Boston – The Journey. What I knew and What I know now!

Hi eveyone!

Before moving to Boston I knew very little, other than it is renowed for having a very high Irish population and that it is home to some of the most prestigous colleges in America.  And possible Ally Mc Beal a popular late ’90s TV show was shot here.  But other than that…  nothing.

Now I know that it one of the most diverse regions in America and possibly the third most biggest city in America.   When I arrived at Logan International airport I thought I have either made the biggest mistake of my life and am now homeless in this big state or this is the greatest adventure of my life.

At this point I can call it an adventure as I am not homeless, but waiting in that queue at immigration was the most gut wrenching thought of my life that I had done the most awful thing.  That I had made the biggest mistake of my life.  Even though I knew at the other side was a job for me and my life was about to begin all over again. I thought this was a mistake.

Only a few nights before I had left my friends, my family and a life that I was very comfortable with, for what.. this notion that getting a full time job, getting the job that I wanted to have back home but couldn’t get was the right thing to do. As I sat with alot of people who were travelling for holidays or business I thought I was crazy. I thought about running back through the departures lounge ( is that what you call it? ) running back in to arms of my parents that I had left behind crying at the gates.

But this was something that I had to do. I had said goodbye to my friends and family only a few nights before I couldn’t just return the exact same day. I had to give it a shot.  So I did.

When they called the flight, I thought I would be sick.  I thought this is it.  This is everything that I dreamt of … this is everything that is going to be right in my life… i have to take this chance.  If I don’t take it now I will regret it for the rest of my life.  so I took the chance and boarded the plane.

As I sat on the plane I wondered if there was anyone else in the same position as me, leaving a comfortable life behind to start a new scary one in a very big city, where the only people they “knew” were the people who interviewed them a few weeks earlier.  It was scary.   I wondered everytime the hostess on the aircraft smiled at me, did she know the big change that was taking place in my life at this very moment. Is that why she was being nice to me?  did she know that I was about to make the biggest mistake or best decision  i had ever made.

Whatever it was I got through the flight and landed in to the unknown. I stayed at great hotel in boston, where they made me feel comfortable and almost like family. The Boston Commonwealth, is right next to the subway, and within walking distance to Fenway park and if you are ever travelling to Boston, i highly recommend this hotel.

So after living here a few weeks what I do know now … well I know that us Irish make up almost 16% of the population and that we are great gang to be around.  Us Irish seem to stick together or at least migrate together when needed.  Thankfully in my case I found a few Irish people to be around.   Other that that what do i know … well i know that there are alot of neighbourhoods in Boston and i still don’t know them all but I have made it my mission to visit them.

There are two main newspapers here, one is the globe the other the herald, but most people prefer the globe, well out of my new established friends, the globe seems more popular.

Boston has a major baseball team, called the redsox and whilst I still know absolutely nothing about baseball i am sure in time I will learn to understand it.  It looks like rounders for us irish people but the rules sound like cricket to me at the moment. … in other words  i have no idea what is going on yet … but I am sure some day I will.

Other than the facts, all I can tell you is that so far I have met amazing people, people that are career driven, and yet still somehow focused on family and all that it contains.  And that I am loving it.

Keep reading to learn more of my latest adventures in Boston.

I found a home!

Hi everyone,

I have found somewhere to live. As much as I have loved living in the hotel, it was time that I found somewhere to live.  Commuting from the hotel to work was a little bit of a drag but I am living somewhere … with a door that I open with an actual key.    Also, living somewhere that I couldn’t cook for myself was making me gain weight… and we all know that I am not a fan of weight gain.

When I started work I met a girl at my orientation who had worked for the college for a number of years.    We clicked and have become very good friends.  Jenny moved to Boston a number of years ago and has settled in to life quite well.   As she says herself a number of relationships but nothing worth flying all the way back home to Texas in order to endure her parents.  Her words not mine.   Jenny was showing me around campus, we went to lunch on my first day and kinda clicked so met every other day for lucnh. Jenny doesn’t work in my department and works in another department at the other side of the campus but it was nice to make a friend so early after my arrival and the start of my job.

Jenny was giving me advice on best places to live and places to look at. She even drove me to a few places after work. She is extremely nice, and the kind of person who is so nice all of the time you are waiting for her to explode. its ok I have said this to her a number of times and she laughs at me saying I am happy, life is good, so why be sad.  you got to admit the girl is right …. even though a few weeks ago I wouldn’t have agreed with her.

When her room mate said that she was moving back home to Wisconsin and wasn’t going to be living there come the end of June.  Bad news for Jenny, but good news for me.  Jenny offered me a room at her place and the rest is history.   It turns out that Jennys now ex room mate was fired from her job on campus and has left some debt behind her from her friends. Luckily Jenny wasn’t affected or owed money, but it is horrible for Jenny to think that she thought she knew someone but she didn’t really know her at all.  I feel for Jenny in this way, as she thinks people are looking at her knowing that she knew the scams her ex room mate was pulling. She didn’t.  But her leaving means there is a room for me, and more importantly a home.

I have moved to the suburb of cambridge, and although only here a few days I get a lovely homely sense about this place.  The houses are amazing. I couldn’t believe when Jenny drove up to the house and said this is it.  I said to her that she was joking it had to be a joke, the house was amazing.  The house huge . . . the house was scarily under priced in rent value if you ask me. But hey I live here now so  i am not complaining.  Although living in on a street where the word pond is in the name i am not sure it rolls with my style. lol but apparently this is a very classy area and one of the best in cambridge.

I am still getting to know this area but i know already that is indeed a classy area and possibly a D4 area if we are to relate this to Ireland. I have to say the neighbours are quite cute too .. but more to follow on that one in my next blog post.

My big Move!

hi everyone,

Its been a while since I last posted on here and I thought now would be the perfect time to get back in to writing my blog. I have made a big move! In fact a huge move.   I have moved to Boston. …. yes, thats Boston in the big ole U.S of A. 

Like so many other Irish people before me, and sadly after me I have decided that in order to restore myself self respect and get myself a full time permanent job with some hope of prospect, and internal respect, I need to leave Ireland.  The Gathering is more like the scattering these days with the amount of people leaving Ireland.  I have lost count of the amount of people in the days leading to interview and than finally immigration that I saw crying and waving good bye to people in the airport departures area.

I love everything America, the culture, the people, the service and so much more.  But in June of this year, I made the big move.  I did get an internship in Ireland on the jobsbridge scheme, but while it was everything I had hoped for in a positive light, I needed a permanent job and the stability that it brings with it.  The company I took the intership with was a good company with good intentions behind it to make a permanent job there for me.  But they did not have the company know how and drive that I so wanted.  I took to looking at other companies in Ireland, nobody wanted to hire me.  It was as simple as that.   I am not sure why… as I have recently got a job in a highly prestigious American college… or a third level institute as we call them in Ireland.  Maybe they thought my salary expectations were higher than I was applying for. .. because I am in my mid thirties, people expect that you want big money, which yes I was previously on and people thought I had ties in my home town, but I didn’t I could move.  But I am not really sure if people believed me when I said that.

I firmly believe that HR people believe they know what you want when they are interviewing you. They try to read your mind more than you will ever know.  But for other HR people out there, don’t read anyones mind…. if someone applies for the job its because they want they job, in fact need the job.  DO NOT second guess their application.

So I took to looking at other options and I found a job in Boston.   I applied, got an interview… yes I didn’t have a visa otion at that sgage, but I took the interview and got myself on a plane over to Boston.  And you know what … I got the job and I got the support I needed to get a visa to work here.  So far I am loving it.  I won’t bore everyone with tails of visa application sand paperwork, but needless to say a blog post about filling in application forms is definetly needed for anyone out there who is filling forms for any sort of application. ( I want to follow this with an expletive, but I am too much of a lady these days to do such a thing)

I am working in an college setting here, within their administration department. I have been lucky enough to get to work with some great people.  And because of all of this and the great change in my life,  I have decided to start my blog back up again to show a new life can be dreamt possible.

I hope you enjoy reading.

Celebrating Waterford – Pinspiration

My home town I thought that I would share some beautiful photographs that I have seen and gathered on Pinterest.

Tramore County Waterford.

Thomas Francis Meagher & Reginald’s tower Waterford

Waterford City,

If you are thinking of visiting this wonderful city – please check out this website.

Happy St. Patricks Day

Holiday !! New York City Baby

ok so I don’t have my holiday to the big apple booked just yet – but I wanted to post up some reminders of this faboulous city so that I can drool all over again and show to you guys what a great city NYC truly is.

Managing your job search

When you first start looking for a job it is hard to know where to start.  There are so many places to look for a job and it is hard to know where exactly to start.  The whole thing baffled me to the point that I cried my eyes out when I first started looking.  What I learned from my job search is that you need a plan – and you need to be organised.

How do you get your plan?

To get your plan you need to do know what type of job you are looking for – are you looking locally or beyond?      This will help narrow everything down to local newspapers or to an online search.

What do you need?

You need to look at what your exact requirements are that will help with your job search so as above with your plan – you need to think of a few things – if this is a local search and will require access to local papers do you have the money for them.  And secondly when do the newspapers hit the shelves so that you can get it straight away and get your CV in first to any place.

Next you need to look online – what recruitment or even company websites do you need to keep track of and have access to.

The online part of this will take up some time on you so please take your time, a day or so and get yourself ready for your job search. Don’t rush in and apply for every job you see on a hundred different websites just because you are desperate. Take your time and keep looking until you have what you are looking for.  The same is said for recruitment websites, while I am not an overall fan of recruitment websites I do believe that they will help and point you to skills and companies that are recruiting.  Maybe I should give a separate post on my despise of these websites.  Anyway I am digressing.

Register for these websites if necessary, set up job alerts and be ready with your CV to apply.

 Than you need to look at the resources that you have available and too hand at that and any given moment. So for example do you need a local newspaper for their jobs page – if so, budget yourself so that you can your local papers.  Do you need access to certain websites, do you need a log in for these sites – if so than settle yourself down and get access to all these sites in one go.

Some will ask you to upload your CV –this of course if your own choice and if you do choose to upload your cv make sure it is best version and one that will show off all your skills no matter what type of job you are applying for. Unfortunately your CV will need to be generic but it will help get you showcased.

Next create an excel spreadsheet tracker of your applications which covers the following headings:

Date you applied, company applied to, contact name, name of position, date advertised and date application is closing.

Finally finish off your spreadsheet with a simple yes or no column confirming that you have saved the job specification someplace.   Always save a copy of the job description of the position that you have applied for, because when it comes to interview you need to be able to reference back to this and it will have gone from the website.   Make sure that when you apply for a position that you get some confirmation either via email or on the page itself that you have applied for the position, save this in your email or print the page in case you are required to proof to social welfare or another third party that you are applying for a position.

When you have the above created and ready to go , you are then ready to start your job search with confidence and a plan.

Next you need a daily plan along with a weekly target of jobs that you are applying to. I made it my business to apply for at least three jobs a week that I wanted.   I am a procrastinator  by nature so I needed to set myself a target number for jobs to apply for, if not I probably wouldn’t apply for anything.   Then take an hour or two a day to search through the websites you have listed and registered for and to review the newspapers.

Be methodical about your job search and do it daily so as you know that you are not going to miss anything that is new to the jobs market.

Most of all don’t lose heart when it comes to the job search. It can be disheartening but you need to have perseverance, and you need to know that the right job will come up for you at the right time and in the mean time while you are waiting – learn something new and expand your knowledge.

Have you any tips on job searching?

S

 

February Monthly Review.

It is time to review my commitments for 2013 for the month of February.  I am intrigued to review these commitments to see how I got on as overall I didn’t think much about my commitments to change this month so I wonder if they have somehow worked their way in to my mind automatically.   Lets review and see.

I won’t write down all the columns like I did last month – that just takes too much time and I am not sure if everyone really wants to read everything all over again.

What I will say to you all is that I am making progress on my change for good manifesto and everything is going in the right direction.

In every section there has been an improvement on last months scores.  This means that I have finally gotten these in to my mind and I am working on them without even realising that I am. I have fully committed to becoming a better person and this month shows it to me.  Although I am only two months in to this challenge and change I am happy that it seems to be going in the right direction.

How are you all getting on with your commitments for 2013?

Let me know

S

Ten ways to keep your job in a recession

Every country is in a recession at the moment, and each one of us that are in the working world are doing everything that we possibly can to keep that job and help keep our company going on a daily basis.   Sometimes we think as the little people in a company that there is nothing that we can do to help our company on a larger scale but this isn’t true.   There are many things that we can which will help us to keep our job in a recession when a company goes to downsize.  Here are my top ten.

1. Get involved with training and development.

Learning more and expanding our own knowledge is one way to help ourselves and keeping our own brains nice and health.  But did you know that learning more about your company and the business will also help make you indispensable in work.  Maybe your company is looking to move in to a new geographical area or brining a new product out to the general market.  Learn what you can about this area or product so that you too can help with its launch, sale and promotion.   With this not only are you helping your company but you are also helping yourself and your own skill set to grow.   As much as you love your job right now, you need to think about the skills you can gain and bring with you to another company.

2. Helping other employees to be more productive

Another facet to the above is getting involved with helping to train and mentor another employee in the company so that they too will be knowledgeable in a certain area. Some may see this as possibly training someone in to do your job, but don’t give away all your state secrets – remember you are trying to hold your job as well.    Being friendly and supportive to other colleagues is an essential part of any job and training and developing other employees will be beneficial to your overall career and success.

You may also notice that a colleague is completing a task on a regular basis and you have an idea that will make this task easier, simpler and quicker.  Don’t be afraid to share your knowledge in a helpful way.

3. Uncover ways to increase revenue with existing clients.

We have all had those moments in work where we have said, I wish the boss would do this or do that as it may bring in more money.  So why not finally sit down with your boss and tell them the ideas that you have.   Remember one important thing, don’t just walk in there with ideas – walk in with more than that.    Walk in with a full plan of action, if it is that you should focus on selling a second product to an already existing client, then determine why this is a good idea and explain this to your boss.  Don’t just ask because we should.  You need to establish the market is really there for your company to take.

Another way to increase your revenue, perhaps is face to face meetings with clients once a month  rather than the usual over the phone meeting – if this is the case, make sure that a budget can be allocated to this, and determine how much of a budget is required.

4. Acquire new customers

Each one of your customers has their own customers – think of ways that you can tap in to this market.  Think of other customers who are out there and may not have heard of you – how can you manage to get their attention.  Perhaps if you are not already on social media as a company, than you need to implement a social media strategy to create brand awareness.   Remember, don’t go in to your bosses office with half an idea – follow through on your own idea with a full plan.

5. Always take an opportunity to impress your boss.

Sometimes when times are tough in a company, the boss can tend of forget everyone that is on his/her staff and the importance of the job that you do.  At all times, stand up and be counted. Impress your boss, whether it is bringing him/her a cup of coffee because they looked like they could do with one – this becomes the perfect opportunity to talk to your boss and remind them exactly what you are doing, what you are working on.   Why not be the one to create a internal communications newsletter for your company, offer everybody a chance to put their own good news out there for their department – this also allows you to put your good news out there as well.

6. Do more than is expected of you.

My philosophy with work is to try and stay a step ahead of my boss.   By doing so I am always anticipating what is next and what they will need of me.   When I work on a project I determine what my boss wants and I try to figure out what will make it better, what would be a good addition to it.   It is not always easy to stay a step ahead or do that little bit more than is expected of you – but as we are in a recession we need to work these things out.   Think of your own job and what you can do on a regular basis that will be above and beyond.

7. Create a list of no more than 3 things that must be accomplished every day, and primarily focus on those ultimate goals.

Think about what you do every day – do you a list of regular items that need to be completed.  Then make sure these are the first things that you do every day.  In my company, I look after social media therefore one of my first tasks each morning to be completed is to review all aspects of our social media, interact with our customers, generate new status updates or something on our twitter feed which is new and in line with our company philosophy. This is working towards my ultimate goal of increasing our following on both facebook and twitter to a certain number.   You might have other items that you can place on your task list to go to every day but make sure it is working towards an ultimate goal to help your company and your own development within the company as well.

8. Be prepared to drop everything to help put out fires.

We have all heard of the term firefighting, it is trying to resolve an issue after it has happened rather than pre-empting it as an issue in the first place.   Unfortunately firefighting happens in every company at one stage or another.  Don’t take the attitude of this is not my problem sort it yourself. But instead stop what you are doing and help your colleague to fight that fire.  This will be of benefit to you to help raise your profile in problem solving within the company, and the person who can remain calm under pressure.  My one piece of advice to help you become that person is make sure that your time management of your day and tasks that you complete is perfect so that you have at least 30 minutes to help other people.

9. Invest in yourself and always be presentable.

No matter what your job title, you are important, you are part of the sales department and you must make sure that you are presentable and look the part.  Take some time to invest in some staple items for your wardrobe. Try not to keep up with fashion so much when it comes to office wear as this can be costly on your bank balance.  Invest in staple clothes like a black or brown pants and a few matching shirts and tops to go with that.   If you don’t invest in your every day work wear, it is unfortunate sign of the times that people in your job won’t take you seriously and will not go to you when they need help or support.   The old saying “ dress for the job you want not the job you have” really is evident in every day work life.

10. Reward your colleagues for good behaviour or helping you out.

Always say “thank you” when someone helps you out – even if you really don’t want to.  Be the nice person in the office, remember it is only for a few hours a day that you have to do nice; when you leave the office at 5pm you can curse your head off and be as rude as you like.  But during those office hours you need to polite and courteous at all times.  This means that people will be more likely to come to you for help when they need it.  But remember, it will expand your network and people you can ask for a reference if you ever need it.

If someone is under pressure to get a project completed – why not make them a coffee if they haven’t had a break.  It’s the small simple things that will help you get noticed and be more beneficial in the long run.

Life Pinspiration

Following on from yesterdays post – a few pics of inspiration to let you know where I am coming from!   Maybe for some of you it will help you understand me a little bit more.

My first pic is exactly where my thoughts are at 99% of the time.  And something my ex aka the disastrous date should remember.

My Life Motto