the air

GE, Imagination at work

One of the biggest challenges I have been facing for several months is trying to secure an internship without going through my school’s career fairs. NIU’s career fair is, in my opinion, quite abysmal since it attracts small-time companies from the Rockford area. Almost all of these companies’ internship opportunities relate directly to manufacturing and nothing else. Personally, I’m not very fond of an internship in manufacturing. I’d rather do something with six sigma, inventory control, forecasting, process analysis. The manufacturing jobs typically have me doing line balancing or actually “working” on the line which is a waste of my talent. It should be noted that it is important to be on the line to understand and improve a process, but it should not be your primary task.

After flexing some networking skills, I finally pulled off an internship with General Electric’s Healthcare Division. Since my search, I basically wanted to work for a Fortune 500 company such as Boeing or GE. At this time, I am about 99% ready to accept GE’s terms of employment. The 1% is simply holding back because I’m unsure, now, of whether I want a full-time job or a part-time job. Here’s the deal: if I get an offer for $60,000 or more and tuition reimbursement, I’ll gladly postpone my graduate studies. That is my 1% hesitation.

Stay tuned for some post(s) that will outline my effective interviewing and speaking tips. They work for me and have the potential of working for you.

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Photo courtesy of Anji Bee

I know it has been some time since I last wrote, but ever since the shootings at NIU, I have been busy with numerous campus activities. In addition, last two weeks I had been busy preparing for the 2008 IIE North Central Regional Conference in Chicago, IL in which UIC and NIU were the hosts. However, this post is not really about the conference, but about one of my favorite podcasters, Anji Bee.

A few days after the shooting at NIU, I turned to music to help me sleep at night and “forget” the pain that everyone was feeling. Anji’s podcast, “The Chillcast with Anji Bee,” is an exquisite blend of ambient beats with uplifting lyrics. My friends and I listened to the different songs and it really helped us heal. To my surprise, Anji wrote back and was really touched by my letter and went ahead mentioned my email on another podcast she did with Ryan. I was surprised because I figured that Anji would have hardly any time to even acknowledge my email, let alone mention it in a podcast.

Just last week, while I was at the IIE conference, Anji emailed me and gave me the heads up on a collabocast she was working on with several podcasters from around the country and the world. Fittingly, she labeled it as a “NIU Tribute Collabocast.” I cannot believe that artists from all over were willing to pitch in and extend their warmest wishes to the NIU community. I am practically speechless and I’m not even sure what to say. I really want to thank Anji, her collaborators, and the entire group of listeners for their warmest wishes.

If you have not subscribed to Anji’s podcast, do so. The best part is that you can subscribe to it right from iTunes, the premier multimedia store. On behalf of the entire NIU community, I want to thank everyone for their support and encouraging words in this time of chaos. Being so close to such a tragic event, I feel vulnerable but yet stronger as we move forward, together.

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