Wednesday, December 14, 2011

A "Real" Grad School Ad

I'm not saying that graduate school isn't the right step for some people (hey, I did it myself), but this video is not only hilarious, but in many ways sort of true. Also, it it wrong that this video made me miss both college and grad school.

Check out the video/social commentary on graduate school from the folks at College Humor.

Monday, December 5, 2011

The Thank You Note Question

To e-mail or not to e-mail, that is the question. The “thank you note” question to be exact. In an age of “every little bit counts,” I’m increasingly seeing students stressed over the appropriate format for a thank you note. So these students have come into our office to ask the career guru her advice, but unfortunately, there’s not straight answer to this question. That being said, I do have my own thoughts on the subject.

Send personalized, conversation-specific thank-you note via e-mail within 24 hours of the interview to ALL persons you interviewed with. This ensures that your note will be received before any immediate decision-making discussions take place. If this is all you do, you’re fine. Really, you are.

If you really want to go the extra mile, you may also drop hand-written thank you note in the mail ASAP. This is in addition to, rather than instead of the e-mail described above (see reasoning above). While most employers tell us that a thank you note sent via e-mail is fine, or that thank you notes don’t matter at all (WRITE THEM ANYWAYS!), some employers maintain that a hand-written note does set one very strong candidate apart from other very strong candidates.