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!

2. Putting a Silly Message on Your Answering Machine

Example: A is for academics, B is for beer — and one of those reasons is why we’re not here. So leave a message, OK?

You Might Think: Mine is the funniest answering machine message this side of the Mississippi. My friends will love it.

The Employer Will Probably Think: Good lord, this person probably lives in Animal House. And I just can’t risk interviewing, let alone hiring, someone like Bluto or Flounder. Sorry, Charlie. Click.

3. Sending Your Resume and Cover Letter Without Proofreading

You Might Think: Everybody makes mistakes, even employers. So if there’s a mistake or two on my resume, no big deal. The employer probably won’t even notice, much less care.

The Employer Will Probably Think: Everybody makes mistakes, even employers. But making more than one minor mistake on a resume or in a cover letter is unacceptable, and often, even one is too many. How do I know this person will proofread the letters he writes to shareholders? What if he someday leaves a zero or two off one of our financial statements? I better put this resume aside and look for someone who’s more accurate and thorough.

4. Winging Your Interviews Instead of Preparing Thoroughly

You Might Think: I’m good at thinking on my feet, and if I get stuck, I’ll just BS my way through. Besides, they can’t expect me to know everything about the company.

The Employer Will Probably Think: This person clearly knows nothing about the company, nor has she made any effort to learn more about us and what we do. She must not really care whether or not she gets the job. I want someone who cares. Oh well, maybe the next person will be better.

5. Failing to Send Thank-You Notes After Interviews

You Might Think: A thank-you note? You’re kidding, right? Do people even do that sort of thing anymore?

The Employer Will Probably Think: This person has no follow-up skills, not to mention common courtesy. He could have at least dropped me a quick email note, like this other person did. I think I’ll invite this candidate for the second round of interviews instead. The other guy must not really want the position.

This is a guest post from our friends at Excelle. Excelle is the premier online community for female professionals in the United States. Empower yourself with high-quality content relating to workplace issues and career advancement. Forge connections and network with other working women in our interactive forums. Join our community of intelligent, highly-motivated career women here: excelle.monster.com.

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:

1. Relationships: Late night booty calls? Open relationships? Drunken mistakes? Not only were these accepted in college, they were celebrated: “You hooked up with three guys in one night?! I’ll drink to that!” Not in the real world, people. Apparently staying monogamous is huge out here in the land of taxes and mortgages. Take it from me, going on a date with one guy and going home with another is frowned upon out here.

Not that I stopped…I just get frowned at a lot.

2. Responsibility: “Sorry, I was totally wasted” is not a valid excuse when you forget to file your taxes or pay your electricity bill. News to me, of course, because that was my only excuse in college. “I slept with your boyfriend? Sorry, I was wasted.”

3. A Job: Sleeping through class is totally acceptable, especially if it is an Art History lecture. Sleeping through work is not, especially when you are an Emergency Room doctor.

4. Balancing a Budget: In college “balancing a budget” meant calling my parents and asking for more money. Now that I am in the real world, my parents have started this awful trend of saying “No” and “Get a job that pays instead of spending all your time writing for that dumb site” to my weekly money requests. In the two months since I left college I have grossed $232. On a lighter note, I have been to happy hour 40 times and have a fabulous new pair of jeans!

5. Starting a Family: College life consists of drinking till you pass out, sleeping through class, and cleaning your sheets when you accidentally wet the bed. Family life consists of waking up in the middle of the night to wait on a screaming baby, cleaning, cooking, and hanging a child off your breast for a year. Not only are we not prepared to start a family, but no normal college student would ever want to.

Don’t get me wrong; college teaches us many things. Just be warned that a degree in Art History with a minor in Psychology is going to do nothing in the ways of preparing you for life on the dark side… er… life in the real world.

Likey? There’s more. Check out some of our favorite posts!

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?

And then there are those students who can’t afford unpaid internships. Even if they could gain hella experience in some awesome internship program, they might not be able to sacrifice a summer of making money to do it. How is it fair that they become less competitive candidates for future jobs just because someone else was lucky enough to have their parents footing the bill for the summer?

All those things considered, I can totally get on board with this whole “unpaid internships should be illegal” business. Well, that and the fact that I’d like to bring home a paycheck for the work I do. I mean, who in their right mind wouldn’t want to make money for working? Even my little cousins won’t do their chores without getting a little somethin’ somethin’ from their parents. But is this realistic? And what if it happens and companies who can’t afford paid interns just stop offering internships? How are the 83% of students who now seek them out all supposed to get them? Yeah, some internships are BS, but some actually do teach you something and internships are valuable for future employers who seek students with relevant experience.

What are we supposed to do when we can’t get that experience?

I’m all about being compensated for my work, but I also really value the unpaid internship opportunities that I’ve had. I’ve learned so much and I know they will help me when graduation hits and I’m dumped into the craptastic job market. Would college students really benefit if those opportunities didn’t exist?

"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.

When people actually do guess my correct age range (I accept 17-22) I blush and swoon. No other compliment gets me as heated as someone telling me I look my age. It’s the secret to my heart and I will spend the rest of the night feeling insanely mature. I give out free advice left and right because when I look older, I feel wiser. And everyone appreciates advice from the old and wise.

Anyways, since my internship is wrapping up shortly and no one has gotten around to fixing the economy yet, I’m about to have a lot of time on my hands. Time that I will fill with happy hours (or getting carded/double carded/strip searched attempting to get into the happy hours) and researching an alternative plastic surgery method that would give me the opposite effects of a face lift.

Real life is….awesome. (Note: that was sarcasm.)

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.

I want to be happy for them. Rationally I know that they all worked hard and deserve it. Unfortunately I don’t think rationally very often and instead of sharing my friend’s enthusiasm I spend the whole time comparing myself to them. I run through everything they’ve accomplished versus my accomplishments and I always come to the disturbing conclusion that I’m more qualified for the job, no matter how unrealistic or untrue that may be.

Someone from class got an engineering job…I was very good at K’nex…I deserve it more.

Someone else got a teaching job…I had teachers…I’m not only qualified, but possibly overqualified.

And the list in my head goes on and on.

As more and more people get jobs, I notice the people left like me, unemployed, are growing increasingly bitter. We spend hours complaining about our joblessness. People who overhear us must assume that we have six kids at home to feed and a mortgage to pay off…why else would we sound so angry?

As I write this blog, I see how crazy this all sounds. I also see I might not be a very good friend. So maybe this week, when I get that inevitable e-mail about some friend being hired to be an astronaut, I’ll say congrats and almost actually mean it.

Even though I’ve eaten Dots: Ice Cream of the Future… and that makes more qualified for Nasa than anyone.

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.

Target
This retailer targets employees who could use a little reimbursement. In addition to paid vacations, employees can be reimbursed for job-related college courses (up to $4,000 a year). Working only 20 hours a week qualifies you for comprehensive health care. And no one could possibly complain about the 10% discount.

UPS
Okay, so maybe loading trucks inside an operating center doesn’t sound like your dream job. But hey, after only a year of working you get comprehensive health insurance, two weeks’ vacation, discounted stock offerings, and tuition reimbursement. Hmm..not so bad after all. Especially if it gets you out from under your parents’ roof soon…

Wegmans Food Markets
From food preparation to management, college grads are being offered entry-level positions at this market left and right. Once again, a comprehensive medical coverage is included, and after a year, you can join the 401(k) plan, which kicks in 50 cents for every dollar you contribute up to 6% of your salary. That may not sound like much now, but that’s gonna be boatloads of money later in life.

Whole Foods Market
Employees who work at least 20 hours a week qualify for health insurance and get a 20% discount on some yummy goods. After you’ve clocked 800 hours, the company picks up the entire premium on health coverage.

So, even if your post-graduation plan was to work for a high fashion company, a sick advertising firm, or write for Marie Claire, these jobs could work for you! You’ve gotta be flexible and open minded, and start out small to make your way in this crazy world. Plus, you never know what opportunities working at these places will bring you. So, get started and good luck!

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.”

You should also do the same for Videos of You and all of your own photo albums (just click “Edit Photo Albums Privacy Settings” next to the”Photos Tagged of You” option). Even if you don’t tag your own photos, they’re still visible to anyone who has access to your profile.  By making your photos “Friends Only,” you don’t run the risk of having potential employers stumbling upon that glorious shot of you flipping the bird while sucking down a 40. Which brings me to the next point…

2. Make your profile private (or at least disable some applications).

Everyone’s a Facebook stalker, no matter if they’re a potential employer or a potential boyfriend. So while it may seem appealing to allow Mr. Hot Stuff to view your profile and read from your wall posts that you had such a great time at the bars last weekend, you can’t trust that a future boss will have the same enthused reaction. And most Facebook users  have their profiles set so that other people in their networks can see them. So if you belong to a regional network (especially in big cities like New York, LA, DC, and Boston), remember that anyone can join and belong to them, too.  So to control what information people see when they search you, go here and under the options “Profile” and “Wall Posts” click the drop-down menu and select “Only Friends.” You should consider doing the same for your Basic Info, Personal Info, and Status Updates as well (particularly if you list under “Interests” all of your favorite rums…). Even if you have a tame profile for the most part, you never know when a friend might post a questionable comment or YouTube video on your wall. Better to be safe than sorry.

 3. Choose your default wisely!

All of these new privacy settings would mean nothing if the Big Kahuna, your default Facebook photo, isn’t family-friendly. Save the sexy memories of Halloween (yes you looked cute as a hot nurse)  for your newly-protected other photos, and choose a default that is flattering but not reputation-damaging. If the default-in-question features ANYONE (even if it’s not you) drinking, inappropriately dressed, making obscene gestures and/or alluding to racist/sexist materia, ditch it! Furthermore, make sure to go into your Profile Picture album and delete any questionable defaults from the past. If your settings enable anyone on Facebook to view your default when they search for you, it’s possible they can view any of your past default photos (since Facebook automatically saves them into that album).

 4. Remove personal information that can potentially enable identity theft.

Being wary of potential employers isn’t the only reason to keep your profile clean. Identity theft is a real and scary part of the world these days–and most of the information used by theives can be found on a typical Facebook profile! Never publish the year you were born (the month and day is okay, but not foolproof), your address, and your phone number all at once. This information makes it much easier for scammers to open credit cards in your name, or at least track you down and possibly go through your trash (ALWAYS cut up or shred discarded mail).

 5. Don’t make your Facebook searchable on Google!Nowadays, it’s possible for your Facebook to be viewed even by people who do not have Facebook. Don’t believe me? Type your name as it appears on Facebook into Google and see if your profile shows up. If it does (and even if it doesn’t) follow this link to disable Facebook from making your profile searchable on the internet (unclick the “Create a public search listing” box). Not only can potential employers find you this way, but so can mom and dad, nana and papa, and…yeah, the whole free world.

Additionally, if you visit the Facebook Help Page, you can learn everything you ever wanted to know about anything on Facebook. I’ve been a Facebook user for years now and this site taught me quite a few things…particularly on the functions of Pokes.