Mr. Trabulsy in his well-known grocery store, Sy's Supermarket
I really enjoyed writing about Mr. Trabulsy, former owner of an iconic grocery store in the historically-black neighborhood of Parramore in downtown Orlando. Lebanese-American and only 5-foot-four, this man packed a lot of punch in his 25 years running Sy’s Supermarket, which remains in the same place today, juxtaposed just one block from the swanky new Amway Arena.
It’s pretty amazing that yesterday, the weather looked like this. Tonight, it looked like that.
Each week Henry Alford of the NY Times gives a quick-and-dirty rundown of things to talk about for the upcoming weekend – a compilation of the week’s events in pop culture, politics, science…every genre that anyone remotely cares about. Well many don’t have time to read all 10, so I’ve kindly narrowed it down to the best for you, so you’ll undoubtedly be the most interesting person in the room.
Intended Consequences is a video story I found on MediaStorm that is harsh on the eyes and painful to the mind. In 1994, over 800,000 women in Rwanda were raped and killed in a massive genocide. The pictures left me speechless and the titleslides are few-worded but impactful. Watch wearily, but everyone should know of these man-made disasters that are happening in other countries throughout our world.
The New York Times developed this multimedia interactive tool to describe how you feel – republican, democrat, or “neither” – after Barack Obama having been elected president one year ago. It’s kind of a mixture of a Tag Cloud and a poll. Love it.
Read what the government is doing to “protect” Internet users:
Me in Philadelphia, enjoying my Constitutional rights on a bright, sunny day
A display in Seoul, South Korea for Breast Cancer Awareness Month
UCF students graduating soon are hopeful and confident in the beginning stages of their job search, while recent graduates are quickly becoming discouraged. Both groups try their luck at the fall Career Expo on campus today.
UCF's biannual Career Expo setting up in the arena this morning
UCF Career Services held their biannual job fair today, hosting hundreds of students and 123 companies at the UCF Arena. While this may sound like a good turnout, it’s actually a significant decrease from last year.
The amount of students in attendance has risen, but the number of employers has severely declined due to the economy, according to Amy Kleeman, director of employer relations for Career Services. The Career Expo in fall of 2008 drew 223 employers, nearly double the amount of today’s event. Kleeman said most universities are experiencing a similar decline, and that although companies aren’t spending as much money on recruiting, they’re still hiring fresh-out-of-college students.
Todd LaPierre, commercial rental manager for Ryder, said all that has changed in their hiring process over the past couple years is how selective they are due to a rise in applicants. Ryder is a transportation, logistics and supply chain management company and has hired two UCF graduates in the last three years, LaPierre said.
The Orlando VA Medical Center has seen a rise in applicants too, particularly in administrative positions, recruiter Paula McClard said.
There was a balanced mixture of students graduating in December, next May, and recent graduates as of August. All came dressed in their best suits for the same reason: to hand out resumes to the companies that interested them.
One drawback, however, was the lack of diversity among companies, according to recent graduate Erica Livengood, an interpersonal organizational communication major. She said the fair seemed to highlight mostly business and engineering companies. She also said the fair was her first attempt at finding a full-time job aside from perusing the Internet.
“I’ve hit the Internet up, which isn’t very legit I guess,” Livengood said.
Caitlin Lincer, a civil engineering major graduating in May 2010, doesn’t have much time to look for her first full-time job while still in school, so she has applied to a couple companies she is interested in through their Web sites, she said.
“I’ll be more nervous when April comes around,” Lincer said.
Kleeman recommends students explore different “avenues” for employment, including the UCF student and alumni online program Knightlink, she said.
UCF Career Services’ Knightlink job database
One Day, One Job is a blog created by Cornell University graduate Willy Franzen and profiles one company each day that is hiring entry-level applicants. With over 3,200 subscribers and 1,203 Facebook fans, it provides background information on well-known and up-and-coming companies.
Franzen recommends graduating students begin their job search as early as two semesters before they walk across the stage, particularly if they’re applying for jobs in the most competitive fields of finance and consulting.
“The most competitive jobs are recruiting between now and December, and they’re competing for the best talent,” Franzen said.
But, he said, there are lots of companies that don’t come to UCF to recruit, so students need to reach out to them and find out when they’re hiring.
“The most [job searching] traffic is in January, so you can never start too early,” Franzen said.
Most important for job seekers, Kleeman said, is to maintain contact with those in your professional network, as it is the best way to get a job in any economy.
According to a recent survey by the U.S. Department of Labor, networking accounts for at least 69% of all annual hires.
“At least start networking and talking to people and asking questions,” Franzen said. “You need to prove that you’re going to add value to a company and you’re going to solve a problem.”
Online Resources for graduates or soon-to-bes
Brand-Yourself.com: How to Market Yourself in a Recession
Experience.com: Entry-level job database
How to Network: 12 Tips for Shy People
Idea for multimedia: I’d include a video of a recruiter talking with a student at the fair, plus a chart in which a student could look up his or her major and find a corresponding Web site that’s appropriate to start his or her job search from. For example, a student graduating with a journalism degree should incorporate www.ed2010.com/jobs into her search process.
I did not know that Jenna Hager, former President Bush’s daughter, used to be a White House correspondent. (It isn’t surprising though, given her close proximity a year ago.) So Jenna was recently hired as a contributing reporter on the Today show. I have no doubts of Jenna’s reporting skills, but this out-of-the-blue change for the morning show shows how much journalism is shifting toward relying on entertainment to present news. Like feeding a child Sour Patch Kids with his brussel sprouts, the media is catering to the U.S.’ hunger for entertainment along with its daily dose of news. Jenna is, to a degree, a celebrity, and the Today show is milking her status to draw in more viewers.
Mashable – all things social media, mobile, etc. Gathered Garments – rummage your way to chic
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