More slow times

I've looked hard and found a couple of jobs for 2 friends but none for me. I have seen jobs that are out of town, beyond my abilities physically, require a bachelors degree, and pay nothing... Oh and of course military (no thank you!) It gets very discouraging.

I asked my professor if he had any room for a volunteer. He said he was full with work-study students but to check this summer.

I went to BBG and had a good time weeding and running a wheel barrow back and forth. I asked about working in the conservation side and its only Wednesday when I'm in class.

I haven't had the time to search much but I did read that internet searches come up with jobs about 7% of the time so I need to actually go to researchers. I don't know who around here works with plants outside of the university. I could ask a couple of professors I know but I'll probably have to wait until I have work-study money before they can hire me this summer. That isn't far away.

This weekend we pull ivy in forest park. I sure hope I don't call in sick again. I think I have found the solution to my problem that was keeping me from going.

I bought some biology books from Goodwill today and yesterday and I know I don't have time to read them yet but we're moving soon and I hope to display them nicely and pull them out once in a while. They feature Tryon Creek and bizarre birds for example.

Well, thats all for now. My search engines didn't give me anything today.

I love job.com

I love job.com. I got thousands of hits, one in 50 was "real" and I bet I will find 1 in 10 of those that are ready for me to send my resume. There are downsides to it--- Its no fun to sign up, you have to click through many offers and those show up again when you use the site but the search agent works and so does the search engine. I don't have to look at a lot of these other sites now. Its looking like they are on this site. We'll see if I have to rescind all this later. Now that I have a list of jobs in one place I've started school and a bunch of other things and I just didn't have time today to go through them. I'm going to wait until tomorrow or the next day because if I start looking now and find one to send a resume to, the excitement and addiction of sending resumes out will keep me up all night and I have my second day of volunteering at BBG tomorrow at 9am. Incidentally, Ed G. from BBG emailed me back saying they could use me in the conservation side of BBG and to just see him when I come in!

ok well i just had to look a little. i didn't find anything and on page 6 my i.e. stopped working in some weird way that i can't look at specific jobs. at least i think it was that and not the site. i will try this again in a day or two and continue looking. it was fun while it lasted.

Links so far

Here are my links so far in one place. I'll just periodically post all the links together like this when I have several more.



Green Jobs in Portland from the Oregonian: http://blog.oregonlive.com/pdxgreen/2009/02/more_green_jobs_resources.html

Yahoo's Cover letter guide:
http://hotjobs.yahoo.com/resume/Killer_Cover_Letters__20021114-1631.html?subtopic=Cover+Letters

A comprehensive job search engine list:
http://www.movingtoportland.net/job_search.htm

The Physicians for Social Responsibility Student Chapters:
http://psr.convio.net/site/PageServer?pagename=spsr_homepage&JServSessionIdr008=ykupw9ds25.app1b

Volunteering in Portland- see calendar
http://www.handsonportland.org/

An urban farm
http://www.zengerfarm.org/

My career center
http://www.pdx.edu/careers/

CNRG job search
http://www.cnrg-portland.org/opportunity_dir

Portland on the Cheap calendar
http://portlandonthecheap.com/calendar.html

Monster’s student and recent grad site
http://www.monstertrak.com/job_search

Environmental job search engine
http://www.environmentalcareer.info/jobseekers/index.asp

I can't go today to pull ivy. I called in.

I found a great job search engine. I posted my resume there and created a search agent where I get emails if a job comes along fitting my criteria. http://www.environmentalcareer.info/jobseekers/index.asp

I also am getting a ton of spam now that my resumes are open for others to see which means my contact information is published everywhere. Its quite the trade off. There are ways to limit who sees your information but it looked like that would also limit WHO SEES my information. I want to be seen by job hunters. This way I get non-subscribing employers just crawling for applicants.

I'm really bummed I had to cancel my ivy pulling. This has been a rough week. I am making sure now that by calling in I am doing enough. I hope to hear back today. I have some volunteer opps where I can't just call in. I mean I can but they are smaller groups where calling in would have a larger impact. For things like that, jobs, and school I get to them even if I'm not feeling well. Wish I could just say the issue but this is a published blog.

Slow Times

Today is slow. I've been up this morning in my usual routine- looking through all the websites. Nothing new. Not even Craigslist. Yesterday I found this site http://www.monstertrak.com/job_search

Its a Monster.com site especially for college grads/near grads like myself.

Today I did the math and I need only 5 classes to graduate after this term. Unfortunately, some are hard to get into because they are offered only one term per year. But I know with certainty that of the MWF classes I've taken all I can. I can't afford to drive to school every day or park every day so I stick with the most popular MWF classes. Still its exciting that in 3 terms including this one I could potentially graduate. I've been telling people I was a senior but would probably be here quite a while longer getting my classes because of that scheduling difficulty but now I am not so sure I will be longer than the regular school year. How exciting!

Still, I really need a job and it may come to my working in something outside of my field of study. I hate to do it. The problem is that if opportunities come up I won't be able to take them. Or I'd have to quit a job to do it after they put the time and effort in to train me. I don't want to be that person. I'd much prefer to get a job in my career from the start. I've been thinking- I should have Work Study available for Summer Term but that isn't soon enough. But the problem with work study is really that it won't necessarily lead to a job I can keep after I graduate. That is what I need- something that either qualifies me or is actually the job that I'll keep.

While I'm at it, for those starving students out there and anyone else looking for cheap or free things to do http://portlandonthecheap.com/calendar.html

I got good grades!

I'm very excited that I got a B+ in Ecology. I got a D on the second test but she weighted the final very generously for those of us who learned the stuff in the end. I'm relieved. I got an A in genes and society but that wasn't a surprise. I broke a 3.00! I now have 3.09 which looks much better than 2.94 on a resume. I've read that if the GPA is missing it makes employers suspicous of students but I hated that 2-point-something glaring out at me.

I heard back from Andrea at BBG. She confirmed it was too late for this year's internship but gave me the man's email to write for my interest in volunteering in the conservation side of their organization. I did and I am looking forward to hearing back, hoping they have a spot for me.

Got a helpful email!

I got a helpful email from Cheryl today. she recommended CNRG online. I tried to register with them for training but I'm hung up on the password part. I must have typed it wrong. Getting a new one soon I hope. Sometimes I don't- I've been registering with lots of things lately.

Anyway, I told Cheryl that I'd been to CNRG already and picked through it but I'll keep checking it. As far as she knows I'm still looking for volunteer work but I'm finding that and now I'm looking for a job. There was an awesome job on the Oregon Coast and in Eugene. :( But CNRG (http://www.cnrg-portland.org/opportunity_dir) is a good place to look I can tell. Its for non-profit jobs.

The PSU career center is http://www.pdx.edu/careers/