Articles

By Steven Rothberg, CollegeRecruiter.com

This year has been like no other in so many ways, yet certain truths always remain. Although it is better to give than to receive, if you are to receive a gift, is better to receive one that you like rather than one that you don’t like. With that in mind, here are some great gift ideas for job seeking students and recent graduates:

1. Netflix allows you to create a list of movies that you want to see. Pick from virtually every DVD ever published. The movies you select then arrive in your home mailbox. Keep each as long as you want. When you’re done, send it back for free in its prepaid return envelope. Rent as many DVDs as you want for one flat monthly fee and no late charges.
2. Easton Tri-Shell Show-Pitch Bat features a high rebound, thin rubber sleeve sandwiched between a durable inner tube and the thinnest outer sheet in softball. The result? Imagine taking a superball, squeezing it and stuffing it into the walls of a bat. Superb performance, feel and durability.
3. LifeClips enables consumers to preserve their home video memories by converting videotapes to DVD. LifeClips will deliver a Tape to DVD Conversion Kit, which includes a protective mailing box for shipping your home video tape, an order form and a tracking label. Within two weeks, you’ll receive the new DVD and your original video tape.
4. Trendy Chocolate will impress chocolate lovers and skeptics alike. They’ll print your personal message, photo, logo, or anything else you desire right onto a double-layer slab of delicious Belgian chocolate. The process is simple and inexpensive.
5. Conjuring Maud, a book by Philip Danze. David Unger, an aging circus magician, recounts his life that began in the late 1800's in Africa. His father abandoned his medical career to mine for gold. David's mother left the family and becomes obsessed with Maud King, a British explorer who is 16 years David's senior. David's life unfolds, spanning two continents. He works with and befriends Ghandi, takes part in the Zulu Rebellion, and trains in both medicine and magic. But, it is his total and complete devotion to the elusive Maud that provides the principle focus to this understated and elegant novel.
6. The Spiritual Teachings of Ralph Waldo Emerson, a book by Richard Geldard. Emerson (1803-1882) is widely recognized as one of our preeminent thinkers and a prolific writer, lecturer and spiritual teacher. Geldard makes Emerson’s most profound teachings accessible to contemporary readers by exploring Emerson’s philosophical tenets on such themes as self-reflection, living in the spirit, authenticity, simplicity, and independence.
7. You Shouldn’t Have! How to Give Gifts They’ll Never Forget, a new book by Leah Ingram. This book is stocked with information on selecting and presenting the perfect gift for any occasion. It covers the gamut of gift-giving and social occasions from weddings to anniversaries, birthdays to graduations and more.
8. 15 Minute Total Body Workout video will help you work out all 10 of your body’s major muscle groups, without expensive equipment or the use of a gym. The video features step-by-step instruction from Bernie Miller, who has more than 20 years experience in athletic training. It can be used by anyone, anywhere.
9. Internet Cleanup software by Ontrack allows you to protect your Internet privacy. Surfing the Internet leaves behind a trail of data and tracking devices that can expose your Internet activities. Web sites can build profiles about you from where you’ve been surfing on the Internet. Anyone with access to your computer can easily snoop and determine what you have been doing there.
10. Netgear RP114 Cable/DSL Web Safe Router enables multiple computers in a home or small office to share an Internet connection and protect them from hackers. The router also has new content filtering capabilities that enable parents to monitor and restrict their children’s access to objectionable web sites.
11. The Eclipse Workstation Light easily mounts to any computer monitor at home or the office and provides proper light distribution as recommended by optometrists. Eclipse promises that it helps alleviate Computer Vision Syndrome (CVS) and its ergonomic design helps to ease eyestrain and headaches associated with CVS.
12. Pepper Escort Defense Kit provides an effective alternative to a firearm for personal protection. The U.S. Department of Justice has classified pepper sprays as non-weapons because there are no permanent effects of the spray. The Pepper Escort combines a pepper spray gun, a krypton spotlight to help locate and light-blind the aggressor, and a steel whistle for attracting assistance.
13. Per Annum City Diaries are handy, compact and beautifully bound diaries containing weekly calendars, full-color transportation and street maps, reference materials, and hundreds of phone number listings to emergency services and area attractions. They are available for Boston, Chicago, Los Angeles, Manhattan, and San Francisco. The national, 18-city Metropolitan Diary includes the above cities plus Cleveland, Dallas, Denver, Detroit, Houston, Miami, Minneapolis/St. Paul, Philadelphia, Phoenix, St. Louis, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington DC.
14. Stouffer’s gift certificates allow you to give the people you care about a good meal even when you can’t be there to make it yourself. Send the gift of great food to a kid at college living on cold pizza and fries, new homeowners who are just settling in, a new mom who has her hands full, or your parents to return the favor for all the great meals they’ve given you. Order on-line in just minutes. The gift certificates will arrive in days along with your personalized message.
15. Motorola Talkabout 2-way model T900 allows users to receive text messages and the latest information from the Internet and, through the use of a built in keyboard, users can also send messages to any email address or even to a word or numeric pager. The T900 is small enough to fit in your palm or pocket, contains an address book so you can store email addresses etc for 250 friends, and affordable.
16. Nextel dual-mode i2000plus phone offers the convenience of one phone, one number, worldwide. Within the United States, the phone allows you to use Nextel Direct Connect, their digital 2-way radio feature, and the Nextel National Network, the largest guaranteed all-digital network in the U.S. Features available worldwide are voice mail, speakerphone, caller id, text messaging and numeric messaging.
17. TracFone is a pre-paid, digital, wireless phone that anyone can afford. It tracks how much airtime you use and how much is left, so you control your costs. You pay for minutes, as you need them. There are no credit checks, no monthly bills, no contracts, and no age limits. You pay as you go.
18. Snow Zone Travel Kit by AJ Prindle & Company helps to ensure that you will be prepared in the unfortunate event that you become stranded. The Snow Zone Travel Kit can help. This comprehensive kit contains 27 vital items for winter road travel: a 10-piece first-aid kit, tri-fold shovel, flashlight and 2 "D" batteries, blanket and a pair of gloves, 2 emergency candles, a box of matches, 3 emergency water packets, windshield de-icer, scraper, hand warmer and information-packed guide of safety procedures - all stored in a compact, zip-open case.

-- Steven Rothberg is the President and Founder of CollegeRecruiter.com