school-tips

[school-tips]

Seen in Lynn Canyon Park. North Vancouver, BC

[school-tips]

Dear internet,

Please give me all the advice you have on writing cover letters. Like, the closer you can get to literally just writing a cover letter for me, the better. Ok bye.

[school-tips]

Writing a Cover Letter!

So! I’ve been job hunting lately, and I’ve been collecting some various tips and the like, so I’m going to put this as a reference here for myself, and I thought it may be useful for you all as well. 

I’m not sure if you’ve seen this post about how someone uses the same format to write emails? (check it out, it’s great, and totally how I do my emails)

But anywho, it seems one could do the same with cover letters.  Dear [Hiring Manager], One - Intro This paragraph introduces who you are and what ‘level’ you’re at. College/Uni, High School/Secondary school, etc etc. State that you’re interested in whatever position, and how you heard about it. Include a referral if you have one. Say that you think you’d be an excellent fit for the position at their company. 

Two - Connect the Dots This paragraph states a few of the requirements they’re looking for, and then why your experience would be a good fit. I tend to copypasta from the descriptions into my word doc so it’s literally right there for me to reference. I call this connect the dots because you state the reqs, and talk about your experience(work or otherwise), and then link what you did, with what requirement it would be related to. It shows that you’re qualified, and that you’re smart enough to make those connections. 

Three - Personality What other broader skills do you have that would fit? Time management, team cohesiveness, work ethic, etc. These ones you want to have direct examples. Show, don’t tell - you want them to visualize, if possible. Could be about a project you lead, a team you were on, anything that shows your character and other “soft skills.” It’s the difference between “oh hey i know how to operate an LS9 sound board” and “I can function with a team to achieve a collective goal, and will be aware of where to dedicate my strengths.”

Four - Wrap up Recap some highlights, again say that you’d be a benefit to the company overall, as you bring xyz elements to the table. Thank them for their time, say you look forward to hearing back from them.  So there you have it. Template basically for writing a cover letter. Don’t downplay those personality and soft skills - seeking out answers, working together, learning things. all valuable. especially the ‘just google it’ thing. There’s a post that I can’t find rn that talks about their boss telling a millennial that their ability and willingness to actually look things up online is very valuable. I shall look later (or if yall wanna link me that’d be awesome!)

For now though, back to applying to places for me :)

[school-tips]

ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww

writing adult emails is awful

its like

hi [name of person], 

this formatting is making me uncomfortable but I have to tell you something / ask you something that is vital to my career as a student. 

I re-read and edited that sentence for an hour, but you’ll probably just glance over it for half a second.

thanks! 

- [name]

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Sorry I haven't been posting on here much, been getting ready for

Graduation!!!

Yay :) finally finished this past semester. Now to get a job and be in the real world

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Art forgery is the best crime tbh. It requires absolutely incredible artistic talent, technical skill, and attention to detail to make convincing fakes. Does anyone get hurt from it? No! The only people who suffer for it are the extremely wealthy who want the prestige of having original paintings in their own homes. It’s full of international intrigue and mystery. Perfect.

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internet politics and real-world politics have gotten so separated, and pretty soon all this internet weirdness is gonna come crashing into real life and politicians are gonna start throwing around words like “SJW” and “anime communist” and “dark enlightenment” and it’s just gonna be the most ridiculous fucking thing

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Sad truth

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How to Handle Having TOO MUCH To Do

So let’s say you’re in the same boat I am (this is a running theme, have you noticed?) and you’ve just got, like, SO MUCH STUFF that HAS to get done YESTERDAY or you will DIE (or fail/get fired/mope). Everything needs to be done yesterday, you’re sick, and for whatever reason you are focusing on the least important stuff first. What to do!

Take a deep breath, because this is a boot camp in prioritization.

Make a 3 by 4 grid. Make it pretty big. The line above your top row goes like this: Due YESTERDAY - due TOMORROW - due LATER. Along the side, write: Takes 5 min - Takes 30 min - Takes hours - Takes DAYS.

Divide ALL your tasks into one of these squares, based on how much work you still have to do. A thank you note for a present you received two weeks ago? That takes 5 minutes and was due YESTERDAY. Put it in that square. A five page paper that’s due tomorrow? That takes an hour/hours, place it appropriately. Tomorrow’s speech you just need to rehearse? Half an hour, due TOMORROW. Do the same for ALL of your tasks

Your priority goes like this:

5 minutes due YESTERDAY

5 minutes due TOMORROW

Half-hour due YESTERDAY

Half-hour due TOMORROW

Hours due YESTERDAY

Hours due TOMORROW

5 minutes due LATER

Half-hour due LATER

Hours due LATER

DAYS due YESTERDAY

DAYS due TOMORROW

DAYS due LATER

At this point you just go down the list in each section. If something feels especially urgent, for whatever reason - a certain professor is hounding you, you’re especially worried about that speech, whatever - you can bump that up to the top of the entire list. However, going through the list like this is what I find most efficient.

Some people do like to save the 5 minute tasks for kind of a break between longer-running tasks. If that’s what you want to try, go for it! You’re the one studying here.

So that’s how to prioritize. Now, how to actually do shit? That’s where the 20/10 method comes in. It’s simple: do stuff like a stuff-doing FIEND for 20 minutes, then take a ten minute break and do whatever you want. Repeat ad infinitum. It’s how I’ve gotten through my to do list, concussed and everything.

You’ve got this. Get a drink and start - we can do our stuff together!

[school-tips]

DAILY FIND: Sometimes the Internet is a crappy place full of crap. But today I’m reminded that it’s an amazing trove of free and good information from reliable sources: The University of Illinois Extension has created a searchable index of every stain known to man and stain removal solutions for each. The tool will even tell you what your window of stain-treatment time is to achieve optimal results.

This is nerd GOLD, people. Use it in good health. -ts

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Adult things arent NEARLY as complex as I thought they were growing up I just walked into bank of america and said im here to open a checking account and they said ok and opened me a checking account

[school-tips]

For more posts like these, go to @mypsychology​

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Some good tips I thought I would share .

Sephora sample list :

http://thekrazycouponlady.com/tips/store-hacks/10-surprising-samples-you-must-request-at-sephora/

Ibotta link : https://ibotta.com/r/uhxxmyu

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ESSENTIAL APPS FOR SCHOOL

1. Notability

Notability is like my digital notebook. I take down notes with it and I can also put marks and highlights on them. Highlighting on pdf is also made possible on Notability in which iBooks doesn’t do. When I review lessons, I can put highlights and marks in different colors in which I find more effective in retaining the information. I can also make illustrations.

2. Spotify

Spotify is my favorite music streaming app. Premium subscription is very affordable and what I like about this is that there are various playlist available so I can just choose whatever I feel like listening to. I sometimes just find playlist that is best suited for my mood while studying or I listen to my own playlist. (I will have another detailed post about how I use Spotify for school.)

3. Coffitivity

I know that when things got really serious (when I am cramming) or whenever I am not in the mood to listen to music, I use Coffitivity instead. Coffitivity is an app that generates “enough noise” for me to get things done. I can choose from morning murmur, lunchtime lounge and university undertones noises. I just choose whatever fits my mood. I usually use this when I am studying around 2AM because this hour is so quiet and I find it too noisy if I listen to music so I just use Coffitivity instead. There are also times that I feel like listening to music with some noises, so I can actually play a music while Coffitivity app is on.

4. Quizlet

I use quizlet if I find writing down my practice questions on a paper very time consuming. I believe typing is way faster than writing. My technique with Quizlet is that I type my practice questions using my laptop and sync them on my iPhone or iPad. With Quizlet, I can have my practice questions in flashcard type, game type or simply with the term on the left and its description on the right. I find this very useful because my practice questions are more handy.

5. 30/30

This app is best for time management and it helps you not to waste time. I use this if I study by block which means that I study for 25 minutes and having a 5-minute break afterwards. After my 5-minute break, I study again for 25 minutes but this time my break lasts for 10 minutes. Another way is that I study for 25 minutes following a 5-minute break doing this twice and my third 25-minute study time now has 15-minute break.

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So these are my essential apps for school in which I believe that they sure help me a lot in school. I hope you guys would find these apps very useful, too! Let me know if there are apps I might also need. 

[school-tips]

When you guys have visited potential apartments, what kind of questions did you ask besides the basics like what rent and utilities include?

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FINALS STUDY PLANNING

Hello so Finals are very quickly approaching (don’t panic – I repeat, don’t panic), and the time to start studying has come and gone. However, I know me, and I know college students, and just because we should have started studying probably 2-4 weeks ago, that doesn’t mean we did (or, at least I didn’t, so…).

With that, THERE IS STILL TIME TO STUDY. Do I need to repeat myself? Okay!

THERE. IS. STILL. TIME. TO. STUDY.

So, take a breath, and we’ll make a study schedule together. Here we go!

1. Make a list of things to study -

First thing’s first, without physically touching anything, pull up you list of assignments/resources/chapters, etc (or whatever it is good old prof provides). For me, this means pulling up our online classroom website. Now, put every pertinent item into a bulleted list, or write it out on a piece of paper. Whatever works best for you. I am a creature of habit and am really big on writing things out, so to my desk I went. Be sure to include the dates of your final exams. Also, now is not the time when you have to list each chapter individually and put a little check box next to it (because let’s be honest, that would be a metric shit ton of check boxes).  

Helpful tip: Break it all down by subject, and then by items such as lectures, homeworks, and exams. Visually breaking up your list will help quite a bit to make it seem a little less daunting.

2 Make a list of everything to be turned in -

Just because Finals are imminent, that does not mean the homeworks and projects stop (it just means no more can be assigned - ugh, whatever). Make sure you know exactly what is due and when and schedule in time to work on your remaining assignments.

3. Take a look at your weekly schedule -

Whether you keep your schedule in a planner, or in your phone, pull up your whole week. Make sure you have all of your classes visible, work shifts, extracurricular activities, whatever it is that you are up to.

4. Schedule meals, gym, etc -

If you don’t already have these things in your weekly schedule, pen them in now. Dead Week and Finals Week are very good at making your forget that eating 3 meals a day is necessary to functioning properly, so go ahead and put those in your calendar before you start planning your studying. The worst thing is getting to the end, looking at your beautiful schedule in all of its glory, only to realize that you now have to miss you Spin class to study for Calculus, or that there is absolutely no time for dinner on Tuesday because you managed to schedule back to back study sessions.

5. Now, start planning things -

I start with things to turn in, then fill in around them. These are your biggest priority (unless they’re bonus points and you don’t need them, but let’s be real, everyone wants bonus points), so you should schedule them in first. Prioritize by date due, and go from there.

What I do, since I’m limited with space in my planner itself, is list the session in each space (”H.T. session #1″ for example), then, using a sticky note, I expand on what I hope/need to accomplish in that session. Also, just be prepared, this is probably the most time consuming step, so…

I’m going to be honest: I am very aware that this looks ridiculous and crazy and so unbelievably busy. I am also aware that I probably should have started studying a week earlier, but it was just so weird with Thanksgiving being the week before my Dead Week this year.

But for me, the hardest and most stressful part about studying for finals week is not knowing what to study. So I broke it down into a chapter or two of material an hour, with scheduled breaks for meals, laundry, cleaning my room, and even an episode of This Is Us (because an entire day of Comp Flow sounds absolutely terrible).

Helpful tip: Try the Pomodoro Technique (I use MarinaTimer) to keep you sane, and keep healthy snacks on hand throughout the weeks to come. Also, remember to breathe (please don’t laugh at the fact that I wrote that into my planner, I promise I am a relatively sane human).

Other helpful tip: Prioritize by when your exams are. Since one of my exams isn’t until 2:00pm on Friday, and I have an entire two and a half days before the exams to study for it, I literally am not worrying about it until I get out of my other exam on Wednesday morning. While you should not do that with all exams (i.e. wait until one is over to focus on the next one), it can be a helpful tool to keep you from being overwhelmed.

Happy studying and good luck on your exams!!

[school-tips]

For more posts like this, go to @mypsychology​