Graduation is getting close!

 

With graduation around the corner many of us are looking for that perfect dream job.With the ever changing market and economy this can be a difficult task. Hopefully many of us have already found the position perfect for us but if not here is a list of the top ten jobs for college graduates in 2014!

1. Software Developer

• Median salary: $93,350.
• Job growth 2012-2022: 22 percent

2.Computer Systems Analyst

• Median salary: $79,680
• Job growth 2012-2022: 25 percent.

3. Dentist

• Median salary: $148,800.
• Job growth 2012-2022: 16 percent

4. Nurse Practitioner

• Median salary: $89,960.
• Job growth through 2022: 34 percent.

5. Pharmacist

• Median salary: $116,670.
• Job growth 2012-2022: 14 percent.

6. Registered Nurse

• Median salary: $65,470.
• Job growth 2012-2022: 19 percent.

7. Physical Therapist

• Median salary: $79,860
• Job growth 2012-2022: 36 percent.

8. Physician

• Median salary: $187,200.
• Job growth 2012-2022: 18 percent.

9. Web Developer

• Median salary: $62,500.
• Job growth 2012-2022: 20 percent.

10. Dental Hygienist

• Median salary: $70,210.
• Job growth 2012-2022: 33 percent

success on social media.

Through out the semester we have all been learning about how brands can successful incorporate social media into their marketing strategy. We even went deeper into social media marketing as we all researched and compared two similar brands social media marketing strategies. We all had a conclusion, either good or bad, for all the brands we investigated. We all have expanded on knowledge through out the semester how important using various social media platforms can be for a company. After completing our semester long project I became interested to know what companies are considered to be doing the best job with their social media marketing strategy. According to social media today these are the top 7 companies who other companies should be looking to for advice.

1. Southwest Airlines

Airlines get kind of a bad rap these days, what with the long lines, increasing ticket prices, and limited seat space. Social media for airlines can easily turn into a nightmare, but Southwest Airlines seems to have hit upon the right formula. For one thing, Southwest maintains a vibrant blog that allows actual employees to talk about their experiences and how great the company is. Southwest has also gained a positive reputation for interacting with customers over Facebook and Twitter. When customers take to social media to voice their complaints, Southwest is known for going the extra mile to apologize and offer solutions.

2. Blendtec

Finding creative ways to promote blenders may seem challenging, but Blendtec found out just the way to do it. Using YouTube, the company has launched a series of videos you’ve likely heard of called “Will It Blend?” The concept is simple: place any product you can think of in a Blendtec blender and see how well it blends. Needless to say, the videos have become hugely popular and have led to big sales for the company.

3. Zappos

Any online store better have an exceptional social media presence if it wants to survive. Online retailer Zappos is a perfect example. From the very outset Zappos encourages customers to click the “Like” button for its Facebook page. If the button is pressed, customers are given fans-only content like exclusive promotions and videos. Zappos also runs a “Fan of the Week” photo contest involving its signature boxes. Other fans can vote for the photo they want to see win.

4. Starbucks

Frequent customers at Starbucks are known for being tech-savvy, so it should come as no surprise the company does well on social media. Starbucks takes full advantage of nearly all major social media outlets from Facebook and Instagram to Pinterest and Twitter. The company has even created some of its own outlets, like “Ideas in Action,” to help customers get in touch with each other and share ideas.

5. Nu Skin

Personal care company Nu Skin is very active on social media, connecting people from all over the world and creating a tight-knit community. On Nu Skin’s Facebook page, the company sharesinspirational quotes, recipes for healthy meals, and exercise tips for those looking to get in shape. Nu Skin also shares testimonials and pictures of fans who have found success losing weight and getting fit.

6. Martell Home Buyers

You may wonder how a home construction company can be a great example of using social media, butMartell Home Buyers has found an excellent way to reach their customers. The company heavily promotes its blog and social media pages, but it makes the most impact with its photo updates. The company posts photos of homes currently under construction, allowing customers to keep close track of their home’s progress and share it with family and friends on social networks.

7. OptimalRun.com

Social media is also a great way for small businesses to reach new customers. Online shoe storeOptimalRun.com allows customers to submit questons about shoes. The company then sends back apersonalized video talking about the shoes they asked about. The videos can then be shared with the customer’s friends on social media.

Size matters.

Most of us are all busy seniors,graduating in May and enduring the endless job search process. This can create a hectic life lacking in time and sleep. With enjoy filling our free time with hanging out with friends or hobbies that we enjoy because as we know this time is precious. Because this time is so precious and we live in a generation where we enjoy instant gratification we tend to loose interest instantaneously on many occasions. This can create difficultly for any marketer that dictates our generation as their target market. So the question remains, how can these marketers create content that will be effective and capture our full attention. I believe the ultimate answer is quality over quantity. We’ve all had moments when we had to lengthen a paper by random tips and tricks. This may be effective in college  papers but who really wants to go through spend 20 minutes reading an article that could be summarized in two sentences. So I’ll leave this short and sweet. Remember, size does matter. 

http://socialmediatoday.com/mark-lerner/2285081/when-writing-blog-post-size-does-matter

Between to Ferns.

Over spring break I received an email and attached was an episode of Zach Galifianakis’s talk show, Between to Ferns. The episode aired President Barack Obama and ultimately ended with him informing and encouraging people to sign up for the affordable health care act. As I watched the video I was a little unsure of how I felt about it. The conversation was a little strange and uncomfortable to watch. After I watched it I came across this article that used this episode to talk about the importance of finding your target market. In today society we live in a world where the consumers of content determine the channels of distribution. This stating that it is important and more effective when a brand markets directly towards their target market rather then trying to push them towards something new. This was exactly what President Barack Obama was focusing on when he agreed to be on an episode of Between two Ferns. After the show aired the results where outstanding and showed that although was not a conventional and traditional way for the President to communicate that it was in fact very effective. Below is a link to the article and show, let me know what your thoughts are!

http://socialmediatoday.com/social_advocacy_politics/target-audience-between-two-ferns

Can I eat this?

When traveling you will experience many new adventures! You’ll travel to places you’ve never been, meet people from all over the world and maybe even try food you never knew existed. All of these experiences come together to help create an amazing and memorable experience. Meeting the locals and getting truly immersed in the culture is one of the best way to obtain these experiences. One of my favorite things about experiencing a new culture is their food. People from all over the world eat a variety of food and we are not aware of many of it. Even if it is completely out of our comfort zone I believe that it is important to try these new foods at least once. While I was traveling I have tried kangaroo, shark, eel, alligator, bamboo worm, crickets, liver and a variety of other food I would have never imagined eating.

While i suggest trying and having all these new experiences you may opt for a meal where you are familiar with what’s on your plate. They are many different apps and websites that are here to help reduce the hassle of having to find a restaurant with food that you recognize and can hopefully pronounce!

Here are the top 5 FREE apps to help you find the best restaurant option for you!

1. Open Table (Free)

OpenTable doesn’t offer a randomizer like a few of the other Apps in this guide, but it does offer the ability to instantly locate restaurants near you with open reservations and then place a reservation right from your iOS device. Add in a great interface and the ability to see a menu from the restaurant you’re interested in, and OpenTable becomes one of the better restaurant apps around. The amount of restaurants you see will definitely vary by region, as the App will only show places that are enrolled in the OpenTable reservation program.

2. Urban Spoon (FREE)

Urbanspoon is the classic restaurant finder that features a slot machine-esque method of randomly finding a local restaurant. Users can customize the town, genre of food, and price point (or let the machine pick them for you!), and then shake your iDevice to activate the randomizer. A standard ‘browse’ and ‘search’ function for finding restaurants rounds out this App, which is still a great way to leave your dining experience up to chance.

3. Yelp (FREE)

Yelp was one of the first restaurant finder Apps on the iPhone, and continued updates and polish have kept it near the top of the list. The Yelp app pretty much allows users access to all the functions that its website offers, including writing and submitting reviews, adding friends and sending compliments, and searching for local restaurants. Some specific app features include a FourSqure-like “check-in” feature to let others know where you are, and the monocle: an augmented reality feature that uses the compass and camera to show where restaurants are in relation to your current location.

4. Resturant Finder: Iresturant (FREE)

iRestaurant is as simple as it gets for restaurant finding apps. Simply launch the app, choose the type of restaurant you’re looking for (or just hit ‘Any’) and hit the button. iRestaurant will then locate you and provide a list of restaurants near you corresponding to the type of restaurant you wanted. iRestaurant works well enough, but unfortunately it isn’t as polished as other restaurant finders.

5. Qype (FREE)

Qype Radar is an all-inclusive travel guide for European States, including categories for shops, hotels, bars, and of course, restaurants. Featuring multi-language settings, in-depth and personal reviews of anything looked up, and sync support with Google Maps, and your Qype account, Qyepe Radar is recommended for those looking for a place to eat in Europe.

As spring break comes around again many of us begin planning our trips. If your anything like me, you continuously search until you feel as if you’ve finally got the best offer. This can be a timely and a huge hassle and frequently ends in distress and confusion. We understand and accept this and go on with planning our spring break but what about those random weekends you just want to escape or go on a mini road trip. You typically don’t have much notice and wouldn’t be so willing to put so much time and effort into planning this trip. Well, as I was planning out my spring break plans I came across a possible solution. There’s a fairly new app I came across called Budget Travel. This app can help you find trips that are accommodating to what you are looking for and at a reasonable price. What’s even more awesome is they recently released another app, Budget Travel’s Road Trip. Unlike it’s former is it primary used for travel across America and more local spots. It’s perfect for those long weekends or when we just need to get away on a spontaneous trip. This App helps connect you to road trips that will be best suited for your and your situation. The App allows you to search by budget, region of the country you want to travel too and will even recommend sites to see, places to stay, and good restaurants to eat at. You can download the App for free from the app store, so check it out!

http://www.budgettravel.com/roadtripsapp/

Flights on Flights.

We’ve all been asked at one point in our life, what super power would you want and why. Some people will immediately respond with flying, indivisibility, mind reading and an array of various others. Personally I think the ultimate superpower would be the ability to transport. Sort of like a Dorthy in the Wizard of Oz effect, tap my heels and there I go. The superpower of transporting would save time, money and effort. It would widely increase the amount of places I could travel to and people I could interact with. Obviously I do not have such powers so like everyone else I have to rely on more common modes of transportation. If you are going on an adventure overseas, flying is the way to go. Here are some tips and tricks to help make this process a little less daunting.

1. Buy Early – Flights tend to go up in price the last two weeks before departure so be aware of important travel dates you have in mind. If your traveling internationally this is even more important and flights should be booked 3-6 months in advanced

2. Buy Late – This is an option contrary to what I just said but if airlines don’t sell seats, they don’t make money. If you are fortunate enough to time this right you could get some really awesome last minute deals. If you can stand the suspense, handle the stress and have a flexible schedule, this could work for you.

3. Shop Around – There are tons of travel websites and even apps you can download on your phone that can help you find the best flight. But always be aware of what airline you are flying with and their reputation. Typically you get what you pay for.

4. When to Buy- Airlines tickets typically go on sale on Tuesday and the cheapest days to fly are on Wednesday, so keep this in mind when shopping around for flights.

5. Be Flexible- Look at surrounding airports, dates and destinations. This could help reduce cost and find the best deal for you.

6. Don’t forget discounters- There are a number of airlines that will fly at a discount rate: Southwest (America) Jet Star (Australia) Ryanair (Europe). Many of these airlines will not show up on many flight search websites so you may have to go to their personal website to compare flights. Just beware that will these flights you typically get what you pay for!

7. Frequent Flier Miles- These can be really helpful just make sure you plan in advance and have them ready for when an adventure comes!

Don’t let the cost of hassle of finding a flight keep you from traveling. It is well worth it in the end!

A girl who travels.

One of the greatest things about traveling are the relationships and friendships you create. No one else will truly understand or relate to the stories and memories you will forever hold close to your heart. There’s an unexplainable bond that is created between people of all ages and from various cultures and backgrounds. You all become connected whether is be for a few days or a few weeks and these relationships will impact the rest of your life.

While traveling in Fiji I had the opportunity to befriend a girl from Germany. She was a 27 years old girl, named Ana, who one day realized she wanted more out of life. She quit her job and decided to travel the world for a year, ALONE. Before I met her I would of thought this was crazy. Who would ever be able to travel alone. But as I was exposed to so other travelers I realized that this is not as uncommon as one would believe. I actual believe that traveling alone can really be an eye opening experience. With no one around to influence your decisions or set expectations, you can really learn a lot about yourself.

Last week I was on Facebook and Ana had posted a link and tagged people she met traveling in the post. It was a link to a blog that was title ‘Don’t date a girl who travels’. I read the article and even grabbed my roommates to read the article to them. I found the article very relatable but couldn’t help but be a little confused on why these attributes were seen in a negative light in order to maintain a healthy relationship. I understand the article was suppose to be a satirical but I don’t believe these qualities should be seen as negative. It is true that to be able to maintain a relationship while traveling takes a lot of hard work and dedication but this does not make it impossible. This article kept circling around various social media sites and a few days later a blogger responded with another article titles ‘Date a girl who travels.’  Similar to me, this blogger wanted to share that these qualities can be positive for maintaining a healthy relationship. I thought it was a very interesting response and well written.

I think both of these bloggers were trying to say the same thing. They were describing a girl who travels as a free-spirit who focuses more on experiences and measures success through happiness. A girl who isn’t materialistic and understands that  the important things in life do not come with a price tag. A girl who travels as someone who doesn’t allow society to win control of her life choices but challenges the social norms. A girl who may have worked hard for a college degree and is proud of her hard work and dedication but understands this sheet of paper does not dictate her ultimate career choice and is therefore comfortable exploring what else life has to offer. That she understands that this requires hard work but believes that she can and will live the life she imagines. Both articles describe a girl who travels with similar descriptions but in two from two different perspectives.

It’s interesting to see the responses to each other in the blogging world. Here are the links so you can check out the blogs for yourself!

https://medium.com/better-humans/802c49b9141c – Don’t date a girl who travels

http://stephabroad.com/date-girl-travels/ – Date a girl who travels

Travel Fitness.

With New Years recently passing, health and fitness is in the fore front of many people’s minds. Luckily, while attending UGA we have access to a fitness facility that can help you stay on track. When traveling around you may not have easy access to such places. Yes, you can run basically everywhere but sometimes you may want more variation in your workout. Luckily, many other people have had similar problems and have utilized many social media platforms to create ‘at-home’ and ‘equipment-free’ workouts. These are all easily accessible and many even have apps you can download for free. I’ve enjoyed using many of these while I was traveling and I hope you can do the same! Grab some friends, head to a local park or move the furniture around and get moving! 

Some of the best to staying fit at home are:

Nike App-

Over 100 full body workers inspired by top nike athletes and designed by NTC Mater trainers, N+ TC will help you track progress, stay motivated and train better.

RunKeeper-

With RunKeeper, users can track running, walking, cycling, hiking, biking using the GPS in an Android phone. The app will produce statistics around pace, distance, time, and calories burned. Users can also listen and control music during a workout. Because RunKeeper also integrates with many sensors, the app will also measure heart rate over time.

Pocket Yoga –

Practice yoga any where and any time with Pocket Yoga. Gaia Flow Yoga created unique and creative flows to help you maintain your practice. It’s perfect for all ages, gender and skill level.

Pinterest – 

Pinterest is a pinboard-style photo-sharing website that allows users to create and manage theme-based image collections such as events, interests, and hobbies. Users can browse other pinboards for images, “re-pin” images to their own pinboards, or “like” photos. These are many different boards dedicated to fitness and health and they are filled with lots of workouts that can be with limited or no equipment. 

Myfitnesspal Calorie Counter-

Working out is definitely an important part of being health but so is your diet. MyFitnessPal’s Calorie Counter offers a database of over 3,000,000 foods and boasts a ”fast food and exercise entry” process. After entering in food in the app, or online, users can add friends to track and share each other’s progress. Besides food, the app can track 350 exercises and if the user’s exercise isn’t preloaded, he or she can enter it into the app.

 

9,281 miles never felt so close.

When traveling abroad it can be extremely difficult to keep in touch with friends and family. Not only does the time difference make this difficult but the price of getting an international phone plan is outrageously expensive. My family mostly lives near Atlanta, Georgia and that is 9,281 miles and a 16 hour time difference from Sydney, Australia. Luckily, the internet provides plenty of ways to help you stay connected at a minimal price.

Skype:

This is probably one of the greatest inventions for communicating internationally! It is free, easy and is accessible on any device that has WIFI ( mobile/laptop/tablet ).

Viber: 

This is an FREE app that is accessible on any smart phone. It allows you to text pictures and voice call anyone who has downloaded the app.

WhatsApp:

This is a FREE app that is very similar to Viber. The only difference is it does not allow voice or video call but unlike viber you can share pictures AND videos to friends and family.

EMAIL:

If you have a smartphone you can link your email to your phone and communicate. Many phone companies like AT&T allows non-smart phones to receive emails and respond using their regular texting plan. This is a great option if you have friends and family without smart phones.

If all else fails you can always resort to postage mail. But at $2.50 a stamp and over a 2 week deliver time you might want to consider these other options!