The hospitality shown by the Yonsei staff has truly made this a great experience.  I enjoy doing many different types of things in the summer and this is one of those experiences that I may do again in the future. 

 The scheduling of classes during the summer allowed me time to interact with the students and experience the culture and beauty of Korea.   I enjoyed the interaction with the students both during class and in meetings with students outside of the classroom.  Not all of my students were business majors, so I found it interesting working with students in the sciences or engineering.  Many of the students in my class were also interested in masters programs, so I was able to answer some of their questions in considering their future goals.  I encouraged several of them to gain a few years of work experience before applying to a program, so they could attend a better Master’s programs.  Most MBA programs require at least 2 years of work experience.  The better the program, the better the job opportunities.  If you ever researched MBA programs, the salary differentials for graduates of top quality programs and lower level programs are huge. 

The weekends allowed me the opportunity to travel and experience many of the great palaces, temples, and mountains of Korea. It is a great country. These are the main items that I wrote about in my earlier blogs.  I would have never considered Korea as a travel destination before hosting a foreign exchange student from Korea, but having experienced the wonders of Korea, I would enjoy returning again. The kindness shown by our exchange student’s family made for a great trip and many connections.

Bukhansan National Park

Bukhansan National Park is just to the North of Seoul.  It is one of the areas, we almost did not go to.  As I always find at home, the closer an area is to your house, the less likely you are to go to it.  Over our time in Korea, we visited the port city of Busan to the South, Seoraksan National Park to the Northeast, and the beaches to the west.  This weekend, we decided to stay in Seoul and see the wonders of Bukhansan.  We had heard it was beautiful, but this trip became a highlight of our trip to Korea. 

Bukhansan is known for Bukhansan Peak and for Dondosan peeks.  We choose the tallest peak at about 873 meters.  My children set a fast pace, determined to get to the top before the sun set.  The weather was perfect  The day before it had rained, so today was humid but a bit cooler.  The climb up to the peek was one of the more strenuous climbs that I have been on.  At times the huge rocks of the cliff jutted out of the ground at very steep angels, but the cables along the trail, gave us something to pull ourselves up with.  At times, I wondered how some of the climbers were able to stay on the rock without the use of the cable. 

Once at the top, the beauty below was amazing!  To the South is the city of Seoul.  We made it to the top just prior to sunset, so the sun was far enough down in the sky that it seemed to shimmer off of the buildings below.  To the North was the beauty of many other cliffs.  There are many areas to hike in at the park and the trails are full of people.  We also watched others rock climb using ropes and pulleys.  It is a great location.

Bukhansan National Park is in the Guiness Book of World Records for having the highest number of visitors per square foot, over 5 million people visit Bukhansan each year.  It is well worth the trip.

Unfortunately, I did not get many pictures from the top, as I forgot to recharge my camera battery before leaving.  But here are a couple of pictures that you might enjoy.

http://bus.iupui.edu/carow/pictures/Bukhan1.jpg
http://bus.iupui.edu/carow/pictures/Bukhan2.jpg
http://asiaenglish.visitkorea.or.kr/ena/SI/SI_EN_3_1_1_1.jsp?cid=312935

If you have teenage children, you couldn’t imagine visiting another country without visiting their amusement and water parks.  In the Seoul are the amusement parks include Lotte World and Everland and the water park is Caribbean Bay.

Lotte World is a large indoor amusement park with some rides that are also located outside.  We visited Lotte World on a rainy day, so we spent most of the time indoors.  Fortunately, late in the evening, the weather cleared and we had enough time to go on almost all the rides that were outside.  It was a good time and worth the visit.  The rides were not huge, but we did enjoy the trip.
http://www.lotteworld.com/Global_eng/01_Adventure/AA001.asp?mn=Mn101

Everland is a bit harder to get to, but worth the trip.  It is South of Seoul and one must take a bus to get to the area, since no metro connects to this park.  We enjoyed several large roller coaters, include a wooden roller coaster that has the steepest ride for a wooden roller coaster in the world (77 degrees).   The coaster opened up just a few months earlier, so the line was a bit long (about 80 minutes), but well worth the weight.  They also had a coaster that had two upside down loops and several twists that took you upside down.    The rock and roll rides in the park were set to shake you about like I have never been shaken before.  The unexpected nature and direction of the ride made it a great deal of fun.  I posted a few pictures below of some of the rides.
Wooden Roller Coaster Ride as shown on YouTube http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=AKHgOggts_M
If you like to be shook around, take a ride on a guitar, http://kr.youtube.com/watch?v=pGCpZWGU8IU

The water park, Caribbean Bay was a disappointment.  It was overpriced, oversold, underwaved, and a basic waste of time.  The lines for any of the rides were over 2 hours.  The wave pool was so crowded that they really could not get the waves going well.  We were glad to be back home after a long day of being on our feet.
  

Seoraksan National Park is located to the Northeast corner of South Korea.  It is known for its natural beauty and, of course, hiking trails.  This weekend we choose to brave the traffic and I rented a car.  Driving in Seoul is no fun.  Not only is it more congested than any city I have been in, but figuring out the streets and the signs in another language adds to the complexity.  A navigational unit that gave directions in English was a definite plus, but I was very glad once we got out of the traffic and into the country.  To get to Seoraksan, you either take bus or rent a car, there is no train going to this part of the country, which is why fewer foreign tourists visit this area.  But if you enjoy hiking, it is a must-see in Korea. Driving across the countryside was great, but if I did this trip again, I would probably take the bus and leave the driving and traffic to someone else.  Buses are also able to get to places faster since some of the highways have dedicated bus lanes.  Both on the way into and out of Seoul the stop-and-go traffic added about 2 hours to our trip.

Unfortunately, it rained all day Friday and Saturday while we were there.  Hoping the rain would clear up, we visited the town of Sokcho, walked around the beach, up to a lighthouse, and drove around the town.     

On Saturday, we decided that rain or not, we were hiking the mountains of Seoraksan.  The rain was a steady rain, without much wind.  It actually had some advantages to it.  The weather over the last couple of weeks had been near 90 F, and the humidity was also very high, making all our hikes very hot adventures.  With the rain, it was actually comfortable hiking.  No more sweating on the walks up the mountain, unless if the kids turned it into a run up the mountain, which we did on some sections of the trail.  Usually the steeper parts where my wife did not join the kids and I. 

The first hike was to a waterfall.  The rain also had some advantages here.  Unlike park in Seoul where we went to see a waterfall and found it had no water, there was plenty of water running through the park on this day.  The waterfalls were beautiful with the extra water.  We did about a 3 hour hike in the morning and a 2 hour hike in the afternoon.  If you don’t enjoy walking up the mountains, they also had a cable car for one of the mountains in Seoraksan.
http://bus.iupui.edu/carow/pictures/Seorak1.jpg

On Sunday, we had a break in the rain, so we quickly got on the trails to see a few more sites.  Our hotel was located in the park, so we did not have far to go to start our journey.  Just behind the hotel was a large Buddha, about 30 meters high.  While there are many Buddhist temples throughout Korea, it was also interesting seeing all the Christian churches.  Estimates suggest that about 40 percent of the population is Christian.
http://bus.iupui.edu/carow/pictures/Seorak2.jpg

Next we traveled up a steep trail to get to the peak of a mountain.  At the peak, a Buddhist monk had made a temple.  Many of the Buddhist shrines are near or high up in the mountains.  I sometimes wondered on our trip if this cultural history gave rise to the great interest in hiking in Korea.  I suspect that if I did a bit more studying on this, I could find a link.  The first picture is the Buddhist temple at the top of the mountain.  I wonder how the monk originally got to this cave.  He must have been a great rock climber.  For us to get there, they connected a set of stairs to the side of the mountain.  You could look over the edge of the stairs and see down 100s of feet.  See the picture of us walking down. 
http://bus.iupui.edu/carow/pictures/Seorak3.jpg
http://bus.iupui.edu/carow/pictures/Seorak4.jpg

We also visited Siheungsa temple.  This is a Zen temple  built around 652 A.D.  Some suggest this is the oldest Zen temple in the world writes Dr. John Carter Covell.  It actually predates many of the temples in China and Japan by several centuries.  
http://bus.iupui.edu/carow/pictures/Seorak5.jpg

It is always interesting seeing Korean hiking.  Many Koreans carry a great deal of hiking equipment, backpack and hiking sticks.  You can tell how serious they are about hiking.  As we hiked more in Korea, we lighted our pack each time, till near the end of our trip we left the backpack behind.  Every hiking trail we have been on there are vendors selling a variety of food, water, soda, juices, Gatorade, and ice cream.  Instead of carrying as much stuff, we started to rely on finding supplies as we walked up the mountains.  For me, it made it much more enjoyable not to carry the extra load.  A common tradition seems to be hiking to a location and having a great meal also.  Many of the trails had places to get great Korean meals on the trail.  Every once in a while, you would see a man carrying two large propane tanks up the mountain so that the restaurants in the mountain could cook the food for their guests.  I loved the hiking in Korea.  Always great trails and great food.

We traveled to the port city of Busan on the Southern par t of Korea.  From Seoul to Busan took only about 2.5 hours on the KTX rail.  The KTX will travel at speeds of up to 300 km/h (about 180 mph).  It is a great way to get around the country in a fast smooth ride.

We first went to Haeundae Beach, which is the most popular beach in Korea.  The waves were great and the water wasn’t too cold.  We had a great time jumping around the waves. 
http://bus.iupui.edu/carow/pictures/Busan1.jpg

The following day we took a bus to Taujongdae Park.  It is on a peninsula that juts out into the ocean.  We did some extensive walking along the coastline and then visited a lighthouse at the end of the peninsula. 
http://bus.iupui.edu/carow/pictures/Busan2.jpg
http://bus.iupui.edu/carow/pictures/Busan3.jpg

 

This internship have been quite invaluable to me, not only gaining a real experience as an auditor, but also giving me the opportunities that I could apply a lot of bits and dots that I've learned in class to the real job.  I remember someone said something like this; Education that we gain at school is not necessarily helpful in a real life situation.  But it has certainly been "a lot" of help to me with this internship.  Let me tell you one example I just had today:

I was working on the audit steps related to the "other expenses" cycle.  I needed to perform an analysis for the two pension accounts; SERP Pension and Pension Expenses (Defined Benefit Plan).  There were work papers provided by the Company showing the actual pension fund amounts and the Company's general ledger prints.  When I first looked at these work papers, I immediately recalled the worksheets we've used so many times in A511; Defined Benefit Plan worksheet - showing the general journal entries and the memo indicating the actual fund status.  I cannot forget how much work I've done for the pension expense calculation; it was a complicated concept for me to understand at that time.  But because I've worked hard in class, it was somewhat easy for me to understand the overall process that the Company did for its pension fund recording, and I could complete the steps without confusion.  I do remember that Prof. Hassell said that we may even never encounter the company which uses Defined Benefit Plan - because nowadays the most of the companies are leaning toward Defined Contribution Plan - , and here I did see one real life example!

This is just a small example that I had with my internship.  But there have been many, many small situations where I could actually apply the concepts I've learned in class (especially the concepts from the intermediate accounting).  Honestly speaking, the intermediate accounting classes were such a pain for me to get through, although, it has been a joy for me to reinforcing what I've leaned through a real life situation.  I guess this "is" the value of education!

Accounting and Accounting/Finance students need to be ready earlier than most other students, as the vast majority of recruiting activity for accounting positions takes place during the first part of the Fall semester.  The Accounting Fall Recruiting season officially starts on Sept. 10th with the Accounting “Meet the Recruiter” event, which will be held in the new Campus Center from 4-6pm.   All Accounting students who graduate in December 2008, May 2009 or August 2009 should plan on attending this event and participating in the Fall recruiting season.  Any student seeking an accounting internship during the Spring and/or Summer 2009 semesters should be ready to participate. 

Accounting “Meet the Recruiter” is a mini job fair.  Approximately 25-30 employers (accounting firms and corporations) attend this event in order pre-identify students to interview for their positions.  The employers come on campus to begin interviewing students starting September 22.  Many times, an employer will decide whether to interview a candidate based on whether they met them at the “Meet the Recruiter” event. 

Most accounting firms require a 3.0 minimum GPA to apply to their companies - if you are below that GPA, you should definitely attend this event because you will have the opportunity to sell yourself to employers face-to-face instead of on paper, where you may be overlooked if your GPA is not listed or falls below the minimum).    Employers have contacted us and asked us to add students with GPAs less than 3.0 to their schedules because they met with and were impressed with them at the “Meet the Recruiter” event and the student made an impression.  While there is no guarantee that you will be selected for an interview, your odds will be increased if you attend and make a favorable – and professional - impression.  What do you have to lose?  Visit our office for job fair tips on how to best begin conversations with employers at this event and other job fairs. 

Still not convinced?  Below is an email I just received from a student who just got a job with a large public accounting firm in Indianapolis despite a less than stellar GPA.  When I get stories like these, I am reminded why I gave up a high paying job in recruiting (a university is rarely the place to go if you want the big bucks) to come here and help students. 

Angie,

I recently graduated (May 2008) with a double major in accounting and finance.  I did not participate in the fall recruiting season because I had some things already in the works but they ended up not working out, so after graduation I needed to find a job.  It was hit and miss because many firms were not hiring at the time.  There were a few interviews here and there, but it was very frustrating because it seemed like I was the only person in a hurry.  I’d submit a resume, then 2 weeks later get a call or email showing interest, then maybe 2 more weeks before an actual interview would take place.  It was then that I set up a meeting with the KSB Career Placement Office (CPO), just to talk about my situation.  Up to this point, I had focused on using contacts I’d obtained through networking, but I was almost to the point where I was going to start submitting my resume in bulk to various job postings.  During my meeting with Angie Meyer, she stressed that I continue to be persistent with the firms where I had something in the works because networking usually provides the best opportunities.

I didn’t graduate with the best GPA in the world, it was under 3.0, and for most large accounting firms you are disqualified right away.  Sure, these firms want the best of the best, which is a big reason for this requirement, yet you have to remember that they receive hundreds of resumes and they have to have some criteria in place to bring that number down to a workable level.  To make my long story short, I was granted an interview with a large accounting firm here in Indianapolis through the use of contacts from networking.  I enjoy interviews and don’t feel much pressure because I don’t try and candy-coat anything and am always open and honest.  However, I felt that I could have performed better in this particular interview.  Afterwards, I was pretty hard on myself, thinking that this was the biggest interview of my life and I didn’t put forth my best effort.  I felt like Scott Sharp, who once qualified on the pole for the Indy 500 and crashed in Turn 1 on the first lap.  Well, after a few more talks with the firm and submitting some requested writing samples, I was offered the job.  I was stunned, couldn’t believe it.  This was a job at a firm where I didn’t even think getting an interview would be possible!

So, bottom line, I hope others can take three things from this:

1) In most cases, the interview probably didn’t go as bad as you thought, firms understand the pressure you are under.  Do not be too hard on yourself.

2) All of the things our CPO stresses throughout your education --- believe them.  They stress almost at nausea to use the contacts you have - family, friends, previous employers, etc .- as networking can provide opportunities that normally might not be possible. 

3) Don’t discount yourself just because you might not be at the top of your class. GPA is important, no doubt - if mine was higher the struggles to find a job might not have been there.  But realize it is just a number and you graduated (or will graduate) from a top business school, and that is something in itself that will open a number of doors.

I have been busy with the house, as you all know.  But I have been busy here as well and I still don’t have my summer projects STARTED!

Some of the things I must get done before classes start are:

• Make the changes in General Education for the degree progress reports
• Make changes for Supply Chain Management
• Change the BUS-Z 312 requirements
• Work on entering academic exceptions for students’ degree progress reports

All of these take a while to get done.  Along with this, I still answer e-mails, see student appointments, check those applying for graduation, help others in the office.  I keep very busy!

So, where did the summer go?  I’m not sure, but glad we still have a couple of weeks before classes start!

Here is a picture of the North Korean Flag from several kilometers away.
http://bus.iupui.edu/carow/pictures/DMZ2.jpg

I we also visited a monument in hope of the unification of Korea.  The world split in two is depicted as being pushed back together by people from both sides.   Below is a picture of my family at the site.
http://bus.iupui.edu/carow/pictures/DMZ1.jpg

The picture below is the freedom bell
http://bus.iupui.edu/carow/pictures/DMZ3.jpg

These two monuments demonstrate the desire by many to see the reunification of North and South Korea.  Learning about the information made me wonder if North and South Korea can someday be reunited like East and West Germany.

Some of the paths on the hill were steep enough that they placed ropes along the walkway to help you keep your balance and to pull yourself up the rocks on the hill.  I especially found two things very interesting on our hike.  One was the number of people on the trail.  We walked by many people as we went up the hill.  It was by no means crowded, but for a weekday afternoon, there were definitely more people than we had expected.  Many of the people went up the hill and had a picnic.  The second was the fitness centers at the top of the hill and several locations along the way up the hill.  Clearly, the walking up the hill gives a good workout for the legs, but with the equipment on the hill, you could also get an upper body workout if you liked.  It was something I would have never thought of on a mountain around the city.  It must have taken a bit to get all the equipment up the hill.

The boys like a fast paced walk, so I worked hard to keep up.  Once at the top we took several pictures of the city below. 
http://bus.iupui.edu/carow/pictures/korea3b.jpg
http://bus.iupui.edu/carow/pictures/korea3a.jpg

Then the decision, do we take the same way down or do we take another path and figure out how to get back home from wherever we end up.  It’s never any fun visiting a new city if you don’t let yourself get lost, so we decided on the later.  Once down the other side of the mountain (it was not a very tall mountain), we walked through the town till we got to a major street.  Once there, we looked for signs of the metro stations and checked out our map.  Under some of my poorly designed walking plans, it took a bit longer than we thought to get to the station, but we found our metro station and headed for Seoul Station near our hotel and a well earned pizza at the Pizza Hut near the metro station.

We spent about 30 minutes getting to the location on metro, 30 minutes returning, and a bit over 3 hours of fast paced walking up the mountain and back down. 

I was a bit surprised to find that summer classes are considerably different than semester classes. First of all, they meet for fewer weeks than semester classes (which is a good thing). However the expectations aren’t any less than normal so the class hours are extended and the out of class work and reading is increased. On top of all that, it’s summer time and sitting in a classroom a couple of nights a week after a full day of work is not everyone’s first choice when the alternatives are grilling out, boating, cycling, etc.

Anyway even though grades aren’t posted, classes are complete and so is Year One of the Kelley MBA.  It’s a good feeling to be this far but we still have a considerable amount to go (676 days for those keeping track).

Though it sounds a bit juvenile for graduate school, I feel prompted to ask the question “what do you have planned for your summer vacation?”

Personally, I’m going to make the most of the break. In a little less than two weeks I’ll be taking to the highways of my home state (the ones still intact after the floods) on my road bike with 10,000 of my closest friends for the 36th Annual RAGBRAI, a 471 mile trek across Iowa.

See you in late August!

• Finished with summer class. Great feeling to be done, not so great feeling to get a grade I did not want. However, I learned a lot and that is what college is about.... Right?
• Went to the Death Cab For Cutie concert at White River with my brother. Walked there from my apartment while taking a tour of IUPUI's beautiful campus along the way. Short walk, did not have to pay for parking, great night, and most of all, it was a great show. 
• Worked soccer camps. Uhhh, I mean it was alright, but a job is a job. Long hours, little kids, and standing up in the sun all day = not to fun. Getting paid for watching and playing soccer = fun. In addition, I ate pizza everyday for about two weeks straight which is something everyone should try  once in their life. 
• Went to Disney World. Pretty great time. Have not been since I was ten years of age so it was cool to see the parks as an adult. Highlight of the trip: Staying in magic kingdom 'till 2:00am and riding Splash Mountaing, Big Thunder Mountain, The Buzz Lightyear Ride, and Space Mountain (only waited in line about 15 min BooYA) all in a row. It was a blast.
• Wedding. Just got back today from a great wedding up in the region. Saw a good friend from high school (he is a bit older) walk down the marraige path with a great girl. We had a blast at the reception dancing to "Jesse's Girl" and Soldier Boy all in the same night.

So that is what I have so far. In two weeks I am going to see my oldest brother get married which will be weird but amazing all in one. In addition, I am working on getting up to Cedar Point for some roller coasters. I got a taste at Disney and I need more. Thanks readers.

John

The first evening in Seoul we went out to eat with some of our friends from the area.  Great Barbeque, a traditional Korean meal!  The first full day in Seoul we walked around for about 4 hours to see different parts of town.  There are some great sites in Seoul.  

Transportation is always my first concern in a new city.  Our hotel is near the center of Seoul and Yonsei University is to the Northeast, about 12 kilometers from our hotel.  The metro is the primary mode of transportation.   The entrance station is a bit more than 1 kilometer from our hotel and the exit station is the same.  So I’m getting in a great deal more walking than I typically do.  The metro is very easy to use with station names listed in Korean, English, and via a number system.

I only have 19 students in my Finance class, much smaller than the typical classes I teach.  I am enjoying the smaller class size, especially once we get to grading assignments.

Over the weekend, we used a tour bus to take us to some of the sites in Seoul. There are way too many to see in such a short time, so we focused on 3.  We visited

the War Memorial of Korea and museum,
http://bus.iupui.edu/carow/pictures/korea2b.jpg
Namsangol Traditional Korean Village
http://bus.iupui.edu/carow/pictures/korea2c.jpg
and Changdeokgung Palace.
http://bus.iupui.edu/carow/pictures/korea2d.jpg
http://bus.iupui.edu/carow/pictures/korea2a.jpg

I obtained my visa, allowing me to teach in Korea, my international driver’s license, prepared the syllabus and handouts for the class.  Also, I need to have more items with internet access through the syllabus hyperlinks, rather than OnCourse.  This is when I miss having OnCourse and realize the convenience of having our university system in place for linking articles, example assignments, and assignments.   The goal is to have as much in place as possible prior to going to Korea, so I can spend the 3-day weekends traveling with the family, rather than preparing materials for my class.  We also have a family living in our house in Indiana, so that the pets are taken care of while we are gone.  It’s great sometimes how things work out.  Our friend and her family have an internship in Indianapolis, so they were looking for a place to stay over the summer, and this works out great.

The whole family will be traveling and we hope to see as much of the country as possible.  We plan to mainly travel using train, but for some of the local travels, we may rent a car.  We will also be visiting with Hyunju, our foreign exchange student that stayed with us last year and several our kids’ high school friends (other exchange students) that our children met while attending Lutheran High School. 

A lot of planning and it is about to come to fruition.  I’ll type several blogs in the near future from my course and my families’ travels from Korea.

Dear JR,

About two years ago I came and made an appointment with you to discuss career options for my extremely unusual situation.  I don't expect you to remember this meeting, as it was only about 45 minutes and we only met on one occasion.  However, I wanted to update you and let you know my personal experience so you may share with anyone who has "unusual" circumstances such as mine.

I was a returning adult student (I am 33) in the Kelley School of Business.
I had just returned to college full-time after working in retail management for 13 years.  The odd thing about my situation was that I was not returning to study management - I was doing a complete 180 degree turn in my career and studying Computer Information Systems (with absolutely no real-world experience in the field).  The reason I had come to you was to discuss what you thought I could do to get myself ready for the job search process (I came to you about a year before my expected graduation of December 2007).  In a nutshell, from that 45 minute talk, I deduced I would need to do a LOT of legwork on my end to get a job - the implication was the field I was looking to enter was not very "cookie cutter" and I would need to develop some specific skills to market in order to succeed . . .   You prepared me for the cold fact that my career path was going to require a lot of legwork on my part.

With your advice in tow, I talked to professors and business professionals to try to determine what sort of IT positions my management experience would benefit.  One specific example, during a project with Pratt Corporation, I took an opportunity to pull the Vice President of IT aside and get his opinion on my skills and the sort of position he thought I would be suited for.  I also scoured the internet to try to find common denominators among IT jobs on skills that I could attempt to hone.  This information led me to begin self-studying for a project management certification (which I received in November 2007).  In addition, I began to do a lot of work on my own developing small/useful programs in Visual Basic.net that I could put into a portfolio to show potential employers (as an example, I created an eBay sales invoicing program I used to track my sales in an Access database and generate invoices).

I graduated "with distinction" from Kelley in December 2007 and began the job-hunt full force.  My personal goal was to have a job by the middle/end of February.  I had numerous phone interviews but the thing that was getting in the way was I had zero experience in the IT field.  I worked with two separate placement firms - both of which were telling me I was only suited for a level I technical support position (answering phones).

While working with the placement firms . . . both were telling me to kind of sit back and let them do the searching - not a good idea.  Frustration was mounting because I knew that if I could just get into a company for a face-to-face interview I could convince them I was the person for ANY job.  I soon abandoned the placement firms and resumed the search on my own.  I re-worked my resume (because obviously something wasn't drawing interest) and plastered it everywhere.

I also sent off copies to all major companies in the area.  Then it happened....

One day I received a call to interview as a Technical Assistant for Frank DeLisle and Associates (a contractor at Eli Lilly who found my resume on Kelley Careers).  When the job was described to me I was interested, but not to the point I was overly excited.  I met with the owner, Frank, and he was impressed with me.  I showed him my portfolio of programs and explained in depth my computing knowledge and project management abilities.  After that long interview (at Starbucks near IUPUI) I was called back a few days later.  He told me he wanted to bring me into Eli Lilly for half a day of interviews - but not as a technical assistant - as a Data Systems Analyst!

I cannot begin to explain how excited I was - this is job I went back to school for.  Shortly after, I went through a series of four interviews at Lilly with various levels of management and was hired on as a Data Systems Analyst making [a very competitive salary].

My story is one that many good things can be learned from:

1)  Drastic career changes are possible and can have excellent outcomes.  I was making $38,000 after 13 years in retail - after getting my degree I just started my new job in March making [significantly more].

2)  I probably studied harder on learning the job market and what I needed to do to bolster my resume than I did in any college course.  I recommend spending a LOT of time looking at job postings for your projected career well before you start looking for a job.  This way you can see what skills are commonly requested in your field and do your best to gain those skills or learn as much as you can about them.  A lot of IT jobs want project management skills - so I got a certification in project management.
     
3)  You don't have to know a specific skill they need - but show you can learn it!  My job requires SAS programming experience.  I have ZERO experience but did a lot of research on it.  In the interviews I explained that I knew what it was, had viewed sample code, and would have no problem applying standard programming concepts to the language.  I also explained that I realized how easy it is to learn a language - what is harder is learning how to properly program...which is what I was taught at IUPUI.

4)  Know who is interviewing you!  I was being interviewed by the head of the Epidemiology department.  I had NO IDEA what this was so I researched it.  Sure enough, one of the first questions he asked me was what I knew about Epidemiology.  I was able to blow him away with my knowledge of epidemiology because I prepared ahead of time.

5)  Interview yourself over and over!  I used to interview myself all the time in the car - asking myself questions I thought could be asked.  I was amazed at how many times I caught myself saying things that would definitely not help in an interview.  By hearing it out loud it gave me that opportunity to learn how to answer commonly asked questions without shooting myself in the foot.  "What are your weaknesses?"  I definitely learned how to answer this question in a very positive way that helped my interview.

I am sure you hear stories like this all the time.  However, I am extremely proud of how my situation turned out and wanted to share with someone at the school that helped make it all possible.  Thank you for reading this...and I hope knowing of my experience may be able to help you with someone else in the future in a similar situation.

I’ve had the opportunity to do some training and explore my career and my personal strengths recently. I’ve learned a lot and wanted to share some great insights into how to take charge of your career -- and life -- from panelists at the IU Kelley CareerMoves conference held recently.

• Make yourself indispensable
• If it feels uncomfortable, do it. Don’t shy away from the unknown, the “never done it before” or the chance that you might not do something perfectly the first time
• It’s all about attitude – yours. In good and not-so-good times, how you choose to respond and be every day is sometimes all that matters
• Look in the mirror. It might be you!
• Get a mentor – you’re never too old or young. Ask someone you admire and respect. A mentor can be from your employer, your profession, even volunteer work
• Ask people “what do you think?” “how do you feel?”
• Own your own career and life. No one else is going to do it for you

Would love to hear other thoughts! Have a great day.

Hello everybody I have not posted a blog in a while, so it’s time for me to catch you up on what’s been going on. This blog is a little long, but with a lot going on it’s hard to explain in a few sentences. ENJOY!!!!!!

 

I just bought my first house...well, since I was divorced 16 years ago.  I swore I would never get a house again.  I didn’t have the money to fix things and I didn’t want to worry about upkeep.  An apartment was just fine for me.  That was until my older daughter moved back in with my younger daughter and me.  She also brought her 2 cats.  It got crowded!

Well, April 24th I closed on my 2 story 3 bedroom 2 ½ bath house.  It needed work, and I couldn’t get out of my lease until the end of July, so I figured we would paint, put in new floor, etc.

It is now June 17th and we are still working on it.  I knew I wanted to put in a new floor in the kitchen.  However, I didn’t realize how hard it is to remove the adhesive off the cement slab from the vinyl linoleum that was on there.  We also had to remove wallpaper from the kitchen walls.  It came off easily, but so did the paint on the rest of the walls!!  It peeled off just like the wallpaper did!  No, they didn’t paint over wallpaper, it just peeled.

We now have the kitchen primed, cabinets clean, and the floor just about ready for the vinyl peel and stick flooring we are going to put down.  It has taken a VERY long time, but it will be worth it.

My daughters’ bathroom also had wallpaper on it.  We thought, “no problem, we know what to do now.”  No such thing.  This paper is not about to come off.  We rented a steamer thinking it would do the job.  It is, but according to my daughters, the people who lived there got paper that was made to last for 100 years.  They have been working on it all day and that is what I am going to be doing when I leave here tonight.

I have not had a hard time sleeping for the last 2 months.  I work here at IUPUI and then go straight to the house and work until 9 or 10.  I then go to the apartment and crash.  If you come to see me and I am yawning, please take no offense.  It is just because I didn’t get enough sleep!

I plan to have the house fixed enough for us to move into it during the first week of July.  That will give me time to get the apartment really clean.  I NEED that deposit now!

Now you know what a Recorder does on her “free” time...at least for the next few months.  It will take us that long to get everything all done.  But it will be nice to have a place that I can truly say is mine!