Stuff My Grad Assistant Says

In honor of all the awkward ice-breakers you did at the beginning of your freshman year, I thought I would make a little effort to help you all get to know me better.

So who is this random grad assistant writing about career stuff?  We report, you decide.  Here are thirteen truths about me, and one lie.  Leave a comment, and if you correctly pick out the lie, you can inherit my office plant when I graduate.

-  I have the first-hand experience to know that Warren Buffet’s handshake is better than Bill Gates’ handshake.
-  During my 5^th grade play, I passed out on stage – I was a worker on the Transcontinental Railroad, and I guess I couldn’t handle the heat.  At least now I can really relate to the plight of the common working man.
-  I was a full-time Catholic missionary for two years.
-  I have a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology and a Bachelor of Journalism in Broadcasting from the University of Nebraska.  Now I am in the School Counseling (MA) program here at Bradley.
-  Soy mexicano.  OK, well actually just ¼ – but it’s still fun. My grandma was from Monterrey, and she was awesome.  My great-grandfather even had dinner with Pancho Villa.
-  I have totaled a Subaru.  Well actually, I like to think an old lady in a Cadillac totaled my Subaru.  And now I have a newfound respect for Cadillacs.
-  You can hear me on the radio in 2 different states.
-  In the past I have had internships in community development, engineering and broadcasting (promotions).  Next year I will be interning at an area grade school and high-school, where I am currently an assistant coach for freshmen basesball.
-  I’m originally from Texas, but I love Nebraska football.  Watch out Big 10!
-  I’m still trying to collect all the SCC highlighter colors.  Why are you so elusive, Blue?
-  Sometimes when I drive the SCC van for job fairs here on campus, I like to honk at people I know.  But sometimes I also honk at people I don’t know.
-  The best part about our SCC Grad Assistant office location (Burgess 123) is watching people get taken out on the Baker quad during Humans vs. Zombies / NERF Commandos.  They never even see it coming.
-  Markin Center Low-light: Running on the track and accidentally tripping on my own shoelaces in front of a crowd of girls.  Note to self: dip the shoulder, tuck and roll.  Always tuck and roll.  And also tie those shoes better.
-  I will be “socially moseying” the Dr. Sam Fan Memorial 5k on April 30^th, and so should you.  The event starts at 8AM at Markin – pick up a registration form at the Markin front desk today.

March Madness!

Ah, March Madness!  You’re killing me.  I correctly picked 0 of the teams that made it to the Final 4.  I’m not mad – I’m just “disappointed.”

Dick Vitale keeps it sporty in his professional attire.

If there’s one thing I am taking away from this tournament, it’s that crazy things happen every year.  No two years are ever the same, and my brackets will never look the same either.  But this got me thinking… I spent hours (ok, minutes) looking at each team, scrutinizing their records and schedules, examining who their players were, and calculating the match-ups.  I carefully tailored my bracket using every detail and piece of information available to me.  I asked for thoughts from friends and people who I respected.  I even took advice from Dick Vitale – and it was awesome, baby.  Everybody had different thoughts.  But when it came down to the buzzer, I had to decide what I wanted to put on that piece of paper.  And there was a lot riding on this.  I crafted it carefully, fully knowing what was at stake.

In a lot of ways, our resumes and cover letters are sort of like our brackets.  They are painstakingly crafted over time, then edited.  We scratch stuff out.  We circle.  We highlight.  We erase and start over.  We go see our career advisors – and then we go see them again.  Maybe we even shed a couple of tears.  We get it just right… and finally, a real working copy of a resume!

But then along comes “the job.”  We really want it.  We get excited, but a little scared too.  What if it doesn’t work out?  What if?  What IF?

That’s where the real bracketology comes in.  We have to pay attention to that job listing in the same way that we study Shaka Smart to figure out what makes VCU so dang good.  If the description says that they want a background in web design, I need to make sure that web design stands out in my cover letter and resume.  And I don’t just tell them I have done it – I tell them who I did it for, what it involved, and what the results were.  I nail it.

Then, when another job opportunity comes along, I do it all over again.  I tailor every resume and cover letter to the exact job description.  I ask friends who interned there what they included in their resumes.  I snoop around on LinkedIn and see what their current employees list for their experience.  I Google the company, and I stalk them on Facebook.

I get the entire package as perfect as I can.  I move stuff around, I change the order of bullets.  I add sections, I eliminate sections.  I print it on resume paper.  I take a deep breath.  And I drop it in the mail.

Anything can happen.  It’s March Madness!

Let the Games Begin!

Well, now that the craziness of our Spring Job & Internship Fairs and the NBC/Olympics internship application process has died down, I just wanted to send out a brief hello!

My name is Josh Hunt, and I am a full-time grad student in the School Counseling program here at Bradley. I am also the grad assistant at the Smith Career Center. As an added bonus, I am currently covering for Kim Dunn as the career advisor for Communications & Fine Arts while she is out on maternity leave with her new son Jacob.

I am hoping that this space will provide a fun way to interact with students and talk about career related issues that students face. Since I still have one foot in the student world and one in the working world, hopefully I’ll be able to discuss some things that seem relevant to you all and respond to any thoughts you have too. See ya soon!

P.S. This will be fun.