7 mistakes you're making when attending a career fair

One of the cool things I’ve had the opportunity to do with my job is attend career fairs at my alma mater, Iowa State University (Go Cyclones!), as a recruiter. I was on the opposite end of it, looking for jobs when I was a student, so it’s really cool to see the view from the other side of the table. Being on the recruiting side has actually taught me more about what to do and what not to do as a student than I ever learned from attending the fairs as an applicant. It’s very interesting to see how students dress and prepare and pitch themselves when looking for jobs or internships, and after three fairs as a recruiter, I thought it was time to share a list of 7 mistakes you might be making when you’re trying to get hired.

How I failed my first budget challenge

In recognizing our strengths and weaknesses when it comes to spending, Adam and I have noticed we spend more money (and calories) than we’d like to on eating out. So at the end of July, we decided to challenge ourselves to one month of not eating out, as we saw this couple do. Spoiler alert: We failed — miserably. We ate/drank out in some way an astounding 16 out of August’s 31 days.

Our first problem was lack of clarification. Adam did not consider stopping for coffee as part of the deal, and I did. After the first weekend, when our friends got married and we stopped at a bar before the reception for drinks, we weren't sure if alcohol counted either. The couple in the article didn't count it, but in the end I decided it did count because it can take up a substantial portion of our incomes. 

There were days when one of us would have a packed schedule and be forced to either skip meals or eat out, which often resulted in eating out. Then we had a couple of friends who moved unexpectedly and wanted to have dinner one night — obviously we weren’t going to pass that up. Adam’s mom came to town one weekend and wanted to eat out, so we did. Then the Iowa State Fair happened — that was really poor planning on our part — and we couldn’t just not eat at the fair. Two times I had to go to different bars for columns at work, so that counted against us. One date night at Zoo Brew cost us dinner, although we held back on drinks — a small victory.

But the main problem I noticed were the inadvertent, easily avoidable dinners here and there. When I started my new job at Versona, I was putting in 13-hour days with no time to eat dinner at home, so I would pick up something on the way home at night. Other times were weekends when neither of us had stocked our kitchens or we just didn’t feel like cooking. That’s what really got us — laziness.

So we failed our challenge. But the fact that we started it in the first place made me much more aware of my spending in that category, even if I was mostly watching the numbers go up. I highlighted every dining-out purchase I made in red on my monthly budget, and it really trained me to see those as bad purchases. We realized that cutting something out cold turkey doesn’t really work for us. But I really think that if we set a realistic, attainable budget for eating out in the future, it will help keep us and motivated to do better and fix that weakness.

What's your biggest budget weakness? Have you ever tried the no eating out challenge? 

P.S. Big Girl Budget 101 and how to be productive

Big Girl Budget 101

When it comes to building an effective budget, I don't think there is one right way for everyone. We all have different incomes, expenses, spending habits and circumstances in general. It might take a couple tries to figure out what works for you. I tried out a few different things before I discovered a budget that really worked for me. After learning what worked and what didn't, I decided to put together a little step-by-step guide that might help others with similar situations.

How to be productive while working at home

Working from home seems like a dream job. Working on your own time and the ability to wear pajamas all day without getting funny looks from your coworkers. But what about those days when the temptation to watch just one more episode of Friends makes you want to push that to do list back just ten more minutes?

The idea of working from home is dreamy to most people, but for those who do it, they know it's still a job and it requires, well, work. You have to be extra motivated when there's no one there to watch you and make sure you're getting everything done. I would love to work from home, especially after getting a taste of it for two weeks after my surgery last month. But in that time I did realize how difficult it can be to resist all the temptations that come with a home office. That's why I'm sharing some tips I used to help you be productive while working from home.

1. Wake up early and start your day. It seems easy to sleep in when you have nowhere to be, but it's so important to get up and get your day started the same way you would if you were going to the office. I am most productive in the mornings, so I like to wake up, drink my coffee and jump right into work. A productive morning sets the tone (and your mood!) for the rest of the day.

2. Eliminate distractions. When I was at home, I liked to watch the news while I worked, but you have to know when to turn the TV off. I'm talking to you, Gilmore Girls repeats. When those situations came up, I either put on some good music or changed the channel to HGTV, which works for me because I can have it on in the background and still concentrate on my work. It's just about knowing what works best for you.

3. Take breaks. This may sound a little counterintuitive, but hear me out. When you're working from home — especially for those who work alone, without kids, pets or spouses around — it can be easy to zone in and feel like you can't look away from the computer. But I've found I do better work when I take a few breaks throughout the day to free my mind from whatever I'm working on. If you're having a hard time writing something, it helps to let it sit for a while and do something else. Then when you come back to it your mind is fresh and ready to let all its creativity flow out.

4. Find a routine. When you've got the flexibility of working at home, sometimes it helps to set a routine that you'll follow from day to day. Knowing what hours you've designated to work each day helps give you structure and makes it harder to procrastinate because you've already set a time for when everything should be done.

5. Know when to call it a day. As many people who work from home can attest, sometimes it's hard to separate the job from after hours. I think it's important to draw a line between time spent at work and time spent enjoying the rest of your life, so when it comes to the end of the day, make it the end of the day. Put the computer away and close the to-do list until tomorrow. Just enjoy the night and take that time to de-stress from the day.

I hope these tips help! If you work from home, what have you learned to help you accomplish your goals? 

P.S. 5 blogs to help you become a better blogger and taking time to detox