Polish Your Résumé

A week or two ago, the following cover letter was emailed to me:

Hi Michael,

My name is Sarah Parrish I am a current CLU graduate student, I talked to you over the pnone in regards to the Student Peer Advisor position, but as I am no longer a UCSB student I do not qualify.  Attached you will find my resume as you have reuested.  I hope we can work something out.  I would like to volunteer or intern if at all possible.

Hours of Availability: 8:00AM to 11:30AM  Mon.-Fri.

Thank you,

Sarah Parrish

CLU graduate student

Oh my gosh!
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You Are Beautiful

“You’re SHORT, Mrs. Takahara!” an almost-too-honest second grader told her teacher.

She replied, “Yes. Isn’t it great that people come in all shapes and sizes?”

The girl slowly smiled, “Yeah . . . It is.”

Somewhere between second grade and high school, we stop believing that the diversity of body shapes and sizes is great.

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Times of Crisis Require Genuine Reforms

Well, things keep getting worse. Just today, the State Senate and House of California passed the deplorable budget deal. Abel Maldonado, state Senator from around Silicon Valley, finally caved in. Sure, he wrangled some concessions from the Democrats, getting them to drop an increased gas tax, agree to a ballot initiative for open state primary elections, and getting state Controller John Chiang to not spend one million dollars on redecorating his office, but the fact remains that this bill is a travesty. In addition to an annual tax increase of $12 billion a year — during a recession, in case you’d forgotten — half of the budget plan’s “spending cuts” are cuts in projected spending increases. So, really, they’re cutting half what they say they’re cutting, when, in a sane world, they’d have cut all planned spending increases as well as the 40 percent increase in government spending we’ve seen in the last five years, if not the 100 percent it’s increased by in the last decade. (more…)

E-mailing Your Cover Letter and Résumé

E-mail communication has become increasingly popular in the job application process. Professional e-mail is very different from casual email or instant messaging. First, here are some general tips:

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Israeli Election Results Imperil Peace Process

Week two, here we go! Thanks for reading last week’s article, and make sure you keep the pressure on the people in the State Senate and Assembly, telling them that no new taxes are acceptable!

The Israeli Knesset election votes are 99% in, and, folks, things do not bode well for the future peace process. Tzipi Livni’s centrist Kadima Party has won 28 seats, while Benjamin Netanyahu’s Likud has won 27. Avigdor Lieberman’s far-right Yisrael Beiteinu party won the third most seats, fifteen in all, beating Defense Minister Ehud Barak’s Labor party, which took fourth place. Now, you might be confused as to what this means, as the Israeli system differs from our own. What it means is that Tzipi Livni won the right to be Prime Minister, but just barely. There is, however, a potential spoiler in these results. (more…)

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