on my radar: spring break and link love

1. Holy bananas, it was a wild week of newspapers before we finally hit spring break. (I've been quiet on the blog because I 1) was enjoying my spring break 2) forgot about work for a solid 10 days.) This one is one of my favorites. But I love this one, too.

2. Now, on to my spring break. I went home for a few days and went to a wine and design class with my mom. One of my favorite things to do. I spent some quality time at home, and it was much needed. I'll be back home again this weekend for Easter. Again, much needed. I'm realizing more and more that my opportunities to go home are getting numbered … I think I'm more sad about that than anything.

Pat and I were back in town on Sunday, where we watched the longest NCAA Tournament selection show ever. I have nothing to compare it to, but I hear it is longer than usual. And it was plenty miserable for me. And we hit a Hornets game in Charlotte. You know me, huge sports fan. But I get a kick out of basketball, and I do love eating a huge bag of cotton candy in one sitting.

Bonus: Isn't this the cutest little pup you've ever seen? (Not as cute as Daisy, Mom. But still pretty darn cute.)

3. I've been furiously updating my new Bookstagram, @paigeameliareads. These are just two of my recent posts. Am I reading all of these books at once? Nope. But I am picking them up, reading a page or two and then getting distracted. It's fun to be me. 

What am I reading? I have been working away at "A Storm of Swords," which is the third book in the Song of Fire and Ice series. It's a really fun and enticing read, don't get me wrong … it's just also about 1,100 pages. 

4. It was such a great experience to watch the Tar Heels win in both the first and second round of the NCAA Tournament. I would've never guessed that I would enjoy sports this much, but it is so much fun. And the band dance off was pretty great too.

5. Some of the stuff I've been reading lately …

• A Facebook group that has some of the strictest rules I've ever heard, and I'm inexplicably a member of a succulent fan group.
• This look at how NCAA office pools are technically illegal. Oops. Don't come after ours, please. I'm actually doing pretty well.
• This very scary but realistic read by someone who has been cyberstalker by the same person for 14 years.
• This piece from The Atlantic, validating my use of "y'all" even in my most professional work emails. Sorry 'bout it. It's gender neutral.
• How Michelle Obama — who I consider to be a true queen — mastered social media.

Getting Your Dream Job: What to include in your resume

I am loving the opportunity to share some of my resume and job search tips with whoever reads my blog. I tackled resume design last week, and this week, I'm talking about resume content. One of my favorite things to blab on and on about. 

Honestly, I could probably go into far more than just 10 tips for resume content. Maybe I'll have a sequel. But 10 is a good start. If you follow these tips, your resume should be in a good place! 

Disclaimer: I am not a career adviser, just a person who listens to resume critiques of her own as well as has done lots of research into resume design and content. I've been perfecting my resume skills for four years, so I want to share what I've learned with you. 

1. Only include the best and most relevant work experiences for the types of job you're applying for — that means customize your resume.

Remember when Paris Gellar and Rory Gilmore are getting ready to graduate, and Paris talks about the different versions of her resume? She isn't completely crazy. I know. 

You should have more than one version of your resume. You should go in and reorganize and reword your resume for each and every job you apply to that you value. If you're just submitting resumes left and right to 100 companies without any thought to how your resume looks to each individual company, you aren't going to have as much as luck as you would if you made a custom version of your resume for 10 jobs. 

When I say customize, I don't mean redesign your resume for every position. But consider what experience is most relevant — for example, I am interested in media and product management but also online production and social media. My resumes for the two types of jobs are not the same: for media and product management, I highlight my experience managing a staff, producing a print product daily and launching a newsletter product at the DTH; for online and social media management, I highlight the years I've spent at the DTH working on our digital products and also my internship at the Charlotte Observer, where I would often take over our social media for the day. 

Another example: Say you're in communications and you're applying for a job within the government or a very corporate company and also a job with a startup marketing firm. Those two hiring managers are looking for very different skills and work experiences, and you shouldn't expect one resume to fit both jobs.

Note: I will probably post specifically about customizing your resume later. Stay tuned.

2. Use present tense for jobs or positions you currently hold and past tense for jobs you no longer hold. 

This is literally so small, so so so small, but if you remember my last post, consistency matters. 

I am a big believer that your work experience should be ordered chronologically — meaning the positions you currently hold are at the top, followed by positions you no longer hold in chronological order. And in that same vein, you should distinguish between jobs you are doing now and jobs you are not doing anymore by changing the verb tense for each position. A small detail that I think means a lot. It shows you invested time into your resume.

Note: Also make sure you list when you started a position and when you stopped (or that you're still doing it.)

3. Quantify your work. 

This is one of the most important things anyone has ever told me. And every time I get resume help from someone — be it a mentor at the Charlotte Observer, my newsroom advisor here at the DTH or the career services department at UNC — they emphasize the importance of quantifying my work.

So that means instead of saying I edit stories for The Daily Tar Heel for print and online, I say that I edit between 10 and 15 stories a day, five days a week, for The Daily Tar Heel, which has a print circulation of 14,000 copies a day and reaches 25,000 people every day online. 

See? Sounds cooler, right?

4. Include skills that make you stand out — don't waste space with the skills everyone has. 

Everyone knows how to use PowerPoint. Sorry, but it's true. Remove it — it's a waste of space. 

Not everybody knows the Adobe Creative Suite or is fluent in Spanish or can use a DSLR like a pro. Include the skills that make you important. If you had an internship and used a specific program (for example, if you used QuickBooks or Adobe Omniture), include that program on your skills. It'll make you stand out if another company you apply to uses that same program and you already have the skills.

In the same vein: If you show through your work experience that you are a strong editor or writer, you don't need to say that you are a strong editor under your skills section. Your work experience shows it.

5. Don't include things from high school.

Unless you have been in college for no more than 30 seconds, leave it off. If you're including it because you don't have any or nearly enough college or post-college experience to fill a page … Stop what you're doing and reevaluate. Join a club or something.

6. Use powerful verbs.

Too often, people start every sentence with "Responsible for," "handled," "led" or "managed." Use powerful verbs that convey what you did and give more value and importance to your tasks. It's very similar to quantifying your work. A powerful verb makes you stand out from the hundreds of other candidates who have also been responsible for menial tasks as an intern at some company or another. It's all about standing out. 

I am literally linking to a list of 185 powerful verbs to use instead.

7. Skip the content that feels and looks compulsory.

That includes things like your home address, "references upon request" and an "objective" sentence. You don't want someone to look at your resume and feel like they've read 15,000 of these before and yours is nothing different at all. Do not be that resume. Be the one that breaks the mold and doesn't include an objective sentence that no one reads anyway.

Something else that seems compulsory but isn't necessary: Your home address.

My opinion: Include your cell phone number, email, website and LinkedIn profile. Maybe your Twitter if that would be appropriate for your industry. (It is for mine.) No one is mailing you anything anymore, and if you include a home address that isn't in the area of the job you're applying for, it could put you out of the running — even if you are 100 percent willing to relocate or move to the moon for a job.

Also, you may think your college GPA is important … but it's really not. Unless the job you're applying for asks for a GPA or has a GPA requirement or your GPA is above a 3.5, I would leave it out. 

8. Put your most pertinent experiences at the top. 

Sometimes, I've seen sections called "JOURNALISM (or industry you're applying for specifically) EXPERIENCE" and "OTHER EXPERIENCE." That way, you don't have to be restricted to chronological order — put your most relevant work at the top in a different section from the experience you want to include but isn't the most relevant. For example, if you have experience in both marketing, public relations and digital marketing and are applying for a digital marketing position, it makes sense to have a DIGITAL MARKETING EXPERIENCE section and an OTHER EXPERIENCE section. 

But please stick with chronological order within those categories because otherwise, it does get messy and confusing. Maybe that's just me. Oh well. 

9. List your honors but only if they're things people might recognize.

Winning a scholarship or award is great, but if you don't have room to explain what it is or why you received it, it's probably not worth including. You don't want people to have to guess how big of a deal it is that you won a scholarship in your first year of college three years ago. 

But if you, say, were a Morehead Cain Scholar at UNC (a big deal and well-known in North Carolina, at least) then you would't need to break that down. If you win an award that has somewhat of an explanation in the title (like a community journalism award I won last year), that probably will also suffice. 

List the honors that are the biggest deal to you and the most relevant to your job search. Employee of the Month at the on-campus bookstore? Eh. Leave it.

10. Your relevant class history is important, but don't speak in tongues.

When I say tongues, I mean class shortenings — ENGL 105, JOMC 153, POLI 203. No one knows what those course codes mean except people in your own university's registrar and also that one kid who memorized the course bulletin their first year whose name is Paige Ladisic. 

I use the actual titles of my courses — Media Law, Professional Problems and Ethics, Introduction to News Editing, etc. — and only include the courses that are most relevant to my career search. A lot of people I know mention every course they've ever taken … Not necessary, unless they are possibly all relevant to your experiences and your skills. Feel free to leave off your first year chemistry lab! 

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Again, I am always happy and excited to help out anyone who needs resume help — and you don't just need to go to UNC, either. You can email me your resume and a quick note at ladisicpaige@gmail.com or comment here on this blog post to ask me questions. I am always happy to help — in fact, I encourage it! 

Happy job searching!

Paige

Review: The Siren by Kiera Cass

The Siren

Author: Kiera Cass

Format: eBook

Genre: Young adult, fantasy

Published: Jan. 26, 2016

My rating: ★★

Where to buy: Amazon / Barnes & Noble

Oh, "The Siren." Where to begin? I decided to splurge on an eBook of this (it was $12.99! If I splurge on an eBook, I expect to at least SOMEWHAT enjoy it. Damn.) and really regretted it within 10 pages. Yes, it was that bad. 

"The Siren" is about Kahlen, a siren who belongs to the Ocean and lives on the earth with her "sisters" until the Ocean calls them home. She and her sisters live near a college campus and one day, she meets a boy named Aklini and falls in love … in about two minutes. 

The two characters fall in love in less than a chapter, but Kahlen spends the rest of the novel's 300-plus pages agonizing over her love for Aklini and her devotion and commitment to the Ocean. I mean, obviously, great stuff. Just hecking great.

The good

I loved the Ocean and Kahlen's relationship with Her. Kahlen and the other sirens speak of the Ocean in a lot of ways — She is a mother, a leader, a jailer, a godly figure. That relationship fascinates me. The Ocean can hug or cradle the sirens, She soothes them and speaks to them. She can call to them even when they are on the ground, but the sirens can only speak to the Ocean when they are touching the water. It was beautifully written and the most sincere, original thing about this entire story.

For some reason, Kahlen is more devoted to the Ocean than the other sirens, and therefore the Ocean loves her more than She loves the others. Cass never gets into this or explains why their relationship is so much stronger than the others, but I would've loved to hear it. 

The bad

Remember those stories you wrote in elementary and middle school (or, let's be honest, the Harry Potter fan fiction you'd read) when the main character was beautiful and loved clothes and giggled a lot with her bestest best friends who all lived with her in a pretty house near the ocean? That's how "The Siren" felt to me whenever … well, pretty much the whole time. There is so much useless and flippant dialogue that make the girls all seem very frivolous and stupid, even though they have a hundred years to learn all kinds of things. And by God, I do not care what outfit one siren decides to wear unless it actually matters. And it never, ever, EVER did. 

Otherwise: The dialogue was weak. The characters were weak. The relationship was weak. 

It didn't deserve two stars, really, but I didn't want to admit that it was a waste of money.

Why I gave it 2 stars

I hated it.

I didn't think I would be able to finish it but I refuse to DNF a book I paid full price for.

I hated it.

Again. I hated it.

God, I hated it.

on my radar: books and biscuits

I legitimately can't believe it's March already. Pat and I were walking back from class one day this week and I reminded him that our last day of class is April 27 — that's less than two months away. SO CLOSE, GUYS.

1. I did want to go ahead and recap what I read this month. In February, I read The Siren (two stars, review to come), My Heart and Other Black Holes (four stars), Crimson Bound (four stars), Between Us and the Moon (five stars), A Court of Thorns and Roses (five stars, would give it 10,000 stars if I could) and Salt to the Sea (five stars). I never read this many five-star books in a month — January was a drought, to say the least. 

But I did read six books in February, one more than my goal of five. I am still apparently two books behind schedule for 2016 (Goodreads, you're killin' me.)

  

2. I am thanking the business gods that Rise has finally come to Carrboro. There is literally nothing better than biscuits and doughnuts from Rise. My usual: A bacon and cheese biscuit and whatever doughnut looks like the quickest path to a cavity. 

3. I did make a Tumblr to really extend my brand to all social media platforms. I know. I am officially 15 again. But after I decided to make an Instagram specifically for my book posts (I'm @paigeameliareads) I figured a Tumblr was the next logical step. Gotta work on my #brand. 

I also have been setting aside 10 minutes on my to do list every day to dedicate to Tumblr. That way, I can actually use it as a brand-building tool and not just a social media platform. Yes, I am probably missing the point of Tumblr. It's fine.

4. After my last On My Radar post, I did post on Facebook pleading for help keeping track of the things I read. Alex and Kelsey both recommended Pocket, so here I am. With a nice long list of things I've been reading this week. (This has helped me realize I am actually a 15 year old. If not younger than that. I am embarrassed.)

> A list of five secrets for a great resume. (I like to read these lists because I like to argue with them and disagree.)

> 19 of the most underrated cold opens on "The Office." My favorite one was not included and I am disappointed.

> Fuller House is cheesy, Mashable says, but I seriously love it anyway.

> The likelihood that a president will be appointing another Supreme Court justice by 2021.

> How Zootopia is a talking animal movie that addresses racial biases. (Going to see it on Friday.)

> As married couples become equals, the class divide grows.

> I love truffle fries and I love truffle dogs.

Getting Your Dream Job: How to design your perfect resume

I mentioned this in my first post back, but one of my favorite things to do in my spare time here at the office is to work on others' resumes. I have an entire file of resumes I've critiqued and redesigned on my laptop — it's just something I love to do. 

1. Use a program you're comfortable with.

There are a couple of different options when it comes to designing and formatting your resume. Using a simple word processor, like Microsoft Word, whatever app is downloaded on a Mac or a Google Doc, is always safe — especially if you're not comfortable with more complicated programs. If you are comfortable with the Adobe suite, I fully recommend using InDesign. InDesign makes sure things are lined up and makes changing and removing/adding things really simple. Other people I know have used Illustrator, and I really only recommend using Illustrator for your resume if you are planning on using graphic elements.

The most important part of this: If you're going to use a program, make sure it's a program that you can access regularly and easily. Don't make your resume with InDesign if you only can use InDesign on a school computer that you have access to Monday through Friday. I have the Creative Suite on my laptop, so I can fix my resume or add things to it or completely redesign it whenever, if I am so inclined. (I often am.)

2. Use one or two simple fonts. Avoid scripts.

Note: I am not a designer, I do major in graphic design but that's really just a technicality. I speak only from experience of what I think makes a resume look most professional and least cluttered. 

My favorite font to use, hands down, is Myriad Pro. I use a combination of weights and styles, but I stick with Myriad Pro in general. Some people like to do one serif font with one sans serif font (for example, Times New Roman is a serif and Arial is a sans serif.)

I just strongly recommend not using a script font unless you're a designer making a design-y resume. At one point, I did use a script font only for my name across the top of my resume, but even with that, it's a little too fun and flowery for a professional resume. I don't recommend it. 

Get comfortable with changing the size or bold of your fonts, too. I like to use a combination of bold, regular and condensed versions of Myriad Pro for different headers and body text. I've seen too many resumes that are completely all Times New Roman, size 11. It's hard to read.

3. Keep it simple, unless you're a graphic designer.

Like I said, I am not a graphic designer. If you're a graphic designer, you can pretty much ignore my rules of resume design. 

But other than the field of graphic design … keep it simple. Design elements are only really appropriate if the job you're applying to is very creative — if you're looking to work at a newspaper or in business or marketing, something like that, simplicity is important.

The one place where a little creativity is more acceptable than other places is in your header — and even then, it depends on the job you're applying for. Using your logo or a different font, maybe an accent color, can help make your resume stand out. But again, make sure it's simple and not too loud. I am mostly applying for media management jobs at newspapers and TV stations, so my resume is completely black and white.

4. Emphasize consistency in every single detail.

If you use bullet points, use them consistently throughout. If you're going to explain each job or experience in a sentence, do that for every job or experience. Consistency matters so much in a resume — especially if you consider how few minutes a hiring manager might have to spend on your resume. They might notice your entire list of skills at the bottom but they might notice a huge discrepancy if your columns are out of line or your font size changes halfway through.

5. Make sure your name stands out at the top.

I mentioned using a different font, an accent color or your logo to make your name stand out at the top of your resume — but mainly, you should just make sure your name is big, bold and easy to read across the top of your resume. Mine is very large, but that's a stylistic choice. I definitely recommend using at least a 22 or 24 weight font. 

And make sure your important contact information comes right after your name. On a lot of websites, you'll see they preach the importance of including a cell and home phone, your home address and your email address. I have some opinions on that: Your cell phone and email address are important, keep those, but scratch your physical address. No one needs that anymore. Replace that with your LinkedIn, website URL or Twitter handle, if any of those are appropriate to your career path.

If you're looking for any more help with your resume, you know where to find me. Feel free to email your resume to me at paigeladisic@gmail.com.

Paige

on my radar

I have been trying to think of an adjective to describe the last few days but all I really have is: loud. Seriously, it's been loud. Lots of people talking all at once, lots of things to do all at once, just a lot going on.

But it's also been a good, solid week. Here's what's on my radar this week.

1. Our alumni homecoming for The Daily Tar Heel was this weekend and that was just a great, heartwarming time. Twelve EICs made it to the dinner on Saturday night, including myself, and that was a fun group to stand with — at the very end of a long line and long legacy of incredible journalism. 

When I was little, I used to only wear dresses to school. Nothing but dresses. I'm starting to miss that. 

2. Happy birthday, DTH.

One of my favorite days of the year: The DTH's birthday. We turned 123 this year, and even though we didn't have as many fun jokes to make as last year's 122nd birthday, it was a good day for me.

One of our most morbid traditions is taking a piece of cake to Charles Kuralt, our beloved alumni. If you're a UNC student, you know Charles just as well as anyone — "What is it that binds us to this place as to no other?" If you wanted to know what binds me to UNC as to no other, it is The Daily Tar Heel and the legacy Charles Kuralt left me. 

(Don't worry. We read him his horoscope and took the plate and the fork with us. The cake stayed behind.)

3. Does everyone have one of these water bottles? I was sitting in media law on Monday and there was a row of girls that all had them. And then the other day at the DTH, all of our copy staffers had one. How am I out of the water bottle loop? Am I officially too old to keep up with fun trends? Damn it. Putting in a request for this one. (Pat, do you read this?)

4. I did make an Instagram specifically for my books/reading posts. Now that Instagram lets you switch back and forth between accounts, I am all over it. If you want to follow me, I am at @paigeameliareads. Now I can use as many hashtags as I want and no one who works with me at the DTH can judge me for it. (Unless you follow me on this account, then sorry.)

5. I always love what Carly at The College Prepster has to say, but I really liked her tips for blogging. I started blogging when I was a freshman because Carly made it look like something I just had to do, and four years later, I just want to blog for fun and for the enjoyment of having somewhere to write — but I like to know that if I want to grow my blog, I have a general idea of what to do. Guys … Do I need a Tumblr?

#tbr pile: February

I got a box of goodies from my sweet friend Marisa on Monday, and I knew when I opened them up that I'd find new books! So, even though I only have two weeks left in February to make a dent in my VERY TALL TBR pile … I couldn't help but swap out a few for some of my new reads.

Right now, I'm reading Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge and I am really enjoying it. Hodge does lots of retellings, and this one is the Little Red Riding Hood — it's creepy sometimes and it's hard to follow if you don't pay attention, but it is really good. 

If you didn't know, my goal is to read 75 books this year. I read 55 in 2015, so for some reason, I thought upping that by 20 would be a success. I'm two books behind right now (meow) and I've only read three books in February, when my goal is to read five. So … if you see me hunched over a book in the Phase 3 line tomorrow, you know why. 

A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas | I saw the ebook version of this highly anticipated YA read get marked down to $1.99 in a BookBub email last week, and I pounced. At any time, I usually have three to four ebooks on my Nook app to choose from. And since I got the bigger iPhone for my birthday, I literally can be reading at any time. It's great. Anyway, I'm not sure how much I will like this because I have convinced myself that I don't care for fantasy … but a ton of my recent reads have been fantasy. Who knows. 

Anna and the Swallow Man by Gavriel Savit | This is one of the ARCs my friend sent me, and she and another friend rated this one a full five stars. I always trust their judgment, so I know I will love this one. It's very thin, so I might grab it and carry it around in my purse for days when I have a light schedule. (They do exist.)

A Song to Take the World Apart by Zan Romanoff | This cover is absolutely gorgeous, and again, my friend rated this one five stars. I hadn't actually heard of this one until I opened my package, but the description definitely sounds like something I'll enjoy.

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys | Yes, yes, yes, YES. I cannot wait to dig into this one. I never read Between Shades of Gray, which was one of Sepetys' best-selling books, but I always wanted to and knew I'd love it. Historical fiction is one of my favorite genres to really sink into when I'm in the mood to read.