Tuesday, September 24, 2013

job fair/ Create: The New School/ career advice



Sept. 11 Job fair: I was reading the newspaper and found another job fair, but it’s similar to my company.  However, there may be some administrative positions available.  It’s also closer to get to.

Working from home: You can work from home for administrative positions.  Unlike restaurants, you have to go to work.  I was thinking about the Soup place again and how that Co-worker #1 often misses Mon. and Tues.  We need her there.  If it was an office job, like a employee has to do the payroll, and he or she is sick, that person can still work from home.  The payroll can still be handed in on time.

Create: The New School: I was reading Avenue magazine and found this ad for this school called Create.  I went to the website and it looks really good.  It teaches workshops for photography, design, music, fine art, and business.  There isn’t really a campus, there are workshops held in hotel conference rooms.

Create the new school was founded with the goal to provide exceptional education opportunities for creatives.

Create is all about the following 3 areas:

To inspire beginners to explore
weather it is someone who just bought a new camera and is not sure how it works or someone who wants to learn about colour psycology… we want beginners to have a resource to learn and explore their creativity

To inspire professionals to grow
to refine their craft and learn more about their profession through skill building workshops

To connect creatives with business knowledge
in Canada, creatives… musicians, photographers, designers, artists etc. have a considerably higher rate of self-employment compared to other professions. But it is our experience that creatives have limited access to the how-to’s of running a business. And as creatives it often comes easily to do the ‘creative’ end (photography/design) but sure is work to do the ‘business’ end (accounting/write-offs/marketing/printing) these come from the opposite side of the brain… it can be difficult to find your place there… so we provide business knowledge to creatives in a creative way, in order for you to succeed!”


Sept. 16: I didn’t go to the job fair, but I did set up a profile and applied to one position on the internet.  There was this personality quiz that took about 15 min. to complete.  There were these statements that you can strongly agree, neutral, or strongly disagree to it.

There was also multiple choice and you can pick which one fits you.  It was actually kind of fun.  It’s used for the company to know you as an applicant, but you can use it as a way to learn about what you want in a job too.

Staples: The Staples by City Centre has closed down last month.  I’m a little disappointed by that.  If I want to recycle calculators, pens, highlighters, I have to go to the one in Oliver Square which is bit more of an effort to go to.  I’ll have to deal with it. 

However you can still get office supplies in City Centre like Grand and Toy, Dollarama, and Shoppers Drug Mart.

Flashback: I guess if I was to apply the Secret to my life, it only works on my life and you can’t change someone else.  I couldn’t prevent my friends from dropping out of high school.  We can’t all promise and make a pact to graduate out of high school. 

I really wanted to go to Victoria ever since I heard about it in 1998.  I was going to go to gr. 8 in the fall and I knew that if I wanted to go to school that’s far away, and not the same school as my sister, I would have to raise my grades.  For gr. 8 and 9, I worked hard, studied, paid attention in class, attended all my classes, went to my math tutor every week, and ended up getting mediocre grades.

It’s positive thinking combined with work and I couldn’t raise my marks.

Group or solo: I was thinking how dancing is easy compared to math for me.  I know how to dance hip hop pretty well.  I watch music videos and just feel the music.  Hip hop dancing I can do solo.

One of my co-workers is a dance teacher and he needed a dance assistant.  He taught me a few steps of the cha- cha and it was pretty hard.  It’s good to try something new.  

As for math, it is a group effort.  I needed to work hard, study, pay attention, and attend all my classes.  I had to go to a math tutor every week, that my parents paid for, and drove me to it.  I had to have my sister tutor me nearly everyday in gr. 11, 12, and when I upgraded to Math 30 Pure after high school.

Sept. 21 Job interviews:

Whyte Ave: I went to a job interview at an office on Whyte Ave last week.  It was a little hard to find, but I did find it.  The interview was okay, and the boss seems nice and friendly.  It’s a family-owned business, and it just kept growing.  They expanded the office by buying the buildings next to it.

Prior to it, I did research the company and told him what I know about it.  The shifts were good, Mon.- Fri. day time.  The duties were inventory control, organizing the place, checking orders.

Downtown: On my day off I applied there.  On the same day they called me back and we did an interview on that day.  It’s a big company, so there’s job security.  The hours are good, Mon.- Fri.  It’s part- time, but it could have the potential to turn to full-time.  I’ve had those kind of jobs that went from part-time to full-time like at the Soup place and at my current restaurant job.

There’s a lot of private information, so they would have to get a criminal record check on me.  I would like to work there.

Work from home: I did find out about a legitimate work-from-home job from a big company that I did an interview for.  I went online to apply for it and it’s a call centre kind of job.  It was a 30 min. application process.  I’ve never done work-from-home before.

The process was that they had to check out my computer to see if it’s fast enough.  I don’t know, I had this computer since 2004.  I also did a typing test, and I don’t know if they think I’m fast enough.  There was no timer and there were no automatic results that said: “48 words per min.” like the last time I did a typing test at the medical office job interview.

This isn’t too popular of a company.  A lot of people may not have heard of it, and known about it to go on the website and apply for it.  It is a national company and has offices in big Canadian cities. 

Sept. 23 Job article:

Career Advice: Ginny Grimsley sent me this article about Darlene Quinn. “Quinn is a former senior executive with the Bullocks Wilshire department store chain who went on to pursue an award-winning career in fiction writing. She started by earning a bachelor’s at San Jose State University and she became a schoolteacher, later climbing her way up the corporate retail ladder during a time of tremendous upheaval in the fashion industry.
“Change is natural; change is life, and you don’t have to be afraid of it,” she says.”

• Parlay your strengths; experience and education isn’t everything.
• Shoot for the top!
• Is it time to trade in that necktie or pantsuit for your passion.

FriendFinder Networks: I was reading in Metro on Sept. 18, 2013, that this company who owns Penthouse magazine, and online dating and adult websites has filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. 

Capilano Mall: I was taking the bus, and it went by Capilano mall.  It’s mostly demolished and it was kind of surreal to see it gone.

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