One of the worst enemies in the job search is timidity.  In the midst of a 24/7 barrage of communication - text messaging, IM, email, and the ever-present Blackberry - I have found that students and professionals alike can find millions of creative excuses for not calling or emailing casual contacts or acquaintances about job opportunities.  The most frequent excuses I hear are, “I don’t really know them that well,” and, “I don’t want to seem pushy or annoying.”  In my humble opinion, that’s mostly BS.  They are simply excuses for not doing something that may be uncomfortable and could lead to rejection. 

Get over it!  It’s true that over 80% of jobs are found through networking, but networking does not mean just your friends and relatives.  In fact, research has shown that weaker ties (i.e. friends of friends) are the most likely to help you in your job search.  There is a war for talent raging in the marketplace and anyone involved in recruiting or hiring will tell you that they are always on the lookout for potential hires.  Make it easy on them – give them a call or an email (but avoid the text messages if you can) and let them know you are looking.  How else will they know???

I’ll give you an excellent example.  A good friend of mine at the university decided that it was time for her to start exploring external opportunities, but was turned off by the impersonal nature of online job boards and company websites.  She was in a position where she worked with a number of private companies in the Indianapolis area, and one in particular, that she was interested in working for.  She was nervous about emailing one of her contacts about a possible position – after all, what would she do if he blew her off and she had to work with him again?  And she had only met him one time, for an hour.  But she took a deep breath, calmed her nerves, and typed out a very professional, but direct, email asking about a potential position.

What happened?  He invited her out to lunch that Friday to talk about the position – and then told her that they had just made an offer to someone else!  Ouch – talk about a letdown. 

However, they had a great conversation anyway and, unexpectedly, she got a call the next Wednesday asking if she could come in that Friday for an interview.  It turns out that the first candidate had accepted an offer somewhere else.  They were prepared to offer their backup candidate an offer, but after reviewing her resume decided to bring her in for a last minute interview – and she nailed it.  

The next week she was the one who got the offer and is now enjoying her third week on the job – with a healthy raise, better co-workers, and a ton of confidence.  All because she took a chance are reached out to someone she has worked with only once before.  It wouldn’t have happened if she hadn’t put herself out there.

McDonald's Commercial
 
One of your fellow students, Derrick Snodgrass, is featured in a national McDonald’s commercial.  It's great to see our students taking the limelite.  Good work on the commercial Derrick.
 
You can see the commercial at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kuFxBttdiVs

The IUPUI men’s soccer team is hosting our conference (The Summit League) tournament this weekend at Kuntz Stadium (off 16th Street across from the old Bush Stadium). We play Friday at 5 p.m. If we win that game we play in the championship Sunday at 1 p.m. Soccer is a lot like the NCAA basketball tournament. The winner of the conference gets an automatic bid into the “big dance” NCAA tournament.

This is the first time we have been given the chance to host the tournament in Indianapolis; it probably will not be back here for a few years. We would truly appreciate support from the community at our games. If you are a soccer or college sports fan, this is a great opportunity to catch NCAA Division I soccer. Please bring your families to support the Jaguars.

Kelleygues!!!

How does it feel to be almost done (for you graduating in December)? You must be both overwhelmed and excited!! I remember those days, it will all be over soon, so enjoy your last days. I can not believe winter is already here, I like it for a month, so we'll see how much snow we get this year.

Work is great! I am on my second rotation now, doing mainly financial evaluations among many other great things. I am leaving Indianapolis in a couple of months; part of the program is to be transferred to different sites within the company and my first attachment outside of Indy is Washington, DC. I am very excited!

Since graduating, I've had more time to play around and have discovered many interesting things about Indianapolis. Last Friday, there was a culinary event through the Alliance Francaise, very interesting and of course surrounded by the French culture (got to learn as much as you can about other cultures to succeed in the global arena).

Well...keep it up the last few weeks and I'll post something else soon...(BTW, if you want to hear about something specific of the real world, let me know and I'll blog something related to it!

Jaime

International Business and understanding international relationships is huge in business today.  It is hard to find any business that is not affected by international relationships that may include competition, suppliers, customers, workers, ect.   In November, we will have the Chinese ambassador to the US speak in Indianapolis.  This is a great opportunity for the Indianapolis business community and our students.  For more information on the presentation, visit

http://newsinfo.iu.edu/news/page/normal/6761.html?emailID=6761

The visit is sponsored by the Kelley School CIBER.  CIBER is the Center for International Business Education and Research.  The Center creates opportunities for our students to interact with international speakers and business leaders.  The Center also promotes research related to international business leaders.

Come find out more about international relations and network with the local business community.

As the Holiday decorations start going up (earlier and earlier every year, might I add), we start thinking whimsical thoughts about sitting around the fireplace, hot cocoa in hand, carols on the radio.... And, more thoughts of what should I get such-and-such, where should I put the tree, how many lights will I put out this year....

Sometimes we forget though, that not everyone has those luxuries... worrying about gift-giving (and receiving), wrapping paper, putting cards in the mail......

Some people are a lot less fortunate and have to worry about where their next meal will be, how they will stay warm, who will help them in their time of need....

I would like to ask everyone to think of someone less fortunate, and donate warm socks (new or gently used) to the Sock Drive going on next week (November 12th-November 16th). Many people think to donate clothes, but socks are in demand. And, dry socks are very important to those trying to stay warm.

There will be collection boxes around campus, and if you can't find one, drop off donations at UC 3140 (The Honors Program Office).

Oh my word... i am sooooooo excited! Only 5 more weeks until I'm done with classes... for good! Yeah, that's right... I'll be getting my Bachelor's degree... FINALLY. Yeah, I was on the 5 1/2 year plan.  I changed my major a few times, kinda kept it on the slow path until just recently when I started bookin' it into high gear and took summer classes just to get done.

BUT... do you realize how much I need to get done within the next 5 weeks? Oh... only about 4 group projects, 3 presentations, 2 more tests, and 1 HUGE FINAL.  Seniors are required to take J411 their senior year which is basically an online simulation of how a real business works.  And each week you submit different business decisions and get your results (profits, margins, market share, etc.)   And then at the end of the semester you take two 4 hour long finals online.  Agggh!!!  Anyway, so, you're put into teams (usually 4 to 5 people to a group).  Well, our class was somewhat small to begin with so we were to find a group of 3 people and then one of the groups actually got to have 4 people in their group.  Well, it just so happened that AFTER we picked groups, one of the students decided to drop the class.  Guess whose group he was in? Yeah, that's right... MINE!  So, not only did we have to have small groups to begin with, I wasn't the lucky group that got to have four people to begin with.  So, now... it's just down to two people in my group-- that usually consists of 5 people in a normal class.  YIPES!  Well, really, it hasn't been that bad. My partner is completely awesome and we work as a pretty good team.

Oh both of us are in another class together and we also got stuck not being in a group and are in a group now with just the two of us when the other groups consist of 5 to 6 people.  And to make matters worse, our project  is due on the first day of presentations (Nov. 20)-- so that only gives us like 15 more days to get this done.  Grrrrrrrreat.  This semester turned out to be a strange one as far as group projects go.  I just simply cannot wait until these 5 weeks are over! Yayyyyyy!

The Men’s Soccer team is tournament bound. We clinched at least the second seed in The Summit League Championships. The tournament is being held at Kuntz Stadium (off of 16th Street, here in Indy) on November 16th and 18th. The team let some hard fought games get away at the beginning of the season, but they have turned it on for conference games and now sit at 4-1 in the conference with one home game remaining. Catch the team in their last regular season match before post season action on November 9th @ 7pm at Carroll Stadium (on campus) vs. IPFW. It has been an exciting season and we are looking to be the first IUPUI team to go to the NCAA tournament since the conference changed their name to The Summit League.