There are also some Web sites specifically designed to send you job descriptions, showcase your resume on the Web, and also help you connect with Human Resources of your favorite companies. No matter what career you are interested in, job sites have the resources to help you get hired.

Before you begin “friending” every high ranking executive on Facebook, sit back and read these quick words of caution.

1. Clean it up! Clean up your Facebook wall, profile pictures, and of course tagged photos. The best way to do this, particularly if you have had your profile for a long time, is to make your tagged photos visible by ONLY ME. The way to do this is to login to your Facebook, click on the privacy settings and then go through the options presented. You can even hide your status and photos from specific friends or groups of friends. Now this is not a cure all, you still need to be cautious of what you do and how you present yourself online, but I like having this particular setting on in order to avoid any unwanted surprises.

2. What sites to use: There are so many sites to use in order to find a job online, but the best ones are the ones tailored to your major or desired career. For example, journalism students should check out ED2010 or MediaBistro to find jobs, internships and Freelance opportunities. MonsterCollege, a new division of Monster.com is perfect for almost any recent or soon-to-be graduate. Mashable (http://mashable.com/2009/02/24/top-10-social-sites-for-finding-a-job/) has the top ten sites and from my experience they actually work really well. Twitter, which will be covered in another post, is one of the better tools for doing this.

3. To be LinkedIn or not to be: LinkedIn, HireVine and several other Web sites link ordinary people (aka job hunters) with companies (aka employers). These sites allow you to upload a resume, professional photograph, examples of your work, and also allows you to request recommendations from other people you have worked with in the past. The best part of LinkedIn is that the site will email you when someone views your profile or downloads your resume–which is always a nice thing to see.

If you plan to work online in the next few years the most important thing is to develop professional profiles on all of these networks. You need to be “google-able.” People should be able to search your name and find only good things about you. That is most definitely the key to being hired in today’s global world–that and a little social networking expertise.

YahooJobs has a great post on whether all this is worth it–and they post jobs too.

Are you laptop obsessed?

Laptops – they are a quick means to taking notes, looking up information, and even playing a game of solitaire or IM-ing with buddies in the middle of a teacher’s lecture. Let’s face it, when students pop open their laptops in class, very few, if any, actually use their personal computers for academic’s sake.  So why are laptops allowed in the classroom?

Teachers get offended when they know students are not paying attention to their lectures. I have heard many of them become disgruntled and scold students who pull out their phones in the middle of class to text or check a voicemail, but I never see any professors give any kind of objection to seeing a laptop in class.

From what I understand, most teachers assume that the laptops are being used for educational purposes; that the students are just taking notes on their computers rather than writing them longhand, or maybe the students are getting started on a class assignment.

Seriously, has anyone ever seen an open laptop with information on the screen that actually pertained to the classroom? Interestingly, no-one seems to get caught. With as many times as I have seen students sitting in front of me with a game going on their screen, the teacher always remains oblivious to what the student is really doing. I have never seen a teacher flinch at the sight of a laptop opening in the middle of a lecture, and I have never heard of a teacher complain to a student about bringing a laptop to class.

I’ll admit that I personally do not find laptop usage a distraction because it only distracts the user. If anyone thinks otherwise, I would gladly like to hear that opinion.

Were I a student, I would be one who forces myself to listen to lectures respectfully, and watching  some other student get away with playing computer games in the middle of a lecture seems unfair. Also, it is very rude to the professor. But these students probably figure what  teachers don’t know won’t hurt them.  I am just baffled that teachers actually allow students to continue with this.

I remember seeing a student open up a newspaper in the middle of class, which obviously caused some paper ruffling sounds, as well as blocked the student’s entire visibility from the teacher. The instructor immediately called the student’s attention in front of the whole class and proclaimed her actions as rude. An open newspaper is considered bad-mannered, but an open laptop isn’t?

It would almost seem that using a laptop in class is the perfect crime for students. The teachers don’t complain, and the students can go on being rude and ignoring the lecture. But, where is the sense of being mature and respectful in the classroom?

If a student has paid for the class, shouldn’t they get their money’s worth by actually paying attention and learning from the class? And, if the teacher is trying to do his or job by helping students with the material, shouldn’t students give the teacher enough respect to listen? Perhaps this is more a matter of maturity and classroom ethics than anything else.

Students are not stupid. They are in an educated environment and are aware of many options around them, recognizing the potential for each one and learning what careers will likely provide for their future. The other side of the coin is that all of the choices and experiences college brings also allow students to feel a stronger sense of independence, giving them the push to do whatever makes them happy and pick a career they will love.

How does a person make a career choice then? Sometimes the choices between your two careers can be so diverse that choosing a career means picking a major to stick with for the rest of your life.

I know a guy who has a love of music and playing the bass, but a great mind for numbers, too. He wants a good life that is stable without worrying about how he’s going to provide for himself. Although his academics led him in the direction of some career in mathematics, his love for music is much stronger. Yes, he has a bunch of talent to drive him forward with a musical career, but he recognizes the odds of landing a high-paying contract are small. There are plenty of talented musicians out there who aren’t making it big because they haven’t been noticed by the right people. Artists have to be in the right place at the right time. So, with the odds against his dreams of playing on stage, doing what he loves, he puts his future into studying high level calculus and probability classes. It may not be what he loves, but it will provide him security.

Does that mean a person has to give up their dream for the sake of security? Sometimes, but not always. In the case of my friend with the musical and mathematical head, he has continued with his plans of using his education for his career. However, his musical talent is not going completely to waste since he still keeps in practice by playing with his band at least once a week.

For myself, I have also faced a similar dilemma. I have always had a love of writing, but I also knew that the chances of becoming a famous author are slim to none. I carried on my schooling with English, taking writing courses whenever I could. In the end, though, I wound up with a degree in literature because I knew a writing career was not going to pay my bills anytime soon. I still write, obviously, but I don’t have the time, nor can I afford to pursue my writing career the way I would like to.

Other people have it far worse, I am sure. At least having a love for some form of artistry allows people to continue practicing it and having a paying career on the side. But other people have it harder who were interested in travel guiding, but went with a career in dentistry because it paid better.

I just find it sad to think that people do what they have to, instead of doing what they really want to do for a living. As we grew up, many of us were told to pick our careers according to what our hearts wanted. That used to be part of the American dream. That doesn’t seem to be the unanimous message anymore.

The Living is Easy

For some the thought of summer conjures up images of sleeping in and hanging out with friends. If you can afford to do nothing in the summer, it’s not likely that you’ll be able to completely follow-through. And no, that’s not a dare. We’re just saying that all your newfound free time will need to be filled with something stimulating. Finishing the latest video game or watching every movie ever made are certainly accomplishments, but unless you’re a film major or studying game design, they’re not going to help you get the most out of your college experience. So what will?

Heading Overseas

Studying abroad has become a popular part of going to college. Many students take a semester or two to live in another country and study a subject of interest. However, if you are saving your semesters for courses in your major and don’t have time to take a jaunt to Europe, you may want to consider going abroad over the summer. Check with your school about summer programs that’ll take you to another country where you can immerse yourself in a new culture, learn a language and gain academic credit. The one drawback to studying abroad over summer is the expense. According to the Boston Globe article “Pricey Summer Programs Raise Fairness Questions,” summer experiences can cost anywhere from $2,000 to $8,000—no small change. And that brings us to our next option for spending your summer…

Take this Job and Work it

Looking for some extra spending cash? Two straight months of no obligations seems like the perfect time to take on a part-time or full-time job. A USAA report found that 55% of students plan to work during the school year and over the summer while in college. The advantage to working is two-fold—first, you earn money that you can put towards your education and second, you can gain valuable experience in a field of interest. Of the 1,474 teens who participated in this year’s 2006 Junior Achievement Poll on Teens and Summer Jobs, nearly 40% identified saving for college as the primary motivation for working in the summer. But beyond socking it away for school, money earned during the summer can go to cover housing costs, traveling and for taking part in exciting programs, like studying abroad.

Volunteer Yourself

Consider that your work as a volunteer may be more beneficial than a job with a steady paycheck. Although earning money is definitely a valuable way to spend your summer, volunteer work not only boosts your resume, it also gets you involved in helping your community. Opportunities to volunteer are numerous, so you may want to choose something that best matches your course of study. Head to www.freedomcorps.gov to learn more about volunteer activities near you.

Work for Free

If you are seeking to pad your resume with some great experience in your chosen field, an internship may be just the ticket. Take your summer to intern with an organization that will prepare you for entering the job market after graduation. A survey from Vault found that 82% of students say completing an internship is “extremely important” for future career success.

Summer School

The notion of summer school may not be the most appealing, but it does offer its share of advantages. Summer classes are condensed into a limited number of weeks, so if there’s a class you’ve been dreading you could take it in the summer and shorten the pain. And, if it is a course that has little to do with your area of study, you could take it for pass or fail. If you are heading home for the summer and still want to enroll in a summer session check out your local colleges and find out if your school will allow you to transfer credit.

Summer of Fun

Other alternatives for spending your summer include arts or sports programs and traveling. Whatever your choice, be sure to prepare for the summer a few months before. Check out the deadlines for interning, enroll in summer school to save your spot, consider the kind of job you want to pursue and get your application in early, and book your tickets if you’re planning on traveling. Summer is an ideal time to gain experience and recharge your batteries for your next year of college.

I am currently using my Twitter image to support awareness for women’s heart disease. It’s a red dress that is located in the left hand corner of my icon and can be paired with my Facebook and MySpace to show my support across my networks. You can change your cause as often as you like, and when you integrate it with Facebook, Twibbons automatically creates a photo gallery labeled “Twibbons” with profile pictures so you can use the cause again and again directly from your Facebook page.

You can learn a little bit more about the types of trends Twibbons allows you to support by visiting their Web site and their blog. You can also check out the trending causes on their Web site by clicking on the trending tab to see what most people are following. It is a great site for getting the word out there about a cause you want to support, or one you’ve just created.

A Street Sign in Nikko: Knowing Japanese would have been useful

Learning another language isn’t easy, but whether it’s for your undergrad prerequisites, study abroad, or to prepare for a graduate program, you are going to have to do it. Personally, I hate learning languages. I am not a polyglot, it does not come easily to me, I can barely remember how to ask where the bathroom is in Spanish. But I travel a lot and learning a few key phrases (like “where’s the bathroom?”) come in handy. I don’t have the time or money for a class, and I’m lazy. That’s where learning languages via podcast comes to the rescue.The internet is packed with fairly affordable ways to learn languages. For example,  eduFire allows you to take classes online from tutors teaching all sorts of subjects. Social networking sites are also getting in on the action with services like LiveMocha, where you can enroll in courses and practice the language you are learning with other users.

However, for my time and limited money, Podcasts are becoming my favorite new tool for learning languages online. Podcasts are portable: you can download them onto any media player you want; take them wherever you go; and listen to them in the car, on the train, on the treadmill or on the walk to campus. You don’t need an iPod – podcasts can easily be put on any MP3 player.

I am going to focus on one language learning podcast company since it is the one I know best: Innovative Language Learning.

An advantage to this particular company’s podcasts are that the lessons are presented in a very casual manner – the hosts chat and joke around – which makes it easy to listen to. The hosts share cultural tips and insights that would be impossible in any other format. It’s like an educational talk show. You can learn words and phrases from a textbook, but in a language as different from English as, say, Japanese, there are rules on how and when to use certain words, as well as vocal nuances you can only learn by ear.

Some podcasting sites feature only the podcasts for download – in other words, audio only –  but sites like www.japanesepod101.com  also offer interactive exercises, forums, dictionaries, and video lessons. For me, Japanese and Italian would be useful to know – Japanese because I’ve been there twice and knowing a basic “thank you” isn’t cutting it anymore, and Italian because I want to go  to Italy someday and not feel like an idiot.

Tip: If you create an account for a free 7-day trial, you’ll receive a torrent of emails. You can always click the “unsubscribe” link at the bottom of any email, or register using a secondary email address that you don’t mind filling up.

For www.japanesepod101.com and www.italianpod101.com, free 7-day trials allow you to test drive everything on the sites before committing money – and to make sure you really want to learn the language. A new podcast is put up every day and there are also video lessons on culture. A native speaker is paired with an English speaker in each lesson so you can hear the language spoken with the native accent, and then have the content explained in English. Lessons are separated by proficiency levels: Newbie, Beginner, Lower Intermediate, and Upper Intermediate. With a Beginner Italian Lesson titled “What Will You See in the Italian Club?” and “Italian Knock-Knock Jokes” I can see already that language learning goodness is in my immediate future.

Here is a beginner lesson from www.japanesepod101.com if you want to try out learning by podcast. Just click “Play” where it says Free Content under the picture.

Survival Phrases: Thank You

The Innovative Language Learning sites like those above are great for learning the most common languages, but podcasts are exploring more unusual and specialized languages also.

Radio Lingua offers “One Minute Gaelic” lessons for free online, which is a misnomer because they last from 2-4 minutes (hey, it’s not how to count in Gaelic).

www.OpenCulture.com has links to a number of iTunes foreign language downloads, including the most common languages, but also Danish, Dutch, Esperanto, Finnish, Greek, Hebrew, Hindi, Hungarian, Indonesian…you get the idea. Since the language lessons are from many different companies, sites, and probably a few entrepreneurs, you might not find the best quality – so it’s a good thing they’re free.

Now for your English word of the day: Autodidact.

Listen Safely!

I could stand up in a stadium full of people and ask over the loudspeaker, “Who likes music?” and I already know what the answer would be: a resounding and overwhelmingly loud, “We do!” People love music, so it comes as no surprise that most of us listen to tunes while we’re working out at the gym or going on a long run to keep us motivated. However, those little earbuds (or even those pesky large headphones!) can cause a lot of trouble for you while you get your Stairmaster on or while your feet are hitting the pavement around campus.

Safety Safety Safety

The biggest concern about keeping your ears covered and your beats strong is your safety. If you drop below a level of constant vigilance while working out, you’re likely to become as klutzy as a novice juggler, and as unaware of your personal safety as a red balloon. Make sure you remain focused on the cracks in the pavement so as not to stumble on them, and to run in familiar and well lit areas to make sure you’re not a target for a mugging or worse.

Safety Squared

Okay, there’s a little more safety involved. If you are working out in the great outdoors, remember that drivers, cyclists, and skateboarders cannot tell that you cannot hear them. So you have to look out for your own safety. Look both ways before you cross anything, and stay alert to your surroundings! Dogs that might want to chase you, rollerbladers that come up behind you, and cars that like to stop beyond crosswalk lines are all bad news to outdoor fitness gurus.

A Little Too Much is Too Much

Music will keep your body pumping and thumping, which is awesome…except when your body is tired and you haven’t noticed because you’re too busy enjoying the latest Lady Gaga hit. Check in with yourself around your usual stopping point to make sure you don’t injure yourself by going too far above your physical threshold.

One Earbud: A No-Go

You might think you can avoid a lot of these headphone pitfalls by just having one ear distracted with music and your other ear free as a lark to hear the sounds of the world. But research shows that just having one ear bopping out can confuse your brain (as if Calculus wasn’t already doing a good enough job of that), and makes your work out actually dangerous.

A few of us live for music, and a lot of us love music with a capital L. Just be safe out there while you’re busy pushing yourself through your every important fitness routine!

Can onions ward off the flu?

A fevered roommate (or two) watching reruns of “Boy Meets World,” while coughing on your couch can really put a damper on studying at home. Why risk getting sick, missing class, and not even feeling well enough to go to the big game this weekend? Or what about all the illness that is rampant at your work-study job on campus; I’d hate to pick up a nasty case of a sore throat just for showing up to work. Recently, a friend told me about a homeopathic way to outfox a nasty cold or flu – by cutting the ends off of a red onion and leaving it on my desk. Figuring I had nothing to lose but a dollar on an onion, I gave it a try.

My experiment began on Monday, when I came into the office early, red onion in hand. I headed straight to the kitchen and sliced the ends off the little pipsqueak, and then placed him on the side of my computer. The office space I share with four other people is industrial as opposed to cubical; in other words, it’s an open space. Germs waft freely without a barrier between us, and with two other student-workers already under the weather, I figured this was the prime location for soaking up any sickness with my onion-sponge.

Three days later, I can say with scientific certainty that the onion-absorbing illness experiment ended in failure. For starters, I’ve got a hearty cough, and have been fighting a fever. And secondly, the office smells like moldy scrambled eggs, and my coworkers are none too happy about the stench. They also mocked me mercilessly for my gullibility, as apparently the sliced onion approach has been featured in a slew of chain-emails thanks to the H1N1 (which incidentally, I had not heard about).

The email being circulated claims farmers were protected from the deadly flu epidemic of 1919. It reads, “The doctor couldn’t believe it and asked if he could have one of the onions and placed it under the microscope. She gave him one and when he did this, he did find the flu virus in the onion. It obviously absorbed the virus, therefore, keeping the family healthy.” Compelling, right?

Well, there has been an actual study about this email chain that debunks it. David Emery writes, “There’s no scientific basis for this old wives’ tale, which dates at least as far back as the 1500s, when it was believed that distributing raw onions around a residence guarded against the bubonic plague. This was long before germs were discovered, of course, and a prevalent theory held that contagious diseases were spread by miasma, or “noxious air.” It was apparently believed that onions, whose absorbent qualities had been well known since ancient times, could cleanse the air by trapping harmful odors.” Basically, the story of the onion is an urban legend.

It really is too bad there isn’t some easy answer to stopping the spread of viruses and other airborne illness. Guess we’ll have to stick to washing our hands more often and not touching our eyes, nose or mouth!

It's not torture – it's just floss!

Twice a year, we all end up in that strangely shaped chair, a masked and armed assistant poised over us and a spit-sucker draped precariously over our lower lip…Yes, twice a year, even college students go to the dentist for what feels like a final exam of our oral health abilities. Pertinent periodontal questions will be answered: Is my brushing technique up to par? Do I swish mouthwash with enough vigor? Will I be told I’m drinking too much coffee (the horror!)? And without fail, before we leave this jaw-dropping exam, we are reminded to floss.

Flossing is really tripping me up these days. I have always been told that easing a waxy strip of glorified thread between my molars, incisors, and everything tooth in-between, is essential to having amazing dental hygiene. And dentists throw out powerful messages such as “you only floss the teeth you want to keep” as they prowl through your mouth. But why is there such a lack of emphasis on reasons to floss in the real world?

A simple search on Google proves I’m not making chewing gum out of toothpaste here. Finding well researched articles about the benefits of flossing is actually difficult. And finding articles that throw down the flossing facts in a way that someone outside the American Dental Association would understand is darn near impossible. After sifting through articles that all seemed to have been written by the same person whose job it is to slightly revise the same information for a variety of sources, here’s what I have boiled down as to why you, the college student, should keep your toothbrush close, and your dental floss closer:

1. Halitosis is the Grossest
The point of flossing is to clean where no toothbrush has gone before – between your teeth. And what is between your teeth? Tiny bits of old food and plaque that build up and will emit a peculiar odor when you open your mouth to talk, smile, breathe, and yes, kiss that girl you’ve had your eye on in class. Bad breath is a killjoy for any conversation, and leads to certain doom when leaning in close for a canoodle.

2. Smile Security
If you don’t floss, there is more chance of your smile resembling those incredibly terrifying pictures your dentist has up on their wall next to their diplomas. Scraggly gums, giant gaps, and worst of all – removed teeth.

3. Saving Teeth is Good for Your Life
Your mouth is a warm, spongy gateway to the rest of your body. Good germs, gnarly germs, and bacteria of all shapes and sizes, can and do enter you physical being through your mouth. By cleaning out all the little crevices between your teeth, you are not only increasing the life-span of your chompers, but you are taking more steps towards overall well being.

4. No Pain is a Mouthful of Gain
Um, have you had dental work done ever? Flossing decreases your chances of needing to spend extra time in the dental chair. So unless your dentist is incredibly witty and interesting, a daily floss can get you back on campus and in the classroom–a much preferable place to be.

Flossing does not have to suck the life out of you. At least group on the internet is at least attempting to make flossing appear to suck less than we’re prone to believe it does – The National Flossing Council. You can find flossing haiku, flossing videos, and information about the annual Flossing Day holiday. But for the most part, you’re going to have be your own cheerleader when it comes to fetching the floss. My suggestion? Do it with a friend. If misery loves company, then flossing loves a party.

Is a date the same here and there?

Dating is difficult wherever you go. College students in this country seem to be giving up on it altogether in favor of “hooking up,” and I’m sad to say that after traveling around the world, no one else seems to have it figured out either. But asking about dating on my travels to England, India and Japan did reveal some fascinating differences in how guys and gals are getting together – or aren’t.

England
Over a bottle of beer in Oxford, Xander and Ben explain the mating behaviors of the British male. Xander’s girlfriend, Miranda, provides eye-witness testimony to the accuracy of their account. English men never ask women out on dates. They are convinced that if they were to directly ask a woman on a “date” that they will be turned down flat and laughed at publicly. Since the Number One priority for an English male is to save face, there is no “dating” in England at all.

Xander explains: “You go out to a pub with your friends, some of whom are girls, get too drunk one night (but not too drunk) and end up sleeping with one of them. Then, suddenly, you’re in a relationship. And since she’s already slept with you, you won’t be rejected – presumably. And it usually works out quite well since you were friends first.” Xander and Miranda didn’t follow that exact routine, but they did meet at a pub while she was studying abroad in Oxford. Pubs are one of the few places in which it is easy to meet people and strike up a conversation if you’re new in town.

Breaking up is hard, since it is very English to avoid confrontation. The breaking up ritual seems to involve the man’s shoes being chucked out the window or into the sea (whichever is closer at the time). But that could just be Xander’s bad luck.

India
While India is westernizing in many ways, dating is not yet culturally accepted. In rural areas there is no dating; in urban areas, dating is rare and almost always covert. Ani, a young man from Coimbatore, says dating is “99% without the parents’ knowledge, as parents are conservative and would get REALLY mad if you date.”  When two people do date, dates are exactly what you might find in the West: restaurants, cafes, movies. In India there is no formal asking out on dates. My friend Sheethal breaks it down into four steps:

1. Hang out.

2. Boy tells girl “I love you.”

3. You’re a couple but no one knows about it except a select few friends who won’t tell the parental units.

4. Either marriage when the parental units find out, suicide (if kids are super passionate…this doesn’t happen a lot), or breaking up to keep the family happy.

Families have a lot of influence over their children’s choices – and older generations frown on dating. Arranged marriages are still the norm, and love marriages are often met with difficulties.  When dating does happen, it is taken seriously. Akhila, in her twenties says “People who date, date with marriage in mind. Very few people date to see where it goes.”

Japan
My friend Jessi, an American Expat in Tokyo, and Toshiko, a native are my guides to Japanese dating, and they both agree on one thing: it’s hard to find a date. They aren’t the only ones to notice this problem. This generation of Japanese men are often uninterested in relationships or pursuing women. They don’t want to take on the responsibilities of girlfriends, marriage or children. In 2006, columnist Maki Fukasawa called them “Herbivorous Men,” and the term stuck. These young men in their 20’s and 30’s aren’t even interested in sex, just friendship with women – and, they’re straight.

But, not all men in Japan are “herbivorous.” Dating starts in high school, and goes like this: Much emphasis is placed on “the confession.” Instead of asking a girl out for a cup of coffee and taking it from there, the young man is expected to dramatically confess his feelings to the girl. Then, skipping over the dating part, they are in a relationship from that point onward. Since Japanese men have the same strong instinct to escape embarrassment and rejection as the English men (and all men), declaring love is obviously terrifying. It’s no wonder so many are opting for friendship.

Looking for love isn’t easy. So for those wanting help to meet people, there is “Gokon.” Gokon can be either like speed-dating in an organized group of singles, or a group of single girls meeting a group of single boys in hopes of finding romance. If that fails, parents are a little too happy to step in and help. It’s not uncommon for mothers of 30 year olds to go to matchmaking services on their children’s behalf, and then try to set up dates with the suitors they like best.