Shameless Self-promotion

It's been a great few months, if I do say so myself. I've settled in to my office at home and I'm working on settling into a routine. I have to admit, I think I may have suffered a brief bout of post-masters depression and found myself in a little crisis of identity for a bit. Who am I now that I'm not an enrolled student? What am I supposed to do with all this time? The result was a frenzy of volunteer sign-up and a handful of small jobs and projects. Yet, I'm now doing a lot of really great things that I wouldn't otherwise have taken on.

I participated in a Habitat for Humanity house build in the nearby town of Three Hills. The town is about to celebrate its centennial and, in partnership with the Elks, sponsored a 100 hour build to commemorate the occasion. I spent two days at the site, first helping with the refreshments and meals, and then painting and clean-up. There were so many people helping over the 100 hours that by the time I arrived there wasn't much to do. My only real complaint, however, was I had to wear borrowed Habitat steel-toed boots. My feet have been itchy ever since!

I've also been volunteering as an English tutor and helping out with a summer reading camp at the Three Hills Library. I enjoy giving over some time to causes that make me feel useful. It's nice to put all that book learnin' to good use, by which I mean for the good of others. I'm up to about seven hours a week volunteering now, so I promised myself I had to stop taking things on.

Among all the volunteering I've started to become work busy! I'm happy to report I've found some freelance work writing for an academic press (not sure if I can name it right now) doing introductions and annotations for upcoming anthologies. I've also been helping out at the local paper, the Three Hills Capital.

On top of that, my first official publication is now released! Back in March, I was invited to contribute a chapter to a book titled Alternative Futures for Publishing sponsored by the Book Publishers Association of Alberta. It is available for free download, although be patient because it's a big file. Other contributors include my friends and colleagues Mark Leslie and Todd Anderson. I'm delighted to have worked with these and the other authors, and am indebted to Jerome Martin of Spotted Cow Press for his support. Mine is chapter four, "Look Who's Talking, Really: The Dialectic Relationship Between Author, Reader, and Publisher."

photo taken from Mark Leslie's Blog

Finally, I am beyond excited to say that I have been accepted to The Banff Centre Writing With Style residency program! I will be spending a week at the gorgeous campus in Banff where I'll be revising my thesis and turning it into the novel I know it should be. I'm so excited to be part of this inspirational and invaluable workshop, and I can't wait to tell you all about it.

Well, I guess I'd better get back to work. Those introductions won't write themselves. Thanks for reading, and don't forget dreams really do come true, if I can do it you can do it, keep your fork, a bird in the hand, and never put your hat on the bed.

Five Tips for Cracking the Career Surface

This past weekend I was fortunate to attend the Book Publishers Association of Alberta (BPAA) conference in beautiful Banff, Alberta. When I say fortunate, I mean I was given the opportunity of a budding publisher’s lifetime. I am not affiliated with a publisher; I’m a grad student. In Banff I met some of the biggest, brightest publishers in the province, attended presentations on new technologies, visions of the future, and hiring concerns and strategies. These presentations were not only inspiring, but I firmly believe they will give me an edge when considering what I have to offer an industry that is notoriously difficult to break into. Without a doubt, I just took a giant leap towards my future.

I have to admit that, while I may be overly humble when it comes to my writing, I am confident in my networking and, let’s face it, schmoozing skills. So I thought I’d take a stab at a real blog post and give you my five tips for networking your way into the places you’d like to be. But before I begin, I have to offer a serious disclaimer. Everything I know I learned from Alexis Beaubier at the Career Centre at Vancouver Island University. Those who work for passion are infinitely better at what they do than those who work for the money. Alexis could teach a sloth how to get a job on a crab-fishing boat. So thank you Alexis for all your brilliance and expertise. Now, on with the tips.

1) Make Contact

First step is to write an email—simple as that. Find the name of a contact, not too low on the chain, but obviously not so high that you’ll never get a response, and send an introductory email. Keep it short and simple. Explain who you are, what you’re interested in, and you’d like the opportunity to ask a few questions. Remember, you’re not asking for a job; you’re asking for information. Request half an hour of the contact’s time to meet in person.

2) Have ten easy questions prepared

I’m not going to insult my brilliant audience by telling you that you should research. Of course you’re going to research the company or industry you’d like to work for. So get an idea of who you’re going to speak to and generally what they do. But easy questions lead to conversation. If you’re going to quote something from a company’s press release and ask for more on that detail, you’re going to get information about that detail. Your meeting companion is going to slip into company mode and answer as though you’re media or competition. They will be guarded and professional, and that’s no way to make friends. Ask simple questions. What does a day in the life of you look like? How’s business? How did you get started? Here are the skills I’m proud of; do you think they will apply to this type of industry? Don’t talk about yourself too much; this is important. People love to talk about themselves, so let them. Make them feel good and they will remember you for it.

3) Take the plunge

The hardest part of my weekend at the conference was entering that room. Honestly, I walked in to the first night reception, took one look at the professionals whose hands were grasping glasses of wine and my potential career, turned on my heel and escaped to the bathroom. It’s scary! It doesn’t matter how much of a people person you are, it feels like you’re leaping into the shark tank, and you are. So take a deep breath, put on your game face, and get in there champ! It sounds like advice that goes without saying, but believe me, it can be the hardest part of the whole process.

4) Be interested

Pay attention to the answers you’re given. Take notes if you feel you have to, but listen more. Easy questions make for easy conversation so be as natural as you can. Follow up on comments that feel important, ask more about topics you think your new acquaintance favours, and for goodness sake smile. If you feel a lull in the conversation try and summarize the important points thus far. It will most likely jog your companion’s memory and he or she will provide more information that might have been forgotten. Finally, when it feels like the conversation is at a close ask what you should do next. Ask if there are other people you might benefit from speaking to. By this point your interviewee will hopefully feel he or she has a stake in your success and will want to help.

5) Say thank you

with a card. Remember those things? Chances are your mom still gets you one from Hallmark for your birthday. Write out a simple thank-you card before your meeting and present it at the end. Don’t be too gushy, just a simple “it was a pleasure to meet you. Thank you for taking the time to speak to me, and I hope to speak to you again in the future.” Be sure to include your contact information as well. This, I find, really leaves an impression on people. No one gives thank-you cards anymore, and this simple gesture will be sure to leave a lasting impression. Not to mention, people feel guilty for just throwing away a card immediately so it will guarantee this new contact will have your email address for at least a week longer. Chances are you will have more than one of these meetings, so buy thank you cards in packs.

These days it seems like anyone you talk to will tell you the economy is horrible, the job market is dismal, and hope is almost lost. Sure it’s difficult to break into a good career. If it wasn’t there’d be no Walmart greeters. However, looking for a career is exciting. It’s when you prove to yourself that, while you may not know everything, you can fire the big guns with the best of them. Every industry professional was new at some point, and there’s a good chance they didn’t have the gumption to rub elbows with the key players when they were starting out. Sure there’s a chance that an eventual job won’t come from these networking tips. There’s a chance you will choke, spit coffee out your nose all over your new contact’s tie. You might discover after you leave the meeting that you had spinach in your teeth. But no matter what, you will leave knowing more than when you arrived. It’s called experience, and apparently it’s very important in the career world.