Creative Writing Post

Hello my fabulous followers.  Today I am posting something a bit different.  You will see this time to time becasue I must post things for my classes in Creative Communications.  The following is an assignment I had to do for my Creative Writing class.  The object of the assignment was to share something about your life that may be interesting to other people.  I thought caring for my 96 year old grandma was interesting because not many grandparents live to that age.  I am 39 years old and my grandma is still alive.  I think I am very lucky.  My mom is 73 and can still enjoy her mother.  I think that is amazing.  This short piece is about what I go through as being a care giver for my grandma.  I hope you enjoy it.  Thank you for reading it and have a great week.

 When it is required, I am my grandma’s primary care giver. She is 96 years old.   On September 12, 2010, I received a call from my Auntie saying that my Grandma was not well so I spent the entire day with her, sitting on her blue floral love seat in her very cozy apartment.   Physically, my grandma is in wonderful shape except for the arthritis in her upper arms.  I think she could work at the local radio station because she predicts the rain better than the weather man.  Her mental state of mind is what concerns me the most.  Her memory is declining rapidly.  In addition, she is constantly depressed.   My heart feels so heavy when I see her struggling. 

The worst is when I see my grandma cry.  Her face scrunches up into her shoulders.  The pain seems to ooze out of every part of her.  I want to help her so badly when I see her like this.  I feel so helpless.  All I can do is offer her comfort and love.  All she says when she is in this state is that she misses my grandpa Charlie so much she wants to join him now.  My grandpa Charlie passed away almost a year and a half ago and I think my grandma died with him.  She is not able to move on at all and cries three times a day.  My grandma’s skin looks amazing and it is barely wrinkled.  She is incredibly fortunate.   It only wrinkles when she cries.  When she cries, it is the worst. Her face looks like it is going to crack like broken glass.  It is difficult to watch.

When I was with her, she stayed in bed all day and slept with her arms folded across her chest, like a corpse.   When I see her like this, I panic. I think she may be dead.  I always wait a few seconds to see if she is breathing and watch to see if the sheets move.  If they move, then I know she is alive.  I do not want to check her pulse incase I wake her and startle her.

              My grandma is a wonderful person.  Yet at the same time, she is extremely vain. She never leaves her apartment without putting her lipstick on.  She even keeps her lipstick in the fridge. This is to make it last longer.  Having her hair properly styled is paramount.   She visits her hair stylist every Saturday religiously.  When I went to see her on Sunday, her silver curls were piled high on top of her head in a big messy clump.  I knew just from that alone, she needed me.  

Job Searching Tips

Hello my fabulous followers.  I hope you are all well.  I wanted to touch on a few things today that are helpful when you are on a job search.

When you are on a job search, it isn't unusual to send out resumes to several potential employers.  The tricky thing you as the job hunter must do is keep organized.  It is important not to just send out your resume without tracking where and who you sent it to.  Keep hard files and electronic files of this information to be on the safe side.  You never know when your computer might crash and then your information is gone.

When I am on a job search, I like to create a folder in my email inbox.  This way, I can move emails from potential employers into this folder and I always know where I put them.

Another important tip is not to answer the phone when a potential employer calls if you are not prepared.  It is better to let the individual leave a message and you can call them back. Call them back only after you have done your research about the company and the position  you applied for.  Please, do not put yourself in a comprimisng position by not knowing what position the employer is referencing or not remembering when you applied or what compyany you applied to.  You only get one chance to make a great first impression over the phone so don't blow it by being lazy.

When you are on a job search, it is a smart investment to ensure you have call display.  If you don't have call display, remember that it can be a potential employer calling. Don't answer the phone if you just woke up, or if you are entertaining friends and blaring your music.  When you answer that phone, that is the start of your interivew.  Be smart and make sure you are articulate, professional and prepared. Try to have a pad of paper and a pen with you as well as your day timer because the Human Resource person could ask you about your availablity to schedule an interview.  You will always guarantee the prime interview slot if you know your own availablity right away.

I hope you have found these tips helpful.  They might seem like common sense to some of you but it is a helpful reminder to keep these tips top of mind when job searching.

Thank you to all of you for following my blog.  I value your time and loyalty!
Kindly,
Anrea Zaslov 

Why Career Search on Saturday?

Hello to all of my fabulous followers.  I hope all of you are doing well.  I wanted to connect with you today to let you know a job searching tip. Saturday is the best day out of the week if you are looking for a career position or a job for. Some of you may be thinking Saturday for job hunting?  What is this person talking about?  It is true and I will explain why.

One thing you wonderful followers will get to understand about me is that I don't like assuming anything.  There is a saying I learned way back when that ASSUME makes and ass out of you and me.  I worked retail for about ten years and this saying was part of every customer service training workshop I had to take.  It stuck with me. 

Some of you have may have or not heard of Workopolis.  I will give a brief explanation of what it is just in case. Workopolis is a very useful job searching site.  I always check Workopolis.  It really has a comprehensive list of jobs for every sector.  I feel comfortable saying that Workopolis is probably the biggest job bank in Canada.   The URL for Workopolis is www.workopolis.com.  Workopolis is always updated on Saturdays.  Sometimes, it doesn't get updated until the evening so just have patience.  You can always tell if it is updated or not by the date that is displayed on the right hand side of the posting. 

There are several helpful tabs on Workopolis.  Under the Career Resources tab, you can learn about the latest news and advice regarding job searching, you can use the salary calculator, you can find resume writing tips and learn about education or training opportunities.  You can also post your resume online to ensure you are in front of employers.  I highly suggest saving this site to your favourites and make it part of your Saturday routine. Even though some of you may currently be in school and not actively looking, it is very helpful to look at job postings that you are interested in.  This way, you can see what employers are looking for and use your job posting as a guide to acquire the right skills you may need to get land your dream job in the future. It also is a great visual aid to motivate yourself to stay focused to reach your goals.

The Winnipeg Free Press is another useful resource for career searching.  The career section in the Winnipeg Free Press comes out every Saturday.  Sometimes, the section is smaller and other times it is fuller.  It all depends on sevaral reasons such as who is hiring, what time of year it is.  Several variables can impact this though. The Free Press career section is a mixture of specific career positions along with general jobs opportunities.  The career positions usually have a larger posting containing what employers are looking for.   If you are unable to pick up the paper on Saturday, don't panic.  I found out that 7-Eleven stores usually keep the papers that don't sell on Saturday for an extra day.

I hope you found these job searching tips helpful.  I know I would always look forward to Saturdays to find new opportunities to apply for when I was on my job search.  Good luck and happy searching!

Starting First Twitter Account

I worked in the non profit sector in communication positions before I started the Creative Communications program. I knew before taking this course that knowing how to use a Twitter account was very important. However, I never had the opportunity to use social media communication tools. Now that I am starting to use them, I see how amazing social media is. How did these orgamizations I worked for live without this?

Charitable organizations that don't have social media as a medium of communication in place, really need to start doing so. Charities that operate on a shoe string budget, will love social media and realize that it is a huge asset to reach their audiences on a regular basis. I hope to become very comfortable using social media and am so pleased I have now entered this world.

Volunteer Opportunity

Hello my fellow communication professionals! I hope you all have a great and relaxing weekend. Perhaps it will even be a creative one. I am providing you with an opportunity that you may be interested in.

The University of Winnipeg Alumni Council is seeking volunteers. This is a great way to gain experience. As a volunteer, you are able to participate in a variety of different ways. If this volunteer opportunity is of any interest to you please let me know.
Talk with you soon!
Anrea

Communication Jobs, Titles & Tips

Communication Jobs, Titles & Tips will serve as a resource for communication professionals. Readers can expect to find information about opportunities and related tasks. Tips about career searching will also be included.

Marketing & Communications Coordintor is an example of a title in the communications industry. Writing skills are must haves to be successful in this line of work. In this role, you can expect to write content for a weekly e-news letter and develop public relations strategies to promote the organization.

Graphic design skills are also important. It is common to work with printers and graphic designers in this capacity. You have to be comfortable explaining what the organization is looking for when producing promotional materials.

One can also expect to represent the organization at various community related events so being confident with public speaking and networking is essential.

Salaries for this position can be different. Salaries depend on what area you are working in such as, non- profit, private sector or government. From my experience, government and the private sector are the highest paying.