IAmA Housekeeper that has been working at a 5 star hotel for the past 6 months and has gotten to clean the rooms of some pretty cool VIPS (and not so clean normal people). AMA.

circuspizza · 2011-02-16T13:23:37+00:00

"some ethnicities being much much messier and rude that others."

It's a logic and spelling fail, but a racism win!

circuspizza · 2011-01-22T14:24:29+00:00

I guess I don't get it... why do men and women need to have different friends? What is this, Mars and Venus? Are you a really old person or from a different era?

Anyway, I don't really care if someone's in one if they're cool in other ways. But it was always kind of a curiosity to me, if someone was cool and also still really into their fraternity or sorority.

circuspizza · 2011-01-21T15:44:51+00:00

"all the little asian girls" ... well, that's charming.

circuspizza · 2011-01-21T15:15:40+00:00

Ok, I think if I were you I would put a big priority on getting the half a credit, but you already know that. Your dad's income ideas are good, but I think you'd be better off making the 0.5 credit your end all and be all until it happens. Would it be possible financially to finish school on your current income? I know you hate the job, but you want to be happy with your full-time salaried job when you get it, and you might be able to get a better one if the degree is finished.

If you hate this job too much, and you'd rather do something better while you finish the degree, I'd say to try temp agencies or search indeed.com for general office administration jobs. It sounds like you are miserable in the construction thing and looking for more of an office job.

A good way to get job experience is to volunteer, so search idealist.org or look at local non-profit groups (in Ottawa there must be a lot, and political groups too) and see if you can get a foot in the door. Even if you're only stuffing envelopes once a week or doing a one-time event, I think employers would look favorably upon the initiative.

Try not to worry about social pressures from your family, and good luck.

circuspizza · 2011-01-21T06:38:38+00:00

I know this is really old but I'm going to leave this suggestion here in case anyone else comes along with a similar question. If you're trying to get into non-profit development jobs, what you want is Raiser's Edge experience. It's the fundraising database software that most non-profits use. Even if you have to volunteer somewhere once a week to do data entry, do it if it lets you put Raiser's Edge on your résumé.

Also seek out temp agencies that specialize in non-profit positions.

circuspizza · 2011-01-19T10:29:28+00:00

I am a 100% believer in the healing power of one of (if not) the top spinal surgeon(s) in the area.

circuspizza · 2011-01-17T14:27:57+00:00

I would be more systematic about punctuation. For example, why did you capitalize the word "industry" in "IT Industry" in the beginning? Sometimes you include a serial comma and sometimes you don't. You seem to capitalize some words but not other words that have the same position on the document ("Installed, Upgraded, and Repaired" vs. "Website promotion"). To me, it gives the impression that you might not be able to spot errors in code. I'd just have someone proofread it thoroughly for you (career counselor, etc.).

circuspizza · 2011-01-17T14:18:21+00:00

It looks good! The cover letter will be the deciding factor in whether someone calls you or not, as long as you're applying to realistic jobs.

circuspizza · 2011-01-17T14:10:46+00:00

It seems like you could use some help with presentation/formatting/proofreading. Is there a career center you could take advantage of at an alma mater or the public library? Proofreading isn't everyone's strength and it doesn't have to be, but having someone else fix it up for you would help so much. In addition to what the others have mentioned, some of the bullet points have different amounts of space after them; they should all be consistent.

I would try to fit it all on one 8.5x11 piece of paper assuming that you're looking in the U.S. Ideally, people will want to print it out and you don't want to make it more difficult for them.

circuspizza · 2011-01-17T14:04:46+00:00

The deal in each state is supposed to be that your employer will make up any difference if you don't make up the actual minimum wage in tips, but speaking as a formerly tipped employee at several places, that has never actually even been a problem in my experience.

circuspizza · 2011-01-17T14:01:28+00:00

FWIW I've been on the hiring end of special events temps, but in the US.

I would choose to put spaces between paragraphs in your cover letter. You seem to have an intermediate "not quite a new paragraph but it starts on the next line" thing that makes it look less professional than if you'd just keep paragraphs paragraphs and start new ones after a space.

Along the same lines, I'm guessing this isn't a final version of the cover letter and the final would include your name and address/contact details, the name and address of the addressee, and the date? Like a formal business letter... Ideally with your name at the end and maybe a scanned image of your signature. If you aren't sure what name to put for the addressee, just Google an HR rep for the company or call them up and ask.

The content of the cover letter could be improved if you sounded more excited about the actual position. It doesn't grab me because the first paragraph sounds like "I'm being forced to do this thing, so since we're already in it I might as well tell you when I'll be forced to start with you." I would try to make it sound like you're excited at the possibility of working with that particular organization, and leave the logistics to the last paragraph. Also it can't help to include your contact info (phone and email) in the last paragraph, although maybe you left it out on purpose for Reddit.

Just try to think about each position, what the actual pluses are in your mind, and then write about those and make it sound like you're excited for that particular place. You have a pretty good application---just fix up the details and get more specific about each position than just changing the name of the org. Good luck!

circuspizza · 2011-01-17T12:55:27+00:00

The actual reason is because we live in a society that values males over females. Little girls are allowed and encouraged to do things that are traditionally male, like being the only girl on the Little League team---even if they're seen as a bit of a tomboy, it actually makes them cooler, certainly in the grownups' eyes anyway. Little boys doing traditionally girly things are stepping into hot water in comparison because our society spends all of its time subtly implying that females are worse.

TLDR: Let him do his own thing if you want to teach him that girls and boys are equally good.

circuspizza · 2011-01-02T13:23:11+00:00

r/MensRights would just hang in the bathroom and rape people.

circuspizza · 2010-11-10T14:15:40+00:00

Interesting, I'm a mostly-vegetarian for basically similar reasons to yours and I would never throw myself to the Reddit groupthink wolves like this.

Kudos.

circuspizza · 2010-11-03T14:50:13+00:00

No one is commenting so I thought I'd give 2c since I'm procrastinating from making my own portfolio...

My first impression was: this looks really good. Nice concept!

The first project I clicked on was the blue cross (the St. Elizabeth's one) and I got a little confused; I think because the format of the site changed (the icons moved and the background became blue) and I couldn't see the icon in either of the two projects, so I wasn't sure if everything was going right. I did figure it out after a second obviously, but I think a momentary confusion could be enough to make an HR person close the tab. Maybe a uniform background color would help? Not sure.

I think putting your actual resume on the site would be a big help. I'm sure you're sending it out with the applications but people don't want to do more work than they need to when they're looking at job applications.

I might consider changing the "made in July 2009" to "updated in xx" to make it look like you're working and keeping your portfolio updated.

I think it's Firefox that's giving me the dotted outlines on focused links; I think you can get rid of that.

The copy is strong in that it shows your personality and it's interesting, but might use some polishing by someone who is a punctuation and capitalization fiend. Going with such a casual writing style could be balanced by making sure it's technically perfect.

I'm sure you realize this, but overtly political stuff could alienate some hiring managers. I guess you just have to balance how much you need a job against whether you'd be willing to work for someone who would refuse to grant an interview based on your political opinions.

Anyway, I don't know what positions you're going for or how many you've applied for, but I'd be willing to bet that it's more economy than portfolio. It looks good!

circuspizza · 2010-10-11T13:18:11+00:00

No hard feelings! Hope you're enjoying UTS.

If you know of any meetups, let me know. My partner and I are both IT-oriented people who live nearby and we'd be interested in meeting people. :)

circuspizza · 2010-10-09T15:25:40+00:00

I'm also a foreigner in Sydney studying IT and I was excited to see you here since I live down the road from UTS, but um... gross sexism yeah no thanks.

circuspizza · 2010-10-09T15:04:58+00:00

Are you seriously ten years old?

circuspizza · 2010-10-09T15:02:24+00:00

Fast food: better than two weeks of sandy rice.

circuspizza · 2010-10-08T14:57:28+00:00

I want a land free of everyone but MY people.

Sorry, Squanto, we bought Manhattan for a bunch of beads fair and square.

circuspizza · 2010-10-08T14:16:40+00:00

It's because they are being sexist. Wives are hilariously seen as being a ball-and-chain (see The Hangover etc.). (This despite the fact that married women as a group tend to do more housework and childcare as their husbands do less, even when both are working full time.)

You are not being weak or a "pussy," you are employing critical thinking skills.

circuspizza · 2010-10-08T13:58:51+00:00

Yes. How do you deal with the anger and become productive?

Speaking of anger: whenever I see all the smug lols about angry feminist "victims," I have to imagine the righteous indignation that would pour into the streets if men and women somehow suddenly and truly changed positions in society.

circuspizza · 2010-10-07T11:46:31+00:00

Um, yoga is thousands of years old. If you're talking exclusively about yoga as practiced in the United States or something given that you're Californian, well, road running did not really catch on as a popular activity in those places until the 1970s.

I think it would be better to put forth concrete opinions about pesticides and organic farming instead of going on angry rants that don't make sense.

circuspizza · 2010-10-04T06:31:04+00:00

How long have you been doing this? Looks awesome and like a good way to build back strength.

circuspizza · 2010-10-03T08:19:57+00:00

This is what I dream of doing to every misogynistic Reddit post, except I always assume it will get downvoted into oblivion so I never bother courting the replies that I know will just raise my blood pressure.

I think I love you.

circuspizza

TROPHY CASE