Thoughts

 At the present moment I have two things on my mind, and these things are: internship and graduation. My objective for the internship is to be hired in a sport TV, even local one. Hey you have to start somewhere, right??. To be able to gain some experience whether from the technical part like setting the stage or shadowing/assisting production management would be absolutely priceless for me. Paid internship is not a priority, although it would be nice to get pay+ get the knowledge and experience in order to consistently move up.

So far I have completed 51 credits toward the degree and I am one "tinny" step from the graduation which will hopefully take place in June. Entering college was a hell of a experience; it introduce me to a totally new environment. College experience gained at LAGCC enlighten me and reshape my point of view toward many issues. From the time perspective attending LaGuardia was a valuable experience and a good starting point. After graduating I want to continue studying in order to obtain bachelor's degree in a more prominent place such as Hunter College.

According to Jean Paul Sartre "Everything has been figured out except how to live". Well, it is indeed extremely difficult to plan everything down to details and live according to a schedule on daily basis, but I do believe that planning is important. Throughout my life I have made enough mistakes due to the lack of planning, impatience or just laziness and therefore now I am always trying to rethink/consider all the alternatives in order to make right choices and remain on the right path.

Group Projects

Working in the groups is an excellent way to shape/develop interpersonal skills. Throughout various courses at the college I was often assigned to work in a teams/groups with people from all over the world. I have to admitted that I found these activities very interesting, because I always look for a way to interact with people from other places, different backgrounds. To be able to share opinions, exchanging ideas or just simply talk about real life issues with people that see things differently is absolutely priceless and sometimes might fill the blank spaces as well as provide answer to key questions.

During CEP 121 class we often talk about our career choices, we share thoughts, gives each other feedbacks or just simply spend time on a typical bleebleeblee kind of a conversations. I founded that many people whether in a class or in a group share same concerns about career choices, a mean just like me they are not sure whether their decisions are right. In a class we are divided and grouped according to our interests, so its pretty cool to be able to be around people that share my interests, like to interact with people from different backgrounds and all have something interesting to say.

After all, I believe that group work is a good way to get to know people around you from other perspective than just classmates. Throughout the course I really enjoyed listening to other people stories even if some were kind too fantastic to be actually true.

ePortfolio

Throughout the semester I really enjoyed working on my ePortfolio, even though sometimes I felt kind of exhausted after four hours of previous class lecture. ePortfolio gave me an opportunity to express myself in a new way, the so called "decent way" other than facebook or myspace. Thanks to ePortfolio I am able to leave something that is worth seeing by others.

One of the advantages of having an ePortfolio is the fact that it can be use during the job interview. ePortfolio briefly describes who you are, in what classes you have participated in, what projects/researches you have completed and above all it still does have your current resume.

From the time perspective I consider hours allocated into developing my ePortfolio well spend, because as previously mentioned I was given a chance to leave something valuable behind me in order for others to see it and I was introduced to a new program called Netscape Composer which helped me to build my ePortfolio step by step.

Successful Person Interview

For the purpose of this activity I decided to interview my uncle, who according to my point of view is successful. My uncle Andrew came to states nearly thirty years ago from central Europe with straightforward goal to succeed. Despite of many barriers such as language, lack of education or whole bunch of financial issues he managed to fought his way through against the odds.

At the very beginning my uncle use to work in construction business (doing all kinds of jobs both inside/outside). Construction seems to be absolutely hopeless when it comes to opportunities for low level workers. After few years of slave labor my uncle realize that he'll never be able to provide a comfortable living for himself and his family, therefore he decided to leave "dimes and nickels" position and move on his own in order to earn top dollars.

Starting a business from the scratch is never easy, especially when it comes to construction market-market that is so crowded and heavily dependent on connections. The worst as well as the toughest part was obviously the beginning when my uncle was obligated to lead,manage,coordinate and sometimes work in order tights the both ends. It took my uncle several long years to earn reputation among contractors in order to be able to compete for the most lucrative contracts. 

Nowadays, after all the sweat and struggle my uncle's business is working in a manner of a swiss watch. The entire story motivates me to give the best out of myself, so I can be successful during real life situations and perhaps be remembered too for accomplishing something that is worth remembrance. 

Best and Worst Jobs of 2010

In his article "Best and Worst Jobs of 2010" Andrew Strieber introduced the so called "best and worst" positions on earth. You don't have to read Financial Times on regular basis or watch business channels to know that due to financial tsunami that struck global economy with the fall of legendary nowadays Lehman Brothers bank there will be a massive shakedown on a job market.

The article as well as the list of "Best and Worst" provided me with lot's of interested informations. For starters I was struck to see Historian ranked so high (5th place), because I didn't know that you can do that well digging in history and then selling your knowledge for that kind of a cash. Actuary, another position ranked as a 1st (to me way overrated) that basically consists of a calculation the probability and financial impact sounds too good to be true especially in today's unknown circumstances. A mean how can you be able to calculate the probability of something that is beyond anyones control??. For example, Dubai was ranked in top5 by analytics as a best place to invest the capital. Extremely wealthy emirate, besides of building luxuries villas on an island that resembles a palm tree, or lately the worlds highest building is still struggling with massive debts. Despite of words of comfort and calculations from the side of analytics large portion of brand new apartments still remains unoccupied causing huge losses to its developers.

In my opinion it is just a matter of time before we see another article + revised list of best and worst jobs. Unfortunately in our times despite of everything nothing seems to be certain. Long time safe/well paying jobs are long gone now due to both globalization and competition which drives people to fight among each others for nearly every position. Who knows what awaits us in the future? Another financial meltdown or sound tomorrow which might bring us demand for totally new, unknown today jobs and perhaps a new list of "Best and Worst."

Job Interview/Resume Advices

Old school job search advice is the worst. We read and hear it everywhere, yet no one can trace its sources. Who made up the rule that we can't or not supposed to use "I" in a resume, for instance? What's worse is that most traditional job seeking advices doesn't really work.

We've been taught to write a resume like a stiff government document. No one want's to read something like that. "I" is a perfectly word to use when you are talking about yourself. An HR person who writes in his resume summary, "I am passionate about helping employees succeed on the job" is steeping out of the formal protocol in order to tell the employer, "here what kind of HR person I am." That's a big plus, not a minus.

It has been said that the cover letter should be conversational, while the resume should remain formal. Who says it has to be this way? Lots of hiring managers skip the cover letter entirely. Your resume has to make it clear what you're about, so it has to bring with as much of the brand YOU as it possible can. Ditch the results oriented professional for weightier bullets like, "I got x-25 product out the door six months earlier to add $10M in quarterly sales." In other words write a conversational resume summary statement that stay free from boring boilerplate like "strong work ethics."

When you're asked for the salary quote the lowest number you can. That's a horrible advice that will get you a low ball job offer, if you get one at all. When you are confronted with that kind of a question, give a realistic figure that takes into account what other companies are paying people (right now, not three years ago) with your skills. If you don't have the information about the salaries use Payscale.com or Glassdoor.com in order to get the latest data available so you can be prepared.

In a job interview, talk as much of the time as you can. True/False? Here's why you don't want to do this. When you're talking, you're not learning. You goal on a job interview beside getting the job is to learn as much as possibly possible about the business pain behind the job add. The more you learn, the smarter and more targeted your interview responses can be. When you have a chance to ask the interviewer a question, take it.

On a job interview, make sure the interviewer knows you're perfect for the job. You won't know what "perfect for the job really" means to a job interviewer unless you ask thoughtful questions and get the interviewer talking. Saying "I am perfect for the job" is totally pointless as well as annoying until you understand what the problem this new hire is intended to solve. Save the self-praise (I am smart and focused) and use your interview airtime minutes sharing concrete, relevant stories about your accomplishments instead.

Skills needed to improve (3.4)

1. Multitask; work on a number of projects simultaneously.* (In todays work environment a manager is required to plan, organize, staff, direct and control the activities. I am fully aware that this skills plays a gigantic role in a life of a manager and in order for me to be successful I have to put a quality time in it to be able to perform all the tasks with equal precision.)
2. Read and attend conferences. (In order to be updated and be aware of what is going on it is extremely important to attend conferences and read business related materials. I put it reading and conference attendance because I need to put more attention and manage to find more time to be able to either attend conferences or read articles that are related to my field of interest in order to get the latest news and expend my contact list .)
3. Self-confidence.* (Confidence plays a huge role in all parts of our life, but especially in business. A mean who is going to make a transaction with you if you are constantly nervous, if you are avoiding an eye contact, if you cant clearly states the advantages of your product/service. The answer is pretty much straightforward "no one". Therefore I am constantly working on my oral communication skills in order to express myself as clear and concrete as possible.)
4. Take good care of myself.* (As a new years resolution I promised myself that I will visit gym more often, sleep a lot more and I'll do my best to fulfill that resolution for the benefit of my health.)

Career Assets (3.3)

Career Assets

1. Relate to people in a friendly, accepting manner. ( I always try to treat people the way I would like to be treated. When it comes to school or work I always try to create pleasant environment. Throughout my work experience there were several situation during which new employees were introduce to the old staff and on my part I always acted in accepting manner, because I know too well how it is to start a new job.)
2. Work comfortably and effectively with people in authority over me. (Throughout the year's I've never really experience any serious conflict's at work with people in authority over me. From my point of view and based on my own experience if you do all the work right without taking any shortcuts there is no reason to be stressed or worry.
3. Cooperate with my coworkers. (To me cooperation at work it's obvious, after all in these day's its a part of the job. In my place of work I find not only healthy when it comes to chemistry but useful as well due to sharing ideas or helping each others during and after work)
4. Show respect for all people regardless of background, culture, ethnicity, religion, age, gender, disability or lifestyle. (I don't really have any issues when it comes to respecting other people no matter who they are, where they came from or what their skin color is.  Throughout the years spend in high school, college or at work I was never in a kind of a situation where background, ethnicity, religion, disability or gender was consider a problem.)
5. Pay attention to the ideas, opinions, and questions of others. (I really find this skill useful not only during a school time but in a real life situations as well. Good listening skills combined with willingness to accept other people suggestions or advices are always welcome. Throughout my life there were at least several situations during which good ideas, advices and right questions helped me to reshape my point of view when it comes to different topics.
6. Express myself well in one-on-one conversation. (During a one-on-one conversations I always try to be myself whether its a job interview or a chat with my pals. My objective when it comes to conversation is to express myself as clear as possible and avoid being seen as a person that is distorted between his own thoughts, left in a kind of a chaos.)
7. Prepare and deliver effective presentations in front of a group. (When assign a project I generally do my best to dig as deep as possible into a certain topic in order to gather as many concrete informations as possible. Thoroughly done research enables me to put the most accurate stuff on a slide/paper in order to deliver a presentation that will enhance attention and stay in the audience memory for a while.
8. Respond cooly to emergency or crisis situations. (It has been said that emotions cloud the judgment and are generally consider to be the worst possible advisor. Several months ago I found myself in a situation were I was obligated to deal with the emergency under stress. The event was about my mothers health and I couldn't really afford to make any mistakes or allow the emotion's to take over the situation.
9. Manage my time well. (Managing time efficiently is absolutely vital whether it comes to career or a life in general. After all the years I can honestly say that I finally learned how to do it in order to get the job done without making any shortcuts and still have some time left to enjoy the hobbies. The thing is to do the stuff that requires much of a time (like research projects) right away without postponing or waiting till the deadline comes.
10. Act responsibly;get the job done. (At the age of twenty three I can't really run from responsibility or do a lousy job because that would be both immature and childish. Being responsible and getting the job done is the bare minimum that is required in these days by the employers. Its not to say that I am perfect ,always dead serious, focused 100% all the time sort of like an android, but once I am assign to do a job whether in school or at work I'll do my part responsibly and all the way to the end.   

Top 3 Values (2.2)

The Values that I value the most are: 

1. Self-Improvement ( There is no such thing as born genius. What's more, based on the latest researches, books like Outliers proves that it takes quality time and gigantic work to develop the expertise on a certain topic or field. I strongly believe that it is important to be consistent when it comes to improving yourself, wrestling with weaknesses, trying to pursue and achieve the very best of human perfection.
2. Family ( I chose family because I consider this to be the most important part of my life. Family provides me with the sense of security, family house is a place where I am always welcome no matter what.)
3. Creativity ( I put creativity because I really value innovation, taking risk. A mean where our civilization would be now without taking risk, exploring new way's, trying to explain the unexplainable. As a mankind we came a long way from caves and we owe a giant percentage of our success due to creativity.

Dream Job ;P (2.1)

My dream job is a job that brings both satisfaction and adventure on daily basis. I just can't imagine myself working behind the desk doing the same thing eight hours a day, five days a week, eleven month's a year for thirty five years!!. No way that would killed me, first mentally than probably physically.

Ten years from now, after all classes taken I see myself on ESPN channel running my own show (Jim Rome kind of a show). The reason why I am seeing myself there is as simple as it could be. I am passion about sports. What's even more I've watched all kinds of sports ranging from soccer up to a wrestling fights on regular basis since I was a kid. My knowledge about sport disciplines, event's (present or those from the past), sport celebrities is that deep that during a one on one conversation you would probably drop your jaw several times.

There is absolutely no doubt that surrounding plays a huge role in working environment. In the future I see myself surrounded by a group of people that shares my passions and dedication to a work that brings satisfaction and adventure on daily basis. In other words I want to be able to feel the excitement, experience joy and above all, have an opportunity to be around future hall of fame players.

As for the reward part I am not that greedy when it comes to money or recognition. Like I stated at the beginning the most important thing to me when it comes to a job is satisfaction, career fulfillment, deep belief that my job makes sense and its worth something at the end of a day. Of course my dream job must provide a comfortable living for me and my family but extremely well paying position is not a priority.