Monthly Archives: July 2011

Breakfast = I’m Sorry You Have To Live With Me

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I will fully admit I am not the easiest person to live with. I’m bad with saying things like “I hate when you…” or “I’m sorry” or “Goodbye” or “I love you” or “No, we really should pay that bill.” I also tend to get side tracked.

Like yesterday, I almost burnt the apartment down. I was watching the news when I decided I wanted tea..normal right? Well aparrently our tea kettle doesn’t whistle, so I forgot about it. Then took a shower (usually lasting about 30 minutes). It wasn’t until I was half way out of the door when I noticed a horrible burnning smell…

You should've seen it before I scrubbed the inside

I burnt the tea kettle. I didn’t even know that was possible. So instead of dealing with it right then I turned the stove off, put it on another burner and left everything out including my cup ready for tea and the entire living room in shambles, because one room full of my clothes just isn’t enough apparently.

I at least gave Kate warning before we got home.  She wasn’t too enthused.

So instead of saying sorry I made breakfast the next morning.

And brought her coffee in bed. Because if burning the house down once wasn’t enough I wanted to try it again.

It started off as a nice idea, and it was fun cooking. But I kept getting side tracked with taking pictures.

And cleaning off my mother’s plates. So a few, okay almost all, of the pancakes were burnt.

but Kate didn’t care.

She smothered them in syrup and ate them anyway. Because she knows me, and realized that this was my very big thank you for moving to an unsafe neighborhood and over paying for an apartment that is falling down. And for putting up with me.

We finished almost all of them. She got a little camera shy, and asked why I was taking so many pictures.

I told her that, I’m trying to get better at taking them because so many bloggers use their own pictures. I figure that if I can take enough crappy ones there will be at least one good one in the bunch.

Not so much today. But I’m still learning.

And Kate’s still learning ways to keep me away from the stove.

How To: Effectively Use Professional (social) Networks

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Joining the website, i.e. Twitter, Google + and LinkedIn etc.. isn’t the hard part. The hard part is figuring out what to do once you’re on it.

I am not ashamed to say it’s taken me a little over two years to grasp Twitter, LinkedIn still being a work in progress. It’s a little terrifying to put yourself out on the Internet, especially on a platform where future employers are watching. 

It used to take me hours to construct the perfect tweet, that I would then not send because I was too afraid that something would be wrong or someone might not understand the joke I had attempted to make. It was endless, I was a year in and had only sent 100 tweets.

After awhile, and some pushing from professors I started caring less about how frequently I was putting out content, and more about the quality of the content.

One of the most important things to find is your niche. What do you like to do? What are you good at? I just realized mine is Dating/Career (topic wise). It may seem like these two don’t go together, but they have more in common then you would think.

The next stop is to start connecting with people who are bigwigs in your area(s) of expertise (or at least the areas you want to be a leader in). You can do this by googling who is influential. For me it would be googling top 100 influential career blogs, and then finding the founders on LinkedIn and BeKnown.

Once you find the people you want to connect with it is important to send a personal message about why you would like to network with them. Keep it short and sweet: ” Hi, my name is Courtney and I’m interested in learning about career coaching. I would love to chat about how you got into the business if you have any free time.”  Short and to the point, a lot of professionals aren’t going to have time to read some long-winded message about how much you idolize them. And please don’t feel offended if you don’t get a response back, just move on to the next one.

The point of networks like BeKnown, Twitter, LinkedIn and Google + is to magnify ones ability to network. So instead of sticking with your inner circle, why not take a leap out of it and find people who will help you get ahead? Just a suggestion.

Finding a job is like..

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So to say I’ve been on a few first dates this past year is a major understatement. I think I have now logged almost 20 first dates since September..clearly I’m doing something right.  I decided back in September that I was going to start searching for Mr. Right..we all know how impossible it is to find him. Like finding your dream job it takes years of interviews, long hours and finding people who support you.

So far, the net I’ve cast out into the world-wide web has come back pretty empty. Between trying to update my blog more consistently than Whitney takes hits of crack and finding something that pays my bills, I don’t always have the time to thoroughly interview potential prospects. So some may slip through the online interview process and wind up in a coffee shop sitting across from me.

Sometimes this is a good thing, because it forces me to date outside my comfort zone (6′+, brown hair, blue eyes, social media nut, and hockey player). Other times I wind up sitting across from someone who is 5’4″ (though they claimed to be 5’7″) who regales me with stories of how his dog ate a skunk then pooped it out whole.

Needless to say my job hunt has been going about the same, just with less poop stories.

The whole job hunting process is similar to the dating world, don’t believe me? Well maybe you haven’t been out of work recently, or single for that matter. It usually starts online, searching through countless ads, writing cover letters until you get carpal tunnel, attempting to be witty yet still professional, and maybe even flirt a bit if it’s a guy (it’s not like you’re sending a picture of you in a low-cut shirt ..okay that was one time but it was for a specific job..maybe twice).

So you send out at least 5 cover letters every time you log onto a professional networking site, or job search site. Maybe, depending on what a hot commodity you are, you get 1 email back for every 5 you send out. (this is the only difference with online dating vs online job hunting..if you’re a girl you’re more like the employer.)  Then finally, one day, after countless emails back and forth you get the coveted initial interview. You dress in your sunday best, wear your glasses so you look smarter and bring an ample supply of writing samples and resumes.

You charm the hell out of them, making them laugh, making sure to laugh at their jokes, finding common ground, hoping that they ask you to come in for a second interview.

You wait, three days pass so you stop planning your future together and start eating the pint of Ben and Jerry’s sitting in your freezer.

But no matter how many more episodes of The Bachelorette and Apprentice you watch you try not to give up hope. And 5 hours later you’re back at it again, still searching for the right fit where everything will align and not only will you get that second interview, you’ll go all the way to home base.

The Place Where Bugs Go To Die

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This past weekend (or two weekends ago, I’m already losing track of time.) My roommate from college and I moved into a big fancyish apartment…with, you know, water damaged ceilings, lead paint, and upstairs neighbors that run around at 3 in the morning.

But it’s okay because we have hardwood floors (one of my few requirements) an office space, and our kitchen is simply kind of decent.

One of our first mornings here (before we had the Internet, so clearly I couldn’t work) we sat on our pre-owned salvation army couch for 3 hours watching Sex and the City…it was then that I realized two things, we need to get out more and being on our own is an amazing judgement free zone.

But, like any place it has it’s down falls: The drive by’s, gang throw downs and drug deals to name a few.

I’m only kidding, there aren’t any gang throw downs.

My Favorite Cover Letter

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To my favorite Bros at Brobible:

I realize that for this position you are probably looking for someone who has a dick. Well good news for both of us, I have one..just kidding, I’m a woman.  But, that shouldn’t matter because I know online writing, I’ve written for your demographic (kind of) and understand/have a knack for finding future viral gems, I’ve even scoped you guys once or twice.

I’m creative,  know how to write about the partying style that gets the bros to comment and seem to always be bringing in hits to the site I currently write for.  And although I probably would never wear the traditional “bro” uniform to work, I can definitely hold my own in an office full of people rocking it.

Over the last year, I worked as Editor-in-chief for my university’s blog . Our topics were not similar to yours (at all) but I learned quickly how to edit posts to reflect the style of a site, as well as weeding out topics that would or wouldn’t work. All of which gave me the experience of editing posts quickly while not making mistakes within them, along with editing photos,  and becoming a bad ass at SEO techniques.

Look, I share the same interests as any Bro (well for the most part) and writing about interesting topics (i.e. sports, music, partying, college life, sex, travel, and entertainment.)  would be any one’s dream job. I may not have the same experience as another Bro, but I can guarantee you I have more talent and will be an asset to Brobible.com. Let me prove it to you, give me a shot and I promise you will not be disappointed by the results. Until then, thank you for your consideration.

Sincerely,

Courtney Cormier

 

Note: Even though I am a girl who enjoys Sex in the City I am NOT looking to become a sex/dating or fashion advice columnists. I’m looking to become an editor of an online magazine.