What it is like to attend Hofstra University

Hofstra University is a competitive and selective, mid-sized, private, co-ed institution, which seeks to enroll diverse students, with a variety of interests and talents. The university is located in Hempstead, New York, right on Long Island, about an hour from New York City, and about 15 minutes away from the Atlantic Ocean. There are internship opportunities available, and HU’s explore next door programs give students opportunities to explore New York, and discover areas they may have never been introduced to, says the Vice President for Student Affairs, Sandra Johnson. HU’s 240 acre campus is a nationally recognized arboretum, containing hundreds of trees, plants, and flowers; Hofstra’s museum includes outdoor sculptures, which enhance the beauty of the campus. There are more than 12,000 students at HU, with about 8,000 undergraduates, representing 46 states and 56 countries.

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Internships With OkCupid

I probably should have done this post in the days leading up to Valentine’s Day, but I still think it’s worth talking about New York City based OkCupid today. They’re a free online dating site that matches people based on what they say they find important. Since I’m not looking, I don’t usually come across dating sites in my daily Internet travels, but OkCupid keeps popping up. Most of the time it’s because of their brilliant blog called OkTrends. It has some amazing posts that analyze the data generated by OkCupid’s users. Previous articles have covered topics like profile pictures and how race affects online dating outcomes. It’s really impressive and interesting stuff. OkCupid is actually run by a company called Humor Rainbow, but that website redirects to OkCupid.com, so it’s clear where their priorities are. Continue reading about OkCupid…
Article by Willy Franzen of One Day, One Internship and One Day, One Job

Internships With Acquia

I’m a huge fan of open source software. I build all of my sites on the WordPress platform, and I am amazed at how powerful the blogging software has become over the years. Still, I know that it can’t do everything. If I get too much more advanced, I’ll probably have to move to a platform like Drupal–another open source content management system. The problem with that is that I’m not a programmer, and Drupal is a bit more complex than WordPress. Luckily, there’s a support option. Acquia is a Woburn, MA based company that provides “products, services, and technical support for the open source Drupal social publishing system.” They were founded by Dries Buytaert, the guy who created Drupal, so there’s no question about whether they’re the right people to offer Drupal support–they know the platform inside and out. Continue reading about Acquia…
Article by Willy Franzen of One Day, One Internship and One Day, One Job

Are Job Boards Dead?

In a word, no. Some job boards are like zombies in that they’re dead but don’t know it. By that I mean that their business models are unsustainable. Those job boards are dead or dying because they’re selling products that their clients either don’t want today or won’t want tomorrow.
What are the products that employers don’t want today or won’t want tomorrow? Traditionally priced job postings and resume searching. The reason that I qualify job postings as being dead if they’re traditionally prices is that more and more employers are waking up to the reality that they can post their jobs for free and only pay if the ads work. Rather than the employer assuming the risk of the ad not working, they’re shifting that risk to their media partner. These employers are smart. They know that it is foolish to pay $400 to a Monster or Careerbuilder or even $175 to a CollegeRecruiter.com for a posting that may or may not work when they can post the same job to an Indeed, SimplyHired, JuJu, TopUSAJobs, or CollegeRecruiter.com and pay only when the candidate has pulled up the ad AND either clicked through to the employer’s web site (a pay-per-click job posting) to apply or has applied using the job board’s application form (a pay-per-applicant job posting). There’s also no risk to the employer of the ad performing too well as all of these boards are more than happy to cap the total amount spent by the employer so the employer may, for example, buy one application for say $10 or 10,000 clicks for say $2,500.
So are job boards doomed? The industry isn’t, but boards which fail to align their interests with those of their clients are. A financial analysis of the job board industry actually is quite promising as the industry has gained huge market share during the recession so as we continue to climb out of this mess the job board industry will capture a far greater share of the money spent on recruitment advertising than it did prior to the recession. So the next time someone tells you that job boards are dead, correct them. Some have died. Some will die. But many will thrive for years and years to come.

Lights, Camera…..Interview: Tips for an Award Winning Performance

You’ve been applying for various positions in your field for a number of months, and finally have received the call to schedule an interview. Are you ready for an Academy Award winning performance?
Top candidates understand the importance of preparation. They realize it can take hours of practice to answer an interview question with the level of confidence and professionalism an employer expects of their next hire. Keep in mind, your interviewer is not looking for “canned” responses, but they do want answers that illustrate your value as a potential
employee.

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Entry Level Jobs With the Academy of Natural Sciences

For most of us museums are just places to go to visit for a day and to learn something new. We rarely think about what is going on behind the scenes, but we should. At many major museums there is also a significant research function. A perfect examples is the Academy of Natural Sciences in Philadelphia, PA, which sounds like a research institution, but it also runs a museum. In fact, The Academy is the “oldest natural science research institution and museum in the New World” according to Wikipedia. The Academy has been at the forefront of biological and earth sciences since its inception, and it continues to promote public education in those areas. Just to give you an idea of the scale on which they operate, their collections include more than 17 million specimens. That’s crazy!
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Article by Willy Franzen of One Day, One Internship and One Day, One Job

Entry Level Jobs With Demand Media

I’m sure that you’ve heard a lot in the news about how traditional media companies are having trouble taking their business models online. You may be under the impression that making money from web content is near impossible, but there’s a dirty little secret: it’s not. While companies like the New York Times stick to editorial integrity and chasing Pulitzers, there are companies out there that craft their content with the sole purpose of making money. A perfect example is Santa Monica, CA based Demand Media. They’ve secured more than $355 million in venture capital funding, grown annual revenue to more than $200 million annually, and reached a valuation north of $1 billion all by taking an ROI based approach to content development. How does that work? Demand Media has developed an algorithm that helps them find profitable topics. By using data from Google AdWords, they’re able to estimate the demand for a given piece of content (example: an article and video on how to tie your shoes) along with the revenue that the yet to be developed piece of content could be expected to make given a certain number of pageviews.
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Article by Willy Franzen of One Day, One Internship and One Day, One Job

Expedite Your Job Search

The days are ticking by, and you find your job search has been less than fruitful. Companies you contact have their budgets on hold until the new year, and you’re left feeling unsure of what your future holds.
If you’ve experienced the mentioned scenario in your employment hunt, it’s time to take your job search to the next level. Let’s discuss three little known strategies to get your foot in the door with a target employer – no matter what time of the year it is. We’ll also talk about creating a “reasonable” time frame for which you should expect an interview invitation, before moving on to a different opportunity. Finally, we’ll take a look at the possibility of creating your own opportunities, when your employment prospects are dropping the ball.

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How To Humanize Your Job Search

Question: If you’ve ever been hired without first meeting the employer in person, open your window and scream “Yes!”
Hear anything?
Neither do I.
Until more scientific proof turns up, just agree with me here: You can’t get hired by a computer or over the phone.
Before you can work for people, you have to meet people.
And the more people you meet, the faster you’ll get hired.

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Are You Planning To Fail In Your Job Search, Or Failing To Plan?

How many of you have a project plan for your job search?
I’m not talking about a marketing plan, or a list of target companies, or an opportunity pipeline tracking spreadsheet. I’m not talking about a to-do list, or a plan somewhere in your head.
I’m asking about a real, honest-to-goodness job search project plan.
A real job search project plan is written, complete with a timeline, metrics, daily activities, includes a marketing plan, list of target companies, pipeline tracking, and to-do lists. A job search project plan is written out on a spreadsheet or specific planning software, allowing you to plan activities to get a job within a designated period of time.

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