So, we all find ourselves going to school to get an education so we can get a job and make money to pay off our student loans. If this is not true for you - you are LUCKY. It's fine to have student loans and be on your own to pay for college. . . in fact it requires a lot of responsibility and hard work, but it also requires you to FIND A JOB during college. We can all find jobs at restaurants, retail stores ect., but I always struggled with the idea that I would spend 20 hours of my week at a part time job that I did only to make a little money. I'm here to tell you what I wish someone would have told me. . .
YOU CAN FIND PART-TIME jobs that PAY and ARE MEANINGFUL TO YOU!!! It's true. Since my time at fahrenHEIGHT360 I've heard so many stories about our Personal Care Assistant position, something that I didn't even know existed while I was in college. Let me tell you one of the stories that I found especially intriguing and exciting.
This is the story of a young boy - we'll call him Sam - (about 5 years old) with autism. He had 2 siblings and a single mom (her husband left becuase of the unease and stress he felt having a child with autism). The boy's mom was not willing to give up on her son or the family, but she found herself working really hard to get all of her kids to school on time and get to work every day - and realized she simply could not do it all on her own. So, she decided to find a Personal Care Assistant to help her provide the support and education that her son deserves in order to live the best possible life he could live.
Enter Alex. Alex was a 21 year old student at the University of Minnesota who had decided to be a PCA in hopes to gain relevant experience, develop skills future employers might be looking for, start building a personal story and fulfill field hours in his area of interest (child psychology) while making a little money to pay the bills. Alex was matched with Sam.
Alex started working with Sam 4 days a week for 3 hour shifts. When Alex started spending time with Sam - he took 3 hours to get through his bedtime routine and if anything happened differently than Sam had expected, that added another hour to the process. (No parent should have to spend that much time putting a child to bed). Alex was determined to follow Sam's care plan and help him improve this time.
Through care and persistance the time taken to go to bed was cut down to 1 hour in about 3 months. Alex felt good about the progress and what he'd learned so far, Sam's mom had a little free time and Sam had a new favorite person - Alex! Now, Alex was hooked. He was ready to tackle the next task. . . helping Sam get ready for school.
Sam took his clothes off, on average, 7 times a morning - so mom had to get the other two kids in the car, run to get Sam - put on his clothes and run him out to the car before he took his clothes off every day. EVERY DAY. Within a few more months Alex and Sam were able to keep Sam's clothes on after 1 try.
It has been 3 years since Alex started working with Sam. Sam still calls Alex every week, even though Alex graduated last spring. And Sam's mom was brought to tears one day when Sam came home with a piece of paper and a phone number on it. Sam told his mom, "Look mom, I have a friend." His mom guarantees that Sam would have never done this had Alex not been there for Sam and care enough to help him with his social interaction.
For me making friends is something that I never even think twice about - and if my mom cried about it, she was most likely scared of my friend being a bad influence on me or wishing I had less so I was home more often. But there are so many people out there who have dreams and goals just like I do, but need a little more help achieving them. As a Personal Care Assistant you can help them do that.
Thursday, March 19, 2009
Monday, February 16, 2009
Musings on work/life balance
Brazen Careerist ran a post about how work/life balance is not good for 20somethings.
Their opinion is that, if you love your job, you should be working your tail off to get ahead. This way, you will be able to have more flexibility when you have more responsibilities. If you hate your job, your time after work should be spent researching or learning so you can move into something that you love.
I tend to agree with this. I am not saying you should not go out with friends, or relax, but if thats all you do, you never actually relax. You just move the stress to a later time. I think that, if you truly want to succeed in work, go all-out when you can. There will be tons of time for fun down the line, and a few nights spent adding to your skills will pay off in droves later in life.
Summary: if you love your job, work your tail off at it. If you dont, work your taill off, and then do what you need to do to move into a job that you love.
Their opinion is that, if you love your job, you should be working your tail off to get ahead. This way, you will be able to have more flexibility when you have more responsibilities. If you hate your job, your time after work should be spent researching or learning so you can move into something that you love.
I tend to agree with this. I am not saying you should not go out with friends, or relax, but if thats all you do, you never actually relax. You just move the stress to a later time. I think that, if you truly want to succeed in work, go all-out when you can. There will be tons of time for fun down the line, and a few nights spent adding to your skills will pay off in droves later in life.
Summary: if you love your job, work your tail off at it. If you dont, work your taill off, and then do what you need to do to move into a job that you love.
Saturday, January 31, 2009
75% of millennials favor computers over TV
Do you agree? I do. I catch the news and sports on TV, and though I don't watch much I do have a couple favorite shows. However, I can (and do sometimes) spend hours on YouTube finding the content I want right then and there. Or I'll have the TV running but I'll be sitting at my computer on Adium and facebook listening to my TV.
Read THIS article
What about you all?
What does this mean for media, advertising, our lifestyles?
Friday, January 16, 2009
Celebration at work? OF COURSE!
Yesterday for fahrenHEIGHT360's smart and witty team member - Sarah - we all took a couple of minutes off, stepped away from what we were doing and celebrated a milestone in her life . . . her 30th Birthday! We celebrated in fahrenHEIGHT360 style of course; first ringing our cow bell aka the "Firebell" to get the energy up. Ceremonies that followed included the official singing of the Happy Birthday Song, and the blindfolded and dizzy breaking of her pink and purple purse pinata.
I know . . . this fahrenHEIGHT360 place is full of millennials and 30 year olds playing with pinatas - we're crazy right! I agree - we're crazy and high energy while we get things done and we LOVE IT. It feels good to play even when you're 30. The reality is that often we don't leave ourselves time to truly celebrate because we're SO busy. Well - I'm here to tell you that WE ALL need celebration time just as much as we need our intense work time. So take the time to enjoy the happy moments in life as they come along. And don't celebrate alone - family, friends and co-workers want to be a part of the fun too!
A quote from Og Mandino,
"Never will I allow myself to become so imporant, so wise, so dignified, so powerful, that I forget how to laugh at myself and my world. In this matter I will always remain as a child, for only as a child am I given the ability to look up to others . . . And so long as I can laugh never will I be poor. This, then, is one of nature's greatest gifts, and I will waste it no more. Only with laughter and happiness can I truly become a success."
I know . . . this fahrenHEIGHT360 place is full of millennials and 30 year olds playing with pinatas - we're crazy right! I agree - we're crazy and high energy while we get things done and we LOVE IT. It feels good to play even when you're 30. The reality is that often we don't leave ourselves time to truly celebrate because we're SO busy. Well - I'm here to tell you that WE ALL need celebration time just as much as we need our intense work time. So take the time to enjoy the happy moments in life as they come along. And don't celebrate alone - family, friends and co-workers want to be a part of the fun too!
A quote from Og Mandino,
"Never will I allow myself to become so imporant, so wise, so dignified, so powerful, that I forget how to laugh at myself and my world. In this matter I will always remain as a child, for only as a child am I given the ability to look up to others . . . And so long as I can laugh never will I be poor. This, then, is one of nature's greatest gifts, and I will waste it no more. Only with laughter and happiness can I truly become a success."
Monday, December 22, 2008
Millennials and "Beta Culture"
One of the current "buzz-phrases" in the blog-o-sphere is "beta culture." This is the idea that companies roll out products to the end user before they are ready, in the beta stage, to get them out faster. Google does this all the time. GMail and GCal both are. Google Reader is not, but they are working on it like it is, rolling out 2 updates in the last 30 days.
What does this all mean to millennials? What do millennials and beta culture have to do with anything? Millennials, who are mostly tech-hounds, want the newest thing right now. Having a company launch their product early and get it out there is beneficial in two ways to millennials. One is the early adopters create good buzz around it. Imagine if GMail had not been recieved so well by the early adopters-it would not exist, and instead is the top webmail service. The other way that the beta helps is with market research-problems get found and fixed by people who are ok with finding them and submitting them, rather than people who would get mad and leave the service.
However, this is a double-edged sword. This beta-culture has lowered consumer standards, who are now ok with bugs, malfunctioning hardware, and all sorts of other issues.
What are your thoughts on the beta-culture? Leave a comment below.
What does this all mean to millennials? What do millennials and beta culture have to do with anything? Millennials, who are mostly tech-hounds, want the newest thing right now. Having a company launch their product early and get it out there is beneficial in two ways to millennials. One is the early adopters create good buzz around it. Imagine if GMail had not been recieved so well by the early adopters-it would not exist, and instead is the top webmail service. The other way that the beta helps is with market research-problems get found and fixed by people who are ok with finding them and submitting them, rather than people who would get mad and leave the service.
However, this is a double-edged sword. This beta-culture has lowered consumer standards, who are now ok with bugs, malfunctioning hardware, and all sorts of other issues.
What are your thoughts on the beta-culture? Leave a comment below.
Tuesday, December 16, 2008
VocalHEIGHT360...
How many companies can holiday carol, take different groups of employees during actual 'rehearsals,' and pull off 3-part harmonies to popular tunes and Latin hymns? Bam! We rule.
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Millennial Statistics
In November, fahrenHEIGHT360 sent a newsletter to many local companies about the "New Generation of Leaders." There were several statistics quoted in it that I think need to be looked into more.
"70% of millennials leave their first job within 2 years"
This stat, on its surface, does not look good to the older generations. They value workplace loyalty, and millennials have anything but. Millennials are always looking to develop themselves further, and with that comes new jobs. This stat tells me something important-many people of my generation are not passionate about our first jobs. Whether that is because we think we can do better, just took it to pay the bills, or realize that the field is not a good fit, it is probabaly a good thing that we leave. When we are passionate about our jobs, we are much more productive, and help the company even more.
"In the next 6 years, the millennial generation will comprise 40% of the workforce"
This is a fact. It is the reasons comapnies should take a look at themselves, and see if they are millennial ready. In my opinion, many are not. Most still have strict rules, and are very limiting for most millennials.
"25% of millennials surveyed report that they are disengaged"
This rolls up into the first point that I made-millennials are not doing what they love! There are things that both millennials and companies can do to help this, but the bottom line is that those things need to get done, or the generation gap will continue to grow.
I hope that these newsletters will get more companies thinking about the future millennials in their workforce, and start to cater to them a bit. Millennials are picky about their employers.
"70% of millennials leave their first job within 2 years"
This stat, on its surface, does not look good to the older generations. They value workplace loyalty, and millennials have anything but. Millennials are always looking to develop themselves further, and with that comes new jobs. This stat tells me something important-many people of my generation are not passionate about our first jobs. Whether that is because we think we can do better, just took it to pay the bills, or realize that the field is not a good fit, it is probabaly a good thing that we leave. When we are passionate about our jobs, we are much more productive, and help the company even more.
"In the next 6 years, the millennial generation will comprise 40% of the workforce"
This is a fact. It is the reasons comapnies should take a look at themselves, and see if they are millennial ready. In my opinion, many are not. Most still have strict rules, and are very limiting for most millennials.
"25% of millennials surveyed report that they are disengaged"
This rolls up into the first point that I made-millennials are not doing what they love! There are things that both millennials and companies can do to help this, but the bottom line is that those things need to get done, or the generation gap will continue to grow.
I hope that these newsletters will get more companies thinking about the future millennials in their workforce, and start to cater to them a bit. Millennials are picky about their employers.
Blogged with the Flock Browser
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Posts
