Searching for a new job

Hey Guys!

So since moving to North Dakota, I had to give up my old job that I had working for our local County back home because they would not let me go remote unfortunately and it was also just becoming a toxic work environment for me and I needed to say goodbye anyways. But it has been about 3 months now and I still haven't really gotten many hits. I haven't had a single interview either. I have had a couple companies reach out to schedule one and after reviewing the job posting, the company on Glassdoor or just emailing with person who reached out to me I didn't end up taking the interview for various reasons.

June 2022 Life Update

My dog Dooney and Me in the snow in North Dakota

Hey Guys!

Long time no talk! But no, seriously, it has been a while and I have really missed blogging! I want to start off by apologizing and even though I know that I really only had like maybe 5-10 people reading my blog posts and most of those were my family and friends, I want to say I'm sorry for taking such a long hiatus and for just randomly not posting anymore. Honestly, life got a little crazy! I mean, I think a lot of peoples lives got crazy once Covid became a thing. I really don't have any other excuse besides Covid and probably some mental health issues just like a lot of people kind of dealt with during Covid. We all had to stop seeing our friends and family and we all became shut-ins for a little bit. 

Anyways, I wanted to give you guys a little life update on where I have been since my last post in February of 2020! When I posted last, I had just started going to school for my Master's and Covid was just kind of in the beginning stages of being spread around the world...yay so fun! I was still working for the County at the time (remember? The job I constantly complained about) and my boyfriend had recently been stationed in Grand Forks, North Dakota and only had been living there since October of 2019. Wow that sounds so crazy to say! Time really does fly by! In the time since then, I was promoted at work to a job that I had really wanted for about a year or more, I am still currently working on my Master's, my sister went back to school for her Master's and moved to Orlando. We still have the house that we shared together and are in the process of turning it into an Airbnb/long term fully furnished rental property. My dog was also diagnosed with Cancer and we almost lost him. After 4 years my boyfriend and I got engaged, and I recently quit that job I was promoted to and moved to Grand Forks to be with my fiancé. I think that pretty much sums it up but if I miss anything I will probably blog about it later. 

I really want to get back to blogging, not necessarily full time seeing as how I am a full time student, searching for a new, hopefully fully remote job, and planning a wedding all while living 2,000 miles away from family and friends! I already have a few posts in mind that I plan on writing today, which is a Sunday and then finishing some of them up throughout the rest of the week. I will explain my current situation in a little more detail in one of the posts and as well as some of the other items I mentioned above. As for now, I hope you guys have a fantastic week and if there is anything specific you would like me to blog about please leave me a comment below! 

Thanks for stopping by!

XO, Steph

Job Hunting 2018

Hey guys,

So I'm currently in New York right now, I flew in last night after my mom and sister got off from work! We are here until Monday August 6th and we fly back that afternoon! I absolutely love this city and I am so glad that for the last 4 years or so we have been able to take a girls trip up to the city to visit, check out new things and of course, shop! This is one of my favorite places to be! I plan to do a whole travel diary about the trip for each day that we are here so keep an eye out for that, granted I'm not entirely sure when it will be up! Anyways today's post is kind of a rant but hopefully like an inspirational one! I'm going be talking all about job hunting and finding a new job! 

I originally wanted to start off this series with this post but the other two were just so much easier to write that I was able to finish them first! I kind of have a lot to say about this topic since I've been job hunting for about 3 months now and the last time I job hunted, it took me about 3 months or so before I found a job as well. I also plan on giving you guys some more details about my back story and why job hunting can be a little challenging for me!

Honestly, finding a new job is very challenging and can be very discouraging! My number one tip is that you don't give up because it will happen, eventually! Two quotes that I would constantly tell myself were good things come to those who wait and everything happens for a reason! I honestly, am not looking forward to the next time I have to search for a new job but hopefully it won't be for the next couple years or hopefully I will be able to just get promoted from within if I really like my job.

To start off with, I'm going to say that everyone is different. You might find a job in a week or it might take you like 3+ months. I've been hunting since about May and I have applied to probably almost 50+ jobs in the 3 month period and I have gotten a lot of interview requests but after some more thought and consideration I choose not to go to a lot of them. I mostly applied to just get my name out there because you never know, you might apply for one job and then the company has a different spot that might work better for you. Honestly, when it comes to job hunting you really don't know what's going to happen. You might start the process thinking that you want to work in one field but once you start applying and interviewing you might end up in a completely different field.

Also, some of them I applied to thinking I might work a second job until I was able to find a full time position. Granted once I actually thought that through, I thought it was a bad idea because then I wouldn't really have that much time to actually find a job because I would probably be working almost 40 hours a week between the two jobs with completely random hours and a different schedule every week making it hard to schedule interviews. So I decided to keep my one job and switch my hours to closing shifts only so that way I would be able to scheduled as many interviews as necessary.

When I started this process back in 2016 when I first graduated college I knew that it would be hard. I like to try and prove people wrong and I like to try and overcome challenges, it's how I've always been. If someone tells me I can't do something then guess what I try and do it, and most of the time I can. I knew that when I chose not to work in college, I knew that I would have a really hard time finding a job when I graduated and people told me all the time that I should get a job because I needed the experience but apart of me didn't really want to because I had more than enough money to survive thanks to the my dad and the GI Bill and I wanted to be able to spend the rest of my youth not working because I knew that when I graduated college I would have to spend the next 30+ years of my life working hard to create a future for my family and for myself when I do finally decide to retire. I always hear people complaining about their jobs and how much they wish they could retire already and I really didn't want to start living my life like that until I had finished college.

Do I regret not working in college? Sometimes but most of the time no because I was able to go on family vacations and I had the freedom to pretty much go wherever I wanted whenever I wanted! I didn't have to request time off from work and I was able to spend more time with my family and focus on school. I graduated with two Bachelor's Degree's in four years and aside from my sister, I don't really know anyone else that completed two Bachelor's Degrees in four years. Every time I tell people that they are so impressed and honestly, so am I. It wasn't easy, I had to take extra classes and work a little harder and I pretty much worked through every summer except my very first.

I have two bachelor's degrees that I worked really hard to earn and I am very proud to see how far I've come! Yes, I have friends that have already started their careers and are making so much more money than I am but I honestly, don't really care about that! I know that in time I will make more than enough money to support myself and my family! I also do kind of want to be a stay at home for a few years anyways soooo I'm really banking on my husband to make enough money to support our family, at least for a few years until our youngest is in either preschool or VPK!

I think that's pretty much all I have to say for right now and I hope that this inspires and educates some people! Thankfully in life, everyone gets to make their own decisions so what you want to do with your life is up to you! Do what makes you happy but make sure you're smart about it at least! 

So I just wanted to end this weeks series of finding a new job by saying that I found a full time job! It took some time but I am very excited about this new opportunity and I can't wait to learn new things with this position! The location and the hours are wonderful! I will be working about 10 minutes away from my house and working 7:30 am - 4:30 in the afternoon which will give me plenty of time to still get so much done throughout the day. I will get an hour lunch which I am so excited about because 30 minutes just isn't enough time! I will definitely have to get on a better sleep scheduled but I couldn't be more excited to finally have a routine in my life again. I also handed in my two weeks on Wednesday at DSW and my last day will be the 16th of August and I start my new job on the 30th of August! Once I actually start my new job I will probably do a full post on it giving you guys more details!

Thanks for stopping by!

XO, Steph

Interview Advice

Hey guys,

Happy August 1st! I can't believe how fast this year has just flown by! It's absolutely crazy! To be honest, the last 3 months have kind of just dragged on but gone by really quickly at the same time, it's so weird! Anyways, the reason I wanted to write this post was because I have been interviewing a lot lately and I just kind of wanted to sum up some of the things I've learned and some advice I want to share with you.

Tip #1

Always dress professional! I don't care where you are going to work or what anyone else has ever told you but don't show up to an interview in anything other than dress pants, closed toe shoes, and a blouse or button downs. You can also wear a dress or skirt to an interview just please make sure that it hits at or below the knees and that it looks professional. Basically my advice is to dress like you are going to court! You want to make sure you look nice, clean and presentable. First impressions are everything and if you aren't willing to dress nice for the position then I can guarantee the company is going to think that you aren't willing to do most of the work they plan to ask you to do!

Tip #2

It's completely okay to be nervous! These people are only human and they are not going to hurt you. Yes they have the power to give you a job or not but in the end just remember to breathe and be yourself. If you aren't being yourself they might be able to tell and they might not like that. They might also be able to tell that you're nervous and that's okay too. I promise you that most of them don't care and to honest, some of them might be nervous as well. They might hate conducting interviews as much as you hate going to them. But it's apart of life and we all need to just relax and everything will be okay! The main reason I'm bringing up this topic is because this is something that I really struggle with. My last interview I almost ran out of the building and said I couldn't do it! But thankfully I didn't! I survived and in the end I think the interview went really well. 

Tip #3

Make sure to always prepare for an interview! I don't care who you think you are, it's always best to show up prepared. They might ask you a question that you don't know the answer to but if you come up with questions and answers then you might be able to create an answer really quickly based off the questions and answers you practiced. There is nothing wrong in being prepared and I don't believe there is such a thing as being too prepared. However, I do believe in overthinking things because that's what I tend to do!

Tip #4 

Always ask questions. Honestly, I hate this part of interviews they always ask me if I have any questions and then I freeze and I'm like "ummm?? no?". But you need to ask at least 1 to 2 questions. Asking questions is a way for you to get more info out of them and it also shows them that you are actually interested in the position. If you don't want to know more about the job then to them you aren't actually interested in the job and you probably will never hear back from them. However, if this is the case and you are just using them as interview practice then I probably would not bother asking any questions if you don't really want to hear back from the company.

Tip #5
For my final tip, if you really want the job, don't forget to send out your thank you emails within 24-48 hours of the interview. I had my last interview on a Friday and so I sent them out Sunday night so they would have them in their inboxes by Monday morning. I feel like a lot of people forget this step but honestly, I think it really helps! It's very important to thank the person for taking the time to consider interviewing you and actually interviewing you. Make sure that if you are interview by more than 1 person that you send out an email to everyone person that interviewed you and that you make each one a little different. Also just write a few sentences thanking them and basically telling them why you are perfect for the job! Don't make it too long but don't just say thanks.

I hope this post helps anyone looking for a new job! I think that all of these tips have really helped me and just remember that everything happens for a reason so if there is a job you really wanted but didn't get, it's probably because there is an even better one waiting for you around the corner!

Thanks for stopping by!

XO, Steph

Top 10 Interviews Questions

Hey guys,

 So since I've been doing a lot of interviews lately I thought it would be a fun idea to write up 10 popular interview questions that I tend to focus on. One thing I've learned lately, is that when it comes to interviews and interviewing for different companies and hiring managers, you might not always get your typical interview questions. The last two interviews I went to, they didn't ask me a single question from top 20 questions that I have written down. But they asked me questions that were kind of similar.

What I like to do is make up a list of questions that people ask in interviews a lot and I type up my answers and then I review them before I have an interview. I make them pretty general that way you can mold them to fit to the specific job you are applying for. To make this list I just googled top interview questions or most popular interview questions and then a bunch of websites pull up. A lot of them will have repeat questions so once you get your list going I just go to random sites and find ones that I don't already have on my list. I am an extremely organized and detail oriented person so I like to make sure that I am very prepared for anything and everything. If I'm not then I have the tendency to get really bad anxiety. 

So below I have listed out my top 10 questions that I tend to study the most and have probably been asked the most. I also chose these 10 questions because my mom and sister conduct interviews for new hires at their work and so they have a list of popular questions that they tend to ask the people they are interviewing and these are some of the questions that they ask. 

1) Tell me about yourself.

2) What are your 5 greatest strengths?

3) What are your 5 greatest weaknesses?

4) Why should we hire you?

5) Why do you want this job?

6) How well do handle stress?

7) How well do you work with others?

8) How do you handle a difficult situation/customer at work?

9) What traits do you think (insert job title) should have?

10) Why are you looking to leave your current job?

So these are the 10 questions that I stick to and they pretty much help me answer whatever question comes my way. Most interviewers will be using questions that are based off of these questions they just change the wording some to fit the job description a little better. 

When it comes to the greatest strengths and weaknesses, they might not always ask for a certain number but it's good to have at least 5 prepared just incase! I know that 5 seems like a large of things to come up with but I promise you there are 5 things that you are great at and 5 things that you stink at that you can figure out how to turn into a positive thing! There's not such thing as perfection which is my number 1 biggest weakness! 

Also, I know that "why should we hire you" and "why do you want this job" seem like very similar questions but they aren't! The "why do you want this job" question is basically asking you why you really want this job or are you just applying to apply. The why should we hire you is your chance to tell them how you are so much better than the other people that have applied for the job.

Remember to always be honest, don't lie in an interview because if you do it will come out someday that you did and then it won't make you look very good. You also could potentially be fired for lying, it all just depends on the company and how they want to handle the situation.

I hope this helps everyone! I know that finding a new job can be stressful which is why I decided to write up these posts! I thoroughly enjoy helping people so I really hope that this helps at least one person! 

Thanks for stopping by!

XO, Steph