Hot Cop

So last night in the process of trying to carry in way too many things in a single trip (the result of living in a split-level townhouse), I hit the panic button on my house alarm fob. Please don't call me idiot, I already have many times, as I'm sure did the two police officers that showed up at my door twenty minutes later. I thought hitting the Off button in less than 30 minute would cancel the Panic and knew the alarm company is supposed to call first. However, one of my roommates would have had to answer to keep the cops from showing up. The police officers were very nice and took a look around to make sure everything was okay.

So after my encounter last night, I decided that the Mountain View Police Department has a very nice and responsive group. Had I really been in a Panic, they're response would have been fairly impressive. Although I guess it depends what the Panic was over. Thinking about the Mtn View Police Department had me thinking about my other run-ins with various law enforcement officers around the country. (It's really not that many, I am a very law-abiding citizen). Overall, there is one department that stands out in my mind, perhaps because it was most recent.

Las Vegas

If you didn't already know, I spent this past New Years in Las Vegas with two of my besties. On New Years Eve we were walking the overly and ridiculously crowded strip when we found a great open spot along the barricaded streets across from Caesar's Palace. Just on the other side of the barricade was a police offer and his very gorgeous police partner, Zach. Oh yes, I got his name (which ironically is the same name as the make believe stripper my mom made up). This beautiful officer was very nice and served as a great photographer. His name was Zach and thankfully he was available most of the night for our entertainment since it was a "mellow New Years Eve." I offered to start a fight with Brianne or Kristin or take down the block of barricades if it got me VIP seating on the sidewalk on his of the barricade. While he clearly found humor in my offer, he kindly declined as my VIP seating would have also included a pair of shiny bracelets. Or maybe they just break out the zip ties for New Years Eve.

Apparently, the police officers of Las Vegas are encouraged to fraternize with females because it makes for good community relations. Well Zach, I would be happy to help improve your community relations. So in honor of my "Hot Cop" as we have dubbed him, I thought we needed some man candy.

Remember Ryan from The OC. Don't lie I know you do. Well he is now a cop on Southland.

Rules of the Resume

As more and more of my friends are preparing to enter the Real World, I've been asked to review resumes and provide suggestions. And as my company continues the search otherwise known as hiring, I have realized that the fundamentals of a good resume may not be obvious or clear as they should be. I have reviewed many resumes in the past and there are some pretty bad ones at there. After making fun, yes laughing at, many of the resumes we have been receiving in the office applying for these various positions, I thought that perhaps you might find some guidelines for writing your resume helpful.

Rule #1: Keep It to One Page...unless
There has been some debate about the one-page rule lately. Many people argue that it you have to keep it one page because those reading resumes don't have time to sift through anymore than that. While that argument is fairly accurate there are some exceptions. If you truly have enough related experience, key word being related, then it is acceptable to go over one page, but only if you have enough to fully fill a second page. A page and a half is a little weird and looks like you should have spent more time editing and formatting. However, you more than likely will not have the experience that warrants a second page until you are further along in your career path. The other exception is academia where including research and publications is considered crucial. If you are just finishing school, keep it simple and stick to one page.

Rule #2: Formatting is Crucial
This morning I was talking with our office manager who is the first line in receiving resumes. She made a comment that she received 100 resumes yesterday (yes in just one day) and only accepted 6 of them. The rest were garbage and were tossed largely due to poor formatting. If it's a headache to read, they probably won't read it. If you can't format your resume, they will think you don't have the skills to preform the job. Please don't use one of the built-in Microsoft templates. It looks like you didn't spend much time or effort on the resume. Keep a minimum of 0.5 inch margins with bold headings that clearly separate sections. Avoid large chunks of text. It is daunting to look a large unbroken block of text. Over-stylization is possible and should be avoided as well. Keep it clean and easy to read.

Rule #3: Keep Descriptions Brief
When listing relevant, again key word relevant, volunteer or work experience, you are expected to provide a brief, another keyword brief, description of the tasks and functions performed. Please, please, please keep this brief. To stay on one page you have to keep it brief. Ten bullets per position is not brief. I'd say a maximum of five points, but four is probably ideal. Keep each bullet to only a line, or two at the most. There is a caveat, don't short change yourself. Do not overlook important job functions in the name of brevity. The point is to synthesize and summarize. The HR person receiving your resume is receiving hundreds of these and doesn't have time to sort through and pick out the important aspects of the job that pertain this particular position. You HAVE to do this for her or you will be overlooked!

Rule #4: Highlight Yourself
This relates to Rule #3. In keeping your descriptions brief, it is important to pick out the most relevant tasks and the skills you developed. This is you trying to sell yourself on paper. You really need to highlight your key experiences and skills that would allow to excel in this position. Use action words to start off each bullet or description. Provide concrete numbers whenever possible as it adds legitimacy to your description. Again, you have to pull out the most important aspects of you and make they clear on your resume. If you don't, you will get overlooked.

Rule #5: The Objective Statement
This is a much debated part of a resume. My personal opinion, and feel free to disagree, is that the objective statement is a waste of space. I think the objective is clear: to get THIS job. In my opinion, you don't need to tell the resume reviewer that you want this job. You applied so of course you do. I prefer to ditch the objective statement in favor of expanding the room available for my actual experiences.

Rule #6: Tailor the Resume
You should not be sending out a generic resume to every position you apply for. You should be tailoring your resume to each position. I would say the exception, I know there always seems to be exceptions, is if you are new to the workforce and have limited experience. If listing everything you've ever done takes you over one page, it is time to start tailoring. For instance, if you are applying for an accounting position, your summer job as restaurant waitress is not exactly relevant. Cut it! I know it takes time to do this, but if you don't your skills and relevant experience will got lost and you will be overlooked.

Rule #7: Beware of your Timeline
When applying for jobs, beware of how far back your experiences are. Generally, the rule I follow is that if it was more than five years ago, I cut it. Unless, it is very relevant to the position you are applying for then it is fine to keep it. Once you reach your junior year of college, it's time to cut high school. That means your high school jobs and high school extracurricular activities are no longer appropriate to include on a resume. It is expected you have new and more recent activities to fill those spaces. The other aspect of timeline you need to think about is gaps in employment history. You need to be prepared to explain any gaps that you may have. If you're young, this usually is not a big problem as any gaps are more than likely attributed to education. However, if you took some time off from school and work, you may be asked to explain so be prepared. The cover letter, if requested is a good place to explain.

I hope all these tips helped and will make your life a little bit easier as you slave away over resumes and cover letters in the quest for employment. One other tip, save and send your resume as a pdf file. Formatting can get messed up when things are opened on other computers. If you send a pdf file instead, you avoid this problem and will know that what you see on your screen is exactly what they will see. Just make sure the pdf works. If you ever have any questions or would like some feedback, I would be happy to help. Just let me know!

Home Sweet Home!

Finally back in the United States! And it feels so good! Don't get me wrong, Europe was fabulous, but there are just some things I couldn't help but miss over there. So in honor of my return, I have compiled a list of all the great American things I missed the most.

Number #1: English TV
In Europe, they have plenty of American TV. Unfortunately, it is all dubbed in various European languages. Thus I was resigned to CNN and BBC. Here's my opinion on CNN. They lie. They claim to be 24 hours news. Lie. In reality, it's 5 hours news put on repeat. Let's just say I was an expert on the Libyan scandal and the New Zealand earthquake by the end of the trip. At my last hotel, I didn't even get those channels. There was exactly ZERO English channels. So I watched the Disney Channel in German. Kim Possible and Hannah Montana are much less annoying when I have no idea what they are saying.

Now that I am home and I have been utterly devoted to my DVR that kept careful recordings of all my favorite shows, including the new season of the Real Housewives of Orange County!!!

Number Two: Hair Appliances
For those of you that have never been to Europe, they have a messed electrical system. Their voltage is double what we use in American. This means that unless your device has a built-in transformer (for instance like a laptop charger) you're screwed. For me, this meant 3 weeks of bad hair. For future trips, I think I will be buying a travel straightener.

Number Three: Ice Water
Europeans don't use ice period. It's weird. Not only do they not use but they rarely use refrigeration for beverages either. So I hope you like lukewarm beverages. Also, when in Europe you must also always specify that you want your water with no gas. Personally, I always want EVERYTHING with no gas, but Europeans apparently love to have gas.

Number #4: My Cell Phone
Now I know a lot of you make fun me for the cell phone that I use *cough*Brianne*, but after being without a cell phone that I could use whenever I wanted to text and call whoever I wanted, I am glad to have it back. Even if it isn't an iPhone. I never got the hang of using an international cell phone that was antiquated back to my junior high days. Plus I could only use it for "business" purposes as I had to pay per minute it was used. Thank goodness for the internet, or I may have very well died over there for lack of social communication.

Number #5: Mexican Food
I pretty much experience this on most trips outside of California (unless I'm in the Southwest, which is not very often). I love Mexican food, but outside of the states between California and Texas, there is not much Mexican food out there. Trust me when I say Mexican food in Arkansas is not really Mexican food. As a result, I am eagerly anticipating my weekend in Modesto where I can have all the delicious Mexican food I want. I have enough Schnitzel (fried pork) and Cordon Bleu (fried chicken with cheese) for a while.

Number #6: Boomer
While I missed all of my friends (most of you) and my family while I was over there, I was able to communicate with you (at least those important enough) while in Europe via Facebook and email. Boomer, on the other hand, and I have had no communication in over a month. All I have had are the pictures my mother has posted on Facebook. I guess something about paws makes internet use difficult. Again, another thing to look forward to this weekend, his adorable face:

Number #7: Liam
For much the same reasons as Boomer, I miss this little guy. I have missed his entire fourth month of life and he already 5 months old! It's crazy I know! He also is unable to communicate over the internet so I can't wait to see this little guy this weekend. He's almost crawling!

So that's all for this. There are probably more things I missed (such as Brianne's birthday...sorry!!), but you're probably bored of this post by now as am I. So that's all for now. Just glad to be back and ready to celebrate!

Europe Days 15-18: Munich!

I am currently sitting at the Munich airport waiting for my 12-hour flight to San Francisco. That puts me at Day 18 of this trip around Europe. I can't believe the trip has already come and gone after so much time anticipating its arrival. While I am waiting for this nightmare of a flight to commence, I thought I would update you on my final weekend in Europe, Munich to be specific.

Day 15
I was actually still in Nuremberg on Friday. We weren't sure if there was going to be some stuff we needed to wrap up or people to meet after the show so we had booked for Friday too. I spent the morning taking care of work emails and then was able to spend the afternoon sight-seeing around Nuremberg. I walked around Alstadt or Old Town Nuremberg. There were churches and an old fortress. Then I spent a bit of time shopping for souvenirs to bring home. I met my manager around 2 PM in the afternoon and we decided to venture out a bit further. We took the train to the place of the Nuremberg Trials, probably what the city is most known for. It was quite cool but the museum exhibition was soooo long. I couldn't even get through it all due to exhaustion after 2.5 hours walking around one room. It was still very cool to see. Then we to Furth, a 1000 year-old city just outside of Nuremberg. Not as cool as my manager had made it out to be.

Day 16
This was my day to head to Munich. I got up and checked out of the Nuremberg hotel in time to make my train to Munich. The train was so overcrowded there was nowhere to put my baggage. Finally got to Munich and had to walk to my hotel which was a bit further than I had imagined. It would have been totally fine if I had not had all the luggage. I set out to explore around 1 PM and walked around Munich's central area near the Marienplatz. I also decided to visit the Residenz, a government place. There I meant a group from a small Christian school in Alabama. They had an extra ticket that they freely gave to me and invited me to be a part of their group. It was nice to finally interact with some Americans! I spent most of the afternoon with them. I usually tell people I still feel 17, but after spending an afternoon with 17 year-olds and realizing I had much more in common with their thirty year-old parents, I had a realization. I am an adult. Scary I know, but I am definitely not 17 any more.

Day 17
There was a lot a wanted to do in Munich that would have taken me on guided tours. Unfortunately, during the winter these tours only run in the morning so I had to pick one, and only one. I chose to do the 5-hour tour of Dachau, the concentration camp outside of Munich. It was a neat experience. I again got to hang out with Americans, this time a group from Pennsylvania. Even though my tour guide was a peculiar British bloke (who kept hitting on me...creepily), it was still a very cool tour, or as cool as that sort of thing can be. Everyone should definitely take the tour if they ever have the chance. When I got back to Munich, the city was going crazy! There are in Carnival, which is basically like the German Mardi Gras. People were drinking in costumes everywhere with live bands every 50 feet. It would probably be a lot of fun to go back during that time of year, if it wasn't so cold!

Day 18
Today is the travel. I am about to board my flight. I am ready to go back home, to America. I'll tell you more as to why later. I don't think I have time now. Looking back, I definitely want to go back to Paris. I still haven't seen Versailles or visited the Musee d'Orsay. I would also go back to Munich to tour all of the castles (including the Sleeping Beauty castle) and to take the Third Reich tour. It has been a long but amazing trip. Next time I talk to you all, I will be in America!

Europe Days 4 - 14

OK, so I fell off the band wagon pretty quick I trying to write about each day of my trip. But in my defense things picked up and were a bit busier. Plus I have had someone with me everyday up to this point so I was out later at night. But here goes the rest of the trip so far.

Day 4:
Monday (2/21), I was in Paris still. I slept so much that day, I did not wake up until after noon and then quickly realize my boss was to show up any minute. We did not have anything planned work wise for that day so we opted to treat it like the Presidents Holiday that it was and not work. There were some things I still wanted to see but were a bit farther from the main Paris stretch. Derek (he's my boss) agreed that we could go visit the Sacre Coeur Basilica. It is quite a cool place and the architecture stands out quite a bit from other churches like Notre Dame. There was quite a nasty climb up to the actual church from the metro stop, but it took us up the Rue Foyatier which is a pretty street (of stairs). From the church there was an amazing view of the city as well.

Day 5
All work and travel. We had a meeting in the morning and then headed to the airport to go to Nice. My recommendation never fly EasyJet, they suck.

Day 6
We had a meeting in the morning, but you guys don't really care I'm sure. Just proof that this was a work trip. After the meeting, we went to the Cannes for the afternoon. You know the place where the film festival is everywhere. It is a very pretty place, kind of reminds me of Capitola (near Santa Cruz). We found the ritzy hotel where all the famous people stay too. Everything is marble and instead of artwork they just have cases of diamonds for decoration.

Day 7
We didn't have any meetings planned so we just did some work from the hotel in the morning. Then Derek suggested we go to Monaco/Monte Carlo for the afternoon and a late lunch before heading to the airport. Monaco is spectacular! The water is bright blue and everything is so green with gardens and landscaping everywhere. I saw of the biggest yachts, the size of cruise ships really. We saw the Monte Carlo casino and the Monaco palace. All very pretty. On the way to the airport, there was a crazy driver who took out like 10 pylons, it was quite something. The airport ride sucked as I had come down with a bit of a cold was really bad. I literally thought my head was going to explode during that plane ride. It was so utterly painful, plus we had been delayed over an hour so we didn't get back to Paris until after midnight. I think we all know how much I love to sleep, so midnight was not so cool.

Day 8
After a late night traveling, I had to be up early for a meeting with our French distributor in the Paris suburbs. While we were there, the distributor took us out for a real French meal that lasted nearly 3 hours and consisted of over 7 courses. It was quite an amazing meal and let's face it no American spends that much time eating lunch. After the meeting I laid low in hopes of recovery from my cold.

Day 9
I had another early morning so that I could get to the airport for my flight to Salzburg. Once I arrived in Salzburg, I was met by a couple my grandpa had introduced me to that live near Salzburg. They had planned out the Sound of Music tour to take me on that day which was quite nice. I had been expecting snow so I was very excited to find it a bright sunny day. We saw various places from the movie and actual Von Trapp family house (yes, they were a real family). We also visited Old Town and saw the Salzburg Fortress and Mozart's birthplace.

Day 10
I woke to find it was raining in Salzburg, which meant it was going to be another wet sight-seeing day. Fortunately, there was a car for traveling around this time. We started by visiting the Mirabell Palace which is in the Sound of Music. It is a very pretty place, that would be even prettier during the spring and summer when the huge garden is in full bloom. Next we decided to climb the Salzburg fortress. It is quite a steep walk, but not as bad as the walk to Sacre Coeur and let's face it by this point I was used to the hikes. The fortress is over 600 years old. It was quite amazing with a museum set up inside.

Day 11
It was off to Germany! I took a morning train from Salzburg to Munich where I caught a connection to Nuremberg. Nuremberg is where the real work began. I was there for the Embedded World trade show. In case you didn't know, trade show = exhausting. It means long days usually around 10-12 hours and standing on your feet all day long. While I enjoy working trade shows it is very tiring. Monday, I was met in Nuremberg by my manager and we set up for the trade show which took a ridiculous 5 hours. It should have only taken like 2 hours at most, but there was electrical problems. After that I just wanted a quick dinner and bed.

Day 12-14
I won't bore you with the details of the show. But basically I spent these three days on my feet. We went out to dinner a couple nights with our distributors for authentic German food. That means schnitzel and beer...but I didn't drink the beer. I stuck to wine, and the glasses of wine we're at least twice the size of American glasses.

So that is the update of my trip of Europe so far. I only have 4 days left and that includes my travel day back to the States. Today, we are going to do some sight-seeing of Nuremberg and then its off to Munich for the weekend! I will try to be better and update more on the last three days of this trip! Then I will be back in California on Monday night. I can't believe the trip is almost over!