It's been a while Travelers and I hope your Freeways are finding you well. I have been very busy with trying to find balance in this school, work, internship world. I was on my way to overextending myself until just recently.

FIDM students are encouraged to intern through the school towards the middle/end of their program; in my case next quarter starting April 8th.

Note: Some of you may be asking "What happened to your Baby Phat Footwear Internship?" I held it for one quarter and my time is now complete. But not without an appearance on the first episode of Life in the Fab Lane Season 3!

I learned a lot during my time in the showroom especially about the relationship between licensees and the parent brand.

Note: For those of you unfamiliar with my blog you might want to read this first.

When I first left Point A I had some idea of in what direction I was headed to reach a semi-set Point B. But since starting this blog, joining the team at AndSpeakingofPink and now recognition from Twitter, I have to wonder...am I Changing Lanes?

I would love to work in a Product Development capacity and intern in a more direct manor concerning my newly gained skills. But then something happened....an internship opportunity at LA2Day Magazine. I will write more about that in another post, what I will say is that I am a major fan of the mag and that I can't wait to blog with you about how my journey goes.

So the position is for Editorial Assistant and of course this is not Product Development but Journalism. I have to be honest, when I was asked to come aboard I panicked. "So what do I do? Should I take it and then just do a PD internship working one day a week through FIDM next quarter? Companies are still calling requesting an interview...should I go on them or call them and tell them respectfully that I have found a company and to keep me in mind for future opportunities?" I chose the latter.

Travelers, I am riding out on faith, and I think that you should too!

Sometimes along our Freeway we find ourselves changing lanes and riding a Connector. Stay on and ride it out, one of the great things about changing lanes on the same Freeway is that you can always change back.

I am very excited about where this new lane will take me. In the meantime I will be watching Running in Heels on the Style Network! Being a new intern in the journalism world I am addicted to the assignments and antics of interns Samantha, Ashley, and Talita!

Happy Travels!

"One Step Forward, Just Glance Back. No Fear, Just DIVA!"

Designer and creator of Fly (link on the side) Andrea Pippins and I recently corresponded about her three part series "Design & Me" documenting her Freeway from high school to where she is in her career now in art and design.

The series has been receiving "tremendous feedback and [she] is excited about sharing more" There is so much inspiration in her story and her blog is a design major's dream. Get to know her readers she has a lot of great information and insight to the business.

**Update**
I wrote this post a while ago(July 31 2008) and don't remember why I didn't post it, but my post on Coroflot made me remember it and Andrea had a great story about her first portfolio that I think you should read. Maybe she will read this post and make a comment???

Happy Travels!

While in my Computerized Flat Sketching class my professor highlighted this site to us. Coroflot.com This is a great site for anyone that has a portfolio they would like to post and it can easily be viewed by potential employers without you carrying a heavy folder around.

Play around on the site and look at some amazing presentations.

Note: Product Development Majors this is a great place to get some ideas for your final line presentation project.

Also there is a Jobs section, for those of you looking for that post graduation career starter. The site offers categories like Design, Product Development, Interior Design, and Sales and Marketing.

Happy Travels!

On the recent Possimpible Episode of How I Met Your Mother, there was great debate about what information is relevant on your resume. For example, two of the characters had things such as Slam Dunk King and Hot Dog Eating Contest Winner. And although I'm sure you travelers are not riding along your Freeway with such foolishness on your resumes it did raise two great questions.

What is relevant information on a resume? And if you don't have one how do you build one?

Students I say visit your career center. At FIDM they have a great resume packet that will walk you through building a resume with skill sets specifically for your major and area of the Industry.

Not a student? Well Microsoft Word has some great templates and there are so many sources on the Internet.

I am in no way the resume expert but here are 5 pointers that I do have and feel free to leave a DIVA Stamp for any tips that you may have to building a great resume.

Okay so 5 tips here we go:

1. Keep it only one(1) page- if you have additional information keep it on a separate sheet in the same format as your resume. Put a little *on the end of your resume stating "Additional experience, references (and/or portfolio/writing samples, etc.) available upon request." If they request it bring it with you
2. If you don't have work experience use school experience- I learned this from my career advisor. My classes at FIDM are very hands on so I put on there the things I am learning such as Pattern making, or Computerize Flat Sketching. In the place of work experience create a section that says Relevant Coursework and then list the things you are learning that are relevant to the position you are applying for.
   
3. Keywords are Key-Some employers search their databases by keywords so try to read the job description and use those same words while still remaining truthful. Some example words such as "motivated" "dedicated" "organized" "time-management"
   
4. Make it memorable at one glance--Let me let you in on a secret---I'm not visually creative. I have seen some resumes that break every rule that business school has ever taught me a resume should look like. Those are also the resumes that stick out in my mind and if I were hiring it would be the one that I would pick up and call. Keep it clean and classy, but at one glance is it memorable? This is how you can tell, put your view at like 25%-50% and if it doesn't catch your eye it wont catch an employers.
   
5. Text isn't just for your phone-Sometimes what looks cute on our computer doesn't always transfer over to other computers the same way. Especially if you are going from Mac to PC. Keep a "text only" format of your resume that doesn't have any of the special fonts, just the important information. This is good for company sites that require you to set up an account before you can apply to jobs for their company.
   

Well that's it. My 5 tips to building your resume. Watch the episode have a laugh and leave a Stamp or two. Have a great week travelers. Happy Travels!

One Step Forward, Just Glance Back. No Fear, Just DIVA!