As you may have noticed, I've developed a system for my blogging in which I create a new blog for each "episode" or period of time in my life. This blog, Life Since Sun God, covered the time that I returned from Europe and the search that I had for a job.
But, being that I now have a job, this blog's time has come to its end and I create a new place to document my newest journeys. I don't honestly know how this effects the followers of this blog, I've changed the http address so that this one is now accessed at lifesincesungod.blogspot.com, while the new blog will be located at this one's old address, stephusry.blogspot.com. I'm sorry for any confusion this causes (though it's really not terribly complicated, my most current blog will always be at stephusry.blogspot.com, so just always go there :).
If you receive the email version of this blog, I've ensured that you will still receive that version on the new blog. If you're a "follower", pretty please go on over and subscribe to the new stephusry.blogspot.com! A post about my time in GVille so far will be coming as soon as I snap a few excellent pictures!
Sunday, March 27, 2011
Wednesday, March 9, 2011
Fun-Employment (aka I got a Job!)
It's finally official. I got a job!!
And goodness, I had no idea it would take so long.
For those of you that haven't followed along with my job hunt experience. It started back in...well, let's say it officially really started after I finished a temporary job with the UCSD Alumni Association (I helped bring to publication this book!) at the end of November when I moved to Minneapolis for the beginning of my "fUnemployment" experience. I received many "we found more suitable candidates" emails, participated in a few interviews (some of which were miserable, others okay), and finally realized that I was going to need more help than my own research and resume would provide. So I sent out a few emails to my friends working in the professional world asking for leads and help.
Now I've always been passionate about training and development and I hoped in my efforts to get a job that I'd be able to break into these fields based on my college experience in helping to build programs and do a lot of presenting/training. Turns out experience in college doesn't quite mean as much to employers as does experience outside of the university. Oh, and no one was hiring really anyway, so that didn't help.
What I did do however, was develop a wonderful network of friends, peers, and mentors from my time in high school and college that I felt confident contacting and asking for help (okay, it's true that I was somewhat persuaded to ask for help by another mentor, Mr. Greg Murphy-thanks Greg)
Magically after the email to my friends and mentors, opportunities started coming into view. I got a few phone calls from friends of friends who wanted to know more about what kind of work I wanted to do. From that I got a few leads on companies and some advice on my resume. After a few weeks I began receiving calls from people who received my resume from someone that knew someone else who had passed it on to them from one of my friends. Then phone and skype interviews began to emerge on my calendar and next thing I knew I had a job offer in Dallas and was being flown to Florida for a weekend of interviews with all the would-be coworkers.
What was interesting to me was that both of these opportunities came from the relationships and the work I've done with SkillsUSA. And both were in the field of construction!
But the biggest thing of all was that after all of those months, I ended up with 2 opportunities and I got to choose between them based on what I thought was best for me. It wasn't just that I felt obligated to take the first job I was offered. I felt so very fortunate for this choice.
Now both jobs were actually quite similar, both of them in the field of workforce development. One with a for profit construction company in Dallas, the other with an industry-wide non-profit organization, the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER). From my interactions via phone, skype, and a little internet research, both of the companies had some great people that I'd be working with, and both positions were going to be expected to do a lot of organizational development and program creation--both perfect for what I love to do!
So now for the reason you've all read this far...I've made my decision and will be moving from my lovely fUnemployment abode in Minneapolis to take the new job in
Florida!! And I'm so so very excited about it!! I had an amazing weekend with my future coworkers when I was in Gainesville visiting and as I learned more about my prospective role, the organization and the expansion that it's looking toward in the next 5 years I got even more excited. I'll be working with some seasoned vets in the industry and in workforce development, and I will have a LOT of learning to do about every nook and cranny of construction. It's going to be quite a learning curve, but amazingly those who interviewed me deemed me worthy of the role based on, well, me. AND, I'll still get to stay heavily involved in SkillsUSA (large part of why I was even considered for the job) as the NCCER is a sponsor and supporter of the organization. Yay!
I'm honored and excited to have been afforded so many wonderful opportunities as my job search came to a close (I ended up getting interviews with Stanley Black and Decker's Leadership Program and a few others the week before I went to Florida). But now the decision is made, I'm moving to Florida, and starting life as a "real person" (aka someone with a grown up job). Strange!
Thank you to all of my friends and family that have in any way supported me on this journey. It's definitely been more of a challenge than I expected, but I feel that I am off in the right direction. Thank you to each of you who has supported me along the way.
And goodness, I had no idea it would take so long.
For those of you that haven't followed along with my job hunt experience. It started back in...well, let's say it officially really started after I finished a temporary job with the UCSD Alumni Association (I helped bring to publication this book!) at the end of November when I moved to Minneapolis for the beginning of my "fUnemployment" experience. I received many "we found more suitable candidates" emails, participated in a few interviews (some of which were miserable, others okay), and finally realized that I was going to need more help than my own research and resume would provide. So I sent out a few emails to my friends working in the professional world asking for leads and help.
Now I've always been passionate about training and development and I hoped in my efforts to get a job that I'd be able to break into these fields based on my college experience in helping to build programs and do a lot of presenting/training. Turns out experience in college doesn't quite mean as much to employers as does experience outside of the university. Oh, and no one was hiring really anyway, so that didn't help.
What I did do however, was develop a wonderful network of friends, peers, and mentors from my time in high school and college that I felt confident contacting and asking for help (okay, it's true that I was somewhat persuaded to ask for help by another mentor, Mr. Greg Murphy-thanks Greg)
Magically after the email to my friends and mentors, opportunities started coming into view. I got a few phone calls from friends of friends who wanted to know more about what kind of work I wanted to do. From that I got a few leads on companies and some advice on my resume. After a few weeks I began receiving calls from people who received my resume from someone that knew someone else who had passed it on to them from one of my friends. Then phone and skype interviews began to emerge on my calendar and next thing I knew I had a job offer in Dallas and was being flown to Florida for a weekend of interviews with all the would-be coworkers.
What was interesting to me was that both of these opportunities came from the relationships and the work I've done with SkillsUSA. And both were in the field of construction!
But the biggest thing of all was that after all of those months, I ended up with 2 opportunities and I got to choose between them based on what I thought was best for me. It wasn't just that I felt obligated to take the first job I was offered. I felt so very fortunate for this choice.
Now both jobs were actually quite similar, both of them in the field of workforce development. One with a for profit construction company in Dallas, the other with an industry-wide non-profit organization, the National Center for Construction Education and Research (NCCER). From my interactions via phone, skype, and a little internet research, both of the companies had some great people that I'd be working with, and both positions were going to be expected to do a lot of organizational development and program creation--both perfect for what I love to do!
So now for the reason you've all read this far...I've made my decision and will be moving from my lovely fUnemployment abode in Minneapolis to take the new job in
Florida!! And I'm so so very excited about it!! I had an amazing weekend with my future coworkers when I was in Gainesville visiting and as I learned more about my prospective role, the organization and the expansion that it's looking toward in the next 5 years I got even more excited. I'll be working with some seasoned vets in the industry and in workforce development, and I will have a LOT of learning to do about every nook and cranny of construction. It's going to be quite a learning curve, but amazingly those who interviewed me deemed me worthy of the role based on, well, me. AND, I'll still get to stay heavily involved in SkillsUSA (large part of why I was even considered for the job) as the NCCER is a sponsor and supporter of the organization. Yay!
I'm honored and excited to have been afforded so many wonderful opportunities as my job search came to a close (I ended up getting interviews with Stanley Black and Decker's Leadership Program and a few others the week before I went to Florida). But now the decision is made, I'm moving to Florida, and starting life as a "real person" (aka someone with a grown up job). Strange!
Thank you to all of my friends and family that have in any way supported me on this journey. It's definitely been more of a challenge than I expected, but I feel that I am off in the right direction. Thank you to each of you who has supported me along the way.
Tuesday, March 8, 2011
If/When I have Money
The other day I was thinking about life at a time if/when I have money. And when I think of a time that I might actually have extra funds at my disposal, I get pretty excited thinking about the possibilities. For many, those possibilities may lie in building their own home, taking a big trip, or buying a fancy new car, but (as I'm not a big fan of collecting 'stuff') I start getting excited about all the ways that I could give that money back to the things that got it for me in the first place.
As a student I was involved in the Student Foundation, a student group that runs the investments and fund raising for a foundation and then gives out merit based scholarships to fellow students. This group became a large part of my experience at UCSD and through the experiences I had volunteering and working with leading philanthropists in the area, I decided that giving back to those things that had impacted my life is going to be one of my biggest priorities as I move forward.
So what do I want to give to if/when I have money?
The first of all things would be to donate to SkillsUSA, an organization that I was highly involved with starting my sophomore year of high school and continue to volunteer with to this day. I'd want to start by donating to my local chapter at Central High School in Cheyenne, in large part because this incredible organization, led by my mentor, friend, and extra father Mr. Stevenson, was the impetus to my entire whirlwind of involvement from high school until now. Some students must fund raise their way to make it to the state and national conferences because many schools can no longer support these extra programs. Though the Central chapter has now had 3 national officers (not a very easy thing to do) and won Outstanding Chapter at the state level since he started the program, I know there are individuals that struggle to stay involved due to finances even though they'd love to take part. I would love to be able to donate funds that would help students that can't afford the fees to attend conferences on their own, and maybe to help fund events and programs that further support the organization.
Next, I think about my time in college and the hours I spent working and living at the Center for Student Involvement. Particularly, as a student employee for a new program we constantly were faced with a small operational budget that had to fight for funding every year. The program is far too important to students and to their organizations to be lost due to budget cuts and I'd love to be able to give back to them, helping make the program continually viable and have the impact that it has the potential for. It would be great to be able to give them a little extra money to help contribute to student organizations along the way as well!
I'd also love to be able to give to some of the daily things in my life. Donate to Pandora's Music Genome Project or to Mint.com for it's exceptional services in helping me to manage my finances. To donate more to the local yoga studio here in Minneapolis, One Yoga, to help sponsor their community yoga and outreach classes. I'd want to continually give funding to the UCSD Student Foundation. To help MMW, the writing series at my college at UCSD to go back to 6 quarters instead of the decreased (due to budget cuts) 5. I'd also like to see more merit-based scholarships in general at UCSD because we all know the State of California will continually decrease public funding for education until the UC's are no longer state-funded universities.
I'll be honest, I have a few selfish things I'd like to do as well. I want to be able to travel to Lebanon and Ghana, the Dominican Republic and so many more places to visit my friends who are living, working, and volunteering abroad. I want to be able to fly my younger siblings Ben, Katie, and Nicole to some of the amazing places that I've had the fortune to visit and help expose them to the wonderful world we live in. I'd like to pay off my own student loans and have the freedom to enjoy delicious food from expensive but organic local grocery stores. And how great would it be to rent out a massive boat and cruise around the Mediterranean with my good friends from near and far for a week? Exploring and sharing adventures with friends will be a continual priority for me
So if/when I have money, I want it to impact more than just me. I want it to be seen as funds for the communities that have helped me to become who I am and those same communities that will continue to help others succeed. And I'm proud that many of my friends have the same mentality and I hope this message may encourage them to think about volunteering or giving at least a little to a cause you may be passionate about.
For all my UCSD friends. There's a new campaign, similar to the one I was involved in with the Student Foundation, that is encouraging any and all alumni to give back anything that they can-budget cuts in California are forcing our past classmates to have even harder times graduating because there are fewer and fewer classes they can get in to. Some people donate funds to start a foundation with a few hundred thousand dollars. But like me for the past few months, many of us can't even imagine the capacity to be able to do that. I ask you then, think about contributing $5, $10, or maybe $25 dollars to the UCSD Alumni Association's new campaign. Here's the link, think about it (note, you can direct the funds to any part of UCSD that you want by writing in the "notes" section. ex: MMW, CSI, ERC)
As a student I was involved in the Student Foundation, a student group that runs the investments and fund raising for a foundation and then gives out merit based scholarships to fellow students. This group became a large part of my experience at UCSD and through the experiences I had volunteering and working with leading philanthropists in the area, I decided that giving back to those things that had impacted my life is going to be one of my biggest priorities as I move forward.
So what do I want to give to if/when I have money?
The first of all things would be to donate to SkillsUSA, an organization that I was highly involved with starting my sophomore year of high school and continue to volunteer with to this day. I'd want to start by donating to my local chapter at Central High School in Cheyenne, in large part because this incredible organization, led by my mentor, friend, and extra father Mr. Stevenson, was the impetus to my entire whirlwind of involvement from high school until now. Some students must fund raise their way to make it to the state and national conferences because many schools can no longer support these extra programs. Though the Central chapter has now had 3 national officers (not a very easy thing to do) and won Outstanding Chapter at the state level since he started the program, I know there are individuals that struggle to stay involved due to finances even though they'd love to take part. I would love to be able to donate funds that would help students that can't afford the fees to attend conferences on their own, and maybe to help fund events and programs that further support the organization.
Next, I think about my time in college and the hours I spent working and living at the Center for Student Involvement. Particularly, as a student employee for a new program we constantly were faced with a small operational budget that had to fight for funding every year. The program is far too important to students and to their organizations to be lost due to budget cuts and I'd love to be able to give back to them, helping make the program continually viable and have the impact that it has the potential for. It would be great to be able to give them a little extra money to help contribute to student organizations along the way as well!
I'd also love to be able to give to some of the daily things in my life. Donate to Pandora's Music Genome Project or to Mint.com for it's exceptional services in helping me to manage my finances. To donate more to the local yoga studio here in Minneapolis, One Yoga, to help sponsor their community yoga and outreach classes. I'd want to continually give funding to the UCSD Student Foundation. To help MMW, the writing series at my college at UCSD to go back to 6 quarters instead of the decreased (due to budget cuts) 5. I'd also like to see more merit-based scholarships in general at UCSD because we all know the State of California will continually decrease public funding for education until the UC's are no longer state-funded universities.
I'll be honest, I have a few selfish things I'd like to do as well. I want to be able to travel to Lebanon and Ghana, the Dominican Republic and so many more places to visit my friends who are living, working, and volunteering abroad. I want to be able to fly my younger siblings Ben, Katie, and Nicole to some of the amazing places that I've had the fortune to visit and help expose them to the wonderful world we live in. I'd like to pay off my own student loans and have the freedom to enjoy delicious food from expensive but organic local grocery stores. And how great would it be to rent out a massive boat and cruise around the Mediterranean with my good friends from near and far for a week? Exploring and sharing adventures with friends will be a continual priority for me
So if/when I have money, I want it to impact more than just me. I want it to be seen as funds for the communities that have helped me to become who I am and those same communities that will continue to help others succeed. And I'm proud that many of my friends have the same mentality and I hope this message may encourage them to think about volunteering or giving at least a little to a cause you may be passionate about.
For all my UCSD friends. There's a new campaign, similar to the one I was involved in with the Student Foundation, that is encouraging any and all alumni to give back anything that they can-budget cuts in California are forcing our past classmates to have even harder times graduating because there are fewer and fewer classes they can get in to. Some people donate funds to start a foundation with a few hundred thousand dollars. But like me for the past few months, many of us can't even imagine the capacity to be able to do that. I ask you then, think about contributing $5, $10, or maybe $25 dollars to the UCSD Alumni Association's new campaign. Here's the link, think about it (note, you can direct the funds to any part of UCSD that you want by writing in the "notes" section. ex: MMW, CSI, ERC)
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)