ClickNSmart Team

Interview is one of the most important part toward your career path. The purpose for an interview is for a prospective employer to know more about your skill and knowledge.

How can you best prepare for a job interview?
1. You may want to check the company’s website (if there is one) in advance;
2. You should know your own interest and skills;
3. Prepare for an opening statement that tells a profile of who you are and your interest in the position;
4. Don’t forget to ask for the recruiter’s business card;
5. Dress appropriately in interview attire. You want to give a good first impression and look like one who can be an asset to the profession;
6. Don’t forget to ask questions to the interviewer about the position and the requirement to succeed in that position. This will show the interviewer that you’re enthusiastic about the job.

What you may want to do after an interview?
1. Be sure to send a formal thank you letter to the person that interviewed you. In the letter, you may want to share with him or her about the project discussed during the interview.
2. Continue to maintain contact with the person you interviewed;
3. When you decide to pursue the career field, you should send a letter by stating something like ” if you hear any job opportunities, i would really appreciate hearing from you. Thank you so much for your time and consideration.”

FYI: We also have an article on how to write a good resume as well at: http://topuniversity.clicknsmart.com/2010/05/how-to-write-a-good-resume/

“Preparation is the key to career success”

Written by ClickNSmart Team

ClickNSmart Team

A cover letter should accompany each resume. It is used to support what you mentioned in the resume. A cover letter has a life expectancy of about 8 seconds. In this short amount of time, you must achieve the certain goal.

Goals of the Cover Letter:
- Clearly mention your skills and knowledge
- Explain how these credentials can make the best contribution to company
- Persuade the reader to continue on your resume

Rules for Cover Letter:
- Target the message
- Relate your skills and experiences to the specific position in the company

Focus on what you have to offer:
- Describe how your experiences, knowledge, and accomplishment
can benefit the company
- Write clearly to the point
- Check your letter for grammar error
- Use the same font that you used for the resume

Send your letter to specific person:
- Make sure you have the correct spelling name and title
- If you don’t know the person’s name, use “To Whom it May Concern”

Do not forget to sign your Cover Letter

Written by ClickNSmart Team

ClickNSmart Team

Resume is a powerful marketing tool to drive an interview. The objective is to communicate what makes you stand out as a job candidate. Your resume must be concise, appealing, and informative.

Why create a resume?
Good resume is the first step to get an interview. Your resume should summarize your skill, work experience, research experience, education, and accomplishment. Most employers spend 15 to 30 seconds on average to review your resume.

3 steps to empower your resume:
1) Take a stock of what you offer
such as : technical skills, personal abilities/attributes, accomplishments
and education (GPA)
2) Take an advantage of your skills.
such as : leadership, communication skills, computer, and team work
3) Take an advantage of your experiences
such as: internships, volunteer activities, research projects, and work
experiences.

Recruiters will be looking forward for your :
1) responsibility
2) strong interpersonal skills
3) ability to meet deadlines and handle high pressure situations

You must present yourself to catch the recruiter’s attention in about few seconds

Written by ClickNSmart Team

ClickNSmart Team

Job Search Jump Start

Job search on the internet is a powerful tool and has grown tremendously for a professional necessity. I am writing this blog post to provide you information about what you can expect when conducting job search over the internet. In addition, I also share some top online resources that will be beneficial if you’re currently in between jobs.

From Internet job search, you can:
1. conduct online job search in relation with thousands of career/job opportunity.
2. research a company and network with current employees of that company
3. send & save your resume electronically before people know there is opening. The recruiters will review your resume anytime.

The Best 6 Internet Job Search resources are:
- America’s Top Internet Job Sites
- Recent Graduate Websites
- The directory of websites for International Jobs
- The guide to internet Job Searching
- Best Career and education web sites
- Job-hunting online

” It’s time to conduct job search and enhance your career opportunity”
Written by ClickNSmart Team

ClickNSmart Team

Going to college is becoming more and more expensive today than ever before. College education is also becoming more important than ever before as most high-paying jobs require applicants to have some college education in their resume. If you’re coming from a wealthy family, Congratulations! Your parent will pay for your college tuition and you don’t have to worry about choosing to go to public university or private university anymore because either way, you’re covered! However, if you’re like most of us that come from an average income family, then you need to find a way to pay for your college tuition. Below are some popular ways that students finance their own education:

1) Apply for Scholarships - It’s surprising that students sometimes do not take advantages of various university-sponsored scholarships or private-sponsored scholarships available to them. Go look for scholarships available at your college or university. Best way is to go to your school’s website and enter “Scholarship” in the search bar. This will direct you to various link related to scholarship search.

2) Work Part-time - some students choose to work in-school due to time-flexibility, whereas others choose to work outside for slightly higher pay. Either way, some sort of part-time work is popular among students to get additional income to pay day-to-day expenses. It would be great if you can work full-time while going to college in the evening simultaneously; however, some students may feel overwhelmed.

3) Apply for Government Grants or Financial Aids - Depending on the states of your residency, you may qualify for different government grants or financial aids. For example, in California residents with average GPA are qualified for CalGrants; however currently California cut significantly CalGrants due to state budget problem.

4) Apply for Student Loan - I put this the last option since student loan is one type of loan that is almost unforgivable, meaning it will accumulate during your lifetime until you pay it off; moreover, even if you declare bankruptcy, this student loan will stay with you. Some student loans, not all, are forgivable if you join some type of non-profit organizations like Peace Corp, Red Cross, etc. However, you should really consider your option before borrowing from student loan.

We hope that you find this article helpful when you are thinking of some ways to finance your college education.

ClickNSmart Team

ClickNSmart Team

Have you ever wondered and tell yourself ” I am a busy professional and work all day long; I have a family and kids at home and I don’t have time to continue my education even if I want to.”

Nowadays, you can continue your education while keeping your full time job. One advantage of continuing your education is that you maybe able to get promotion and a salary hike from your company. Many of the top universities offer distance learning programs that are designed for a busy professional like you. Many of these online degree programs can be completed in anywhere (from home or work) and anytime at your convenience.

The purpose of this program is to enabled employed businessman, engineers, and other professionals to enrich their knowledge beyond the bachelor education level. This program is designed for high qualified employee, who do not attend the on campus MBA or Master of Science education yet still have interests in the learning cutting edge knowledge in business and technology.

There are two prestigious online programs offered by the TOP universities like University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) and Columbia University of New York. Students in both of these programs have the same equivalence educational rigor and experience as with their on campus counterparts. The transcript degree will read as Master of Science degree and will have no “online designation”.

Written by ClickNSmart Team

ClickNSmart Team

I have interviewed 50 college students that are recently transferring into top universities, like: UCLA, UC Berkeley, and Harvard Universities. The purpose is to find the “smart” way of transfer from community colleges/ junior 2-year colleges to 4-year institutions. Below are some of the tips I would like to share with you guys based on my inteview result and also from my personal experience as well:

“Smart” way to transfer to Top University:

1) Finish all your general education (GE) requirements before transferring to 4-year university

If you don’t finish this general education (GE) requirements while you are in junior college, you may need to take more GE courses once you are attending the 4-year university.

2) Strive to get a high G.P.A

The truth is that “G.P.A Matters” when you want to transfer to top universities. The higher your G.P.A is during junior college, the higher the chance of getting admitted into top university of your choice. For some impacted majors (business, psychology, economic, and other popular majors), many of these universities may set a minimum G.P.A for admission to their program.

3) Prepare your personal statement in advance

The university admission officer reads more than 10,000 personal statements each year, so they could easily tell various personal statement (made only 1-day before submission v.s made 3-4 months before submission). The admission officer look at well-crafted yet brief personal statements that show the quality of you as a person (besides academic quality, since they can easily find out from your academic transcript) and how you would benefit from the program you apply.

4) Get recommendation letters from Professors that know you personally

Some universities often ask for few recommendation letters. If so, ask only professors that know you personally; this way, they can provide you with good and meaningful recommendation letters rather than the generic recommendation letter based on template.

5) Contact the School and Have a Campus Tour

Almost all of the students that I interviewed, including myself, went to campus tour before sending out application; moreover, during the campus tour, try to also contact the school admission to find out criteria and any tips for admission to the university. It is very helpful for you to find out whether you like the campus or not and also to get admission tips before you applying to these universities.

I highly recommend that you follow these tips. If there is any further suggestions, comments and tips on how to transfer to top universities, please feel free to leave comments on this article so that the reader may benefit from our discussion.

Written by ClickNSmart Team

ClickNSmartTeam

Business major is a top choice almost for everyone. In this bad economy, the demand for business major graduates is always higher than any other major. Business is not as straightforward as many people believe; the business curriculum in general focuses more on the analytical and the critical thinking part, which are both important skill in addition to the soft communication skill . Business knowledge is a key element for your future success. There are more opportunities by majoring in business. Business majors can choose various concentrations, such as: Finance, Accounting, Marketing, Human Resources, and  General Management.

Here’s are the average salaries for these majors, according to the United States Bureau of Labor Statistic (www.bls.gov)

~ Median Annual Earning ~

• Management Analyst : $68,050
• Accountant : $54,630
• Economist :$77,010
• Financial Analyst : $66,590
• Human Resources : $42,420
• Marketing research Analyst : $58,829

Management Analyst : Salaries for management analysts vary based on experiences, location, and expertise.

Economist : has the highest median annual salary, but the starting salary for bachelor’s degree was $35,752 in 2007. For master’s degree has an annual salary of $43,731. And for Ph.D, the salary starts at $52,912

Human Resources : has the lowest annual salary compared with other business fields. For human resources position with a high school degree, the average annual salary begins $26,685

Nowadays, many people are getting an additional business degree on the top of their technical degrees (science or engineering degree) in order to be competitive in the job market. Therefore, I would strongly recommend adding some business knowledge, either through traditional brick and mortar schools or through distance learning (online) business degree program that many universities offer.

Written by ClickNSmart

ClickNSmartTeam

Having my Master (M.S) at UCLA, working as a grader and research assistance at UCLA, and now working hard to publish a semiconductor research paper, I decide to write my personal experiences and advice about getting into TOP graduate school.

Graduate school doesn’t mean something that you have to go no matter what. However, it’s more like your own decision. Many people out there become successful in their careers without having a master degree. ” However !! “If you think that your knowledge that you gain during an undergraduate school is not enough and you still want to pursue your dream, then you should go to graduate school. For master, it only takes 1 or 2 years to graduate, but you get more experiences and learn about learning environment as a graduate student. You will get lots of knowledge and experience in research field especially. It is the time to pursue whatever your dream to be.

Below are the strategies to get into TOP university of your dream without having a perfect GPA score:

1) You should talk with the graduate advisor. Keep in touch with him/her by email,phone,or in person. Ask for advising on the graduate curriculum and requirement that you need to fulfill.
2) Have 3 good recommendation letters from the Professors that close with you and know you a lot. Please do not ask for the recommendation letter to the Professor who does not have a good relationship with you. It will screw you up and less chance for getting into the graduate school.
3) Write Personal statement form your heart.
When you write a statement of purpose, you should truly mean it. Explain: who you are, and what do you want go to grad school with this major, and why you choose this school to pursue your graduate degree, and your experiences that relate with your major. Please ask your friend or professor to read your essay and revise it many times.
4) Prepare all transcripts from your undergraduate institutions. Make sure you meet the GPA requirement for each school; it doesn’t have to have a perfect GPA,though.
5) Take GRE for reference. For science and engineering, Quantitative (math) part is more important than verbal or overall GPA. Don’t worry about the English part,just do the best you can.

As a graduate student , even though your grade courses are important, try publish the paper is the most important if you are considering to go to graduate school.
Publish,Publish,Publish to make yourself competitive in academia

Here’s the link about the school tips related

Motivation and tips to get a better grades
Advices for student looking for employments and other similar issues

Gutluck for your study

Written by ClickNSmart

ClickNSmart

Many students start to think after they finish undergraduate program “Master Vs PhD ? What’s the difference?”

1) In terms of knowledge and time

Master Degree : they teach you a specific knowledge in a specialized field. A master’s program usually takes you about 1 or 2 years, sometimes 3 years to complete depending on your field and your adviser. Pursue their life to get more knowledge or a better job.

PhD Degree: they teach you an extensive knowledge in a specialized
field. For PhD, it usually takes you about 4-6 years depends on your field of research and how tough your adviser is. Pursue their life as a professor or researcher.

2) In terms of the Program (taking courses are required for both)

You have an option between Thesis or Comprehensive Test

Master Degree:If you choose thesis, usually it takes longer to finish the program (about 2-3 years). Again this depends on your adviser. Some advisers only require their students to publish 1 research paper, others require their students to publish 2-3 research papers. However, if you choose to take comprehensive test, it only takes you about a year to graduate. But Remember, the test is extremely hard. You have to really know the material well. The professor will test you whether you really understand the Concept or not; Some people fail the test.

PhD Degree:First you choose your advisor and write a dissertation proposal. Then you need to take preliminary test to demonstrate you qualification to continue with Doctoral Degree. After completed test, you more focus on writing your dissertation. The dissertation has to be well published. Usually PhD requires you to publish 4 or more research paper. After you finally done, you require to defend your work in front of your committee (professor) called a dissertation defense. most of them pass their dissertation defense.

3) In terms of Financial Aid

Master Degree: usually you need to pay your own tuition. The program does not offer as much aid to master’s students. However, you can be a teacher assistance and get paid.

PhD Degree: financial Aid is available for students. The schools pay  for your tuition. Also they get more money to be a teacher assistance. The most important for PhD is be of publishable quality.

4) In terms of Career Options

Master Degree: People usually choose to go for a Master degree with a goal that they would like to go out in the industry and gain more advanced knowledge in a particular field; for example, people seeking an MBA degree to gain business knowledge needed to become a manager in a company or start their own businesses.

PhD Degree: I would say that do not apply for PhD unless you are absolutely clear on “Why you need a PhD?” As I mentioned above, a PhD education requires relatively long time and lots of dedication. Therefore, unless you really need a PhD education to advance in your choice of career, then you should not go for PhD. Do not apply for PhD program just because you like to go to school; this is wrong reason. What is next after PhD? Ask yourself this question and try to find a definite answer that suits your career goal, before deciding to apply for PhD.

Hope this article helps.

Written by ClickNSmart