Whether you’re graduating this spring or you’re hunting for a summer internship, you’re probably stressed about acing your interviews. To help alleviate some of that stress, we reached out to the experts from Excelle and asked them for their tips on making a great first impression. Check back every Thursday for more helpful career tips and articles!

In most job-filling situations, the employer has the luxury of choosing from several well-qualified applicants, all of whom could probably do the job. That’s when the little things, like the common but often unrecognized mistakes described here, almost always come into play. Make sure you avoid them, so they don’t cost you a shot at the job.

1. Using a Cutesy Email Address for Correspondence

Example: cutiepie@domain.com, or — far worse — something like sexkitten@domain.com.

You Might Think: It’s a clever, memorable email address everyone will get a kick out of.

The Employer Will Probably Think: I can’t believe someone would actually list this email address on her resume, let alone use it to correspond with me. Will she do the same thing on the job if I hire her? Yikes! Read More »

For most normal college grads, the time directly after the cap tossing/couch burning/heavy drinking of graduation weekend comes a period of extreme depression mixed with a tinge of confusion that leads many to make rash decisions.

For some, this means getting a job in Investment Banking or getting (gasp) engaged. For others, this means getting a pet.

Whatever choice they make it is important to remember that college does nothing to prepare us to make such decisions, or for any sort of real life interactions and experiences after we move out of our student housing, clutching our hard earned (ha!) degree.

So, for those of you just entering college or currently enjoying the amazingness that it is, allow me, a recent college finisher, to shed some light and expose the truth.

College is awesome.
College is drunk.
College is staying up all night in the library trying to find someone to hook up with in the stacks.
College is all about making friends and doing stupid things together.

College, however, is not about preparing you for life. Below is a list of things that four (or five/six/seven if you are smart) years in higher education neglect to teach you: Read More »

I learned a long time ago that if I want to break into magazine writing I would have to get some internships under my belt. And after searching high and low, I later learned those internships would most likely be unpaid. Did I want to make big money while working full time at a job? Of course, but if working my patootie off to pad my resume required a financial sacrifice, then I was more than willing to do it.

But some people don’t agree and actually want to make unpaid internships illegal! Worried that many companies are illegally using students for free labor, many officials in Oregon, California and other states want to change the rules and require companies to pay their interns.

Honestly, this is something I never really thought of before.  In my eyes, the benefit of my unpaid internships has been the experience gained on my resume. I always just accepted that unpaid internships were something everyone had to have if they wanted to move up the ladder. Sure, it wasn’t ideal, but that’s just the way things were, and if you were learning something about your future career then it was all worth it.

But then I started thinking about all those bullsh*t internships out there. You know, the ones where you’re making copies, fetching coffee and answering phones. The ones that have literally nothing to do with your future career interests, but you take because you think it will still look good on your resume. Like an NYU intern at a Manhattan children’s film company who was assigned to the facilities department to wipe the doorknobs each day to prevent Swine Flu from spreading through the office. I don’t know what the job listing was, but I’m pretty sure that student didn’t plan on adding “door knob cleaner” to their resume. How did he benefit from that? Read More »

"I'm 22, dammit!"

I look very young for my age. If scientists took a lunch break from developing anti-aging creams and instead studied my delayed aging process they could figure out how to make everyone look eleven years younger (I had to one-up the TLC show).

When I tell people I just graduated from school they automatically assume middle school and tell me that I’ll  grow out of my awkward teen years soon. And when they find out that I’m actually 22 they reassure me that once I’m older I’ll appreciate looking younger. Like, great, when I’m 78 I’ll look 75. I’ll really impress all the men then; they’ll be wetting their Depends just to get with a young broad like me.

Throughout this whole summer I’ve tried to casually walk into bars only to be stopped by massive bouncers looking for an ID. They stare at them for hours trying to figure out how I got such a good fake and if I had to sneak out of my house to be there. They always reluctantly hand it back to me as if it ruined their night that I’m actually of age. By the time the bouncers are done scanning my ID for all possible forgeries, my friends are six pitchers deep and I’m shamed into actually feeling like I used a fake.

It’s like some sick joke that I’m technically too old to go back to college yet I don’t look old enough to be out without parental supervision. Read More »

I’ve learned a lot about myself in these months since I’ve graduated. Most importantly I’ve learned that I have severe and occasionally life-threatening problem with jealously. I like my friends, some more than others, and I want them to do well. However I don’t want them to do well until I’m doing well. That’s fair, right?

It takes enormous amounts of effort for me to congratulate a friend upon hearing they got a job. Literally, I have to type one letter at a time while I suffer from a self-induced panic attack. I practically have to have Xanax on hand 24/7 in case I get one of those excited voice mails (I no longer answer the phone, too risky having to fake enthusiasm) telling me that someone got offered a job. Read More »

So your beer guzzling, frat hopping days are over. And to top it off, you moved back home to live with your parents cuz there are no jobs out there in the big, bad, real world these days, right?

Wrong!

There are. You might just not be looking in the right places. And no, we aren’t saying you have to be flippin’ burgers at Micky D’s or prostituting yourself on a corner somewhere (really, not recommended). We’re talking about good jobs with even greater benefits. And we know for a fact (from some savvy internet research) that these places are looking for a few new hires!

Starbucks
Not only will you get a free pound of coffee to take home weekly (that’s enough to get me filling out an application) but working 20 hours a week guarantees you comprehensive health coverage, access to a 401(k) plan and a chance to buy company stock at a discount.

But wait, there’s more: After only a year of working, you can also qualify for tuition reimbursement AND a paid vacation. Pretty sweet, huh? You can earn up to a 12% merit increase within the first year of working if you become one baller barista! And with 11,466 U.S. locations, you wont have trouble finding a place nearby to get started. Read More »

Yesterday we published this story about some high-profile individuals who lost their jobs because of some unruly Facebook activity. If you’re thinking to yourself, “uh-oh, I love partying and taking pictures to post on Facebook, but I kind of want to have a job one day,” relax. You can have your cake and eat it, too.  Just make sure you’re utilizing all the appropriate privacy settings.  There are several steps to take to ensure your safety online, so just follow these tips!

1. Make all of your photos “Friends Only”

Tempting as it may be to leave photos up, it’s much safer to make them “Friends Only.” That way you know for certain who has access to your pictures. To do this, go here and under the option “Photos tagged of you,” click the drop-down menu and select “Only Friends.” Read More »