By 2g1c2 girls 1 cup
30 Books before 30
I used to be an avid reader. But, then, I went to college, graduated, got a job and prefer to spend my free time watching awesome TV shows like Modern Family and The Bachelor. Go ahead, judge me.
However, I got an iPad for Christmas, and I am very excited to start reading on it. Mainly, because I enjoy “flipping” the digital pages. It’s awesome. So I asked friends for recommendations from friends before we left on our honeymoon. I read Unbroken and The Night Circus on the trip – and they were fabulous.
While searching for new books to read, I came across this list of 30 books everyone should read before their 30th birthday. I’m embarrassed to admit that I haven’t read many of these.
- Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse
1984 by George OrwellTo Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee- A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess
- For Whom the Bell Tolls by Ernest Hemingway
- War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy
- The Rights of Man by Tom Paine
- The Social Contract by Jean-Jacques Rousseau
- One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Origin of Species by Charles Darwin- The Wisdom of the Desert by Thomas Merton
The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell- The Wind in the Willows by Kenneth Graham
- The Art of War by Sun Tzu
The Lord of the Rings by J.R.R. Tolkien- David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
- Four Quartets by T.S. Eliot – ugh, poetry?
Catch-22 by Joseph Heller- The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald
The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger- Crime and Punishment by Fyodor Dostoyevsky
The Prince by Niccolo Machiavelli- Walden by Henry David Thoreau
- The Republic by Plato
- Lolita
- Getting Things Done by David Allen
- How To Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Lord of the Flies by William GoldingThe Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck- The Master and Margarita by Mikhail Bulgakov
- BONUS: How To Cook Everything by Mark Bittman
- BONUS: Honeymoon with My Brother by Franz Wisner
I guess I know what I’ll be borrowing from the library for a while… How about you? How many of these have you read?
Pinterest: Making it Work for your Brand
Posted by Kristin in Social Media on December 20, 2011
Pinterest. Everyone who uses Pinterest is addicted. Everyone who gets introduced to Pinterest quickly becomes obsessed.
What’s Pinterest? Well… In short, Pinterest is a site where users save images and categorize them into “boards.” Basically a visual bookmarking service. People have boards for recipes, cool photography, places to visit, crafts to make, wedding inspiration, etc. etc.
I follow a few brands on Pinterst – including Nordstrom, Real Simple and MagnetStreet Weddings. The most prominent brands on the site are those that work in the areas of fashion, food, photography, crafts and weddings.
However.
Today, I came across a University using Pinterest. And using it damn well. Drake University.
Run by interns in the Marketing & Communications department of the University, the account demonstrates a genius way to utilize one of the most buzzed about social networking sites of the moment, in a way that still makes sense.
Through 11 boards, these students share recipes that can be made in one’s dorm room, dorm decorating ideas, gear for the ultimate fan and alumni, and sites in and around Des Moines (where the school is located).
One of my major annoyances when it comes to social media (and I have many) is when brands jump onto the latest social network “because everyone else is doing it” and it’s really popular. However, if you don’t use it to the correct purpose or in a way that is meaningful for your potential fans/followers, what’s the point? Well, the students and staff over at Drake University have figured Pinterest out.
Now, I wonder how long it takes for other Schools to get the same idea.
Update: According to the Drake University Twitter account, the students do the vast majority of the work on the Pinterest account, with staff oversight. What awesome experience for the students as well!
Reverb11 – Playing Catch-Up
Well, true to form, I’m a bit behind on my #reverb11 posts. However, I’m taking a moment to catch-up on some of the prompts that I found especially interesting. So, here goes…
December 2 – My Children Will Do it Differently. If you could choose one thing that your children will do or experience in a different way than you have, what would it be and why?
Since I do not have children, these wishes are for my future children. That being said, my hope for the future is that my children will experience debates/conversations on social issues in a world that is understanding, accommodating and peaceful. Regardless of political views, recaps of arrests at Occupy LA and this new ad from Rick Perry are disheartening. And I hope that my children don’t have to bear witness to similar violence or hateful speech.
2011: In One Word
December 1 – One Word. Encapsulate the year 2011 in one word. Explain why you’re choosing that word.
Complement.
This past year was another year of change, excitement, fear and unknowns. However, looking back, I really believe that I found and fostered people, situations and things that truly complement me.
I married an amazing man who is my confidant, my equal, my friend and my partner in life.
I made a conscious effort to connect with friends (new and old) through phone calls, email and real life meet-ups.
I started another new job and really feel it’s a great fit.
I reconnected with my younger sister and finally feel as though we’re in an excellent place.
Restarting the blog, again, with help from Reverb11
If there’s one thing I’m consistent with when it comes to my blog, it’s my ability to “re-start” my blogging engine again and again.
Thanks to things like Reverb, I can recommit to blogging (every day if I’d like) each and every December. I participated in #Reverb10 and a Best of 2009 series, and I’m ready to try it again for 2011.
In case you’re not familiar with Reverb, it’s basically a commitment to reflecting on the year that is coming to a close. Prompts are emailed out to participants each morning – and posted on this blog – and you write a blog post reflecting on that prompt. It’s quite easy, and very helpful for the blogger like me that struggles with what to write about.
So, here goes!
Applying for an Internship
Now that you’ve scoured the Internet and found your perfect internship, it’s time to prepare your resume and submit. Of course, it’s not that easy. The most successful, desirable internship candidates do a lot of small things to stand out amongst the sea of resumes flooding the hiring manager’s inbox.
Research:
- The organization. Spend some time on the company website. Get to know the mission, what the company does. Pick up cues on branding. Would be a bummer to talk about your desire to work at “The Target” or Supervalu (should be all caps) in your cover letter.
- The hiring manager. Look at the organization’s website, LinkedIn, Twitter, news articles, Google. Whatever you can to avoid addressing your cover letter and email to “Whom It May Concern” or “Hiring Manager.” If you can’t determine the hiring manager, a generic greeting isn’t going to kill your opportunity, but try your best.
- The owned properties. Are you applying for a gig in marketing? Even if you’re not, you should probably follow the organization on Twitter and LinkedIn, and like them on Facebook.
- Your resume. Find keywords in the job description that can fit into your resume. Don’t list them verbatim, but be sure to weave them in where appropriate. Place your most applicable skills and experiences at the top of your resume. And remember: most recent experience belongs at the top. Update from Twitter recommendation: Resume length. If you are applying for an internship, your resume should be one page. One.
- Your cover letter. Even if the job description doesn’t require a cover letter. Send one. Re-read the job description and start writing. Keep it short. Share some of your successes. Express your genuine desire to work for that company/team, use information you gathered from researching. Again, demonstrate skills that you possess that are listed in the job description. Let them know how to contact you. Do you have professional accounts on social media? If that’s applicable, include it.
Submit:
- Follow directions. If the job posting asks for work samples, submit them. In the past, I’ve contacted candidates to remind them of that requirement. But, most hiring managers won’t take the time and you’ll be out of the running. If they want resumes submitted via US mail, go grab an envelope and a stamp. If you don’t follow directions, I’d be surprised if you were even considered.
Sent! Don’t passively wait for them to call you. Instead, interact with their accounts online. Respond to a tweet, like a Facebook post.
However, don’t call the front desk or hiring manager every day for the next two weeks asking about the status of your resume. I’ve had candidates call me to “inquire about the internship position” and I’ve even had candidates stop by our offices to meet me, completely unannounced. Never a good strategy.
Next up? Nailing that interview.
Finding an Internship
Every student knows the importance of gaining internship experience while in college – and if they don’t, they should know that it’s crucial to landing that full-time, paying gig later on. And finding an internship doesn’t have to be complicated.
Some basic places to start the search:
- College job and internship boards. The University of Minnesota has GoldPASS, St. Thomas has a Career Development Center and so on. Currently, I post all of our internship opportunities with dozens of colleges and universities in the metro area.
- Professional association websites. If you’re in PR/Marketing/Comm/Social check out MIMA, Minnesota PRSA, MN AMA, etc. Not in the PR game? Try LifeScience Alley for the medical field. Or the Minnesota Society of Professional Engineers. While many of the opportunities may be full-time, experienced jobs, internships can sometimes be found on these sites.
- Linkup.com. A great search engine that pulls from company career pages, rather than relying on recruiters to post the opportunities with an outside service.
- UPDATE: Of course, in my rush to complete this post I forgot to include LinkedIn. Definitely a great place to connect with recruiters and look for opportunities.
- Industry blogs. This might take a bit more digging for some industries. For PR, obviously, MN PR Blog comes top of mind.
- Email listservs. Again, not as obvious. But the ones that you find could be golden. For instance, Pollen curated by Lars Leafblad covers a wide range of industries while Arik Hanson’s HAPPO newsletter is focused on PR and similar fields.
- Find recruiters from companies where you would like to work. Follow them. See if they post any opportunities. Respond to some of their tweets – like a normal human being, not a desperate job seeker, at least initially.
- Follow people who are leaders and connectors in your industry. They will most likely retweet opportunities to their followers. UPDATE: one recommendation for Twitter? @MarketingJobMN
- Search popular hashtags. Again, there’s #HAPPO for folks in the PR world. But I’m sure there are many others, including basics like #intern, #internships, etc.
- Participate in Twitter chats. There are Twitter chats for everything. You can choose to go broad, with something like #internchat that happens every Tuesday from 6-7 p.m. or #jobhuntchat on Mondays from 9-10 p.m. Or go niche with #legalchat, #NPTalk or #PhDChat. Check the schedule and start chattin.’
So there you go. Some places to start searching for available internships. Any other places that you’ve found brimming with internship opportunities? Feel free to share!
About Me
Marketing, web and communications professional. Passionate about sports, photography, travel, friends and family. Minnesota gal, who happens to cheer for the Packers."In the right light, at the right time, everything is extraordinary." --aaron rose