#and the others have like 80 applicants. getting an interview is like winning the lottery

[scurvyratt]

spring semester starts on monday... please... I just want to go on the internet all day... plz...

Altho tbhhhh I don't work very hard at school lolol like im kinda a flop. Everyone always says that they spend hours and hours studying and I don't💀. Like I watch youtube in class while scrolling thru tumblr or reddit or I play sudoku... but you know what I will pay attention if it's a discussion type class and I can yap about something.

I only find myself getting stressed at the end of the semester when I save all my big projects until the day it's due. Like I WILL write a 10+ page paper in less than 24 hrs idgaf. And the thing is that I always get 100% on these essays/projects which has led me to believe that university is a bit unserious...

[chaletnz]

Green Card Series: US Embassy Interview

[The first of some posts I wrote about the experience of winning and obtaining a US “green card” in the 2021 DV Lottery.]

As I sat on the metro headed towards my capsule hotel for the evening, I realized that I had forgotten to buy a Letterpack envelope from a post office. In the midst of rushing to Tokyo, going to the outskirts of Shinjuku to pick up my medical report, and coordinating dinner with an ex-colleague I hadn’t seen in 5 years that one little detail had slipped my mind. Unlike Kutchan, where I could’ve ducked into a post office until 7pm on a Thursday night, everything here was closed by 5pm. The panic began to set in with my friend also unable to find an open shop to get one from, but then I found online that the Central Tokyo Post Office would open at 7am. I would have an hour before my interview to take the train down and buy one and make it back in time to gather my documents and walk to the embassy. Of course, it was raining heavily, so heavily that the day after I left there would be reports of rain-induced landslides in Shizuoka that destroyed 80 homes. In fact, the internet was wrong once again and the post office was not open until 9am but inside there was a small kiosk and he sold me a Letterpack without any problem! I clutched it close to me to keep it dry while I walked back to the station and back to my capsule to gather up my documents and make the same walk clutching the plastic folders close to me to the US embassy in Akasaka.

When I arrived one of the guards asked me the time of my appointment and placed me in the queue as he saw fit. I showed my passport and my name was checked on a list of interviewees for the day. I was whisked on to put my umbrella in the rack, and my phone in a small blue basket. As we waited to get inside the security check room I chatted with the friendly guard outside which made me feel very relaxed. My phone screen was wiped with a swab and then sent through a scanner with my folders and small bag. At the other end I took one of their ratty loan umbrellas to cross the courtyard to the actual embassy building. My passport was checked again at the entrance and I was given a list of instructions and told to take a ticket from the machine inside. I arranged my documents in order as per the instructions and borrowed a pen to write my name of the back of my photographs. I approached the counter to submit documents but I think I should’ve just waited because my number was summoned to a counter where a lady asked me for all of my documents in the folder. She asked me if I had visited any other countries in the last two weeks (COVID check), whether I was married, had kids, or had lived in any other countries where I had a criminal record. I answered no to everything and she gave me a slip to pay the visa application fee and told me to return to her with the receipt. It was $330 and I tried to pay with card but as my Japanese card does not have my name on it this was not accepted. Instead I paid cash in Japanese yen (36,300 JPY) which luckily I had withdrawn as a backup while also at the post office – actually it’s not a bad rate! I passed the receipts to the same lady and then she asked me for financial support documents or an affidavit of support. I presented bank statements from 3 of my accounts which she struggled to understand and confirm, so she wrote a note for the attention of the consular officer. Then she told me to sit and wait to be called for interview. Hilarious, because there were only about 5 chairs for 30 people standing waiting. Slowly the crowds filed out and I was able to get a seat after about an hour of standing waiting watching Japanese people get grilled in English and not understand what was happening. “How can you study in the US when you don’t speak English?” I distinctly heard one poor guy get asked.

At last my number flashed and I was summoned to counter 8. I had been telling the universe I wanted to be interviewed by the lady as the bald guy seemed very strict and harsh, and she had approved all the cases before me. She seemed like a cheerful woman in her late 30s with thin blonde hair tied up into a bun, she wore a black facemask and a green and white flowing top with a lanyard around her neck sporting a yellow button with something written on it that I couldn’t read. “Good morning” I greeted as I placed my documents on the ledge. “Morning, how are you?” She had time for pleasantries and she seemed nice.

“Firstly, I’m going to return your original documents and payment receipt. Now please raise your right hand.” I was a bit caught off guard as I had not seen any other people in the hour I was watching ever have to raise their right hand! She recited a pledge and asked me to swear to tell the truth which I did. Next my fingerprints were taken on a little scanner box on the table. Then she got stuck in with the interview.

“Why do you want to move to the US?”

“How long have you lived in Japan?”

“Have you lived in any other countries for more than a year?”

“What work do you do now?”

“Where would you go in the US, what’s your plan?”

“Tell me about your education history after leaving school.”

“A Bachelors is your highest qualification?”

“How much money do you have in savings”

“Do you think that’s enough, to start a new life?”

“Do you have anyone that can support you financially if you need it?”

The one that got me was the “do you think that’s enough [money] to start a new life?”. I hadn’t really intended to start a new life, at least for the first year or so I guess I’m planning to treat the green card like a working holiday. Work, travel, meet people. I’m not sure that I will be starting a new life right away. It also implied to me that she thought I would be living my life indefinitely in the US – is that what most winners do? Suddenly the permanence of the situation was dawning on me. I explained that it would be enough for a few months to find my feet, as an experienced traveller and backpacker primarily I was used to staying in hostels and no frills accommodation. My experience in the hospitality industry was also brought up to convince her that I would be able to support myself by working those crappy jobs no one else wants to do if I had to! By the end of the interview she seemed satisfied and told me the visa was approved and I would receive my passport back in about a week. She invited me to ask questions but I didn’t have any, instead I asked if I could give her an omiyage (a small gift) to thank her but she said she could not accept which was expected actually. That was it, I made my way out of the embassy and gave the omiyage to the friendly guard who I had chatted with earlier and he took it happily.

A brisk walk back through the torrential rain to the train station and I found myself at Harajuku Station ready to enjoy a celebratory lunch at Sarutahiko Coffee above the station entrance. I sat in a cosy corner with a pulled pork sandwich and a latte to spend an hour texting my good news to everyone and gazing longingly at the cats of the cat café across the street lounging in the window. Sarutahiko café was recommended by Paolo in Tokyo who is a big YouTuber for English speakers interested in Japan and I explained that to the cashier who seemed thrilled although, Japanese people can seem thrilled about anything even though they only understand about 10% of what you’re saying... She recommended that I try their specialty coffee beans which have a aroma and flavour like whiskey so I jumped at that! It was a little bit strange (and expensive) but a unique coffee and whiskey combination to celebrate my visa.

[jeramymobley]

3 Ways to Excel in Finding a Suitable Job

Just two decades ago, finding a suitable job was simplistic. People wrote their own résumés, had them edited by trusted friends, and walked into the interview with confidence about having been for a long time in the previous job that he must have been good at because of a lengthy tenure. Since then, though, the job-finding process has evolved dramatically. In the current job market, where competition is the modus operandi, job seekers must excel at everything they do. Otherwise, they will be outshone by others.

Finding a job nowadays—in this era of specialization—one must excel in the following three areas.

The Résumé

Endless articles and books have been written about how to create a winning résumé. They were written by experts of course. But are you an expert at writing your own résumé? Are you that good that you can read an article or even a book and become able to follow the expert’s advice and subsequently produce a fantastic, exceptional, and outstanding résumé? I think I know what your answer is. And that’s the reason that for several years I’ve been recommending that job seekers hire a certified, professional,  résumé writer. There are loads of them out there, but only a few have proved themselves time after time and are being continuously recommended. Those are the only ones you should engage.

Interview Preparation

Because so many well-qualified candidates are competing for the same single opening, employers have had to become more sophisticated in their selection processes—and they have. That fact places a heavy-duty burden on the applicant to be well prepared for tough interview questions. Again, many articles have been written such as “How to Ace an Interview”; and it’s most likely that experts have written them. Are you one? Are you ready to face that tough and very selective hiring manager? Yes, you might be, but not until you’ve prepared for many hours for that interview. And I do mean for many hours. And then there’s a stint of practice with a qualified person—preferably a career coach who has expertise in the specific area of interview skills. Could you imitate Fred Astaire by reading a book about dancing?

Participation in Social Media

Probably this is the most difficult part. Social media have evolved in the past several years to become the differentiators among job seekers. Your knowledgeable participation in and use of social media effectively increase severalfold your chances of getting an interview—same as the reason that people buy several lottery tickets. However, social media are evolving so fast that neither candidates nor employers are expert at manipulating them. For both job seekers and employers, LinkedIn is the predominant medium, and Googling for information is the norm. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg: The world of social media is actually the 80 percent of the iceberg that lies hidden under the water. And ignoring that 80 percent is not the answer, because if it manages to cause a hole in your boat, it will surely sink you.

The post 3 Ways to Excel in Finding a Suitable Job appeared first on Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career.

[cutsliceddiced]

New top story from Time: A South Korean Adoptee Deported From the U.S. Is Suing His Homeland Over Its ‘Child Export’ Frenzy

(SEOUL, South Korea) — Adam Crapser lives in limbo, a stranger in South Korea, the country of his birth.

Forcibly separated from his wife, children and friends in America, he is isolated by language and culture, left alone to navigate this sprawling city he’s been expelled to four decades after being sent to adoptive parents in Michigan at age 3.

Crapser was abused and abandoned by two different sets of adoptive parents in the United States; then he was deported after run-ins with the law because none of his guardians filed citizenship papers for him. He told The Associated Press in an interview that he has struggled in South Korea with intense anxiety and depression, even as he searches for answers about why his life has become defined by displacement.

That search has led him to file a landmark lawsuit against South Korea’s government and a private adoption agency, the Seoul-based Holt Children’s Services, over what Crapser calls gross negligence regarding the way he and thousands of other Korean children were sent to the United States and other Western nations without accounting for their future citizenship.

The 200 million won ($177,000) civil suit, which was described exclusively to the AP ahead of its expected filing Thursday by Crapser’s lawyers in a Seoul court, exposes a dark side of South Korean adoptions, which exploded as a business during the 1970s and ’80s when many children were carelessly and unnecessarily removed from their families.

The country was then at the height of a so-called “child export” frenzy pushed by military dictatorships that focused on economic growth and reducing the number of mouths to feed. There was no stringent oversight of adoption agencies, which were infamous for aggressive child-gathering activities and fraudulent paperwork as they competed to send more children abroad at faster speeds.

Crapser’s case also highlights the shaky legal status of possibly thousands of South Korean adoptees in the United States whose parents may have failed to get them citizenship, potentially leaving them vulnerable to deportation if they acquire a criminal record in a country that’s becoming increasingly aggressive about going after undocumented immigrants.

Crapser, who was named Shin Seong-hyeok by his Korean mother, is one of five adoptees who the Seoul government confirms now live in South Korea after being deported from the United States. Several of the deportees have reportedly dealt with mental health issues and served jail time in South Korea for assault and other crimes.

Activists say the South Korean government has done a poor job tracking deported adoptees and that the real number is almost certainly larger. Officials wouldn’t provide details about the other deportees.

In South Korea, human rights lawsuits against the government can drag on for years and are rarely successful because the burden of proof in non-criminal cases is entirely on the plaintiffs, who often lack information and resources. Even if Crapser wins, the payout will likely be significantly smaller than what was demanded, considering past cases, according to Soh Rami, one of his lawyers.

Crapser said the amount of money is less important than forcing officials from Holt and the government into a courtroom to face questions of accountability. He said the government and Holt are responsible for failing to follow through on his adoption and ensuring that his American parents naturalized him. Because he wasn’t a citizen, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement officials ordered him deported in November 2016 over criminal convictions, including unlawful possession of a firearm and assault.

His lawsuit will also attempt to hold Holt and the government accountable for supposedly fraudulent paperwork over his adoption status. Most South Korean adoptees, including Crapser, were documented as abandoned, even in cases where they had known parents or were simply lost, which made them easily adoptable under U.S. laws. He also seeks to hold the government responsible for allowing foreigners to adopt babies without actually visiting South Korea, which Crapser blames for screening failures that led to his adoption by abusive parents.

“It’s a daily struggle to survive and to continue to want to push forward and want some justice and want some accountability and want some answers,” Crapser, now 43, told AP. “For everything to fall apart and for everything to happen the way it has, most people wouldn’t be alive here to talk.”

Kim Ho Hyun, Holt’s president, said the agency followed the laws and procedures of the time and that it was mainly the responsibility of U.S. parents and institutions to ensure that adoptees obtained citizenship. Seong Chang-hyeon, an official from South Korea’s Ministry of Health and Welfare, said the government is trying to improve welfare services for deported adoptees while also consulting with Washington over possible U.S. legal changes that could prevent adoptee deportations.

The U.S. State Department referred questions to the Department of Homeland Security, which couldn’t immediately be reached for comment.

Currently living in a cramped one-bedroom apartment in Seoul, Crapser said the deportation has seriously strained his marriage and he often sinks into dark moods over his inability to be actively involved in the lives of his children.

He described the difficulties of being stuck in a country where he doesn’t speak the language, including dismissive treatment at public offices and monthly visits to a psychiatrist who can’t really speak English. While he talked fondly about meeting with his Korean mother every few months, he also expressed frustration over what he sees as a social stigma against adoptees here. He has eight more years before he’s eligible to return to the United States.

About 200,000 South Koreans were adopted overseas during the past six decades, the majority to American couples. More than 4,000 Korean children were sent abroad in 1979, the year Crapser arrived in the United States.

Agency board members with ties to the military dictators of the day were less worried about child welfare than maintaining a business that brought in as much as $20 million a year by some estimates, critics say.

Reached on the telephone, Crapser’s birth mother, Kwon Pil-ju, sobbed and said she felt like she had “horribly sinned” against her son. She said she was single, disabled and desperately poor, and that she finally decided to give her children away because of fears that they’d starve. They also have problems communicating — he can’t speak Korean, she can’t speak English, and they don’t always have someone who could interpret.

Crapser said he “definitely didn’t win the lottery” when it came to his American parents. He and a sister were sent to what he says was an abusive couple in Michigan in 1979. Seven years later, the couple abandoned Crapser, then 10, and his sister, and he ended up with Thomas and Dolly Crapser, who he said would sometimes slam their children’s heads against walls, strike them with kitchen utensils and burn them with heated objects. Repeated calls to the Crapser home went unanswered.

In 1991, the couple was arrested on charges of physical child abuse, sexual abuse and rape. They were reportedly convicted in 1992 on multiple counts of criminal mistreatment and assault. Kicked out of his parents’ house after an argument, Crapser pleaded guilty to burglary after he said he later broke into the home to retrieve a Korean-language Bible and a stuffed dog that came with him from a Korean orphanage. He was later convicted of unlawful possession of a firearm and assault.

Crapser thought he had turned a corner, opening a barber shop and an upholstery business and starting a family, when he was served his deportation paperwork in 2015 after a green card application triggered a background check.

“It’s heartbreaking. A lot of the depression that I deal with, a lot of the hopelessness that I feel at times is attributed to the separation from my family that I created and not being able to be actually involved in their life every day like I was,” he said.

via https://cutslicedanddiced.wordpress.com/2018/01/24/how-to-prevent-food-from-going-to-waste

[glenmenlow]

3 Ways to Excel in Finding a Suitable Job

Just two decades ago, finding a suitable job was simplistic. People wrote their own résumés, had them edited by trusted friends, and walked into the interview with confidence about having been for a long time in the previous job that he must have been good at because of a lengthy tenure. Since then, though, the job-finding process has evolved dramatically. In the current job market, where competition is the modus operandi, job seekers must excel at everything they do. Otherwise, they will be outshone by others.

Finding a job nowadays—in this era of specialization—one must excel in the following three areas.

The Résumé

Endless articles and books have been written about how to create a winning résumé. They were written by experts of course. But are you an expert at writing your own résumé? Are you that good that you can read an article or even a book and become able to follow the expert’s advice and subsequently produce a fantastic, exceptional, and outstanding résumé? I think I know what your answer is. And that’s the reason that for several years I’ve been recommending that job seekers hire a certified, professional,  résumé writer. There are loads of them out there, but only a few have proved themselves time after time and are being continuously recommended. Those are the only ones you should engage.

Interview Preparation

Because so many well-qualified candidates are competing for the same single opening, employers have had to become more sophisticated in their selection processes—and they have. That fact places a heavy-duty burden on the applicant to be well prepared for tough interview questions. Again, many articles have been written such as “How to Ace an Interview”; and it’s most likely that experts have written them. Are you one? Are you ready to face that tough and very selective hiring manager? Yes, you might be, but not until you’ve prepared for many hours for that interview. And I do mean for many hours. And then there’s a stint of practice with a qualified person—preferably a career coach who has expertise in the specific area of interview skills. Could you imitate Fred Astaire by reading a book about dancing?

Participation in Social Media

Probably this is the most difficult part. Social media have evolved in the past several years to become the differentiators among job seekers. Your knowledgeable participation in and use of social media effectively increase severalfold your chances of getting an interview—same as the reason that people buy several lottery tickets. However, social media are evolving so fast that neither candidates nor employers are expert at manipulating them. For both job seekers and employers, LinkedIn is the predominant medium, and Googling for information is the norm. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg: The world of social media is actually the 80 percent of the iceberg that lies hidden under the water. And ignoring that 80 percent is not the answer, because if it manages to cause a hole in your boat, it will surely sink you.

The post 3 Ways to Excel in Finding a Suitable Job appeared first on Personal Branding Blog – Stand Out In Your Career.

from WordPress https://glenmenlow.wordpress.com/2018/10/25/3-ways-to-excel-in-finding-a-suitable-job/ via IFTTT

[joejstrickl]

3 Ways to Excel in Finding a Suitable Job

Just two decades ago, finding a suitable job was simplistic. People wrote their own résumés, had them edited by trusted friends, and walked into the interview with confidence about having been for a long time in the previous job that he must have been good at because of a lengthy tenure. Since then, though, the job-finding process has evolved dramatically. In the current job market, where competition is the modus operandi, job seekers must excel at everything they do. Otherwise, they will be outshone by others.

Finding a job nowadays—in this era of specialization—one must excel in the following three areas.

The Résumé

Endless articles and books have been written about how to create a winning résumé. They were written by experts of course. But are you an expert at writing your own résumé? Are you that good that you can read an article or even a book and become able to follow the expert’s advice and subsequently produce a fantastic, exceptional, and outstanding résumé? I think I know what your answer is. And that’s the reason that for several years I’ve been recommending that job seekers hire a certified, professional,  résumé writer. There are loads of them out there, but only a few have proved themselves time after time and are being continuously recommended. Those are the only ones you should engage.

Interview Preparation

Because so many well-qualified candidates are competing for the same single opening, employers have had to become more sophisticated in their selection processes—and they have. That fact places a heavy-duty burden on the applicant to be well prepared for tough interview questions. Again, many articles have been written such as “How to Ace an Interview”; and it’s most likely that experts have written them. Are you one? Are you ready to face that tough and very selective hiring manager? Yes, you might be, but not until you’ve prepared for many hours for that interview. And I do mean for many hours. And then there’s a stint of practice with a qualified person—preferably a career coach who has expertise in the specific area of interview skills. Could you imitate Fred Astaire by reading a book about dancing?

Participation in Social Media

Probably this is the most difficult part. Social media have evolved in the past several years to become the differentiators among job seekers. Your knowledgeable participation in and use of social media effectively increase severalfold your chances of getting an interview—same as the reason that people buy several lottery tickets. However, social media are evolving so fast that neither candidates nor employers are expert at manipulating them. For both job seekers and employers, LinkedIn is the predominant medium, and Googling for information is the norm. But that’s just the tip of the iceberg: The world of social media is actually the 80 percent of the iceberg that lies hidden under the water. And ignoring that 80 percent is not the answer, because if it manages to cause a hole in your boat, it will surely sink you.

The post 3 Ways to Excel in Finding a Suitable Job appeared first on Personal Branding Blog - Stand Out In Your Career.