Blogging is a new and exciting way of writing for me. I’ve always heard about how fun and easy it is to blog, but I never actually tried it until now. I’ve read hundreds of business blogs from people of different backgrounds, but I never thought that one day I would be on the other side with them. Although I have just recently started my blog and in the process of finding my specific niche, I have some few general ideas and rules that I will try to follow.
If you look at my two postings, the topics and the way that I write in the blogs are very different from each other. This is because I am still trying to find my audience and convey to them the information that I know. In the first posting, I write about the current market conditions and an overview of what happened in that past week. I write some of my opinions, but mostly it is a basic summary of market events. This will works well with people that will only look at my blog for business news, but most of the time they can find the same information in more detail on Yahoo Finance. In the second blog I wrote more to a college audience, which is what I am. I was thinking that I can answer some of the concerns that some of my friends and I have about business, more specifically, finding a job. This works better for me because it is a niche that I understand and can write about. I plan to think of more topics that college students might be interested in or have questions on and blog about it. I have had previous internship experiences at an investment bank and I am also part of a professional business fraternity. With these two backgrounds, I hope to share the necessary information to have a successful blog. However, there are a few rules that I will follow to keep my blog consistent and professional.
1. Business Related- All the postings that I will write will be business related. However, since business is such a broad word, I have decided that I will write about business topics that are aimed towards college students. This will include important news that I think will affect college students in the present/future, tips on business after graduation, how to present yourself in a professional environment, etc.
2. Support the Information- In my blogs I sometimes make references to certain news. For example, I wrote that Pepsi and EBay cut workers. I plan to back that specific news with links so that it is professional and accurate.
3. Writing Style – Since I am writing to a college audience, I want to keep my writing personal yet professional at the same time. For example, instead of saying “hedge funds may be the source of our economic crisis because they use short selling, derivatives, leverages, and underliers.” I would say that “hedge funds may be the source of our economic troubles because of risky investments. Then I would link “hedge fund” to a webpage. This keeps things concise but informative at the same time.
4. Teaching or Opinion- The post must give something to the audience. Meaning, the post will not be a summary of a different article. It will have either my opinion in it or information that I am sharing.
5. Update- The post must be updated frequently. This is because business decisions and news takes place everyday. Therefore, it is necessary for me to either write about that issue or write about something that relates to it.
Friday, October 31, 2008
Sunday, October 26, 2008
Job Hunting
One question that every college graduate has on their mind is how they are going to find a job after graduation. With this economy, college graduates are now questioning if it is even possible to find one. Corporations are cutting thousands of jobs each quarter to strengthen their balance sheet. Moreover, small businesses are hiring fewer people because they do not have the capital or the credit needed to keep the extra worker. The economic crisis is affecting every industry in our economy. Low sales and tighter credit means that companies essentially have to let people go because they’re just not making enough revenue to support a large number of employees. EBay and Pepsi recently laid off thousands of workers because of low profits and lack of sales. Merrill Lynch is expected to lay off thousands of workers because of their recent merger with Bank of America. In addition, Chrysler announced that it will cut 5,000 salaried jobs and lay off 1,825 other workers because of low sales and tighter credit.
So the question now is, with these economic conditions, how are college graduates going to find a job?
Although it is going to be difficult, there are a few things that may help you find the job of your dream. For example, the University of California, Irvine, recently had their yearly "Fall Career Fair" where over a hundred different companies come onto campus to recruit prospective graduates. This is a great program and opportunity to meet recruiters and find out more information on what they are looking for. Moreover, it gives one a chance to connect with the recruiter and personally hand them their resume. Recruiters are there to seek potential workers, so making a good impression with them is a key to receiving a further interview. Here are a few things that you can look out for when meeting and talking to a recruiter:
1. Appearance- When you attend any kind of company recruiting event, you should always dress professionally and look clean. This means fixing your hair, shaving, etc. For men, they should have on a black/dark grey suit, white dress shirt, and a dark conservative tie. Women should have on a two piece suit, conservative blouse, dark shoes, and conservative jewelry.
2. Resume- The resume is a very important part of telling the recruiter who you are. Therefore, you should have a clean resume that is free of grammatical errors and formatted neatly. One thing that you should do is have someone proofread your resume. Moreover, you should use a lot of action words to describe your previous job functions/activities. For example, instead of saying, “I worked with my group member to create a marketing plan.” You can say, “Collaborated with a five member team to formulate a 15 page marketing plan for numerous corporate clients”
3. Greeting- When approaching a recruiter, always smile at them and give them a firm hand shake. Introduce yourself briefly and proceed with your questions. Try to make the conversation you have with the recruiter a two way conversation. At the end of your conversation hand them your resume, thank them for their time, and ask for their business card.
4. Business Card- After asking for their business card and thanking them for their time, write down 2- 3 things from your conversation on the back of their card. This is so that you can email them back after the event and mention the things that you talked about with the recruiter. It makes things a little more personal and makes you stand out above the others.
These are only a few things to remember when you have the opportunity to meet with different recruiters. Just remember these few advices and with hard work and determination, finding a job should be less stressful as you may think.
So the question now is, with these economic conditions, how are college graduates going to find a job?
Although it is going to be difficult, there are a few things that may help you find the job of your dream. For example, the University of California, Irvine, recently had their yearly "Fall Career Fair" where over a hundred different companies come onto campus to recruit prospective graduates. This is a great program and opportunity to meet recruiters and find out more information on what they are looking for. Moreover, it gives one a chance to connect with the recruiter and personally hand them their resume. Recruiters are there to seek potential workers, so making a good impression with them is a key to receiving a further interview. Here are a few things that you can look out for when meeting and talking to a recruiter:
1. Appearance- When you attend any kind of company recruiting event, you should always dress professionally and look clean. This means fixing your hair, shaving, etc. For men, they should have on a black/dark grey suit, white dress shirt, and a dark conservative tie. Women should have on a two piece suit, conservative blouse, dark shoes, and conservative jewelry.
2. Resume- The resume is a very important part of telling the recruiter who you are. Therefore, you should have a clean resume that is free of grammatical errors and formatted neatly. One thing that you should do is have someone proofread your resume. Moreover, you should use a lot of action words to describe your previous job functions/activities. For example, instead of saying, “I worked with my group member to create a marketing plan.” You can say, “Collaborated with a five member team to formulate a 15 page marketing plan for numerous corporate clients”
3. Greeting- When approaching a recruiter, always smile at them and give them a firm hand shake. Introduce yourself briefly and proceed with your questions. Try to make the conversation you have with the recruiter a two way conversation. At the end of your conversation hand them your resume, thank them for their time, and ask for their business card.
4. Business Card- After asking for their business card and thanking them for their time, write down 2- 3 things from your conversation on the back of their card. This is so that you can email them back after the event and mention the things that you talked about with the recruiter. It makes things a little more personal and makes you stand out above the others.
These are only a few things to remember when you have the opportunity to meet with different recruiters. Just remember these few advices and with hard work and determination, finding a job should be less stressful as you may think.
Thursday, October 16, 2008
Are We Safe Now?
On October 13, 2008, the Dow Jones rose a record breaking 936 points in one day, its biggest rally since 1933 and breaking the previous record rally of 499 during the days of the technology boom. This all happened because the government revealed its plan to inject 250 billion dollars into the U.S. banking systems. This plan is suppose to give banks confidence to continue their vital business of lending. However, what does this all mean to the ordinary working person? Are we safe?
The answer is no. We are not safe at all. The market went down 77 points the day after the record breaking rally, followed by another 400 point drop the next day. This means that investors were taking some of the profits to strengthen their books and it also shows that investors do not have confidence in the American economy. Although the government is taking steps to try to restore confidence in the economy, it is still not enough. 250 billion dollars cannot offset the 2.4 trillion dollars that has been lost in the past few weeks. Henry Paulson said that “this will take time and there will be challenges” in the upcoming years and he’s right. The problem with the economy goes beyond that of the banking system. It has become a problem with consumer confidence. This is something that even the best governments in the world cannot directly fix. Unfreezing credit lines is a must to give people the opportunity to borrow money; however, everyone is scared to make a move right now. With their home value dropping, people feel like they are losing their most important and most profitable part of their lives. They stop spending money else where and the whole economy begins to shut down.
Pepsi recently announced their disappointing third quarter earnings and have decided to cut 3,300 jobs. EBay also announced that they would cut 10% of their workforce a few weeks ago. These job cuts show the enormity of this crisis. Unemployment is at an all time high while everything around us is getting more expensive. If the government thinks that spending 700 billion dollars is all we need to get us out of this crisis they need to rethink their plan. There are still homes, office buildings, land and other soured assets that are in tremendous trouble. Moreover, the recent housing boom has created an over supply of homes that will take years to fix. These assets will continue to hurt the economy unless we restore confidence in the consumers and adjust these home values. There will always be ups and downs in the economy, but its how we deal with the problems when its down that shows how strong the economy really is. The United States has taken steps to solve these on going problems, but unless they solve the housing and sub-prime mortgage problem, we will not be safe.
The answer is no. We are not safe at all. The market went down 77 points the day after the record breaking rally, followed by another 400 point drop the next day. This means that investors were taking some of the profits to strengthen their books and it also shows that investors do not have confidence in the American economy. Although the government is taking steps to try to restore confidence in the economy, it is still not enough. 250 billion dollars cannot offset the 2.4 trillion dollars that has been lost in the past few weeks. Henry Paulson said that “this will take time and there will be challenges” in the upcoming years and he’s right. The problem with the economy goes beyond that of the banking system. It has become a problem with consumer confidence. This is something that even the best governments in the world cannot directly fix. Unfreezing credit lines is a must to give people the opportunity to borrow money; however, everyone is scared to make a move right now. With their home value dropping, people feel like they are losing their most important and most profitable part of their lives. They stop spending money else where and the whole economy begins to shut down.
Pepsi recently announced their disappointing third quarter earnings and have decided to cut 3,300 jobs. EBay also announced that they would cut 10% of their workforce a few weeks ago. These job cuts show the enormity of this crisis. Unemployment is at an all time high while everything around us is getting more expensive. If the government thinks that spending 700 billion dollars is all we need to get us out of this crisis they need to rethink their plan. There are still homes, office buildings, land and other soured assets that are in tremendous trouble. Moreover, the recent housing boom has created an over supply of homes that will take years to fix. These assets will continue to hurt the economy unless we restore confidence in the consumers and adjust these home values. There will always be ups and downs in the economy, but its how we deal with the problems when its down that shows how strong the economy really is. The United States has taken steps to solve these on going problems, but unless they solve the housing and sub-prime mortgage problem, we will not be safe.
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