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

When attending multiple career fairs at California State University Long Beach (CSULB) and University of California Los Angeles (UCLA), I found out about the following information:
* What a graduating student can expect from the job market
* Which college degrees present the most job opportunities in the current time.

If you are a high school graduate and/or a college freshman, who is deciding what college degree you want to pursue, then you may want to consider the following 5 college degrees that are currently highly sought  in the workplace:

• Health Care Degree

Desirable degree : Nursing, Physical Therapy, and Pharmacy.

• Business Administration Degree

Desirable degree : Business Administration and Marketing

• Computer Science Degree

Desirable degree : Computer Science, Technology Support, and Information Technology and System

• Accounting/Finance Degree

Desirable degree : Accounting and Finance

• Engineering Degree

Desirable degree : Biomedical Engineering, Civil Engineering, Electrical Engineering, and Mechanical Engineering.

Note that the above 5 degrees are not in any particular order. If you would like to find out more about a specific demand of each of the degree above, please feel free to find out more at:

The US Bureau Labor Statistics: http://www.bls.gov/oco/

We hope that this article can be beneficial for you.
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

Variation earning distributions among engineers is extremely important. When we choose a major, we should care not only the growth employment but also the average starting salary.

Based on the National Association of Colleges and Employers 2009-2010 ( retrieved from www.bls.gov), the table below presents the average starting salary for bachelor degree among engineering specialty.

The update result 2009-2010 from the National Association of Colleges and Employers shows that even though Chemical Engineering has the lowest job growth (what kind of Engineers are demand), but Chemical Engineering degree commands the highest salary among all engineering degrees.

Written by ClickNSmart Team

ClickNSmart Team

The economy today is different than the past. In the past times, an engineering graduate could easily get a job. However, nowadays Engineering graduates are tough to get hired. Therefore, It is important for those of you that are still attending college to choose a specific engineering degree that are in demand today.

Below are the tables that show the growth in employment and job outlook by Engineering Specialty, based on United Stated Department of Labor 2009-2010 (www.bls.gov).

From this update data 2010, Biomedical engineering has the highest job growth, whereas Chemical Engineering and Electrical Engineering are tied as the lowest employment growth among all fields of engineering.
Now that you have this information, it is important to carefully choose what kind of engineering degree that you ought to pursue for your future career.

Written by 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

How important is getting a professional degree (e.g. MBA, M.D or J.D) for your career? I would say it is very important nowadays. This is one way to differentiate yourself in the crowded job marketplace. Today in order to live a decent lifestyle, at least a college degree is a must; sometimes it’s not even enough if you’re living in a high living cost areas, such as: New York, Los Angeles, Tokyo and London. Therefore, getting a professional education may make more sense now than ever before. Earning a professional degree requires a lot of commitments, such as: time and money; however, it is worth the investment if you’re considering the long term impact this degree will have in your career.

Cosider the following tables that shows the median annual salary of common occupations by people with professional degrees, such as: MBA, M.D and J.D

Of course the occupations above are not entry-level jobs, but rather a long-term career that requires not only a certain professional degree, but also work experiences as well. When consider getting a professional degree, you need to evaluate your interest. If you’re interested in going into the corporate world, then an MBA might be the best choice for you. If you’re interested in the medical field and you have a strong background in science, then an M.D might be a better option. However, if you’re interested in the field of intellectual property and business law, then you may want to consider a hybrid joint MBA/J.D degree, in which some universities may offer.

Although money is the main motivator for many people; however,interest is what determines a success in your long-term career. Therefore, taking some time off from school and get some work experience after getting your undergraduate degree might be a good choice for some of you; this way, you can evaluate which professional degree is more suitable for you.

A good friend of mine recently pursues two simultaneous Master degrees: Master in Business Administration (M.B.A) and M.S in Applied Physics. When I asked why he decides to pursue this. He simply reply, “I would like to have a career as a manager in a high-technology company later on after I graduate. Therefore I need both a broad knowledge in business and also an in-depth knowledge in high technology area (e.g. superconductor & electronic material processing).”  My friend clearly works hard in pursuing his career goal. No matter how difficult the challenges may be, differentiating yourself is the key for success.

Written by ClickNSmart Team

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

ClickNSmart

As the businesses are more and more global and more companies expand their business operations abroad by Foreign Direct Investment, Joint Venture, and Licensing and so on. The good examples of these companies are McDonalds, Dell Co., Nike, and so on.

How does the top business schools in the country, like Harvard, Wharton School, Standford, MIT Sloan School of business respond to these globalization trends? All of these schools and other top business school in the world - that are accredited by AACSB (Association of Advanced Collegiate School of Business) - are targeting qualified international students across the globe.

Why? the answer is simply that international students can contribute their international cultural and business experience into the classroom. Not only will these benefit the domestic business students, but also the school is benefiting from the increase of graduates recruitment from companies that are constantly seeking qualified business majors with international experience.

Also these top schools usually offer some sort of international business courses (International Business Policy & Strategy, International Finance, International Marketing,etc) in their curriculum. International students would be able to share their own country’s culture and the accepted ways of doing business in their countries; not only this will make the classroom discussion more engaging, but also every students, both domestic and international, will gain these valuable information that they would not otherwise know. Some of these international experiences can not be gained just by reading business books, magazines, magazines, Wall Street Journal and such, since we know that each country has different cultures and ways of conducting business.

For example, China has a term called “Guang Xi,” which means building relationship before conducting business. This explains why McDonald first entry to China failed. In America and most Western country, there is a saying that goes “Business is strictly Business,” which means that we should not mix relationship with business. However, this is not the case in countries like China, Japan, and some other Asian countries, even in some Middle East countries as well.

If you’re thinking of going to business school, look at the percentage of their international students, most top school in the country will have relatively high percentage of international students’ enrollment

Written by ClickNSmart