volunteer

I always make fun of the avid cyclists in my office, so they dared me to ride 10K and raise $1000. We dared our boss to shave her head. Some people are losing weight. Canadian musician k-os is going back to an old McJob he had.

The best time to learn all there is to know and grow into a true professional at what you do is when you’re fresh out of school. Focus on earning later!

I’m frustrated with the rumour that universities are career factories, continuously pumping out eager, money-hungry employees. Co-op coordinators and potential employers constantly expect us to drop everything, including our classes, to attend workshops and interviews.

Happy long weekend, everyone! Just in case you have some time on your hands and you’re not camping, heading up to the cottage or having a pool party, there’s quite a bit of news, content and video to check out in this week’s edition of Friday Finds. Enjoy!

I thought scholarships and getting into that program was all good marks were good for, but then a couple of things changed. First, I decided I want to go to grad school. Having an “honours” degree doesn’t hurt either. Then I started getting emails about volunteer job opportunities that will look great on my resumé!

Two-thirds of us feel ‘obliged’ to work for free and feel exploited by working without pay. Big surprise: a study says hot people get ahead in life — more specifically, it boosts a student’s GPA. Why your online reputation could be keeping you unemployed and what you can do about it. Is Gen Y losing religion?

High school diploma, check. University acceptance, check. Extra-curricular activities, check. Good marks for grad school, check. Degree, check. Now what? Taking a year off was a pipe dream in which I imagined myself backpacking across Europe, but it was never something I thought I would actually do.

“Twentysomething” profiles recent graduates who are beginning their journey into the real world and following their chosen career paths. This week I ask Patricia Rubino, a freelance junior stylist with The Artist Group in Toronto, a few questions about her journey so far.

During the second round of interviews at a multi-national Fortune 500 company, I observed that every candidate had international/relocation experience of some sort. Whether it was through a co-op/internship position or an international exchange, everyone had exposed themselves to new places.

As the band’s manager for four years, I learned how to be a leader, work with a large group of people, design, balance finances, web design, promotion and, more recently, copyrights, grants and legalities surrounding making music in Canada. All of these are skills I can take to another job.

Jordi Friese is all about getting career experience while doing something she’s passionate about: helping improve the lives of people with cancer. In the summer of 2007, she was an unpaid intern at the Princess Margaret Hospital Foundation in Toronto. Here’s what she took away from that experience.

Extra-curricular involvement is often overlooked thanks to all the stress of classes, homework and part-time jobs. However, involvement has the potential to be the best thing that could happen to a anyone in university and even later on in life.