I spend 83% of my day deleting e-mails from my career center. It seems they spend 100% of their day sending out e-mails with job tips, career fair, and networking seminars. Every time I report one as spam, five more pop up in its place.

And the most frustrating thing is that their language is all so misleading.

Job Hunting makes the process sound so adventurous. I’m immediately thinking back to shooting oxen (too many pounds to carry back!) on the Oregon Trail. Instead it’s scrolling through databases and filling out applications. I went to the resume building workshop. I assumed that we would be physically stacking up our resumes to build some sort of post-modern card house that would look awesome while also giving some insight into resume writing. Instead, it’s listening to all the things I should have on my resume instead of babysitting jobs from the 7th grade. Read More »

While some colleges have a quick one-day orientation or even a simple online registration, other colleges have week-long activities ranging from seminars and lectures to outdoor orienteering adventures. The goal of orientation is to make sure students feel at home on campus or, at least, well versed on where to go, whom to talk to, and what the school offers. Orientation is a way to make nervous first-years feel connected to their academic community of students.

I will never forget moving into my dorm during my first year orientation week being completely scared out of my mind. However, at Hollins, meeting people came easy. In fact, we were put into groups of six or seven students with a student advisor, who was a grade or two older than us, to spend the week with. We played ice-breaker games, talked about high school, and spent the days getting to know each other in the August heat. My student advisor, known as a Student Success Leader (SSL), was a quiet sophomore, English major (just like me). She helped my fellow group members put together our schedules, get to our seminars on time, and learn all about Hollins and its academics.

Although orientation went quickly, I never forgot how amazing my SSL was. She went out of her way to stay in contact with all of us first years, even leaving us goodie bags of finger puppets and Hello Kitty stickers. She always made herself available, and I couldn’t have thanked her more. Read More »

Questiony for Tuffy? Email her at tuffylove@collegecandy.com to be featured in her column, which runs every other Tuesday! ASK. ANYTHING.

Dear Tuffy Luv,

I’m graduating from a small liberal arts college in May and I’m starting to get realllllly nervous about job hunting. Everyone says this is a terrible time to start looking for a job. What am I supposed to do?????????

Thanks for your help!

Terrified Senior

Dear Senorita Senior,

Honey, boy do I feel your pain. You think there’s a lotta work out there for stylized advice columnists? Hint: There ain’t.

The economy here in the US definitely sucks right now. As of December, the unemployment rate was up to a very frightening 7.2%. But, listen. Tuffy’s got a few tricks up her sleeve for you. And it’s a very large sleeve. Bell, maybe. Or perhaps kimono. Read More »

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Our economy is crumbling, and things just got worse for Bachelors degree-hopefuls, especially those in Massachusetts. Last year, the Massachusetts Educational Financing Authority secured over $500 million in educational loans. This year, they’ve announced that they will not be offering loans for the upcoming academic year.

None. Zero. Zip. Zilch. Nada. They didn’t cut their $500 million budget to, say, $250 million. They exed the loans altogether.

MEFA secures loans for 40,000 students who live in Massachusetts, or who attend school there. Unfortunately, this year, the financing authority could not secure the money. Executive director Tom Graff blames “disruptions in capital markets.” So, just like that, 40,000 students are sh*t out of luck.

MEFA is the first to make headlines, but any financing authority could also be treading on thin ice. Which means that students across the country could be forced to drop out of college, or sell their souls to finance a degree that can cost upwards of FORTY GRAND per year at top-notch schools like Carnegie Mellon, Tufts, NYU, and Notre Dame.

When I was in college, I played my cards right, and managed to get through my degree with almost no debt, and decided to pursue a Master’s, rather than join the work force right away. With our declining economy, I am currently paying dearly for that decision. Read More »

I’m a hard worker and always have been. I started working when I was 14; I printed out cheap flyers advertising my babysitting capabilities and threw them in every mailbox in my town. I had my own little babysitting gigs and was doing quite well for myself; at $4.25 an hour, I thought I was making the big bucks.

As I grew older, I expanded my professional resume with retail positions, internships and jobs geared towards my career interests. I came out of college and now have a full-time job (and this super fun writing gig to keep me sane on the side) and am working towards getting the things I want for myself in life.

I consider myself – and many women just like me – to be a part of something new: the New Generation of 20-Something Women. No more relying on a man to determine financial status, stability or success; we are independent and have our own individual goals. Our own plans. Our fate in our hands.

Growing up, I learned that if you want something, you need to rely on yourself to get it and not someone else. I am taking that theory into account and notice that more females these days are too. Years ago, women were expected to find a man, get married, have children and keep the household. Rather than growing up and looking for our Mrs., 20-something women today are looking for a job, life experiences, travel and, most importantly, a life for themselves. Read More »

The week before you ship off to college is notoriously known for extended shopping excursions.

As you push your cart up and down the aisles of Wal-Mart and Target stocking up on the necessities, your bank account is slowly draining (unless your parents plan on footing the entire bill-in which case you can stop reading now).

The money you’ve saved up at your menial summer job may be non-existent by the time you hit the mall to pick up some new kicks and a few back to school outfits.

So what happens when you land on campus broke as a joke in need of food and fun? You begin the job hunt.

As a seasoned veteran of the work study program, I would not recommend this line of work. My freshman year was spent slaving away between classes in an office with no windows. Fetching sandwiches for a hostile man whose job it was to make photocopies for 7 dollars an hour wasn’t my idea of a worthwhile part-time job.

When I ventured out to find legitimate employment during my sophomore year, I applied to every store, restaurant, and office within a 20 block radius of my school.

To be blunt, I went crazy, spreading my resume like wildfire to anyone who would take it. You would think my phone would have been ringing off the hook. Read More »

Elle Woods was way ahead of her time. Not only was she a trendsetter in the fashion sense but apparently in the working world as well. Remember her video resume to Harvard Law complete with requisite bikini shot?

Six years later, the idea finally caught on. Forget the paper resume and cover letter, the video resume is about to take its place.

Following on the heels of the trend are various video resume websites. Each has its own unique spin. One even hails itself as “job networking on steroids.” And if the working world takes its cue from pop culture, the video resume is about to blow up.

Sean Combs, the illustrious Diddy, posted a short clip on YouTube in the attempt to find an assistant to replace umbrella toting Fonzworth Bentley. His only requirements were that the video “interview” be less than three minutes and his new assistant have at least a college degree.

If you feel like being belittled by Diddy, film your own short and post it to his YouTube group.

But if you’re like the rest of us (just wanting a normal job with benefits) try filming your own video resume. You never know when the trend will start to take off. Read More »

I am the queen of summer jobs and internships.

I have done everything from chase kids around in nurseries to waitressing to getting covered in dirt in a greenhouse to working in a tiny cubicle in a Manhattan talent office to running errands for a crazy agent to making pizza for one day.

Looking back, there are so many things I wish I could have told my little 19 year old self during her first foray into living alone and interning in New York City. One of those things would be to never eat the coleslaw in any restaurant (they totally reuse that shit), but I would also tell her how to deal with completely psychotic bosses and why it’s okay to lie to certain part time employers. Read More »