Dream Careers

Know who you are, and not just your name. What are your interests? What skills do you possess? Are you cheerful, bubbly, and a people-person? Maybe becoming a teacher is for you. Do you love to get out a saw and wood and create projects? Maybe an architect is the job you want. Spend an hour in a private place, or get together with a friend. Talk about the things you love. Write them down, and analyze them when you're done. See if you can put together an idea.

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   If you have an idea of what you want to do, read up on it! Head for the library, or surf the web. Read as much as you can about your career choice. If you decide you chose wrong, analyze your skills again. Talk with a parent, friend, or professor about what they think.
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   Utilize several different job search techniques and do each of them well. Don't put all your eggs in one basket.
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   Keep in touch with people who can positively influence your job search and career. In your future career pursuit, simple reference letter can be of crucial importance.
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   Try to learn about why you don't get every job you apply for. Learn from your mistakes.
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   Before you start applying for jobs ensure you know what you're looking for. A good job search is a focused job search. Make sure to tailor you Resume or CV according to job position that you are applying for.
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   Don't apply for job you aren't qualified for. One of the worst things is lying on your Resume. You might ruin your chances with a company for a job you are qualified for in the future.
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   Manage your references. Don't assume there isn't such a thing as a bad reference. There is. And it can cost you jobs.
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   Plan your career with a long term focus. Short term gain can cause long term pain.
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   Make sure you don't over stress yourself, and don't get your hopes too high, you may jinx it.
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    Take command of your career. Don't rely on other people to get the job for you. Nobody knows you better than your self, just do it.

Cool Jobs

If the words engineering and excitement strike you as an oxymoron, then you haven't heard about these jobs. From playing with toys to helping create movie blockbusters to exploring space, the jobs described below are anything but boring. Kind of makes you wonder why everyone doesn't pursue a career in engineering.

Paid to Play

Though we beg for them as a child, toys might not come to mind when you think of engineering careers.

Except if you're someone like me . He was your typical Toys-R-Us kid, playing with everything from action figures to train sets. "I always thought it would be cool to work for a toy company."

i didn't begin his career by following this dream. Instead, he took the well-traveled road of many mechanical engineers and accepted a position with a utility company located in Colorado, all the while wondering if he could use his engineering skills to pursue a career with a toy manufacturer. After a year, decided to stop wondering and find out. He resigned from the utility company, packed his bags and moved to the toy-company hub of Northern California. "I hadn't talked with anyone there before moving, but at least I would be in a place where I could be in contact with [toy companies],"

Once there, worked odd engineering jobs during the day and sent resumes to area toy companies at night. He arranged as many informational interviews as he could, hoping to gain insight into the toy industry, while putting his name and face before people who could make a difference in his job search.

Life on the Job
Getting paid to play may sound too good to be true, but that's an integral part of job description. Like other engineers who test new product designs, has to make sure that the toys do what they are designed to do, which just happens to require that he play with them. "I keep a pair of swim trunks in my desk, because you never know when you have to go test a water toy," he says. In addition to a full line of pool toys, such as underwater radios, Wild Planet produces an array of spy gear, including sunglasses with hidden cameras and secret messengers. "There are days when we go wandering the streets of San Francisco testing .