An Introduction

Kate O’Neil here.  I am starting this blog primarily as an educational reference for students at Chemeketa Community College who are looking for jobs. My goal is to provide a ready reference to help people by providing tips on resume writing, interviewing, and ways to search for jobs.  Through posts and comments on this blog I hope to encourage discussions on some of the best practices that can lead to snaring that elusive job.

I am currently an intern working in the Chemeketa Career Work Center.  I am there to gain experience in career and vocational counseling, in order to complete my master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling through Western Oregon University.  I work with a variety of different programs at Chemeketa, which I will elaborate upon in additional postings.

My background in education is rather unconventional, as most of my ‘teaching” has been done within the framework of my duties as a military officer.  While in the Army I was assigned to Reserve Officers Training Corps (ROTC) twice.  While serving in the capacity of an ROTC Assistant Professor of Military Science, I taught classes to all grade levels on subjects varying from effective communication skills, to military law.  I taught at Oregon State University, Western Oregon University and the University of Washington in this capacity.

Yesterday was my first day on the job at Chemeketa, and one of the most important things I learned was that there are HUGE amounts of information available on jobs, and if that information isn’t organized and presented in an understandable manner, job seekers end up trying to order from a menu written in a foreign language. Consequently, they may end up ordering something they don’t want to eat.  I hope to do some translating here, to prevent someone from ordering a plate of boiled radishes when they really wanted to have fresh