What I found was quite encouraging. The first thing I want to talk about is the ease with which you can navigate the job search on Career Shift. You just need to add in the name of the profession that you seek and the results will appear as long as there are openings for your desired job. What also makes the search engine a pleasure to use is the fact that your search can be narrowed down to area of the country that you are seeking to work in. For instance, I have lived in Philadelphia for the past 10 years and I don’t have the intent of moving anytime soon so I don’t need to look at jobs in other areas. On the other hand, if you are someone who is not from the Philadelphia area and is going to back to their state of residence, you can find jobs in that region too.

Another aspect of Career Shift that is remarkable is saving your job searches. As someone who has used other job search websites, I cannot truly express just how happy it makes me that Career Shift allows you to save the jobs that you are interested in. Furthermore, Career Shift allows you to have a calendar which allows you to save appointments or plans on a particular day. I will freely admit that I’m not the most organized person so for Career Shift to include this kind of tool in quite beneficial for me. Now, I can have my job searches, my interview dates among other plans to all be saved in one place.

After my experience on Career Shift, my answer to Career Development was a resounding yes. Chestnut Hill should indeed use Career Shift as a job search tool for current students because Career Shit is in unique, easy and comprehensive which is what I want from my job search website. However, if you don’t believe me — Chestnut Hill College students are free to try for themselves.  

Courtesy of Works For Me PA.

Works for Me is a free resource that connects persons with disabilities with agencies and programs in Pennsylvania. They will help you find jobs, obtain essential training and support applicants in any other areas needed (health benefits, assistive technology, financial security).
The sometimes all too common misconception for persons with disabilities is that once you start earning your own income, you will lose any or all of your health insurance benefits. Works for Me offers work incentives, which are a set of rules designed to protect your monthly Social Security, Medicaid/Medicare or any other payments you receive. In other words, the organization assures you that you can work without the worry of losing any benefits; helping to promote workers to eventually become self-supporting, if possible.
The Office of Career Development is also a great place of resource if you are a person with a disability. Last November, they held a recruiting event with the Workforce Recruitment Program, funded by the government, which offered summer internships with potential for full-time employment. A total of eight students (including some from other Sepche schools) met with a recruiter; an event Nancy Dachille, the director of Career Development, is excited to offer again.

Courtesy of Workforce Recruitment Program.

“This was a great way for students with disabilities to prepare for and participate in the interview process—especially from the comfort of their own campus,” said Dachille.
In writing this, I was very pleased to see all the resources available for individuals with disabilities. Knowing that these support systems work to ensure that those who have disabilities feel valued is a great comfort.

For more information visit the Office of Career Development or click the provided links above!

As I walked into the arena, sounds of students making connections with various businesspersons, the sights of decorated tables from the twenty-six organizations presents, and the smell of mints (provided for you when you walked in by the Office of Career Development) greeted my senses. I delighted in the fact that the Office of Career Development and the Business Department provided so many students with the opportunity to talk face-to-face with potential future employers and graduate schools.

Two tables grabbed my attention as I walked around the arena. I stopped at the table for Rider University, and I spoke with their contact person. After I finished talking to her about the opportunities at Rider, she told me that she had never seen so many enthusiastic and well-engaged students at a job fair than at CHC (one hundred points for the Griffins!).

In addition to the Rider table, the Defense Logistics Agency possessed a wonderfully decorated table that grabbed anyone’s eye! After discussing the fantastic opportunities at the company, the gentlemen at the table offered to me an arsenal of free stuff, such as backpacks, highlighters, and key-chains (needless to say, one of my favorite tables!).

The information and networking event provided for CHC students the opportunity to discuss with potential employers and graduate schools in an informal, face-to-face, and welcoming environment. I would recommend this event to any students seeking a summer job or internship and to any student exploring graduate schools in the business and communications fields.

One of the most important questions which was on the mind of attendees the declining number of jobs being offered to law school graduates.  It is a query which shouldn’t come as a surprise to representatives of law school since the number of applications they have received are set to be the lowest in the past 30 years.  The reason that law school applications have been declining can largely be attributed to the fact that only “55 percent of 2011 law graduates had found permanent, full-time jobs that required bar passage within nine months.” Acknowledging the situation, one of the panelists said that it was important for prospective students to consider whether law school truly is the direction they are looking for in life. Another panelist chimed in, stating that if a prospective student is only looking at law school because they don’t know what else to do with themselves, it’s a massive mistake.

From the above responses/information,  it may seem as if it’s all doom and gloom for prospective law students but that is not the case. There was some positive news to go around as well. For instance, the dwindling number of applications means that those who maybe on the borderline or cusp of making it into law school have a better chance of getting into the law school of their choice. Furthermore, the students who do get in have the advantage of receiving more scholarship money that colleges set aside for law school students that they were expecting to get.

As for the actual admissions process, nothing has been significantly altered. Law schools still put a lot of emphasis on your cumulative GPA and the score that you receive on the LSAT. However, if you are on the borderline (your chances have already exponentially improved because of the decreased number of applicants) a strong personal statement maybe what pushed you over the person you are competing with. Last but certainly not the least is the significance that your experience plays into acceptance. Some colleges (in this case Duquesne University) really look at the real work experience in your application. This gives them an idea of the sort of connections you have already made in the real world.

If you are looking to apply to law school, hopefully this article. If you have any more question, do not hesitate to e-mail us or comment below and we would be happy to answer any questions for you.

Pinterest is a website that works almost as a bulletin board where you can save images that are of interest to you.It is a social media site that can be used for both personal and professional use. You can use it for anything, from planning your wedding, to finding recipes or DIY activities to even some of the more important things like job searching.  Pinterest can introduce you to many new ideas and new ways of doing things and allows you to save all of those findings to “boards”. You can have multiple different boards for categories of ideas.

Pinterest has become a new tool in assisting in your job search.  The Chestnut Hill College Office of Career Development has joined in this movement and created a Pinterest page to help CHC students in their job search and overall career development. This Pinterestpage can assist you in your job search in many ways with advice, articles, and other content handpicked by our team here at Career Development to best assist you as students. A couple of our best categories are as follows:

• Resume tips and tricks
  • To help you produce an informative and creative resume that will stand out in an employer’s mind.
• Social Media Tips
  • We offer ways to help you limit or censor your social media output
• How to get hired
• Networking
  • We help you find the best ways to go about networking and tips on how to take advantage of this important tool.
• What to Wear
  • This board will show you the most appropriate business attire for the workplace!

You can find all this helpful information and more at www.pintrest.com/chccareer

-Emily Elizabeth Sanders

Finding the job you want (or a job, period) nowadays is hard and sometimes having all the credentials in the world may not cut it. With the surge of social media came the idea of self-branding sometimes being a deal-breaker; who you know and what they know about you can actually work to your advantage.
Sure, Facebook is a good way to stay connected to old friends, classmates and relatives and keep them updated on your many misadventures, but would you really want an employer to see your photos from Spring Break ’11 or reading your 2 am sleep deprived status update?
Since LinkedIn jumped onto the scene, some of us avoided (or deleted, like I did) those pesky emails stating, “[Insert name of person you haven’t talked to since graduation] would like to stay connected on LinkedIn!”, as it was just like Facebook, but dressed in a power suit. But, as hard as you may have fought to not sign up, having a LinkedIn profile is a pretty solid first step towards enhancing yourself as the total package.
Your profile serves as an even better way to stay in contact with former employers, co-workers and those professors who helped groom you for the real world; it keeps them updated on what you’ve done and what you are doing professionally. It is also available for anyone to see, which is extremely beneficial because potential employers can zero in on candidates who may fit into a specific job description they’re seeking. And, it can also help to establish future references if needed. For example; a good friend of mine, who is a stylist in New York City, hesitantly joined LinkedIn after much goading by her boss at the time. Within a few months of joining, she received a message from a magazine editor in Japan asking if she would like to help style a shoot based on NYC fashion trends. It turned out that this editor had a mutual connection with her boss, who is now one of her best friends and mentor, and after asking for recommendations for stylists, her boss immediately recommended her for the position.
Even though that may seem like an almost unlikely scenario, it isn’t and it doesn’t have to be. How you market yourself and establish as your image, coupled with your experience, can be a strong way to create new prospects and maintain a good rapport with those who have helped you along the way. Needless to say, after much consideration, I finally decided to join the club.
Now if only I were better at maintaining my profile…

Unfortunately, for us at Career Development it has been a while since Senior Jessica O’Neil posted one of her “A Career in” posts. However, those posts continue to be one of the highlights of ourblog which is why I decided to revive an age old tradition just in time for the holidays.

So, before we get any farther, people always ask regarding the definition of Public Relations. Having taken a course on the subject, it was defined as “Public Relations is a leadership and management function that helps achieve organizational objectives, define philosophy, and facilitate organizational change. PR practioners communicate with all relevant external and internal publics to develop and maintain positive relationships.”

There is also the fact that Public Relation industry is one of the fastest growing industries in the nation. In fact, here are some statistics on how much PR is growing.

• Almost $4.3 billion spent each year in the U.S
• Approximately $3 billion spent each year in Europe
• Approximately $1.8 billion spent by 2010 in China

What sort of work do you do in the Public Relations industry?

“Public relations specialists handle organizational functions such as media, community, consumer, and governmental relations; political campaigns; interest-group representation; conflict mediation; or employee and investor relations. However, public relations is not only telling the organizations story. Understanding the attitudes and concerns of consumers, employees, and various other groups is also a vital part of the job. To improve communications, public relations specialists establish and maintain cooperative relationships with representatives of community, consumer, employee, and public interest groups and those in print and broadcast journalism.” College Grad.com

According to a salary survey conducted for the Public Relations Society of America, the overall median salary in public relations was about $49,100.  However, salaries in the field could range from $22,800 to $141,000. Obviously, that is a large difference but it shows that in this ever growing field there is room to climb up and make more money.

Public Relations is a growing field and it will always need people who are creative, hard-working, ethical, and can be strategic. If you possess those qualities, Public Relations will always be interested in hiring you.

Also, Happy Holidays to everyone out there from Career Development!

This blog was created by Emily Elizabeth Sanders

One of the common misconceptions when applying to a graduate program is that the test score and GPA speak for themselves. This is not true!  Your test score and GPA not only needs to match the criteria of the program but is pretty much the “key” to unlocking the door to having your application considered. This is where your personal experiences, letters of recommendation, resume and any other unique information come into play. How well you did on the test will not secure you a spot.

However, on the other hand, thinking that your “awesomeness” will guarantee you a spot (especially if your grades don’t match their requirements) is not a sure shot either. Your experiences, recommendations and other character enhancing materials, although important, will not be enough to grant you consideration—and that is if your application even gets glanced at. The numbers are what get you into the right hands in the first place.

The main factor to think about before you even begin compiling your application is money. As if undergrad hasn’t put you in enough debt, you have to really decide if the money you shell out for the program is going to ensure you a better career. But before you can even decide if you can afford it, make sure grad school is right for you. Think about where you want to be, research that title and what the benefits are if you decide to complete a graduate program. The test alone costs a few hundred dollars to take each time, especially if you have to retake it.  Not to mention the cost of attending grad school is often times paid for by you, out of pocket (which is definitely not cheap).

So if you’re thinking about furthering your education, consider these tips beforehand:

Is this particular program/school the right fit? Research your choices and narrow down what school has the most to offer.

Can you afford it? If you are already in the workplace, some companies offer to pay for it if it is a requirement for your field.

Make your experience (personal and professional) work for you. Graduate schools are looking for well-rounded individuals so the more multi-faceted you seem the better chance you have of catching their eye.

Study, study, study for the test! As mentioned before, it costs several hundred dollars to take it each time and you can only take it a certain amount of times in a five-year span so a bad score can hurt your chances.

If grad school is your next stop, be sure to be prepared. And remember to treat your application as though it is a snapshot: you want the most flattering (and honest!) image portrayed that will be guaranteed to stand out from the rest.

*This blog post was written by Griselle Rodriguez

Once you get over the additional schooling, it’s time to consider the competitive environment to get into law school. Law schools have notoriously low acceptance rates. For instance, in 2009 Yale University (considered by many to be the premier law school in the nation) had an acceptance rate of a mere 7%, Stanford University was slightly better with 9%  while Harvard accepted 11.8% of its applicants. Despite those numbers, potential applicants have not stopped applying as 129, 414 people took the LSAT’s in December of 2010.  With that much competition, it’s important to find a way to distinguish yourself from the rest of the ”pack”. That’s where your LSAT performance comes in. With a strong showing at the LSAT’S, you can increase your chances at being accepted by your law school of choice.

So how does one increase their chances of mastering the LSAT’s? Preparation, lots and lots of it. The LSAT’s consist of five 35-minute multiple choice sections followed by an unscored writing sample section. The breakdown of the test is as follows:

“Logical Reasoning“

In these sections, a short paragraph is presented and you are asked a question based on its contents. You may be asked to identify the main point of the paragraph, find an answer that must be true based on the paragraph, find an answer choice that weakens the argument made in the paragraph, or find an assumption made by the paragraph. Each section of logical reasoning is 35 minutes long and contains a total of 24 to 26 questions.

“Reading Comprehension”

This section contains four longer passages of about 500 to 600 words. Each passage is accompanied by five to seven questions based on the passage. The questions ask you to identify the main point of the passage and to make reasonable inferences based on the passage. The reading comprehension section is 35 minutes long and contains a total of 26 to 28 questions.

“Analytical Reasoning”

This section contains four “games,” each accompanied by five to seven questions. Each “Game” describes a basic scenario that is accompanied by a list of rules. The questions ask examinees to identify what must be true and cannot be true based on the rules given.

 The score of a LSAT taker is determined by adding the number of questions correctly answered by the test taker and fitting them to the scale of the test. The aforementioned scale is from 120 to 180 points. Approximately 60% of test takers tend to score between 140 and 160 when they take the LSAT. Only 12% of people will end up getting between 160 and 170, a meager 3% will examinees will be fortunate enough to score a 170 or above. To increase you chances of scoring higher, make sure you answer every question even if you are guessing because the LSAT does not penalize for answering incorrectly.

The information, above, was taken from the following sites:

 http://www.admissionsconsultants.com/lsat/test.asp

http://www.ilrg.com/rankings/law/index.php

http://economix.blogs.nytimes.com/2011/01/25/a-sign-of-the-recovery-law-school-applications-fall//1/asc/Accept