How To Get Pumped Before An Interview

Yesterday I had an interview with a company for my dream job, and I have to say I kicked butt! Every question was answered smoothly and I walked out of there feeling like a champ. My only wish is that I had a microphone so I could have done this. . .

It feels good to walk out of a company confident and proud, but how can you feel this good walking in?

Part of it is your prep work. Did you research the company? Have you practiced answering common interview questions? Ones like, what is your greatest strength? Why do you want to work for this company? Etc. These will be in every interview you ever do. However, other questions will be asked that pertain to your industry. Look up questions in your field and go through them. For me, I looked up Event Planning Interview Questions and worked through all of these questions - Event Planning Interview Questions.This helped so much. I could tell my interviewer was actually on this site because she started asking all of these questions, word for word, with a few subtractions. It made me feel confident and my answers formed around that emotion.
Be sure to practice answering these questions out loud and maybe in front of a mirror. Doing this a couple of times will enhance your communication skills and help the interview to flow better, instead of stumbling for an answer.

Now, the day of your interview can be nerve racking. You do not want to lose confidence in yourself and all of the work you put into practicing those questions. While getting your suit on in the morning, here are a couple of things you can do to get pumped.
1. Listen to music. Not slow music. Maybe something like "The Pretender" by Foo-Fighters, or for other ladies out there, "Salute" by Little Mix. You could make an interview prep playlist.
2. Watch inspirational videos. I have a couple of them with encouraging messages. Yesterday, I chose to watch Amy Poehler at Harvard. (If you couldn't tell, I love everyone from Parks and Recreation.)

3. My final piece of advise is to change the way you view an interview. While a company is trying to see if you are a good match for them, you should see if they are compatible with you. These are people you will be working with, so you do not want to be somewhere you hate the culture. Plus,the interview is your first inside look at the company. Do you like how they treat clients? Is the work space organized? Are they acting appropriately? This mentality reverses a little power your way, plus you will start asking better questions. Your interest will be genuine.

In regards to my interview yesterday, it went extremely well. I loved the company and its leader. They have a great atmosphere and are expanding. Unfortunately, I will not know for about two more weeks if I made it to the next stage. I believe I have a good chance of making it. Please keep your fingers crossed for me and I'll be sure to keep you guys up-to-date on my job search!


Comment below if you have concerns about how to answer a question. What are your biggest worries before an interview?
Do you need help with interviewing? I would love to help set up mock interviews with anyone via Skype!  Just send me a message to set up a time!

How to Start Your First Budget

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Do you have no idea how to manage your money after graduation? It is unfortunate but many high school and even college graduates receive little instruction on how to properly budget their income to accommodate for rent, utilities, food, supplies, gas, loans, savings, and other payments. Many learn by trial and error, but when it comes to money and keeping a good credit score, having too many errors might be quite costly. So, what can you do to make sure you minimize and eliminate these errors? I'll try to navigate you through some simple steps you can take so you gain control and visualize your spending and saving habits.

1. Determine Income

Whether you are alone or living with other people, knowing how much income you have coming in is important and great starting point. Obviously, you cannot (or at least should not) exceed this number in spending. This step also assumes you have a job.Whatever that is, either hourly or salary, you should first determine what you make per year. For those of you who are hourly, $20/hr is about $40,000 a year. Calculate your yearly income as specifically as you can, but for the purpose of this demonstration, I will just use $40,000 per year.
$40,000 sounds great right? BUT - you forgot taxes.

What is left over is called disposable income. This is what you actually get to spend. To figure out your disposable income, I say a healthy estimate is to take about a quarter out of the "real income." Real income is the $40,000. So a quarter out of this is $10,000.
The disposable income left is $30,000. This amount may vary depending on your state taxes, if you put money away in a 401k, or other saving options available through your employer. Read through these materials provided by your employer carefully and determine what you truly have left. Often, someone in your HR department will be willing to sit down and talk you through options. #itneverhurtstoask

 

2. Divide Monthly Expenses 

 Take your disposable income and divide by 12. $30,000/12 = $2500. This is what you have each month to spend. This next step is huge. Here we will be determining monthly expenses and creating a visual for you to use each month.

Click to enlarge.

Open a spreadsheet. As I have said before, you have no excuse even if you do not have Microsoft Office. Open Office is free and available online. For each item create two columns - one to write the item and the second for cost. Let's start with rent. If you are living at home you may or may not have rent. If you have an apartment, you know exactly what you are paying per month. My rent is $660. Utilities will vary per month and based on what type of rent you have, but on average for me it should be about $150. We have water included, no charge on garbage or lawn care, but we are charged for electricity and heat. I am living with my long time boyfriend, so food is set at $300. This amount includes times you go out to eat. Be sure to watch your spending here because dining out tends to add up really quickly! Supplies $100. Supplies include things like cleaning products, bathroom supplies, paper toweling, etc. Gas $200. Adjust for your travel needs. However, do your best to try to find alternatives like walking, biking, and public transportation. Loans $200. Car Payments $300. I am currently looking for a car and will soon have these payments as well; however, this section also covers oil changes and other small maintenance. Adjust for your car's needs.

So, you should have a spreadsheet that looks like the example above. (Either keep your spreadsheet on your desktop or print it off. You can either type in items as you buy them or hand write them in. I leave mine on my refrigerator and leave all the month's receipts next to it with a magnet.) The number you have next to the category is the most you can pay per month. As you can see, I filled a couple of things in below some categories. One example is under Utilities. Internet is listed with it's price $48.51. Under Utilities you can also put electricity, laundry, and insurance payments. For Food, Supplies, and Gas write down the date of purchase along with amount. Having the date visual can help show you if you are spending too much too quickly.

I'd like to note that your first month might be a trial run. Be sure you over-estimate rather than under for this period. Adjust afterwards as you will have a better idea on what to expect.

 

3. Save, Save, Save! (But have a little fun)

First, let's do the math.
$2500
- 660 Rent
  150 Utilities
  300 Food
  100 Supplies
  200 Gas
  200 Loans
  300 Car Payments
$590 left over/month

Yeah! You have money left over! But here is where most people, especially Americans, fail. You need to save most of this. In addition to being your savings, also consider it your safety net. If your car has a serious problem, you're going to be really happy when months of savings can cover your costs. However. . . do not forget you need some fun in life. On my spreadsheet, $100 is allowed per month to use as I like - for clothes, carnivals, or for any extra fun event or object.

You might have noticed I have nothing about credit cards. It is because I do not use them. YET. Since I am new to the area, I am waiting to see where the best deals and places would be to use them.
Here are two of the best ways you can use your credit cards, which hopefully you only have two.
1) Use them with places you frequently visit. Certain gas stations have cards that give you a return at the pump if you use their card. Many places give a percentage off every purchase if you use their card, like Target, Kohls, etc. 2) Do not treat your cards like piles of extra cash. If you can't afford it under budget, leave it on the shelf. A credit card should only be used in emergencies and if you have the money to back it up. You can use it to make a purchase and then pay it on the next monthly bill. Doing it this way causes no extra amount added on due to interest, plus it also helps your credit score. Be sure when you are purchasing a credit card that this system stills applies, otherwise you might want to get a different card.

I hope this helps you to grasp your basic budgeting skills and helps to get your finances on track right from the get-go. For additional help, please seek a financial advisor. These people are really great and most of them do want to help you succeed now and in the future.


What do you worry about when it comes to money? Comments welcome!

Finding Your Perfect Motivation For Exercising

Have a hard time staying dedicated to working out? I think most of us do, and I'd like to share with you for a moment how I stay on track. I'm a person in love with lists and spreadsheets, so I use it to my advantage. While today I am going to explain my workout regiment, you have to develop your own strategy, your own motivation and style that will ultimately work best with your personality. Love yoga? Add more of it to your workout schedule. Love running, add a little more distance or increase speed. Hate everything to do with body movement? Create S.M.A.R.T. goals. (I'll explain this in a bit.) You have probably heard this fitness quote before - "Be stronger than your strongest excuse."

First, I'll go through what I've used in the past. These did not quite fit my style so I moved on, but these might work for you.
1. Keep a notebook. Seriously. This is a good one. Mark everything from what you ate, drank, and what types of exercising you did that day. Tracking your food intake will shock you, especially if you do it with an additional calorie record. Just how much food you eat is amazing. Unconscious eating is real. Ever wander into the kitchen just because and leave with a few cookies? This habit can be stopped by tracking yourself. Keep the notebook near or in the kitchen, so when you eat you have to write it down. I also liked this way for recording exercising, because it does not limit you to one routine over and over. You pick if you want to go for a walk, or just do abs and arms. One rule for exercising you can do is do something everyday, but feel free to change this rule as it works best for you! My rules for the notebook were 1) the exercises had to total up to an hour of time and 2) it had to fill one line of a small hand-held notebook.

2. Create a workout calendar. This one is for those of you who are competitive and possibly have roommates or friends who would like to join your fit endeavor. I did this with a couple of roommates in college. We put up a giant calendar on the wall and put an X on a day we did at least thirty minutes of exercising. If you did not do this at least three days a week, you had to do four the next. This holds you accountable and taps into those personalities who thrive on competition. It also helps to keep those in your household in the same mind-set as you. So people are not making cookies and brownies every day, although we did bake them before finals week.

3. Create S.M.A.R.T. goals. I still do this from time to time when I need a little motivational boost. I learned this acronym in a college fitness course. It stands for Specific, Measurable, Attainable, Realistic, and Time. I combine this set-up with an award. It might look something like this - If I do twenty pushups once a day for two weeks, I get to buy a pair of earrings. This is very specific, able to be measured, attainable and realistic for my body, and has a time limit. When making these goals, do not make the rewards food. Make it something physical like clothes, a spa day, or a new nail polish. Make the rewards in portion to the exercise achievement you accomplish. So do not give yourself a shopping spree just because you did ten push-ups in two days. You should WORK for it. It will make that reward so much more ... rewarding.

So what do I do now? I use a spreadsheet. I used Open Office, so if you do not have Microsoft Word you have no excuses! Open Office is free. I have done this one for years. Writing a check mark in a box feels so gratifying to me. Feel free to copy this workout schedule, but I want to push you to make one for yourself. Like I said before, if you love yoga, put yoga in this. I love this way of tracking because I still get some freedom to choose what I want to do, but I make sure I am still targeting multiple areas of my body. No skipping leg day! You can mix the schedule up by trying YouTube videos or follow a free workout group on Facebook. In addition, use social media to keep your mind in check for your overall goal through Pinterest, Twitter, or any other platform.
So, here is what the left words mean. Little Exer. = Little Exercises. Not surprising. For me this encompasses 20 push-ups, 50 sit-ups, 50 side crunches (each side), 50 Russian twists, 30 second planks each on left and right side, and one 45 second front plank. You can certainly change this.
Anything with a number in front of it, tells you how many times a week this area should be done. So 4 Arms means I need to do arm exercises four times a week. If a category does not have a number in front of it, it should be done daily like Abs, Stretches, and Butt/Squats. I do twenty squats a day unless I do a butt specific workout. 2 Thighs means I focus on the thigh area two times a week. 3 Cardio is three cardio exercises a week and could be running, biking, elliptical, etc.1 Extra means I have to do one new/different workout a week. This could be yoga, swimming, or anything you do not normally have in your routine. I have Eating and Water on there to keep a constant reminder of what I put into my body.

What if you miss a day? Well, I consider it a rest day as long as it is only once or twice a week and then I try to make it up the next workout day. Let rest days happen naturally. A friend might ask to spend a weekend out at a carnival or you make plans with family.

What do you do to stay in shape? Have any unique ways of tracking yourself? Comment below! I'd love to hear them.

(I am not a professional fitness guru or anything health related. Please check with your doctor before starting a new routine and to be sure you are fit enough before engaging in physical activities. I am just an individual sharing my different ways in which you can try to monitor your exercise routines. We have to encourage one another!)

Graduated and Moving On

I graduated.

Let me say that again.

Graduated.

I am a college graduate from the University of Wisconsin - Eau Claire. I am a Creative Writing major with an Economic minor. I moved into a new area and have an almost empty apartment. (I'm still waiting for furniture to be delivered.) And I am currently unemployed.

The tale rings familiar for many college graduates at this time. Some, like my boyfriend, landed jobs before graduation and have started the next chapter of their lives - comfortable and excited to hold a good paycheck in their hands. I see others like me are doing one of three things. 1) Many of my colleagues deliberately took time off. They are traveling, enjoying family, or partying through what may be the last summer of freedom. 2) Others are doing one thing - Applications. More applications. Waiting for the phone. Applications. Applications. Or 3) Waiting for graduate school.

I fit under number 2 and I know many of you do too. The thought of not working with student debt so close behind is terrifying. For those who do not know, Financial Aid provides loans and have grace periods after graduation. Thank God! While some graduates may say, "Oh we have several months to find a job! Why stress," I think the young economist in me hates this situation. For the past couple weeks, I searched and have applied to many job opportunities. I want to clear my debt as fast as possible. I want to help my family and start my own. I want to enjoy some new pleasures, like affording grapes, going to a concert, some weekend traveling, NEW CLOTHES, and just letting myself be a little more pampered. I am a first generation, low income student. I am the first of my siblings to graduate college. I have more "firsts" to make. With this mentality, I fought to keep myself as independent from my parents as possible during the past four years and part of high school. This involved discipline, part time work, and budgeting. I have not given myself many luxuries. Ask my friends. Most of my clothes are from high school. I just replaced my winter jacket of about ten years because the zipper exploded. I have little make-up and most of it was gifts. I still want to fight and make a living for myself. I want to make my parents proud and not let my friends worry. The thought of having a job, a real job, makes the hard work feel so validating... now I just have to get that job.


The search, edits of resume and cover letters, and the emails do not bother me, but I am starting to suffer. While I know I am okay and these emotions are normal, I am scared. And the waiting is the worst part of the whole process. Apply, wait, follow up email, wait, get told they are still reviewing, wait. The wait will drive you crazy. It makes you feel powerless, because you are. You have no say at this point and are at the mercy of an HR department. College graduates of 2014 do not give up. We are the future and we will make it. All good things come in time. It is almost our time.


Are you suffering from graduate blues? I stay busy with exercising, reading, budgeting, and of course writing. Writing is a great therapeutic action for many people, myself included. Comment below if you are worried and what tactics you are doing/might do to help with the wait.


P.S. Sorry for the wait on a post! Obviously, this was a busy time for me and I had about two weeks without any internet access. More posts will be published soon!