up slowdancing on the balcony to the Something for Kate cover of When the War is Over because I love that freaking song and I'm very attached to that mental image right now.

The second night, they know its all over by tomorrow and they spend a while talking in bed in the dark which is where I will probably make all of you cry with how lonely being the last one is for Megamind and it breaks Roxanne's heart a little to and they have the kind of thing that you just do not talk about in the light of day because if what happens in vegas stays in vegas then what happens that night is like the what happens in vegas stays in vegas of what happens in vegas stays in vegas.

Look it makes sense in context okay

They also both stay clothed so chill.

Sunday morning brings them to the foyer and its bittersweet and lovely and they just want to hold one another but they CANT because there is a PLAN and of course they shouldn’t stay married but oh shit the divorce desk doesn’t open until 11 and its only ten and their chauffer is waiting for them to take them home so shit, that is an issue but its fine because there's a form you can fill out and they will post you the divorce papers.

So great. They head to the airport and get on the plane and oh look there's yesterdays paper and why is there a photo of their wedding certificate on the front page?

And when was megamind going to tell Roxanne he was becoming a hero?

And Megamind had genuinely forgotten about that. Oops

So it turns out all of Metro City has been waiting for this day for YEARS. The paper is full of happy articles and letters to the editor saying we knew those crazy kids had it in them and Carlos has won a considerable amount of money in the pool and has taken his family to disney world.

And well they cant stay married obviously (can they?) but everyone is clearly expecting them to come home as a couple so sure they can fake it for a while before quietly separating except Megamind is not okay with the idea of Roxanne getting kidnapped by anyone else because no one else will be careful enough. And Roxanne is very unimpressed that the defenders council are trying to replace her with an official damsel. She is staying damsel thank you very much Gerry.

This may also become the fic where Roxanne finally sets up a damsel's union.

So they have a bit of a talk and yep practice kissing is definitely a thing they need to work on

a lot

that moment where the copilot walks in on them is a little embarrasing

but they land and oh look there's a car waiting for them to take them to

oh

The Scott's are throwing them a party after all

So Roxanne gets dressed by Minion for the second time in a week which is where she finds out that "Oh sir was always so worried that if he ever found someone the tentacles would be a dealbreaker"

Tentacles

Huh

Where?

Prehensile or?

Oh for fucks sake Roxanne you dont even know what they're for stop it

No but seriously where are they?

Megamind on the other hand has just found out that Roxanne has a tattoo from Metro Man of all people and there is a very awkward/sexy/funny moment in a butler's pantry where Megamind finds out exactly where Roxanne's tattoo is and Roxanne has it confirmed exactly what those tentacles are for after all.

Great so add that to the list of things we're thinking about like his shoulders and his hands and his eyes instead of our feelings.

Roxanne takes great solace in her libido as it is far easier than arguing with her head or her heart.

Or she would be if she was getting laid.

And SURPRISE this party is not the intimate dinner they were promised but a full on party with Megamind's prison uncles set up on a webcam in a theatre which is a lovely cute scene and Roxanne is definitely getting baby stories out of these men.

Megamind uses her as a human shield. Its force of habit and has nothing to do with how much he's blushing at all.

And they get asked to make a speech and Megamind tells everyone exactly how much he loves his wife and Roxanne is almost in tears because what the hell where was this when it was just the two of them? He cant mean any of this clearly and wow that fucking hurts.

And then Roxanne's great aunt helen shows up because of course family was invited and she is an unpleasant woman at the best of times and Roxanne goes full "Fuck off Helen he's my husband and I love him"

and 

shit

she does doesnt she?

Nope straight back to denial on that one. Cannot think about that right now

Because he clearly doesn't feel the same way or he'd have told her personally, not to a crowd of people. And Megamind thinks she was exaggerating because he’s also thinking where was this in vegas? And Roxanne is forcibly reminded she can't be the damsel if she's married to the hero so she is never going to see him again unless its for an interview which means she has to spend the rest of her life chasing him down in the van with fucking hal and ow ow ow

So they leave the party and Megamind drops her home only for Roxanne to find her apartment full of boxes as she is also being kicked out of her apartment as she is no longer acting damsel.

So she grabs a bag and tracks down the lair and oh hi husband can I live with you or not?

Hi wife yes please say (stay forever please stay forever) which is where we get the SECOND there was only one bed because half the lair was demolished in the last big battle and there is no space for another room right now and of course they have to keep sharing a room or Minion will get suspicious

this bed is much smaller than the giant orgy sized one in vegas

good thing they’re already getting used to waking up in one another’s arms

Roxanne does manage to ask for a small room to use as an office because she needs somewhere to cry and she's used to living alone but wow does this feel like moving in...

And that brings us to chapter 6ish?

[mediaeval-muse]

Academic Book Review

The Professor Is In: The Essential Guide to Turning Your PhD Into a Job. By Karen Kelsky. New York: Three Rivers Press, 2015. Pp. x + 438. $16.

Argument: Each year tens of thousands of students will, after years of hard work and enormous amounts of money, earn their Ph.D. And each year only a small percentage of them will land a job that justifies and rewards their investment. For every comfortably tenured professor or well-paid former academic, there are countless underpaid and overworked adjuncts, and many more who simply give up in frustration. Those who do make it share an important asset that separates them from the pack: they have a plan. They understand exactly what they need to do to set themselves up for success.  They know what really moves the needle in academic job searches, how to avoid the all-too-common mistakes that sink so many of their peers, and how to decide when to point their Ph.D. toward other, non-academic options. Karen Kelsky has made it her mission to help readers join the select few who get the most out of their Ph.D. As a former tenured professor and department head who oversaw numerous academic job searches, she knows from experience exactly what gets an academic applicant a job. And as the creator of the popular and widely respected advice site The Professor is In, she has helped countless Ph.D.s turn themselves into stronger applicants and land their dream careers.

***Full review under the cut.***

Chapter Breakdown: This book technically has 63 chapters, so I’m going to briefly describe each major section.

Section 1: Dark Times in the Academy Overviews the decline in tenture-track jobs in higher education, as well as the challenges facing PhDs, from adjucting to the feeling of losing one’s identity.

Section 2: Getting Your Head in the Game A guide to the realities of the academic job market, including what it is, what unspoken rules/assumptions are present, what grad students tend not to understand or habits that make them a poor candidate, institution types and rankings, and how to (generally) build yourself up as a candidate.

Section 3: The Nuts and Bolts of a Competitive Record Covers the importance of building a CV, getting teaching experience, publishing, obtaining grants, cultivating references, and going to conferences. Also contains advice on how to take control of these situations.

Section 4: Job Documents That Work Advice on how to compose cover letters, CVs, teaching statements, evidence of teaching effectiveness, research statements, diversity statements, and dissertation abstracts.

Section 5: Techniques of the Academic Interview Information about interview basics, including what kinds of questions are likely to be asked (and how to respond). Also includes information about conference interviews, campus visits, job talks, teaching demos, talking to deans, etc. Also contains advice on how to handle outrageous questions and what to do after the interview.

Section 6: Navigating the Job Market Minefield Covers topics that could cause additional stress in the job market search, such as inside candidates, unresponsive references, poor campus climate, department politics, pregnancy, finances, etc. Also contains advice on how to dress professionally and cautions against attitudes like narcissism, grandiosity, self-juvenilization, etc.

Section 7: Negotiating an Offer Advice for negotiating job offers, including sections on partner (formerly, “spousal”) hires and rescinded offers.

Section 8: Grants and Postdocs Contains templates for writing grants as well as an overview of how postdoc applications are different from a job application.

Section 9: Some Advice About Advisors Overview of what kinds of advisors are “good” (one that has your best interests in mind) as well as a section on how advisors/departments discuss PhD debt (and what that can tell you about job prospects).

Section 10: Leaving the Cult Advice on leaving academia, including a list of transferable skills. More focused on “giving permission” to leave as opposed to traditional job search advice (like how to write a non-academic cover letter).

Reviewer Comments: Despite the intimidating size of this book, The Professor Is In is probably the most useful text I’ve come across (so far) in terms of career advice for PhDs. It contains practical information about preparing academic job materials, as well as insights into unspoken assumptions about the job search from the perspective of the hiring committee. It also does not hesitate in talking about the dismal state of higher education, and is very clear that the contents of this book (and individual action) can’t fix systemic problems.

The tone of the writing is appropriate for its audience. Kelsky doesn’t attempt to give readers an inspirational pep talk, nor does she ignore the fact that readers may have very real, pressing anxieties about their futures. Instead, she lays out the facts of the job market so that readers can make informed choices about how to proceed. I liked that Kelsky’s prose was so down-to-earth and blunt, not trying to coddle PhDs but also not trying to blame them for things beyond their control. Instead, Kelsky was able to balance “tough love” with true empathy and compassion, which made me not only feel open to reflecting on my own flaws as a PhD job candidate, but also respected as someone with real concerns. For some, the tone might be off-putting, as it does, admittedly, come off as “angry” in many ways, but I honestly prefer that over other books I’ve read that tries to “cutesify” the problems in academia. I also appreciated that Kelsky offered stats and secondary sources to illustrate everything point she made, so her advice felt less anecdotal and more rooted in research. As PhDs, most of us like supporting research, so I may be a bit biased; I just don’t find anecdotes that inspirational.

While this book is aimed at PhDs from various disciplines, the sheer amount of information and practical writing advice made it *actually* useful. As opposed to books which tend to offer general pointers like “tailor your resume,” Kelsky has specific advice, like “email your letter writer and ask for 15-20 minutes of their time” or “here’s an example of a diversity statement as well as a brief analysis of what it does and does not do.” Kelsky clearly lays out not just what candidates *should* be doing, but also *why* they should be doing it, which makes concepts easy to grasp and see the value in.

The only major thing that made this book discouraging to read was the implicit suggestion that if you haven’t been building your academic job profile from the beginning (or even before entering graduate school), you’re basically f*cked. Looking over some of the advice, I couldn’t help but feel like I had missed out on some things and couldn’t rectify them because I’m out of school. Maybe that’s true, maybe it isn’t, but either way, I wanted to see it addressed (or maybe it was and I missed it?). If I can’t get accepted to lead a conference panel in the top conference in my field, what then? What if I apply for tons of grants and don’t get many? What if a journal holds onto my article for 2 years with the promise of publishing it but never moves forward (something that actually happened to me)? What if my dissertation topic is interesting to me, but doesn’t follow popular trends? Am I a bad candidate? Should I give up? Things like that.

Overall, I think this book is one of the most practically useful guides out there, and if you’re a grad student who does not have a supportive job placement program at your institution, this book is invaluable for beginning to understand the realities of the academic job market, as dismal and unfair as it is.

Recommendations: I would recommend this book if

you’re a graduate student or adjunct going on the academic job market

you’re a grad student thinking ahead about how to use your time in graduate school effectively

you’re a PhD thinking about leaving academia

you working in career advising (including positions such as dissertation director or department head)

[boredout305]

Kat Talley Jones (Urinals/100 Flowers)

John Talley-Jones and Kat Talley-Jones, Santa Barbara, California, circa late 1978/1979.

Kat Talley-Jones was an early photographer of The Urinals and 100 Flowers. She is the lyricist of “Ack Ack Ack Ack” and has compiled an impressive 1978 to 1983 gigography of The Urinals and 100 Flowers. Talley-Jones is the wife of the bands’ bassist and vocalist John Talley-Jones.

Professionally, Talley-Jones is an independent exhibit developer and writer. She’s worked on teams that created the Dinosaur Hall and Nature Lab at the Natural History Museum of Los Angeles County and visitor center exhibits at Mammoth Cave National Park, Devils Tower National Monument, Badlands, National Park, Stones River National Battlefield, and Santa Monica Mountains National Recreation Area among many others.  

Talley-Jones is still involved with The Urinals and 100 Flowers, taking photos and contributing in countless other ways, something she’s done since the late 1970s.

Interview by Ryan Leach

This interview originally ran on Razorcake’s website. 

Ryan: Where did you meet John (Talley-Jones)?

Kat: Like John, I come from a military background. I was born in Italy. I later lived in Japan, the (Washington) D.C. area and Iran. I met John at the University of Texas at Austin. We gravitated towards the same circle. There were Texans and then there were army brats. We had a different frame of reference than other people did.

           John was walking down the hall of the dorm I lived in. I had pulled a picture out of the NME of Kevin Ayers and put it on my door. Kevin Ayers was wearing some blue silk jacket. It was a great photo. I loved Kevin Ayers, The Soft Machine and the Ayers, Cale, Nico, Eno album.

Ryan: That’s a great live record.

Kat: Yeah. My roommate was a lesbian, so we had a nude pinup of a woman on the door too which was very scandalous—we hoped.

Ryan: At that time in Texas it was. Even in Austin.

Kat: Right. John and a friend of his were walking down the hall. They stopped, saw the photos on the door, and wondered, “Who lives here?” I opened the door and there was John, wearing blue eye shadow, black nail polish and a toothbrush around his neck (laughs). We got to know each other after that, running in the same circles. I went out with a guy and John went out with his sister—you know how it is being college aged. Everyone is switching partners.

           John left UT. His parents thought—and maybe he did too—that film school would be better at UCLA than at UT. That probably wasn’t the case, but John left for California. My parents had moved from Iran to Redondo Beach. So we got back together again. It’s complicated.

Ryan: John had mentioned that he had moved to San Francisco before attending UCLA.

Kat: He was in San Rafael in Marin County. He lived with his aunt and uncle and worked at a bookstore in San Rafael. That was before he went to UCLA.

           My parents went back to Iran. I moved in with my brother in Santa Barbara. I was living in Santa Barbara, John went to UCLA, and then we started going out. I did not see the first Urinals iteration when they played the talent show at UCLA. However, I did see the first three-piece show at UCLA with Kevin (Barrett), Kjehl (Johansen) and John. That was on the fourth floor of Dykstra Hall.  

Ryan: Had your parents not moved back to California, would you have likely stayed in Austin?

Kat: Probably not. At that time, there wasn’t really a scene yet. It was sleepy. It was a place where you could get by getting stoned, paying $100 a month for an apartment. I was ambitious, but I didn’t happen to paint or anything. I didn’t love Austin. Just as I was leaving, friends of mine were forming The Huns. We would go to Raul’s and bands like the Skunks were playing. The Ramones and Patti Smith came through there. So there was stuff, but LA felt much more exciting.

Ryan: You mentioned The Huns. So you knew Phil Tolstead and the rest of the band?

Kat: Yes. Phil was an Air Force brat. We had a mutual friend named Victoria (Jones) who Phil went to see the Sex Pistols with in San Antonio. She had lived in London. We were people with a broader background. I can’t say that above everyone in The Huns. I’m still friends with Dan Puckett who played keyboards in the band. I knew their drummer, Tom Huckabee. My boyfriend at the time had a crush on him which was awkward (laughs). I was getting away from that situation too. My parents moving back played a part. But my brother was at UCSB and needed a roommate. I thought, “Well, I’ve got nothing going on in Austin, so I’ll live with him.”

Ryan: You took a lot of early Urinals photos—obviously, for most of their record sleeves. Was photography something you had been pursuing previously?

Kat: Well, I had a camera (laughs). It was just because I was there and I had one. I wasn’t really trying to be expressive. I didn’t take that many photos of shows; the cost of film and developing was expensive. Also, with the low light, the photos often came out horrible.

Ryan: You need an SLR and a lens with a low f-stop. Even then, results aren’t guaranteed.

Kat: I had a Canon FTb camera. I was the beneficiary of trickle down: my dad would get something new, and I’d get the old version of whatever he replaced it with. It was a nice camera that was unfortunately stolen. I didn’t take photographs as a means of self-expression. I just had a camera and I was standing there.

Ryan: If you don’t mind me digressing back a bit, did your parents have to flee Iran when the Shah fell or had they already moved back to the States? I can’t help but think that all of this—you having lived in Iran—played some part in the naming of “Surfin’ with the Shah.”

Kat: Yes, they did. They went on Christmas vacation and never went back.

Ryan: Amazing. I’m glad to hear they got out safely.

Kat: Yeah. My dad was an army officer. He liked that kind of excitement (laughs). I was in Iran and John would write me and send me punk mixtapes. Iran was very much on his mind. I would say that had a lot to do with naming of the song, “Surfin’ with the Shah.” But not the modality or anything.

Ryan: What years were you in Iran?

Kat: I was there when I was in high school, so 1970-1973. I then went to the University of Texas. I was an insane overachiever and graduated UT in three years. My parents moved back to Iran. I went to visit; I thought, “Why go back to the States? I can get a job here.” So I got a job typing repair logs for Bell Helicopter. I came back to the States with something on my resume: “I’ve had a job!” When I moved back to Austin, I was employed by a contractor that worked for the Air Force at what was then Bergstrom Air Force Base.

Urinals practicing at Dykstra Hall (UCLA). Photo by Kat Talley-Jones

Ryan: Going back to the early days of The Urinals, do you recall the first 7” EP (self-titled) coming out?

Kat: Oh, sure.  

Ryan: You took the photo for the back cover. I can only imagine being part of a self-released 7” was pretty exciting back in 1978.

Kat: It was very exciting. I had been a prog fan. I loved Yes and Emerson, Lake & Palmer. It seemed so out of reach; what ordinary mortal could release a record? To think that you could control the means of production that way was amazing. I can’t remember if that’s the one with the taped piece of Super 8 film on it, but I certainly sat down with Kevin and Kjehl and taped pieces of film on one of the labels. I stuffed the singles too into the plastic bags. I would go around with John and we’d drop the records off to stores on consignment. I was still living in Santa Barbara. I recall going to record stores there. People were often extremely uninterested, because the records were so handmade looking. Not all of the record stores—even the independent ones—were interested in the DIY thing yet.

Ryan: I grew up in Newbury Park, between Los Angeles and Santa Barbara. I found it surprising that The Urinals played an early show in Santa Barbara (at George’s on November 4, 1979). The recording was recently released as a live LP, Pin the Needles. You must have been the conduit for that show.

Kat: Yeah. There was a band that was playing up there, The Neighbors, and someone in the group worked at a record store in Goleta. I would go and hang out there and that’s how that connection was made. Santa Barbara doesn’t seem that likely, does it? There wasn’t much going on up there.

Ryan: Nearly zero. You don’t think of Santa Barbara and punk.

Kat: There was a little bit. There was The Rotters.

Ryan: That’s true. Lance Loud was from Santa Barbara.

Kat: But he had moved on.

Ryan: Right. To New York.

Kat: I lived in Isla Vista. The Rotters played a park there and I saw them. I would walk down the street and people would yell, “Hey, punk rock!” Nobody looked like that in Santa Barbara then. There was this club called The Fubar in Goleta. I saw Magazine play there. There were probably 15 people there. It was not a crowd. People didn’t know about them.

John might not frame it this way, but I was also pretty instrumental in setting up the Raul’s shows in Austin (March 27, 1978, and March 28, 1978).

Ryan: That’s interesting.

Kat: Phil Tolstead had been John’s roommate (at UT), so I can’t say that they weren’t close. But I had a connection with the Huns. The Urinals played with the Re-Cords (at Raul’s) which was Tom Huckabee from the Huns’ band. They also played with the Norvells which was Sally Norvell’s band. I don’t have a specific remembrance of setting the Raul’s shows up, but I was always writing letters to (Huns keyboardist) Dan (Puckett), Victoria (Jones) and less to Phil (Tolstead). Phil could hardly manage to write you back. We were in touch a lot. When the Huns had their bust (September 19, 1978), they sent me a T-shirt with the image of Phil being arrested by the police officer. I still have a photo of me wearing it. I think I have the original cover art for their 7”. Victoria painted the cover and sent it to me. I’ll have to look for it. I’ve got boxes filled with stuff.

Ryan: It’s pretty amazing that the first Urinals show outside of UCLA was in Austin at Raul’s. Do you recall trekking out there?

Kat: I think we drove out to Austin in Kjehl’s Chevy Caprice. It was a small Chevy; it wasn’t big. We crammed everyone in there. My particular gift is that I wake up very early. When everyone else can’t drive another moment, I’m starting to wake up. With the four of us we were able to make it to Austin in one shot. I think it was 27 hours. We just brought guitars. Kevin borrowed Tom Huckabee’s drums. We stayed with friends and drank a lot of frozen margaritas. I think those two shows at Raul’s happened over spring break (1978). That was the only time everyone could get together to leave town.

Ryan: That makes sense.

Kat: Yeah. We weren’t in school or working.

Urinals performing at a house party. Photo by Kat Talley-Jones

Ryan: Can you talk about writing “Ack Ack Ack Ack.” As far as I know, it’s your only songwriting credit, but it’s a great one.

Kat: Right. Why not stay on a highpoint? I had heard the news reports about Brenda Spencer, the girl who shot some kids in school. It was the same event that inspired the song “I Don’t Like Mondays” (by the Boomtown Rats). I was thinking about that. When I was a kid, as everyone does, I’d play war with friends. We’d chase each other around and pretend to shoot each other. The boys—I don’t know if it was genetic or what—but they could always make that machine gun sound better than I could. I was always jealous. They could vocalize “Ack Ack Ack Ack” and I couldn’t. It was a word you’d see in comic books. I always liked it as a sound. Why did I name the subject of the song Johnny? Possibly because of John.

Ryan: How did the music come together? You wrote the lyrics and John composed the music?

Kat: I wrote the lyrics. I typed them up. I was still in Isla Vista. I probably mailed them to John. But we saw each other virtually every weekend. I would drive down (to West Los Angeles) and occasionally he’d drive up. But John had an old Volkswagen that couldn’t get over the Conejo Grade.

Ryan: I lived right at the top of the Conejo Grade for years. I know exactly what you’re talking about.

Kat: Yeah. So John would take the Greyhound Bus to Santa Barbara and he’d smell like the bus for a day or two. It’d take a while to get that smell out.

Ryan: Los Angeles to Santa Barbara isn’t too far. Nevertheless, it’s still about a two-hour drive.

Kat: There would be a Urinals or 100 Flowers show. Afterwards, I’d sleep until about 4 AM. And then I’d scoot out when there was no traffic to work. I had a Buick Skyhawk with a V6 engine. It was a terrible car; the clutch cable would always break. I’d drive it straight to work. It’s no wonder why I didn’t get the best performance reviews.

Ryan: Do you recall taking the photo for the Presence of Mind 7” EP? It has a real dada feel to it.

Kat: John came up with the idea. I think it was taken at Kevin’s apartment. I don’t know why it was just John and Kjehl (on the front cover). It feels like Kevin was developing in another direction. He had gotten extremely political. I wrapped them up in newspaper and took the photo. That one turned out nice because the black and white was more saturated. It seemed like the photos for the other albums were washed out. We may have had a rudimentary darkroom; it’s possible we made the prints ourselves. That sounds like something we would’ve done. It’s insane to me that we have so few photos. We just couldn’t afford it at the time.

Ryan: You’ve compiled an amazing Urinals and 100 Flowers gigography. How did you put it together?

Kat: I had these tiny datebooks my dad would get from the USAA. I would get one and he’d keep one. When we lived in Iran, I’d make daily notes. What I was doing in Tehran, the dates I’d been on and other things. I had a habit of making daily notes. Later on, I went back to those little pocket calendars and made that gig list. It’s moderately accurate.

Ryan: It’s an incredible resource. I didn’t realize 100 Flowers played Phoenix with the Meat Puppets (on October 17, 1981). I thought those early shows at Raul’s in Austin was the only time the early incarnation of the band left California.

Kat: We drove in Seabiscuit—the name I gave my horrible Buick Skyhawk. Again, it was Kevin, John, Kjehl and I and we drove straight to Phoenix. We left early. I remember Savage Republic drove out too and played; they might have been called Africa Corps then. I did take some decent photos of that show. It was at a boxing ring (Phoenix Madison Square Gardens). There’s a nice one of John and David Wiley that I took. David was in Human Hands.

Ryan: The Consumers too.

Kat: Right. We stayed at David’s house. Bruce Licher and the other Savage Republic guys stayed with the Meat Puppets at their place. The Savage Republic guys were pretty clean cut, but the Meat Puppets took acid and were playing cowboys and Indians over them all night. 

Ryan: That makes sense.

Kat: Yeah (laughs). It was always kind of a blitzkrieg thing. We actually spent one night in Arizona. 100 Flowers played in San Francisco. We drove up for the gig and then drove back home (to Los Angeles) afterwards. It was pretty horrendous.

Ryan: I’ve done Los Angeles to Phoenix and back to see a show. It’s pretty rough.

Kat: It’s doable.

Ryan: I did it in my early twenties. I’d just spring for a motel now.

Kat: Yeah. I mean, if they were playing in San Diego now, we’d stay the night at a hotel. We drove back from a show in San Diego one time. A truck tire bounced over the center divider and hopped over us, hitting the car behind us. That was scary.

Ryan: With the benefit of hindsight, it’s interesting seeing The Urinals evolve. You can hear their musicianship develop on each EP. Eventually, they’d release compilations like Keats Rides a Harley on their own imprint, Happy Squid. I picture The Shaggs evolving like that had they actually wanted to be in a band. There aren’t many similar examples. Maybe The Raincoats? I can’t think of any at the moment from Los Angeles.

Kat: They learned more and more as they went along. I don’t think they initially had aspirations to release, say, Keats Rides a Harley or The Happy Squid Sampler. An LP was unthinkable when they started. I’m sure John and Kjehl have mentioned this, but getting a mentor like Vitus (Mataré) was key. Vitus knew how to do things. Obviously, being in The Last he had a much broader reach. They knew Gary Stewart (The Last’s manager) and people who were more record business savvy. But there was never any aspiration to get picked up by a record label. That was also unthinkable. It wasn’t a political thing: “We’re pure of heart. We’re not going to sign.” But who would’ve signed The Urinals in that era? There was some interaction with Greg Shaw at Bomp! It seemed like it was all a natural progression. It wasn’t aspirational—if that makes sense.

Ryan: It does. The Urinals and 100 Flowers weren’t trying to get on Enigma Records.

Kat: Right. I think it was really satisfying to put out friends’ work. I think about the little Happy Squid Sampler (1980). Getting stuff out by Neef and Phil Bedel (“Bells in Ice” 45, 1980). I’m not going to say it was done out of generosity of spirit; they’d just figured out how to do it. John is extremely thrifty and a monetarily conscious person. Doing things as cheaply as possible resonated with him. They were playing with all of these great bands—Leaving Trains, Meat Puppets, and Gun Club—and they had simply figured out how to get records made. So they did it without being careerist. It was coming from an artistic standpoint.    

Ryan: Do you recall the last two 100 Flowers shows at the Anti-Club (January 28 and 29, 1983)? I think that was the only time the band headlined a bill.

Kat: Oh yeah. It was so crazy—it was celebratory, but it was also the end of the band. There was that psychological development: celebrating and mourning at the same time. I don’t know why, but it always seemed like 100 Flowers played when it was raining. That’s true up until the present. I think the Anti-Club shows happened during an El Nino year. It was really wet outside; everyone at the club was wet. It was humid; the walls were dripping. The Minutemen played. It was a lot of fun. I remember thinking, “Why couldn’t it have been like this all the time?” But people didn’t appreciate them until they were ending the band.

           The second night was with the Leaving Trains and The Last. I don’t remember that show being as wild as the one where The Minutemen played. But how could it ever be?

Ryan: With the release of the Negative Capability compilation and reunion in 1996, it seemed like folks caught up with the Urinals. It was the same thing with Mission of Burma when they reunited.

Kat: Yes. Honestly, I think some of it had to do with the singles being collectors’ items. They were being bootlegged back in the 1990s. “Oh, that band I paid $100 for their 7” is reforming.” Perhaps I’m wrong on that

Ryan: I think you’re right. I was in New York City two years ago and I went to Almost Ready Records. They had just gotten the first Urinals 7” EP in. I remember saying, “Oh, wow! That’s the first one I’ve seen in the wild.” It has an effect.

Kat: Oh really?

Ryan: Yeah. I’d never seen an original copy of the first 7” before. Those records suck you in. We were talking about Vitus and The Last earlier: I recall seeing a test press of Look Again (1980)—obviously, the record was never released—on the wall at Amoeba for hundreds of dollars in the mid-2000s. It sticks with you. Especially with self-released records like The Urinals 7”s. They had an initial small pressing, limited distribution, and often record labels—with or without a band’s approval—will repress titles once used copies hit a certain price. If you released it and you’re not repressing them, prices go up and they sometimes get pirated.

Kat: It always irritated me. The band never saw any of that money. Like I said, John was very thrifty. I’m sure he wasn’t in the red. But they weren’t sold for much originally. I don’t know how many copies of the first EP we have. I’d be surprised if it was five. You wanted them out in the world.

Ryan: You’re still involved with the Urinals and 100 Flowers. I see you’re still taking photographs. It’s amazing seeing them play places like Belgium and China.

Kat: Yeah. I always thought they were doing interesting things. It wasn’t random. I had mentioned that their records being scarce had some allure, but they were doing something different. They continue to. All of John’s iterations of the band have been good. There are things I’ve liked more than other things. There have been times where I’ve liked the band less than at other times. But they’ve persisted because they have merit. All of the band members have a vision. I believe in it. There have been times where I’ve been busy with my own work and haven’t gone to shows. As I mentioned earlier, I wake up early, so having a set start at midnight isn’t always my favorite thing. But I enjoy watching them play. I think John appreciates that if I think something sucks that I’ll tell him. But not with an axe to grind.

Kat and John today, photo by Pat Aldarete. 

#urinals #100flowers #kattalleyjones #johntalleyjones #ackackackack #happysquid 

[youarejesting]

Femme: 17 (TXT Special)

[MASTERLIST]

Summary: The year is now 3019. Women’s population was plummeting. Femme Industries providing cryogenically frozen females. Masc Industries providing the chance for male pregnancy. A group of Five young men are told their compatible group is too small to be eligible for a Femme. They are however eligible for the new Femme Bot. Funny she looks just like a real human.

Pairing: BTS x Reader, 

Starring: TXT, Bigbang, GOT7, BlackPink, NCT127 and Twice are going to be introduced and explored fully in later chapters. Rating: Fluff so far

Warnings: none 

Length: 1.5k words

Soobin was wrestling Beomgyu for the remote when there was a knock, running to the door they all piled around as it opened to see their mysterious visitor. It was a very handsome Hyung. He was tall with broad shoulders, a perfectly symmetrical face and a great smile. The boys were all speechless waiting for one of the others to introduce them, but no one seemed to recognize him all equally shocked by his angelic presence.

Each of the boys shuffled trying to straighten up their clothing and patting down their ruffled hair, feeling rather under dressed. Just as Yeonjun was about to tell this god like young man that he had obviously gone to the wrong house, he dipped his head in greeting. "Hello, we had some left overs and were wondering if you boys would like them? I'm Kim Seokjin, from next door"

They all bowed and greeted him, when another tall figure came over. Another Hyung he was so cool looking, the boys eyes were practically sparkling. Each dreaming to be just as cool, manly and handsome as these two were. "Hello, I'm Kim Namjoon, we have so many left overs and side dishes, you should grab some containers and come over. We made a lot of Kimchi so it would really help us if you could take some"

The boys grinned, grabbing a small container and Jin laughed, telling them to grab a couple each and as big as they could. Grabbing some more containers each boy filed out, on after the other. They met the rest of the seven and blushed bowing in greeting introducing themselves. Each Hyung was very attractive and made the young five from next door feel welcome. They helped put the food away in containers.

"Here take this" the shortest of the Hyung's said, he was elegant and acted like they were related to him. They liked him he was very talkative and caring.  “I made it at my bakery, it is a sweet bread, you can call me Jimin or hyung if you would like"

"You boys are in school still?" Namjoon asked packing Kimchi with his gloves and apron crinkling every time he moved around. "If you need anything we can help with your studies"

"Yes we are in our final years of high school" Taehyun who was scooping Gamja Jorim into a dish. The five young boys idolized their neighboring Hyung's greatly, they always came home to little bags hanging on their door hand with snacks and medicine and things when they needed it. Whilst studying for their English exam with Namjoon they spotted a pamphlet on the desk.

"Are you getting a Femme, Hyung?" Kai asked tapping playing with the strings of his green hoodie. Namjoon looked up shocked and then saw the pamphlet and laughed lifting it, handing it over to the curious boys. Who huddled around and read the information carefully looking at the pictures and the dot pointed information.

"We just called and visited the facility last week, it was a little nerve racking they gave us a little information package to take home. We had to fill out these questionnaires about our interests and preferences and they will put them all together and find a girl that will suit us all" Namjoon sighed "I am worried about whether we are too many, we matched as compatible males for the Femme project around the same age range but seven for one person to love it seems like a lot to ask. It won't be easy"

"She will love you Hyung's, you are all so handsome and cool and nice" There was a knock on the door and they heard yelling from inside the apartment, the door opened to reveal Hoseok. Told them all to head to the Lounge room and the younger boys took the floor as the put the chip into the computer. “What’s going on?”

"The company got back to us we got a video of our Femme" Taehyung grinned pressing play on the remote and everyone fell silent. The video was talking about all the procedures and such. When the writing on the screen depicted a Femme number. They had found a match and this was her video. It was a room with an interviewer sitting in a chair looking through a stack of files and a spare chair across from him.

That's when she came on screen Kai blushed she was so cute, the interviewer stood up and shook her hand dwarfing hers in comparison. He sat and gestured to the stool across the desk. She walked over and struggled to climb onto the stool it was quiet tall. She giggled and sat her little legs swinging triumphantly "good morning, Y/N is it?"

"Cute" Hoseok called from behind the young boys on the floor. They watched as she began talking about her life telling stories things she liked. She was asked what her ideal partner would be, she replied with a large range of traits that seemed to cover each of the boy’s personalities rather well. The interviewer asked her to send a message out to a potential partner who might be watching and she looked into the camera her eyes big and bright.

"Hello, I look forward to meeting all of you and don't leave me on ice too long I am cold, let’s make some memories together" Yeonjun turned to see the hyung's all had stars in their eyes watching her speak, he giggled and tapped the other who quickly glanced at the boys with a quiet snicker. The next video was an example day of her life, they grinned and saw her wake up and turn to the camera.

"Good morning, to my future partner, what shall we do today" she spoke to the camera tired, and went about the lab getting tests, she visited her family and was working out in the gym at the Femme center. She was driving the camera on her face on the dashboard so her hands were free, "I have to pick up my new glasses, and I think they are going to look cute.”

"Do I look cute?" She spun around and made cute poses and wiggles. They all giggled and she blushed realizing she was dancing and talking to a camera in public "I love sweets so much, but I can't have it, because I am going to be frozen this week I have been drinking protein shakes, I'm a little nervous, my biggest concern is what if he doesn't like me, well they could identify differently so I will use they, wait what if I have more than one partner, that's exciting"

She traveled home and it was her lying in bed, it was dark but she was whispering "In a few days I will be put to sleep waiting to meet whoever I am destined to be with, but hopefully it will feel like mere seconds, Goodnight"

"We should head home" Yeonjun said as the video stopped Kai yawned his head on Yeonjun’s broad shoulder. They all scrambled to their feet slowly and grabbed their homework bags and left with a friendly wave. "Sorry for bothering you Hyung's"

"No it's okay we are just so excited she is cute, they said it will take a week to transport her over here" Namjoon read the letter that came with the video. Jungkook walked them to the door patting them all on the back as the past. A week later the boys all dressed in nice button ups and pants walked to the elevator, the young boys peaked their heads out, their apartment door and wished them good luck.

They sat around wondering what it would be like when they got their Femme. What would her name be? What would she be like? How will she react to them?" The day past slowly and the boys heard their Hyung's return along with an unfamiliar voice speaking softly as they passed their door. The five got dressed brushing their hair and teeth, making sure they looked good yet casual for a first impression.

"I have to give Namjoon back his text book" Beomgyu said and they grinned a perfect excuse to visit. Finding the text book they, rounded each other up at the front door. Walking quietly down the hallway they each pushed each other forward until Beomgyu was pushed into the door he arched his back and pulled his arms back so he didn’t touch the door. He turned to move to the back and they stopped him, telling him he borrowed the book.

The door opened after a weak knock. Hoseok looked at the boys and they gave their excuse. Hoseok let them in. "you wanted to see her, didn’t you?" Jungkook and Taehyung grinned wrestling the boys messing up their neat hair.

Stressing that they were there to return a textbook to Namjoon, Beomgyu held the book in the air. Jin from the other side of the room behind the kitchen counter started to sing the Lion King theme song. Namjoon smiled gently taking the textbook from them and they seemed to relax a little. "I will see if she is okay with visitors" Namjoon passed Yoongi in the hallway.

Femme Media 17

Next Chapter

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@obeythehemmings

[ofhamlcts]

hi all!!! I’m Emily and I am absolutely thrilled to be here writing with you! I seriously cannot wait to begin plotting and writing and all of the angst we’re going to kill each other with! but for now, i’ll quit my rambling and start introducing the mess that is my child.

without further ado: larissa griffith aka hamlet

PINTEREST / APPLICATION 

I do not - and will never - expect you to read my long ass, rambly application because we are all adults with lives!!! below, i’ve summarised the most important information into short(er)  bullet points for your consumption! these should give you a good insight into who lar is as a character and serve as a launch pad for plotting!!!

(TW: Alcoholism and abuse)

larissa has strong roots in Britain's working class, going all the way back to the industrial revolution. traditionally miners, her entire family has a chip on their shoulder about Thatcher and that stand off with the miners, forcing them to turn abandon their traditions and livelihoods. instead, her mother was/is a careworker and her father was a factory worker. 

she grew up poor - dirt poor - but her mother forbade her from knowing it. instead, she enlisted lysander to conceal the truth; a kindness on both their parts. she encouraged the pair to “make their own magic” -  bus-trips to neighbouring towns to substitute for far-flung holidays, treasure hunts in charity shops instead of newly wrapped birthday treats, bargain hunting in supermarkets instead of gourmet dishes.

Lysander was at the centre of her childhood. Two years her senior, they were a two-pieced puzzle, complementary in their opposites. The boy with the bleeding heart, he was kindness personified; the first to befriend an outcast, accepting of people’s shortcomings, optimistic in his belief that the trajectory of life was up. Lysander was both best friend and brother, co-conspirator and protector.

Shit hit the fan after the 2008 financial crash. Her mother’s pay was frozen and her father was laid off. Faced with failure as a provider, husband and father - his identity eroded - he transformed into something else. He drank. A lot. At first, the drinking isn’t so bad.  Between one and five glasses, he’s a joy. He sings Christmas songs in July and dances like he’ll never have the chance to again. After that comes the bits Larissa never saw. Arguments between her parents - over money, unemployment and benefits - soon grow physical. At the end of the night, her father always begs for forgiveness and promises to never drink again. Her mother always forgives him. And he always breaks his word. Lysander ensured she never knew what was going on in their house.

He protected her in other ways too. when Larissa was eleven, her father came home drunk and demanded she go with him on a father-daughter road trip. lysander intervened, first attempting to reason with him. when that fails, he orders you out. child that she was, larissa wriggled free from her father’s trip and fled to lysander’s room, where she knew she’d always be safe. hours later, Lysander pulled back the covers, his face shaded in dried blood and hastily applied bandages. come on, he urged, it’s time to go on an adventure.

Adventure turned out to be two children and one shaken mother moving into their grandparents house thirty minutes outside of Edinburgh. Determined to ensure that abuse didn’t blight their future, she insisted on both siblings sitting and passing entrance exams and scholarship interviews for the leading private school. Both she and Lysander passed. But from the very beginning, it was clear that they were different from everyone else. The other students had double-barrelled surnames and parents who were titans of industry and the creme-de-la-creme of society. Possessed by their own self-worth, they were the very embodiment of entitlement. Larissa despised them instantly, taking their existence as proof of a fundamental ill in the universe. It wasn’t fair that they had so much when she had so little, or that their families continued to be whole.

Lysander saw things differently. Fire and water, sun and moon - she had always known there were fundamental differences between the two of them, but hadn’t thought they would ever drive them apart. Whilst Larissa spurned her new school, preferring to bury her head in her work and befriend the librarians, Lysander threw himself head first into his new life, choosing to see the opportunity and kindness in his new peers. Bit by bit, the gulf between them widened - until they led separate lives. It broke her heart. Larissa didn’t know what to do with her sorrow except unleash it upon Lysander, leading to their one and only argument. She accused him of looking down upon his family and of being ashamed of them. She even used the words class traitor

Fences were only mended between the two of them on account of Larissa finding out what had really happened between her mother and her father - and realising the truth of her own past. Once she understood what Lysander had done to protect her, Larissa bit her lip and swallowed her pride; knocking on his door to apologise. From that moment forward, she swore she would do whatever she could to repay him.

More than anything else, Larissa felt guilty that she hadn’t known about her father’s true nature. Remorseful that she hadn’t helped. Whilst her family told her not to chastise herself, pointing out she had only been a child - Larissa insisted on bearing a cross and atoning for her sins. From then on, she swore to repay the kindness shown to her by her mother and Lysander and dedicate her life to protecting society’s most vulnerable, single handedly correcting the injustices she witnessed, whether they be gender, racial or class.

Larissa entered Ashcroft with her fists curled, ready to go to war and burn the establishment to the ground if that was what it took to succeed. Mind already made up, she decided that Ashcroft was like every other university - dominated by white men, more obsessed with statistics than welfare and infected with rampant sexism.

Sure enough, she got to work immediately. Unable to bite her lip, Larissa called out every slight, intentional or otherwise. Headstrong and stubborn, once she has the bit between her teeth she’s restless in her pursuit. In her two-and-a-bit years at Ashcroft, she’s prosecuted several successful campaigns. From picking apart the English literature reading list for being too colonial, calling out Lecturers on their sexist bullshit and launching a petition to force Ashcroft to divest from fossil fuel investments, no cause escapes her attention. By far, her most ambitious campaign was in her first year, once she  discovered that Ashcroft’s cleaners - as agency workers - were being denied fair wages, holiday leave and sick pay. Outraged, she spearheaded a campaign to bring them ‘in-house’; the first person to arrive and the last person to leave the picket lines.

Larissa initially rejected Oberon Ashcroft’s invitation into the Imperium society. Invited after she stormed into his office and delivered a list of cleaners demands, she refused to join until he acceded to the cleaner’s demands. He did so immediately - trapping her in her own promises. 

Larissa’s dislike for Octavia was no big secret. Her brother’s taste in partners has always been poor - so whilst she wasn’t surprised he went for another blonde heiress, Larissa was disappointed; knowing that it could only end in heartbreak for her brother. Girls like Octavia did not end up with boys from families like hers. 

There’s no such thing as justice. That’s Larissa’s new motto; practically every other sentence out of her mouth since Lysander was arrested. Whilst her brother put - and continues to place - his father in the judicial system, she saw the writing on the wall from the beginning - suspecting that he was one small pawn in someone else’s game. There is no doubt in her mind that Lysander is innocent - nor has there ever been any. 

Larissa offered to lie on the stand for Lysander; offering him the alibi that would have seen him slip the noose around his neck. He forbid her, telling her to think of her career, her freedom, her life. He didn’t know that there wasn’t a life worth living without him in it. 

Besides, her life has changed beyond all recognition. Some of those changes are of her own making. Stricken by grief, she’s abandoned almost everyone and everyone who meant anything. Theresa was the first to fall by the wayside, abandoned without a moment’s thought. It’s too selfish to try to be happy whilst her brother rots. Academics go next - her grades slip letter by letter, until Headmaster Ashcroft writes sternly worded letters warning of a scholarship loss. She’s even lost interest in her causes; all injustices paling in comparison to the one committed against Lysander. In short, she’s turned against the world, half-gladly.

Coming back to Ashcroft was a bad idea, but she’ll never admit it. Her newly minted title of “sister of the murderer” is not an easy one to bear. Someone starts a rumour that she’ll be expelled from the Imperium Society. More people hope it’s true. Never apt at biting her tongue, she punches them - and half a dozen more - in the face. 

Larissa has tried to convince Lysander to fight back - to launch an appeal, do an interview with the media to tell his story - to do something, anything! Every time, his answer is the same. Sadly, he shakes his head.

Octavia comes in the space between dreams and nightmares. Her beauty has been snatched from her, drained with her life force. She finds this version of Octavia an easier one to stomach. Without facade, Larissa can stare directly into her soul. How is it that dead, Octavia feels more human to her? Younger too - before her eyes, Larissa sees Octavia as she must have once been - a little girl with all the fire of life inside of her. Any hate borne towards her in life softens into pity. Catching her glancing at a photo of her and Lysander, Larissa asks the one question that will shake the universe. Did he kill you? With only half a second to consider the weight of that question - and whether she wants to hear the answer, Octavia shakes her head. No.

Larissa makes Octavia a promise. She swears not to rest until she finds the person who did. Not for her, but for Lysander.

[delicatefury]

October 15th - Random thoughts from another temporary LCS

Same town different coffee shop. I like the food here more, but the coffee at the other place is definitely better (even if they make their own syrups here). So this is the breakfast place™, and that’s the writing place™. Atmosphere-wise, they’re different but I like both.

—————-

This week I turn 30. My BFF (the one I actually live near. The other’s still in Hawaii) wants to go out to celebrate. I wonder if I can get her to go to the vintage wine bar... We’re easing back into an... active? Friendship. Not that we’re not still super close. But when you only see each other a few times a year, conversations tend to default to “what’s happened since I saw you last?” Events, y’know? So now we’re kinda easing back into the stupid wonderful friendship of seeing each other at least twice a month if not more. So now we actually have room to talk about stupid important shit like dreams ambitions current events griping about life family pets lack of love life philosophy fandom do you still want to read my novel you can crash on my couch if you need a night or two away look at my stupid cat you have to tell me when you get a puppy i want to spoil it so much.

———————-

This week TDPL turns 2. I’m at 5 chapters. Still. I know. I think I’ve maybe updated once this entire year. My goal had been a chapter a month. Then 4 chapters a year. Then an average of 3. I’m not even gonna try to give a timeline at this point. I think maybe when my days are busier, I might have an easier time writing.

Currently, I haven’t gotten much writing done due to “guilt from not having a job”. Which is easing now that the job search is starting to bear fruit. Makes me feel creative. Now if only i had a place to work at home...

——————

My interview is Friday. I need to go buy a new suit (I lost weight in the five years since I bought my first interview suit and it is obviously bad-fitting now. Pencil skirts aren’t meant to sit on the hips), new heels (mine are at least 8 years old), and practice my interview questions. My aunt has been amazing for that so far. She hires people for her company all the time, so she knows what’s up.

I’m struggling on the “five years” question. Y’know, “where do you see yourself in 5 years?” I... am not an ambitious person. And I feel like it’s a question to make sure you’re “driven”. I’m not driven in that I’m not motivated by my own status and success. I’m motivated on getting the... well, on getting the issue solved. I want to rise exactly as high as I need to be to most effectively get problems fixed and the work done. I’m not gunning for Partner (though that would be nice) or VP or Lead on a case. I want to be able to put my skills to use. And if doing so means I take those positions, than that’s where I want to be. How do I explain that in a way that impresses hiring partners?

Personal ambitions? I want a quiet, simple, fulfilled life. I want to be useful. But I also kinda sorta want to own a yarn store? Or coffee shop? Or book store? A place that I can make cozy and indulge in my great loves and help other people discover those simple wonderful things?

I want to finish writing and publish a book.

But I’m good at being a lawyer. Crazy good. Lawfully good. And I like the challenge too. So it’s not like I don’t want to be a lawyer in 5 years. It’s just... I have a kinda see where life takes me approach sometimes.

_____________

NaNoWriMo starts in a little over 2 weeks. No clue what I want to write about. No clue if I’ll have no time to participate or too much time.

I think... I think if I can brainstorm enough and research enough, I might cheat a little and do a rewrite of my one finished novel. Because the first draft is terrible and focuses almost entirely on a romance that is central but a subplot at best. Which means I got lost somewhere and need to buckle down and rediscover the actual story I want to tell and whether that needs to be one book or two or three.

Ugh. I love my BFF who lives here, but the BFF in Hawaii is the one who’s always been involved with my writing endeavors. And it’s just not the same discussing said things over phone and/or skype as it is talking it out in person. Oh well. I’ll figure something out.

________

The attempts to be social have not born fruit. Mainly because there’s nothing going on right now in the alumni association or the the bar association, though the local NaNoWriMo chapter is ramping up. Problem? It’s in the city, and right now the city is a 45 minute drive for me. If I get a job soon, it won’t be so bad because 1) my job will be in the city and I don’t mind a 45 minute commute for work, and 2) I’ll just do things after work. But right now it’s a pain to drive that far on my own for just a 1-2 hour thing.

But I did get drinks with the BFF this weekend. Next weekend, though, I’m babysitting my nieces and nephew so literally everyone else in my family can go to an event. Because I got lost in the shuffle of coordinating said event and my older sister assumed that one of us younger siblings would be available and didn’t bother finding a babysitter.

Love her, but really? Anyway, since I wasn’t even aware that there were plans for this weekend to begin with (mom swore she told me, but then younger sis reminded her that was our brother they talked to), I decided to just take one for the team. Eh, who wants to risk awkward conversations with people from high school anyway? I think I’ll wait until I’m employed again and not just tagging along with my parents at 30.

—————

Researching local law is fun. Since I’m doing this for my own potential side-business, I at least don’t have to worry about ethical issues of practicing law without a license (a common saying I’ve run into while researching where the line is: You can always file your own paperwork). I have my license for the state next door. I won’t be licensed for this state (where the farm’s located) until sometime next year.

But the farm’s in an unincorporated part of the county (duh. Not many farms within city limits), so I have to go all the way to actual county zoning code to find the answers I need. There’s no convenient website for these questions like there are for municipalities. While anything I do would have to wait until I at least sit for this state’s bar next July (my 3rd license, but whatever. I’m still a baby lawyer so I can’t just skip the stupid test yet) to be distributed, I’m thinking about putting together a little packet to help other farmers and “unincorporated” (read: country) folks in the county out when it comes to expanding their businesses or pursuing a new line of revenue.

Because the county zoning code is 214 pages and written in legalese. That’s not even touching on other state and county business law questions that crop up. Most people out here assume you can do whatever you can on your own land, especially if it’s zoned for agriculture, and especially since most locals aren’t gonna report you for doing what you want on your own property (because they also assume you can do what you want so long as it’s not hurting anyone/running afoul of the EPA). Probably because their parents and grandparents were able to just start businesses with little interference...

But Dad’s got quite a few stories of people gettting blindsided and unknowingly racking up pretty big fines because, as I said above, there aren’t exactly any easy to understand or easy to access resources for the unincorporated areas of the county.

——————

Dragalia lost is a better game than it has a right to be.

______________

It’s about 11, and I’m trying to avoid “Yapping Dog Syndrome” (telling someone your plans appears to be negatively correlated to the likelihood of executing said plans), but I think I might still list them here. (Convincing my family that it will help me if I don’t actually tell them what I intend to do for the day is gonna take some work....).

So, on the agenda:

Depending on if my Mom texts me before I leave, I’m gonna go pick up some legal pads on my way home. You don’t realize how much you miss something until you don’t have it anymore, and legal pads are a boon for researching. I love my moleksines but they’re definitely better suited for brainstorming/writing then idea development/research. Frankly? Between the ipad, print-outs, and books, they get in the way.

I’m gonna spend about an hour or two on the municipal code/etsy policies.

I need to update my cover letter and send it to at least 2 places. Including that charity.

I’m gonna work on my nephew’s blanket. He’s 2. There are literally no excuses. Also, I can’t move onto new projects until I finish it. Including the new baby’s blanket, socks, my own winter gear, and a ton of started but left unfinished stuff for the rest of the family.

Cleaning up my room. It’s... untidy. I mean, most of that’s not my fault. The room was general storage for Mom’s massive project of cleaning out the attics (yes. Plural. We use the undereaves of the house for storage. I’m 98% certain there’s nothing in the actual above-the-second-story attic. Also, the attics contain things going back to Dad’s childhood). So there’s boxes and boxes of stuff. Mom and Dad’s winter clothes, wrapping paper, seasonal decorations, enough musical instruments for a blue-grass/jazz fusion band (sax, trombone, trumpet, banjo, electric guitar, electric bass, drums, keyboard, acoustic guitar x2...), and toys from our childhood that Mom and my big sis want easy access to for the nieces and nephew. Who do indeed love said old toys (though the nephew’s favorites are actually Dad’s old die-cast tractors. Dad has mixed feelings about letting a 2 year old play with what are technically antiques.)

She’s gone through a lot of it. Like, I’ve got room for my bed, dresser, a mini living room for our gaming consoles (I told you it’s a big room. It takes up about half of the upstairs. I shared it with both sisters growing up. We each had our own mini-room in a corner and a shared area by the walk-in closet) and space for the cats’ stuff, but half the room is still packed with junk and the occasional box crosses over into my living space.

Anyway, Mom should have an answer for me for the legal pads soon, so I’ll be heading out.

I might have something for TDPL’s 2 year anniversary on Thursday, but don’t hold me to it.

[english-ext-2]

Work Experience and Internships

Most of us go to university with the expectation that we’re positioning ourselves for a better starting salary, improved social mobility, and the chance to do our best work, live our best lives, and retire comfortably. But you probably know by now that a piece of paper isn’t going to cut it in the real world™, and employers expect more than good grades.

Work experience is one of the many ways to distinguish yourself from the crowd. (For more on maximising your graduate employability, check out this post on the boredofstudies forum) Internships, and unpaid internships especially, are an increasingly popular source of work experience to spruce up the CV. Considering how intense competition in the graduate market is these days, students are seeking out unpaid internships from as early as first year.

This post is supposed to be an introduction to internships, with a particular focus on unpaid internships and their accompanying risks and pitfalls.      

What’s an internship?

“Internship” is a bit of a nebulous term to which we’ve attached certain expectations and ideas; in popular culture, interns are akin to coffee runners and menial office workers, or the ones we jokingly blame for misfired tweets, but the reality (as it tends to be) is far more complex.   

You can think of internships as a bridge between academic theory and practical workplace experience - they’re a learning (and often networking) opportunity to give you a taste of what it’d be like to work at a particular organisation or in a particular sector.  

An internship can be structured or unstructured, paid or unpaid, and can last anywhere from a few weeks to twenty four months. They can be arranged through your university for academic credit, or you can seek them out yourself. The content of an internship is highly variable and dependent on the industry and organisation. You may be assigned a project or task, made to shadow senior executives, rotated through several divisions, or even invited to attend networking events and receive professional development.  

The pros and cons of unpaid internships

Pros

Gaining experience in your academic field, or a field related to what you intend to pursue as a career;

Taking on or refining transferable skills that will enhance your employability;

Getting a sense of an organisation’s day-to-day rhythm and a feel for their workplace culture;

If doing an internship for credit, your work and study time overlap;

In some cases, being provided with mentoring, training, career coaching and/or professional development;

The opportunity to form connections and grow your network.

Cons

You are not reimbursed for travel or meals, which means paying out of pocket for what can be lengthy commutes to your workplace;

Employers who don’t respect your boundaries or provide flexibility;

Doing work that is used but not credited to you;

Managing paid work, study and other commitments on top of the unpaid internship;

Being given boring and trivial tasks that don’t challenge you or help you learn, conversely;

Being given a heavy and unrealistic workload for an intern, i.e. doing the work a normal employee would but without pay (this ABC Online report  and Pedestrian TV article cover the pitfalls of unpaid internships). 

This Junkee article also looks at the social implications of unpaid internships, e.g. widening the gap between privileged and underprivileged students. 

Know your rights

Students are often treated as free labour because you don’t have the requisite work experience or skills to justify being paid. That means you aren’t afforded the same workplace protections and rights as paid employees. This makes unpaid internships ripe for exploitation, and frankly, you deserve better. 

According to the Fair Work Ombudsman, an you might be in an employment relationship rather than interning if:

You are doing more productive work than observational;

The work you are doing is normally done by paid employees, and/or is necessary to the organisation’s or company’s daily operations;  

You are expected or required by the organisation to come work or do productive activities;

The company is benefiting more from the the arrangement than you.

Apart from reporting to the Fair Work Ombudsman, you can reach out to Interns Australia, which advocates for fairer and more transparent rules surrounding internships. It also recently launched the National Fair Internship Pledge to help employers and interns identify fair and high quality internship programs.

Searching for internships

Depending on your field of study, internships can be in huge or limited supply. My undergrad was in International Studies, which wasn’t something that had a neat and direct equivalent in the workplace like a Commerce or Business degree. However, communications, media and law internships are practically booming (the problem’s in the amount and quality of competition). So the big question is, where do you start looking?

University careers boards

These should really be your first stop. Get into the habit of regularly checking the careers board; if you know you’ll forget to, subscribe for weekly updates. The big upside of uni job boards is that you’ll see internship ads for small, obscure-sounding companies or organisations that you wouldn’t find when browsing big sites like GradAustralia (see below).  

Also a friendly reminder that your careers centre has resources beyond job boards -- self-assessment tools, fact sheets on just about every aspect of jobseeking, industry news and updates, drop-in career advice and resume-polishing sessions, and careers workshops. Use these! 

Online job boards  

Career One, SEEK, gumtree and Indeed are popular for obvious reasons, but because of their scale, you’re bound to spend most of your time weeding out shifty ads from the legitimate ones.  

I’d advise starting with these websites:  

Grad Australia

GradConnection

Graduate Careers Australia, which manages Graduate Opportunities

Australian Internships

If you’re doing a generalist degree and not entirely sure what companies are suitable, fear not -- the first three sites have an “Arts and Humanities” filter in their search engines. 

Careers fairs

There’s nothing like spending a half-day at the careers fair picking up freebies and chatting to recruiters. They’re a good next step if you’re serious about an internship with a big name company and have done some preliminary research into their internship or graduate programs. 

Meeting representatives and recruiters allows you to get answers from real people, rather than answers from the other side of a screen. It’ll help you get a feel for what kinds of people the company is looking for, and even make some basic connections. (Of course, don’t forget to ask them for tips on what makes a successful application!)    

Applying for internships

It’s always worth checking the credibility of any organisation you want to intern with -- have people mentioned good or bad experiences, is the work they do legitimate, are your roles and duties as an intern clearly laid out? Once you’ve narrowed your search down to a couple of internships, it’s time to do further research.    

You need to be able to articulate why you want to intern at any organisation or company, and that requires knowledge of the organisation or company beyond “your brand is great” and “I want work experience”. What do you hope to gain from interning? How do you fit the company’s values? Make sure your applications are targeted, that you’re not just throwing yourself at any internship in your industry and hoping to land one. Consider your own personality, strengths and skills, and try to apply for internships that match them. If you know you don’t meet half the desired criteria of an advertised internship, then it’s probably best not to apply.    

Which isn’t to discourage you from limiting your options. When you’re starting out, it’s okay to apply to as many places as possible just to get a feel for the entire application process. You need the experience of writing up cover letters and attending interviews, because it’ll serve you well when you start looking for a proper job post-graduation.  

It’s a very, very good idea to ask for help and feedback on your application. Again, remember that your university’s careers centre pretty much exists for this reason. They can provide personalised advice on your resume and cover letter, and if fronting up to staff isn’t your cup of tea, there’s always the online resources.  

International internships

International internships are the logical escalation of everyone and their hamster doing an internship. The “international” part adds a lot of value in soft skills (your independence, organisation, intercultural awareness, etc.) along with experience in your industry/field. Business is global now, and demonstrating your willingness to seek out international experience is a huge plus for employers. But as you can imagine, there’s a lot of preparation involved. 

Finding an appropriate overseas internship

You can look for internships independently on sites like GoinGlobal, browse your university careers board, or apply through an organisation like The Intern Group. The last option is easier in the sense that the organisation will match you to a company, and may offer stipends or cover certain costs. Depending on the organisation, you might be able to access a range of other benefits like networking and social opportunities, professional development, and career training.

Regardless of how you look for an overseas internship, you want something that relates to what you’re studying. That’s also where applying through an organisation can help -- you tell them what you’re studying, and they fit you with one of their partner companies.      

Affording the many costs

Many overseas internships tend to be unpaid, yet you have to fork out a lot of expenses for airfares, accommodation, visa fees, and daily living expenses (e.g. food, transport, leisure), not all of which will be covered by your sponsoring organisation. Many countries will require that you be able to show proof of available funds when applying for a visa, because they need to know you can financially support yourself for the duration of your stay.

You can finance your studies with OS-HELP, which is a loan available to students enrolled in a Commonwealth supported place who want to undertake some of their study overseas. You can access a maximum of two (2) OS-HELP loans over your lifetime. 

Option two is applying for scholarships or grants that might cover part of your expenses. You can contact your university’s study abroad office for a better idea of what’s available and to determine if you’re eligible.  

The complexity of visa application and work permit processes

Don’t underestimate how long it can take to acquire the correct documentation. Every country has different procedures, and some will take longer than others, but you should factor in a few months at most. Some types of visa need an in-person interview, and you have to travel to your city’s embassy or consulate for that. Be aware too that immigration requirements can and do change at short notice, and that you need to be on top of any changes to ensure you’ll be legally working in the country of your internship.

Allowing enough time to prepare

Travelling overseas to work isn’t something you can organise on short notice. You need to book airfares and arrange accommodation well in advance, make a list of all the things you need to pack, and if applicable, allow enough time to apply for and hear back from scholarship/grant providers. Between your organisation, you’ve got all the other minor inconveniences and hassles of student life to manage. So if you truly want an overseas internship experience, start preparing early.  

Work Integrated Learning (WIL)

WIL simply refers to work experience that’s part of your university course, including internships, clinical and fieldwork. It’s good on a couple of levels:

Applying your university-acquired skills to the workplace;

Further developing your soft/transferable skills;

It’s part of your study, meaning that you’re doing work and study at same time, as opposed to fitting odd part-time hours around your timetable;

Your workplace rights are protected by arrangements with the university;

Your learning is structured in such a way that you benefit most;

Networking opportunities with reputable and even high-profile organisations like the Commonwealth Bank, the NSW Government, and various consulting firms (can depend on the university), leading to…

A ‘foot in the door’ for when you do graduate (I have a friend who did so well in one of Deloitte’s vacation programs that they were invited to return once they’d graduated.)

Universities are already moving towards a model of work integrated learning -- Usyd’s new Bachelor of Arts and Advanced Studies includes a fourth-year industry project that has you working on real-life problems and solutions, while the combined Bachelor of Creative Intelligence and Innovation at UTS includes a compulsory internship. Some universities have been using WIL for well over a decade, see the University of Newcastle and Macquarie University.

[mcjour]

ahhhhhhhhh

ok so i’ve been applying all over for jobs which is such a horrible process. hate writing cover letters and filling in employment history and then having to talk to strangers and bla bla bla

SO

anyway i had TWO interviews this week!

the first one was for the district in the next town over. i didn’t apply to any jobs that i wouldn’t be happy at, but honestly it’s probably a last choice in the sense that it pays significantly less than anywhere else in the area. Just $15/hr. which isn’t the WORST i’ve seen, but still... not great.. at all...

but i went and interviewed with an assistant principal and she was very nice and made her schools seem really great! like i walked away being like ok i kinda wanna work here LOL. 

i think the interview went well overall. but... in retrospect there are definitely some questions i could’ve answered a lot better than i did. maybe some cringey answers. BUT also nothing i would consider BAD either, if that makes sense. Like certainly not the best job I could’ve done, but overall felt satisifed. I mean, I also need to be fair to myself that this was my first interview in years, and after (well, during) a freaking pandemic, and after leaving my last job in such a traumatic way. And like just anxiety in general! So like, yes I definitely could have done a lot better, but considering I left feeling satisfied, like I am proud of myself for how it went really. 

Plus, she seemed responsive and interested in what I was saying, which seems like a good sign? But like she totally just could’ve been a nice lady with a poker face LOL

Do I think I will get an offer??? Ehhhhhh..... I guess it depends on how many other applicants/ open positions. Like, I could see it going either way. I definitely didn’t bomb the interview, so I wouldn’t say an automatic no. But I could definitely imagine other people could have interviewed much better than I did. And if they were only looking to fill one position, well, I’m out. 

And so, like I said, since they pay the least amount of money, like, I wouldn’t be super hurt if I didn’t get the offer. Like I hope to get a better position so like I’m hoping I wouldn’t end up there anyway! But, if I did get the offer, maybe I’d take it....

Anyway, the interview was Monday and she did say they were aiming for this week ~either way~ and now tomorrow (today) is Friday, so I wonder if I will hear back (either way) today

My second interview...... 

So after my first interview, I made sure to practice extra hard. I mean, I did practice for the first interview a lot too (meaning coming up with different stories/ scenarios for frequently asked questions), but after that one I was like “oh I could’ve said something better for that question” sort of a thing.

So I had all these great stories lined up and ready to go and I was so ready to use them and make me sound great

But.... she didn’t ask any questions like that!!!!!!! 

They were really such flat questions like “what do you do if 8 students need your help?” “you might be pulled to sub is that ok?” like HUH????????????

How am I supposed to make myself sound good with questions like that LMAOOOOOO

(and... how is she supposed to make a decision with questions like that LOL)

But honestly, I did do a good job, I think. Like I think I gave solid answers to every question, don’t think I said anything too cringey or anything. The pulled to sub question could easily have been a flop if I was just like “yeah” (LOL) but I told a story about how my partner teacher would disappear and i would take over the class on the fly. that kind of a thing. was proud of that.

so i walked out feeling pretty confident.

okay plus she started interviews on wednesday (mine was that day). she said she had two more the following day (which made it seem like mine was the last of the day). and then would hope to get back to people on friday. (AHHHHH! I FIND OUT TOMORROW/ TODAY).

and so i was kinda doing the math where i was like okay... my interview was at 1:30pm... she couldn’t have had TOO many before me....  she must’ve allowed herself a lunch break at some point, and when i got to the school she was finishing up a completely unrelated math meeting online. so she must’ve not just been doing interviews that whole time. i wanna say maybe max 6 other interviews that day if she started around 9, went to 12, one every half hour. but i am doubting that she packed them in like that, like i said. but that would make 9 applicants MAX, probably less. And she said there were 3 open positions across both her schools. and she asked if i wanted to be considered for both schools. So that gives me a 1 in 3 chance (or better depending on the actual number of applicants! maybe 1 in 2 chance lol. or if any of the applicants did not want to be considered for both jobs, but one vs the other). so i was feeling pretty good!!!! like decent ratio and a good interview things are looking good! (i mean you hear about jobs that get hundreds of applicants for a single position! these odds are p good!)

BUT still like i wish she asked me different questions. i don’t feel like i fully really expressed who i am to her. like if she had asked me more than i would’ve felt more confident that she would have seen more of my strengths and stuff. like i said, the questions she did ask were kinda flat, and while i think i answered them well, i wasn’t given a lot to work with. that said, i assume she asked the same questions to everyone, so i assume everyone else kinda had that issue, so idk how she is making a decision based off that!

especially given this: i gave her a copy of my resume and she said she really appreciated that because the website the district uses for the applications like is hard to use or messes things up or somehting. which, okay. that worries me a little bit... because i hope she can access my cover letter, my references, etc... because those add a LOT to the picture. like LMAO if she went off of my interview and resume alone...well...ew. i really hope she logs back in and reviews the WHOLE application.

So i’m kinda thinking ewwwwww maybe there was more I could’ve done somehow idk

LOL maybe print out my entire packet HAHA

jk would that have been weird? I would’ve felt weird. but maybe she would’ve liked that haha

the first interview lady actually had all of my stuff printed for the interview (i offered her a resume copy and she’s like oh i actually printed it myself and she had like this thick packet of ALL the stuff)

idk i really loved this school. like on paper it seemed perfect for many reasons, and then when i spoke to the principal it still seemed great, maybe even better than i thought. so like UGH this is my dream school. i want this job so bad! but like, i’m afraid to allow myself to get excited about it. like ... i don’t want to be disappointed. also like just in general there is no need for me to romanticize a JOB 

okay right after the interview i felt so confident like omg yes i am so excited and i am going to get this job!!!! but now the next day i am like... ugh... no way will i get this job... i never get anything i want, so the rejection is inevitable... like... can there really be no healthy middle thinking for me jfc. 

i will say there was one red flag in that i was like oh it seems like you have a very tight knit community here and shes like oh yes we are like a family! and like !!!! those are some red flag words honey!!!!! don’t say that. but like.... idk how to describe it. it felt genuine and not exploity? not that you can tell that from an interview. but like it seems like everyone has been working there forever and loves it kind of a thing. i mean, if i get the job, i won’t let my guard down on that shit. but it’s not concerning enough to stop me either.

one thing i am a LITTLE worried about is that idk when this lady planned on checking references (if at all). like did she do that thursday or is she planning on friday? because part of me secetly hoped that she would call my references today and they would’ve texted me being like omg! but they didn’t. and so that is kinda like “...oh.” But like i said, she very well could be calling tomorrow. ALSO worth considering is that two of my 3 references actually uploaded letters into the system. So she really doesn’t even ~need~ to call them unless she had specific questions (or wanted to talk to the 3rd reference LOL). so like... i really do not need to be stressing out about this specific thing at all... and yet....

also.... ugh... there are stuff that are just about me that i worry about. like ok, i am visibly queer with a shaved head. while i’d hope that an interviewer would not be prejudiced.... they easily could be. there really aren’t enough queer people in education, it’s a very homogenous field of straight, often wealthy, white women. i do have white privilege but otherwise i really don’t fit the image, so idk. also one of my references did use they/them pronouns in their reference letter and i feel like that could be a huge red flag to someone. granted i suppose i wouldn’t want to work for someone like that, and i also don’t care enough to asks my friend to misgender me, but still, it’s something i wonder about. another thing is that i talk with my hands a lot, and i am sure i did even more given that i was nervous......... i don’t think that is an issue necessarily but i was definitely self conscious about it like geez i hope i wasn’t waving my hands out of control LOL. and then another thing is that i HATE eye contact, like i just can’t do it. And I think I did a great job of holding eye contact, all things considered. but I definitely did look away a bit, particularly when i was thinking. I think it was fine and not an unreasonable amount of looking away, but now i am getting paranoid like oops maybe i looked away too much or something!!! i mean, i would hate if a job offer came down to something trivial like that, but... idk

another thing i wonder is the other applicants. like i said before.. it doesn’t really matter if i am a great applicant, it doesn’t guarantee anything if there was someone even slightly better. doesn’t mean i suck or anything. of course, that still wouldn’t take the sting off. ANYWAY the part i wonder most about though is where are these other people applying? by that i mean like what if my first choice school is actually someone else’s last choice school? do the other applicants also have other interviews and offers to weigh? So like, what if she offers someone a job but they are like sorry no thanks (for whatever reason, whether they accepted another position elsewhere, saw a red flag in the interview, or whatever it may be). like what if i was 4th choice for the 3 positions or something. would the job go to me?? when would i find this out? like, it’s weird to state that you will find out friday ~either way~ when i feel like you would need some time for the other people to accept (god forbid the call goes to voicemail even!). like i feel like most jobs wouldn’t be like “you’re waitlisted” LOL (i will say i did get a job off a waitlist once so i know it’s possible, but that doesn’t seem likely here LOL). maybe she didn’t say friday either way, and just ~friday~. maybe friday is for acceptances and flat out rejections and if you don’t hear friday you’re waitlisted LOL. or maybe she said she would make the decision fridayy but that doesn’t mean she’s actually reaching out friday? (ok i doubt she said that LOL)

plus are we talking like oh first thing friday she’s making the calls or is she gonna pull at 4:59pm thing like a lot of places do LOL. I don’t think that makes sense but maybe? I mean, when she offered me an interview, the time stamp on the email said like 8:39am or some shit, so i think this lady is on the ball in the mornings. but like i said, maybe she is still tying it all together friday morning, after all, she is moving through this very fast. 

hopefully i hear good news today but i guess we will just  wait and see.

if it’s only bad/no news, there are still some schools i haven’t heard from, and some more i can apply to. i just want to wrap this process up sooner rather than later.

lastly, i need to remember if worst comes to worse, i could always apply to my old school (meaning the one i worked at before, not the one i attended lol. although i guess i could also apply there, i just don’t like the position they have open right now). i am pretty dang sure they would take me (they always need somebody!) plus i know the ropes, know i would be happy and fit in there (not to mention my friends are there LOL). i hope it doesn’t come to that, after all the pay SUCKS lol. but it’s not world ending if i don’t get the jobs.

[leadingwithoutlimits]

LEARNING TO SWITCH OFF 'THAT' VOICE IN OUR HEAD

Managing our time effectively is a challenge that many of us wrestle with on a daily basis. There are many strategies to doing this which I cover in other articles including creating effective boundaries, learning to say no and a wide range of techniques to save time and ensure you don’t duplicate effort. Once you master these techniques you would assume that you have cracked the issue of managing your time well, yet many people find the time they have free is dominated by that voice in their head.

The voice comes in a variety of guises.

There is the voice that constantly nags about things you have done or said which you realise with hindsight, it would have been better if you had hadn’t. Why didn’t you bite your tongue and remain silent? Why did you behave in that way when you knew there would be negative consequences? “Why did you……?”

Then there is the voice which harangues you because you failed to say what you really think or you wish you told someone you loved them or were sorry while you had the chance. It tells you that should have stood up to your partner, parents or workplace bully. “Why didn’t you …..?”

There is the voice that endlessly reminds you about all the jobs which need to be done, discusses all the options, gets you planning marketing strategies or rehearsing the interview you are going to attend in a few days time. “And then there’s …. And don’t forget ….”

There is the voice that constantly tells you that you are never good enough, that you have failed yet again and that it is no surprise because you have so little worth. “You are stupid…. worthless….. fat…… “

My personal experience and work with countless clients have demonstrated that the size and significance of the perceived issue appear to have little or no significance in relation to the volume and persistence of the voice in our heads. The voice is often at its quietest when we are busy. It only begins to be a real problem for the majority of people in their personal time and for many of those is at its loudest in the dark lonely hours when they are desperately trying to sleep.

Do we simply have to put up with this voice? Are we destined to be victims to the broken down record which goes around and around in our head?

The answer is No! As in all things we have a choice. If you choose to deal with the problem, there are many things you can do. You will need to experiment as different things work for different people in different circumstances.

If the voice persists or if you find your personal time or sleep is being affected you may find that working with an experienced coach can be really helpful

What is that voice? Many say that the voice in our head is our unconscious mind. It can be useful to think of it in this way, as there is usually an underlying reason which explains why we are hearing the voice and for what it is trying to say. Deal with that and the voice is easy to manage. Create a dialogue with your unconscious mind, it may feel strange but it can work really well.

The strategies fall into several categories:

1) The Mountain Or Molehill Test

The passage of time makes a huge difference to the way we feel about things. An incident that feels like the end of the world can appear insignificant after a few hours, days or weeks. If you have something which is really getting to you, one quick way to silence the voice in your head is to consider the following questions:

In the grand scheme of things is this a mountain or a molehill situation?

Will this incident feel as significant tomorrow? In a weeks time? Six weeks? Next Year? If you were at the end of your life looking back?

At what point will you be able to look back and laugh or at least smile about this?

How long will it take before this becomes a great story to tell a mate over a drink or dinner?

If it is going to become a molehill in a while why let it be a mountain?

Why not give it molehill status now?

2) Interrupt The Flow

The brain works rather like a record or CD. Thought patterns work like the patterns ingrained into the disc. Even though vinyl records have now become a collector's pieces we still use the expression “going on like a broken record” to describe how thoughts seem to stick and constantly repeat themselves in our head. If you wanted to stop a record or CD delivering its usual pattern of sounds you simply need to interrupt the pattern on the disc by scratching them with a sharp object. We can interrupt the constant stream of negative thoughts or sounds. There are a number of ways to do this:

Interrupt the pattern by doing something different. When you can do something very different which also changes your physiology the results are far more powerful. The results are even more profound when it is something that makes you laugh. Next time you are feeling low, when the voice is at its most insistent get-up and try a variety of silly walks around the house. Clients report that having physically done this a few times not only does it work really well but that just the thought of doing it becomes enough to break the pattern as it makes them smile.

Exercise can be really helpful. The change of activity and release of endorphins which exercise releases can help put things in perspective. Asking your unconscious mind to find a solution or to undertake the mountain/molehill strategy before starting to run or cycle can be incredibly helpful too.

Watch or listen to something which makes you laugh, go and cook or make something, work in the garden. Changing your physical state will change your mental state too.

3) Tell The Voice To Shut The _____ Up!

For some simply telling the voice that it is not being helpful, telling it to SHUT UP! is enough. If that isn't working visualise a large switch or dial and imagine turning it off and locking it into place can help. It is in the making the decision to take control of things that actually makes the difference for them.

One of my clients referred to her voice as 'The parrot'. I asked her how people quieten caged pet parrots, put a cloth over the cage was her response. She then smiled and said if that doesn't work I can shoot the bl---y parrot! This became her favourite method. She described how she visualised a cartoon where she shot the imaginary parrot with a blunderbuss initially but if the parrot regrouped in true cartoon fashion she then used a cannon. It made her laugh and the voice was quietened!

4) Learn The Lesson

When the voice is nagging you for things you have or haven’t done one strategy is to ask yourself what the underlying lesson behind the voice might be?

Ask yourself: what learning could I take from this situation that would be helpful in the future? Think about what situation has given rise to that nagging voice. Recreate that situation in your mind where you create a different behaviour, one which you know would lead to success. What would that look and sound like? How would it make you feel? What could you learn from this? Thank the voice for giving you the opportunity to learn and let your unconscious mind know you have taken the learning forward so it can now stop.

5) Compartmentalizing

Learning to compartmentalise can help you manage the voice in your head. Visualise putting the issue/s bothering you into a briefcase or a box. This is particularly helpful if you find it hard to switch off from work and the boundaries between work and personal time have become blurred. Create a compartment for work thinking - one which you will pick up again as you start to work the next day.

If you are travelling to and from work you can use the journey to create a separation between 'work' time and personal time. Create a point in the journey where you always make the changeover. Some find they need a neutral space between work and home. Use a section of your journey like the air chamber in a submarine which acts as the buffer between the sea and the inside cabin can help.

For those who are working from home, it is important to create some demarcation - some of my clients have found that creating a specific routine that becomes the marker between personal time and professional time helps. Music can be really helpful - playing a piece of music that represents the shift can help. What is important is that you create something meaningful for you.

6) Change Your Perception

Perception is everything. You filter everything which happens in your life and interpret it according to your values, belief system and prior experiences. Understanding that your personal perception is not a guarantee that you are always right, can be very helpful. How you interpret another person’s response makes an incredible difference to how you feel and to the voice in your head. Be open to the possibility that there are alternative rationales to the one you have initially created. It is not always about you.

7) Do Something With It

You are being kept awake, that voice in your head is constantly telling you about all the things which need doing or is bursting with ideas. It is far better to get up and capture the ideas, create a list of all the things which need to be done or write the letter saying sorry or stating your case. Once you have done everything which can be done practically at this time you are far more likely to be able to sleep. You can take any actions needed the next morning.

8) Let Go Of Regrets - It’s Too Late

A number of clients have talked about the voice which constantly reinforces the regrets that they didn’t tell loved ones, who have died, how much they loved them. Writing a letter where they could say everything they wished they had said, offered a positive way forward.

Doing so and actually verbalising how you truly feel to someone else can also be helpful. I believe that learning the lesson so that we take the time to value loved ones and friends and to thank people for the difference they make to our lives in the NOW (even though it may feel embarrassing) can have a profound effect on not only silencing the voice in our heads but in enhancing the quality of our lives.

There are any number of strategies you can use. The important thing for all of us is to realise that we don’t have to be a slave to the part of us that wants to take over and destroy the precious time we have by being nagged by a negative and persistent voice.

The quality of your life is up to you. Of course, life can throw you curve balls - I know I have been thrown many over my lifetime but what I have come to realise is that it isn't the challenge that defines you it is how you choose to deal with it.

SO

If you would like to become the leader of your own life:

Here is a personal invitation to join me for a -'BECOME THE LEADER OF YOUR OWN LIFE' - VIP Day Intensive/s where you will learn how to let go of old limitations and step into the limitless possibilities which await.

For more details and to book go to:

https://ginagardinerassociates.co.uk/page_48.php?pgenme=leadership-for-life&nav_group=all

Further Resources:

'leadership For Life' Radio and TV Shows on W4CY live every Thursday at 6pm UK time 1pm Eastern

https://w4cy.com/shows/leadership-for-life/

Youtube Leadership For Life Playlist

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLR8ab6DHaK7nWQc2cG8WzJxnkD9_LUhqq

Books:

Thriving Not Surviving - The 5 Secret Pathways To Happiness Success And Fulfilment

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B074BPBLD3/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i1

The Happiness Challenge

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B08BC1H4YS/ref=dbs_a_def_rwt_bibl_vppi_i3

Genuinely New -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Genuinely-New-Discovering-Leadership-Identity/dp/B08J578F2P/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=Genuinely+New+by+Gina+Gardiner&qid=1614862410&s=digital-text&sr=1-1

Articles:

How To Create A Wealthy Life

https://www.linkedin.com/posts/ginagardinerassociates_wealth-wellbeing-abundance-activity-6782571460750802944-cbg1

Healthy Relationships With Others Require A Healthy Relationship With You

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/healthy-relationships-others-relationship-yourself-first-gardiner

#mentalhealth #wellbeing #happiness #confidence #selflove #health #dealingwithstress #dealingwithanxiety

[agoswami23]

Entry 7: Reflection on the subject with respect to your starting point, new learning and experiences, and how this will assist you from a career development perspective

Transition to professional practice taught me a lot about how to conduct myself in the industry together with how to prepare for job interviews and internship applications. When I first started this subject at the beginning of the semester, I had high hopes to improve my professionalism and what I realised when doing this subject was how different industry vocabulary was and I had to really make an effort to understand and learn new words to help me in this aspect.

Writing cover letters was relatively new to me except for the one time I wrote one for a part time job at Footlocker. I had to learn to introduce myself while mentioning the position I am applying for and highlighting my skills and experience that match those needed for the job. In the cover letter I also learnt to encourage the reader to take a look at my resume. The process of working with my critical partner was a new experience for since I have not had someone look over my resume or cover letter other than myself. This was quite constructive because my critical partner would look at my applications from a different perspective and would pick up on things I did not see. My partner pointed it out how my cover letter should have more body to it and that my resume could use a better design to stand out along with highlighting my skills in a more effective way.

Certain communication styles and industry vocabulary formed by a combination of real world and job-related perspectives can make a job interview more successful (Scheuer 2001). This subject was useful in teaching me how to use this kind of language during an interview. It taught how to look presentable, how to set up a good background for an online interview, to know that being nervous is normal during an interview and to just relax and lastly to answer questions with good depth and not just one line answers. Almost creating a story with each response is one of the things I had no clue about before entering this subject as well.

At the start of this semester in this subject to where I am now, I have improved immensely and prepared myself for my internship, professional career moving forward and my career development as a whole, through my leaning experiences in transition to professional practice. Hopefully, future employers will be impressed with how my resume is designed and structured to highlight my skills and experiences as well as how my LinkedIn profile has developed and grown, which can lead to a long lasting job in the sporting industry.

Referencing

Internship 2015, photograph, viewed June 5, 2020, https://techcrunch.com/2015/06/03/how-todays-tech-will-shape-tomorrows-job-interview/

Scheuer, J 2001, ‘Recontextualization and Communicative Styles in Job Interviews’, vol. 3, iss. 2, pp. 223-248, viewed on June 5, 2020, Google Scholar