Banking Basics

On top of all the things going on at college such as studying, clubs, and overall partying, you still need to manage your finances. I am sure that most students at this point don't stash their cash under the mattress at home but have an account open at some major banking instituation. What matters though is avoiding bank fees and getting the most bank for your buck. Below is a link to a great guide towards picking the right bank for you. I personally have a Washington Mutual Free Checking Account as well as a HSBC online savings account.

Best Student Checking and Savings Accounts [via Broke Grad Student]

Recycle Into Cash

An overlooked commodity by most college students is the cash value of recycling. Over a year of living on your own, parties, and social gatherings, a college student can accumulate hundreds of aluminum cans, plastic bottles, and glass bottles. At a conservative estimation of 5 cents per container you could end up with some extra cash at the end of the year to spend on anything you want. Let's do some simple math.

Assuming that the average college student consumes one caffeine drink every day you've already got 365 aluminum cans. Tack on containers accumulated from parties and get together you could end up with at least 500 containers which equates to about 26 dollars at the end of the year.

Obviously you won't make money back on the purchases of your beverage but 26 dollars can go a long way for a college student. I have provided a link to a recycling calculator below:

http://www.bottlesandcans.com/what_calculator.php

The Resume - Basics

Your resume, though just a piece of paper, is a representation of your current life experiences and an advertisement of your skills. Take the time and care to really concentrate on making your resume the best you absolutely can. Below is a guide towards the different areas of a resume.

Objective

This is typically a one sentence statement describing the job position you are seeking. It's role is to help a recruiter remember what you area seeking since they will be receiving hundreds of resumes. Here is an example of an objective statement:

"Seeking an internship position with a top advertisement firm to provide me exposure in printed advertisements"

Education

This is probably the easiest section of the resume. School, Major, and Expected date of graduation is the main information you need in this area. The tricky one is the GPA. If you have a GPA over a 3.0, I would definitely put it on there. For those of you, including myself, who do not have a stellar GPA, I would recommend keeping it off. Some companies require a minimum GPA for their internship positions and some don't. If the GPA is very important to the recruiter they will ask and you must be ready to have an explanation. From my personal experience, I have been able to get many interview spots without having to place my GPA on the resume and it never came up during the interview to be an issue with most companies.

Skills

This area can include just about anything that you feel is pertinent to your field of study. Computer programers should list all coding languages they have experience with while biochemistry majors should list all lab equipment and techniques they have experience with. Being fluent in a second or even third language is a major plus to have and should be listed on the resume as well. Generic skills that should be listed are things like Microsoft Word, Excel, or PowerPoint.

Classes

It may be warranted to list classes you have taken so the recruiter knows your level of knowledge in certain fields. I for one have always thought of this section as a filler to help create more volume in a resume. Most companies will assume your level of knowledge based on your class level and major. If you can avoid putting this section in your resume I would, but if you need a filler section, this is the best one to add.

Experience

This is the major meat of your resume as it contains your previous job positions and a description of your duties for each one. Make sure to list your job title, company, and duration of that job position. At this point of your career, it is ok to add any experiences from High School such as a summer job, club activities, or volunteering you had done. Under each job position, list three bullet points on what your responsibilities were.

Customize

Your resume should be customized for you. If you are in a leadership position through clubs on campus, create a leadership section and list out what you've done. Were you awarded a scholarship or honor? Create a section for that. If you feel that there is information about you that will catch the eye of a recruiter you should definitely include it. Here are some sections worth putting in your resume:

Leadership

Extracurricular Activities

Publications

Presentations

Awards/Honors

A Few More Pointers

Keep your resume to a page. You don't want to list out every detail of your experiences, just the main points. You want the recruiter to interested enough that they want to ask you the details at an interview. Most importantly, do NOT lie on your resume. This is grounds for immediate termination from your position. I have seen new senior hires terminated within days of their hiring because they have a false statement on their resume. There is no reason for you to list skills you do not have and create a level of expectation you can not meet. Remember, your resume is always a work in progress. As you continue to learn new skills, update your resume from time to time so that when a career fair is around the corner you'll be ready.

Redsprouts will continue working on more resume articles that deal with the best way to format and how to add some punch to any resume. Stay Tuned.

Weekly Internship Posting

As a follow up to a posting made last week about applying for summer internships earlier, Red Sprouts will be posting summer internships on a weekly basis.

Fox Sports/IGN Mobile Intern (Unpaid)

Intern Program - Los Angeles, CA

Photobucket Marketing Intern (UNPAID)

Intern Program - San Francisco, CA

Software Intern

HP - Roseville, CA

Intern

Allstate - Northbrook, IL

Events/Trade Marketing Intern (PAID)

Intern Program - New York, NY

Time Management

Let's face it, studying with all the distractions that are on going at college can quickly become a waste of time. This is where time management can help you organize your day better and forecast your schedule better for the rest of the month.

Time to Succeed

Typically, to be successful in a class, you will need to study 3 hours for every unit of a course ever week. At an average of 18 units of classes, that is 54 hours of studying every week. With 168 hours between Monday and Sunday, studying will end up taking 30% of your time during the week. This is of course an extreme case but this should make you realize how much time you need to commit too studying on a weekly basis to be successful.

Planning Your Day

With so many hours in a day, it is important to take the time and figure out your schedule every week. If you studied everyday, its about 8 hours a day of studying and if you take out time to sleep, eat, and go to classes, you'll end up with anywhere between 5 and 10 hours depending on how much you sleep of course. This still leaves plenty of time to do extra curricular activities and goof off. Using programs such as Google Calendar, you can map out your day and view it in a week or even month format. Here is a sample:

You Can't Do it All

In the best case scenario you can do it all in college but realistically, you'll have to remember to say no. The best way to know when to say no is by prioritizing your day. Got a midterm quickly approaching but have some club activities coming up? It is probably realistic to skip out on club activities if you need additional time to study.

How do you manage your time to study?

Who Will You Be This Summer?

It may seem early to be asking what you'll be doing this upcoming summer but based on an article written by the NY Times, it doesn't seem early enough. This article was written earlier this year in January and had a very bold statement: "If you haven't applied for your [internship] yet, you are late" . I am hoping that posting this article in advance will remind prospective interview candidates that application season is fast approaching. Some interesting points made in the article:

• Recruitment for the top 10% of internships start 10 months in advance
• Competition for summer internships is getting higher every year, Google received 5,000 applications for fewer than 1,000 positions
• Having completed a summer internship before graduation is now a necessity
• Using your network (ie. parents, family friends, relatives) is an acceptable way of trying to get any job experience

This article is worth a read to understand how competitive it has become to get an internship. Moral of the story, keep your grades, get experience in school, and start applying early.

Who Will You Be This Summer? [via NY Times]

Student Bloggers Roundup - Back to School

As a new tradition, Red Sprouts will be providing a list of weekly posts from Student Bloggers. Student Bloggers is a great site that lists interesting articles from a variety of bloggers that are currently in school. Back to School is a fitting theme for starting this weekly roundup. Enjoy!

If you're living off campus in an apartment, one of the most important steps towards getting as much of your security deposit back is the Apartment Walkthrough. I have found that land lords will ding you wherever they can so take the walkthrough seriously and mark down everything you see even if it looks like a minor scratch on the wall. School is Hard has a great listing of different items to look at during your walkthrough. What to Look for During an Apartment Walkthrough [via School is Hard]

Starting a new school year is just the same as starting a complete new year and making resolutions is an important part of setting goals. Not Just Surviving has a great list of academic resolutions for the year. School Year Resolutions [via Not Just Surviving]

I have to admit that I don't have the best library etiquette but that doesn't mean you shouldn't have them. Library Etiquette [via Sua Sponte]

Everyone doesn't like brown nosers but having a healthy relationship with a professor is vital, especially if you're looking for letters of recommendation. Building thatImportant Relationship [via University Scholar]

For those student veterans who are looking at a tough senior and know that caffeine will be a major part of their diet, here is a great guide to optomize its effect. Optimize Caffeine Consumption [via Pharmacy Kid]

Dealing With a Low GPA

Having a low GPA in college is a harsh reality some students have to face and creates a frustrating experience, especially when you're looking to get hired. As a junior, I had a 2.5 GPA and decided to attend my first career fair. I had created a very bare boned resume that included only high school experience along with a part time job. Suffice to say, it was a very disappointing experience. All of the top hiring companies at the career fair had a minimum GPA requirement and if you were brave enough to talk to a recruiter anyways it was always the first topic of discussion. It was very defeating to know that your resume would end up on the "trash" pile and realizing your future was looking bleak.

So how did I overcome a low GPA?

Study Habits

If you're serious about your career, then getting that GPA up should be a number one priority. Reevaluate your current study habits since they're most likely not working for you. I have to admit that I did not take studying so seriously during the first half of my college career and I paid for it with my GPA. I began changing my study habits until I found a method that was effective for me. By graduation I was able to raise my GPA to a 2.8 and even though it's still below the highly regarded 3.0 standard, it was a much better position to be in. If an interviewer is very interested in your GPA an improvement can only be positive.

Gaining Experience

I came away from the career fair knowing that I didn't have enough experience on my resume and felt that I had an opportunity to improve in this area. One of options to gain experience while in school, was to help a professor with academic research. It was a good way to expose me more to my major and work closely with a professor. Adding this research experience provided a very positive boost for my resume and created a spring board for conversations with recruiters at following career fairs. This opens more doors and shows that you're being active in pursuing relevant experience in your major.

Networking

Joining professional societies and school organizations provides a lot of unique opportunities to interact with industry. Building a relationship with someone from industry allows you too learn more about the business as well as gaining inside information on hiring needs of the company. A recommendation from someone currently working at the company will give you the leg up and provide an opportunity you may not be able to get through applying alone.

Determination

Giving into defeat is never an option in the real world and shouldn't be an option for you either. Though there will be plenty of blood, sweat, and tears; the rewards are well worth it.

Back to School Tools

If you are a tech savvy student, there is a plethora of tools out there that can make things such as note taking and study planning much easier. As much as I feel technology can aid in your study habits, it can be quite a distraction as well so make sure to evaluate each tool to see if it's right for you.

Back to School Power Tools for the Savvy Student [via LifeHacker]

Are You a Leader?

I attended a career workshop on campus where someone was invited to talk about leadership and management in the working world. It has been some time since I have read through my notes but every statement he made during that workshop made absolute sense. Below is a listing of what he called "Signs of Management":

Interest in Building an Organization

This sounds like I'm talking about building a business but this statement applies to any aspect of your career. This can refer to you building a club on campus and staking out a leadership role to be able to make an impact. For me, in the working world, this means to building a specialized group of team members that are geared towards solving unique project problems. Any good manager should show interest in building either a team, organization, or practice into something more and feel a sense of accomplishment.

Organization

Any good manager needs to know how to organize and I for one can attest to that. When you're managing multiple project, a million things can go on at once and you need to be very organized to be able to stay on top of everything. Currently, I am continuously updating time lines and budgets to ensure that my projects are meeting their targets. These skills came from being in a demanding curriculum while in college. Multiple homework assignments, midterms, and extracurricular requirements forced me to be organized and obtain good time management skills.

Strategic Thinker

In the end, its all about the big picture. A good manager can step back away from the details and look at the whole to ensure that what they're building is meeting existing goals. This is a skill that is hard to obtain while still in college but everyone can always step back and look at the big picture. Maybe you're working on a class project with other students and have been working out the details for a long time. Take a step back and evaluate how the project as a whole is performing. You may be working on one part of the project and your classmate is working on another but when you come together to write the final report and you finally realize that nothing agrees and you've wasted time and effort. You don't want to be in a situation where the details look great but the pieces don't come together.

Like to See Each Others Succeed

This was something that was not obvious to me when I was in college but experience has shown me that if the people you manage succeed you'll succeed. How does this apply in college? If you're running a club on campus and have spent the time and effort to build it, you'll need someone else to run the show when you've graduated. This passage of knowledge and mentorship is an important part of maintaining the life of any organization or business. I always make sure that I teach what I know to my team members so that they can learn to take on projects of their own. This allows me continued advancement as there are others trained to replace me.

Leadership is an important skill to develop because let's face it, the only way to advance your career is to be in a management position.