Freshman year is a big deal. You’re experiencing and encountering so many new things at once, and they all seem like make it or break it situations. However, you can relax knowing that while everything seems like a huge deal, in the long run, most things aren’t. By following some simple tips, you’ll be navigating your first year of college so well; people may think you’re a sophomore!

DO create some distance; DON’T be a stranger
For many incoming freshmen, this is the first time they’ve been away from home. No matter the distance, if you’re living on campus instead of at home, it’s going to be an adjustment. Establish some sense of independence while living in the dorms. Instead of calling the parents every time you can’t figure out laundry, roommate problems or homework, try working it out on your own or asking someone on your floor.

Of course, don’t ignore your family completely. Check in periodically and share how you’re doing. Try to visit at least a few times a semester. You’ll be surprised to find how much those conversations and visits mean after being away for a while.

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A trend that many have suspected to be on the rise – including college graduates – has been confirmed in a recent survey regarding employment rates among young people. An online survey from PayScale.com conducted between July 2011 and July 2012, showed that 63 percent of young people between the ages of 18 and 29 have a bachelor’s degree, however, are often forced to take jobs that don’t require one.

The survey included input from nearly 500,000 young workers, and only further suggested that a four-year college degree doesn’t mean as much as it used to when it comes to securing a job.

As reported by MarketWatch, a similar survey conducted by Rutgers University saw similar conclusions. They found that nearly half of young people who have graduated in the last five years say their jobs don’t require a four-year degree, and only 20 percent said their first job was actually in their desired career field.

Cliff Zukin, a professor of political science and public policy at Rutgers, told MarketWatch that these findings paint a grim picture of employment for recent college grads, saying, “Our society’s most talented people are unable to find a job that gives them a decent income.” Read the rest of this entry »

For many students, earning a college degree has one big drawback: you are more than likely to graduate owing several thousand dollars in debt on student loans that you had to use to pay for your education. However, there is one school in the nation where not a single student has to worry about this problem. It’s not because the school has a ridiculously low tuition price or that it is free. Instead, students at the College of the Ozarks are expected to trade working hours for their education.

Students at the College of the Ozarks, or “Hard Work U,” as the Wall Street Journal nicknamed it in 1906, work for 15-hours each week during the semester and then work two 40-hour weeks during breaks. In return, they graduate without owing a single penny.

“We want to give you an opportunity to pay for your education as you go, rather than carry large debts into your future,” the school’s ‘Welcome’ materials tell new students. “Your 15-hour-per-week campus job will help you develop professional working skills in areas like agriculture, computers, business, child development, construction, and more.” Read the rest of this entry »

Can you imagine waking up every Monday morning and reporting to a different building each week to do your job? Your job might even change on a weekly basis: one week you could be working in the sciences and the next you might be filling out paperwork. However, you would still be considered a full-time employee for the DOE’s ATR and you would still receive your full salary. It sounds like the life of a super-secret-agent to me, but for the teachers who work for the Department of Education’s Absent Teacher Reserve, it is just another day at the job.

Each week, hundreds of teachers in New York City go through this routine. As a mentioned before, these nomadic teachers receive their full salaries not to teach their normal jobs, but to work as substitutes at different schools throughout the New York Public School District. Many of these teachers were “excessed” due to budget cuts, but some have escaped from the “rubber rooms,” where teachers are sent as punishment for “excessive lateness or absence, sexual misconduct with a [minor], physical abuse, incompetence or use of drugs or alcohol.”

Up until October 2011, ATR teachers would remain at one school for the entire school term. If they did a good enough job, the principal could decide to hire them. But now, the teachers move from school to school on a weekly basis because the United Federation of Teachers signed a deal with the DOE to make the change. The United Federation of Teachers claims that teachers will have a better chance of finding a job by changing schools each week because they will be meeting more new potential bosses.

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Once again, another high school principal is coming under scrutiny and facing charges for something he did to his students. This time the man in question, George Kenney, isn’t facing charges for sexual relations with students, which is one of the more common reasons that principals and teachers face charges. Instead, he was practicing therapeutic hypnosis on his students.

Kenney used to hypnotize his students in order to help them do better in academics and athletics. His superiors told him to quit the practice, but Kenney did not stop and an internal investigation discovered that he had hypnotized up to 75 people on school grounds; some of the students received up to 40 sessions from the principal. As a result, he was reassigned to an administrative job and will resign from that job at the end of the school year.

“He was well regarded by many and I’m sure will be missed by many,” said Scott Ferguson, a spokesman for the Sarasota County School District.

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There are several problems with the American higher education system. For example, a higher education is expensive and many students graduate owing thousands of dollars in debt. Also, some colleges are very selective and students cannot go to these schools, even if they want to. However, when Michael Bettersworth, an associate vice chancellor at the Texas State Technical College System, was asked what the biggest problem was, he pointed out a problem that does not usually come to mind.

“Houston, we have a problem, and it’s not that too few people are going to college,” he said. “It’s that too many people are getting degrees with limited value in the job market.”

Oh, yeah, that’s a problem that definitely had not popped to the front of my mind. However, when you think about it, it does make sense. There are many people who choose to study a subject that does not directly prepare them for a job. For example, I have a friend who studied philosophy at a very prestigious school. After graduation, he could not find a job and ended up working as a restaurant manager.

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It’s very common for college students to feel strapped for cash these days. Even if they have a part-time job, it can be hard to make ends meet, especially if your parents are not helping fund your education. So what is a student to do?

Margaux Malyshev decided to become a hair model in order to make $250.

“To earn the $250, I had to let them do anything they wanted to my hair,” she said. When Malyshev walked in for the “job,” she had long blond hair. By the end of the experience, she had brunette hair with bangs and layers. “From now on, I plan to stick with psychological testing.” Malyshev was referring to her other source of income, where she makes about $20 per hour by filling out university research questionnaires.

For those who have just graduated and are in debt with student loans, this situation seems even worse. Combined with the current job market, many students are searching for any way possible to save a few dollars.

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There are several recognized life-stages that we must all go through in order to grow from childhood to adulthood. These include infancy, childhood, and adolescence. However, new research shows that recent college-graduates and their peers are actually still growing and maturing. This new life-stage is called “emerging adulthood” and it explains why many recent graduates do not seem to be in a rush to grow up.

In the past, students made the “transition to adulthood” by completing five milestones: finishing their education, leaving their parents’ home, gaining financial independence, getting married, and having a child. In 1960, about 71 percent of people had reached these milestones by age 30; in 2000, this number was only 38.5 percent for women and 21.7 percent for men.

So what does this mean for those of us who have recently graduated and are in our 20s? According to this new research, 20-somethings’ brains are still developing and they are also exploring their own identities. This can lead to instability and a feeling of being in-between adolescence and adulthood. However, this age group also has a new-found “sense of possibilities”  because they have so many options for what to do with their lives.

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Nervous about your next job interview? You can prepare by studying these potential interview questions.

Not sure what they’ll ask? Read these five most common questions, and learn how to better answer them.

Tell me about yourself: This isn’t a life-story question. What they really want to know is about your education background, work experience and other relative qualifications. There’s really no need to go into detail because they’ll likely ask more specific questions later on in the interview. Just emphasize years of experience and your proudest achievements.

Where do you see  yourself in five years?: Also another general question, you always want to convey that you like to keep your options open, while still following a basic 5-year plan. There’s nothing wrong with telling your potential employer that you may go  back to school, move to a different state or start a family. However, you don’t what make it seem like these are set-in-stone plans. Future employers will doubt your flexibility.

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As a recent college graduate, I can tell you that the whole finding-a-job process is difficult, exhausting, and discouraging. You can cruise websites like Monster.com, read your local classified ads, and network to your heart’s content, but you still might not find the right job, even though you have spent hours searching. Luckily, a new website takes a lot of the legwork out of this process for you. Let me introduce you to YourEmployment.com.

YourEmployment.com is a free website that lists more than 500,000 jobs from more than 20,000 websites and job boards. YourEmployment.com has full time, part time, internships, and temporary positions available while also offering resources that you might need in order to make yourself a better candidate for jobs, such as information about pursuing a higher education.

Employers also use this website to list jobs that they currently have available. Employers either list directly on YourEmployment.com or the website searches it’s network of websites to find listings that are applicable and relevant for job-searchers.

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