Monday, November 1, 1999
The University Daily Kansan
Section A • Page 3
Internet job quiz helps in job search
TRUE OR FALSE
Q: You always should avoid paying an employment agency in order to get the best job leads.
A: TRUE. Legitimate employment agencies make their commissions from the employers, not the job-seekers. While there are some companies that charge job-seekers for this service, you should avoid these at all costs and find other avenues for employment. Many industries and professions have recruitment agencies — or headhunters — so you should seek out the best. Also be aware that some of these are regional, national and even international.
Q: Your resume should be no longer than one page in length.
A: TRUE. Most experts agree that if you have fewer than 10 years of experience, your resume should be one page in length. Of course, there are exceptions, but make sure you have a legitimate reason to have a resume that is longer than one page — and that you're not just being verbose. Please note: while the same principle applies to other resume formats (scannable and Web-based), the rule of one page is not as strictly enforced.
Q: A basic knowledge of a company and the industry it operates is not crucial when job-hunting.
A: FALSE. Having little or no knowledge about the company or the industry it operates in sets off a warning bell for many recruiters who perceive this lack of information as disinterest — or worse — laziness on your part.
Source:www.quintcareers.com/|ob_quiz.html
By Amanda Kashube
writer @kansun.com
Kansan staff writer
Although summer is still seven months away, many students already have begun the nervewracking interviewing process for internships.
For students, interviewing and planning for the future can be a very stressful time. But with the help of an online job skills quiz, students can be prepared before and after an interview with the company of their dreams.
"I think any additional information would be helpful for interviews," said E.J. Reedy, Topeka junior. "I think it's common to get nervous before interviews, and this could make you more comfortable."
Quintessential Careers (www.quintcareers.com), one of many career-related Web sites, features a job-hunting resources guide, including a job quiz.
Randall Hansen, associate professor of marketing at Stetson University in Deland, Fla., created the free site in 1996 to help college students succeed in the job market.
"I realized all students I talked to had no clear idea or correct expectations of jobs," he said. "I started the Web site with the sole purpose of helping college students find internships and college graduates find jobs."
Hansen said the number of hits on the Web site had grown this
year partly because 300 universities, including the University of Kansas, had linked Quintessential Careers to their home pages. He said the Web site had about 2,000 unduplicated hits per day.
"I think it's been very useful for many students," he said. "I've received an average of five to six emails a month from students who said that the Web site was useful."
The job quiz (www.quintcareers.com/job_quiz.html) features 15 questions followed by answers to help maximize results for students.
Hansen said the answers came from feedback from recruiters, employers, journals, job hunters and students' experiences.
The quiz contains general questions about job-hunting as well as specific questions about cover letters, resumes and interviewing," he said.
While some of the questions seem to have obvious answers (what you wear and how you look has an impact on job interviews), others are more complex.
True or false question 3 said: "The best way to find a job is looking through want ads and job postings." The answer may surprise a few.
Hansen said that only 5 percent of jobs were found through classified ads and that students should polish their networking skills for optimal job success.
"Almost half found a new job from referrals from friends or relatives," he said. "You need to build and nurture your network of friends, associates and contacts and use their network to even greatly expand your network."
True or false question 13 said: "It is extremely important to prepare for interviews by preparing questions to ask as well as preparing answers to questions you may be asked."
"Recruiters generally agree that one of the worst things you can do in an interview is not ask questions," Hansen said. "By not asking questions, you give the impression that you are not really interested in the company or the job. Try to develop questions that show you have done research and have knowledge of the firm."
One KU student said she thought the Web site's information would be a helpful tool for interviews.
"People are always looking for examples to better their interviewing skills," said Kelvie Crabb, Copeland senior.
While the Web site does bring in some money for Hansen, he said he normally broke even on the project.
"As a college professor, I want my students to do well in the job market," he said. "Being a professor means I want as many students as possible to get value and use out of the Web site."
Edited by Allan Davis
Anticipation, prices rise as Y2K approaches
By Amber Stuever
writer@kansan.com
Kansas staff writer
Exactly two months from today, champagne bottles across the world will burst open as the year 2000 beings.
The year 2000 ball will drop in New York City. Millions will celebrate on the beaches of the Caribbean and the streets of Las Vegas. Business people will hold their breath awaiting signs of a Y2K bug.
Where will KU students be?
"I't the trip of a lifetime," he said.
"I figure if the world's going to end,
I might as well be on the beach."
Where will KU students be? Pat Lafferty, Overland Park junior, will be in Sydney Australia, the first major city to celebrate the year 2000.
Although many students don't have plans set for New Year's Eve 1999, travel agents and business owners said they shouldn't wait any longer.
"I would definitely check into it as soon as possible so you can get the best available rates," said Jamie Dultmeier, travel agent at Lawrence Travel Center, 1601 W. 23rd Street.
Lawrence agents said rates for travel already were high.
Dulmeir said hotel prices had skyrocketed for the New Year's holiday. One hotel in New Orleans is priced $150 for Dec. 25, but $300-$400 for Dec. 30 and 31.
Some hotels are also requiring an extended stay to book a room for New Year's.
The Hyatt Crown Plaza in downtown Kansas City, Mo. is only offering a two-night New Year's Eve package. The package includes dinner, parking, an open bar and more — but will cost party-goers more than $800.
Airline tickets normally go up near the holiday season and will rise again this year, said Ruth Hughes, owner of Holiday Travel, 2112 W. 25th Street. Prices recently also rose 20 percent because of fuel costs, she said.
Cruises are a popular New Year's trip, Hughes said, although their prices may increase as much as $3,000 above normal for the holiday.
Many hotels and cruises already are booked near the New Year holiday. However, there are spaces available for those who still want to travel.
"They all thought they were going to make a killing off it and that people were going to travel no matter what, but it hasn't turned out that way," Hughes said.
No matter where they are celebrating the new year, Lawrence liquor store owners said people still should plan ahead.
Joe Schmidtberger, owner of Alvin's Wine and Liquors, 901 Iowa St., said customers should stock up on champagne now.
"The indication that we're getting from the suppliers is that it's supposed to run out," he said.
The price of champagne is climbing, too, Schmidtberger said. Bottles are already $10-$11 higher than this time last year.
Edited by Katie Hollar
Holiday flights just a point, click away
Special to the Kansan
By Jessie Meyer
Reserving a spot on the next flight home for the holidays never has been easier.
Forget trying to track down a travel agent or struggling to get phone calls through to airlines' busy customer service centers. Now, organizing holiday travel plans can be as easy as logging onto the Internet.
"For the Web-savvy consumer, online purchasing is the easiest, most convenient way to purchase a ticket at the best available price," said Bill La Macchia Jr., president and CEO of Sun Country Airlines.
Airlines are expecting the number of online purchases to increase in the coming months, especially near the holiday season, he said.
"Currently, about 10 percent of our sales are through online ticketing, but we expect that to increase as more consumers turn to this convenient, easy way of purchasing," La Macchia said.
Online purchases have taken the place of stand-by tickets, said Ellen Bartz, manager and travel agent at Destinations Unlimited. She said that stand-by tickets, once the only way to purchase on short notice, no longer existed because of the ease of purchasing online just moments before boarding time.
La Macchia said Web purchasers had the advantage of seeing the lowest prices available and the ability to access that fare immediately.
To make a transaction, however, one must have a credit card, and some online shoppers worry about whether the systems are secure enough to ensure the safety and privacy of credit card numbers. La Macchia said there was little to worry about.
"Because of the security safeguards that most companies have put in place, Sun Country included, there really aren't any disadvantages to booking this way," he said.
Weaving through the somewhat tangled Web is often the hardest part of making an online purchase, but the process had been made easier with the help of search engines. Once logged onto an airline's home page or an airfare search sites, a ticket to anywhere in the world, or to mom's pumpkin pie, is just a point and a click away.
Some companies require users to register online before allowing access to available flights, but for most companies, this service is free. After entering a few biographical pieces of data, a click of the mouse brings an array of possible flights to the screen. One can select a departure and an arrival city and let the Web work its magic. The search engines do all the work by seeking out the best flight at the most affordable prices on the designated travel days.
Once the ticket has been purchased and confirmed online, there is nothing left to do but go to the airport, thanks to the e-ticket. An e-ticket is an electronic recording of the purchase, which functions like a ticket and is kept in the computer system. It can be used instead of a paper ticket and provides a completely computerized means of travel preparation.
However, there is one major drawback to online ticket purchases, Bartz said. Forget calling travel agents for help when your flight goes bust.
"They really don't have anyone to help if they have problems," Bartz said. "It sounds bad, but we're no longer willing to help people who book online."
Edited by Kelly Clasen
One of the younger goblins
Three year-old Sarah Conley lugs a plastic pumpkin to be filled with mounds of candy at the Hilltop Child Development Center, while her mother, Michele, carries her. Hilltop offered a safe place for children to trick-or-treat yesterday. Photo by
treat yesterday. Photo by Matt J. Daugherty/KANSAN
Halloween tricks can mean trouble
Police on lookout for pumpkin pranks late-night trickery
By Katie Hollar
writer@kansan.com
Kansan staff writer
Halloween partiers who preferred tricks instead of treats could face criminal charges.
Halloween activities such as pumpkin smashing and graffiti may be traditional, but they're also illegal, said Sgt. George Wheeler of the Lawrence Police Department.
Wheeler said pumpkin stealing could be classified as theft and that other acts of vandalism would be charged as criminal damage. Both charges are misde-
Last week, the Alpha Chi Omega sorority house was festooned with stick figures from the Blair Witch Project, a pile of rocks in the yard and Lambda Chi Alpha scrawled on the windows in shaving cream. Kristen Davis, Kirkwood, Mo., sophomore, said she was disturbed by the trick and called the police.
"I had never seen the movie," she said. "It really scared me. It was really late when I got home."
"Every year we get calls about that kind of stuff." he said.
had a hard time cleaning up the joke. But she said after she watched the Blair Witch Project, she saw some humor in the prank.
Davis said sorority members
Angie Uskokovich, St. Louis senior, said she didn't think vandalism was very funny.
"I think it's disrespectful," she said. "People need to put themselves in other people's shoes."
Ian Wilbur, Northbrooke, Ill. senior, said he used to go pumpkin-smashing but he had grown out of it.
"You go out on Halloween with your friends; you go out toilet-papering and stuff." Wilbur said. "Pumpkin-smashing is a part of that — especially the people in your neighborhood that suck."
On Friday, Wheeler said police expected several vandalism calls during the Halloween weekend.
Red Lyon Tavern
— Edited by Kelly Clasen
944 Mass.
832-8228
The Freedom Coalition presents
public forum on violence affecting the LesBiGay community
HATE HAPPENS HERE
"That type of act will get you in trouble," he said.
meanors.
A FORUM ON ANTI-GAY VIOLENCE
featuring a showing of the MTV documentary "True Life: Matthew's Murder," followed by a panel discussion including two victims of violence, representatives of the Lawrence Police Department and KU Office of Public Safety, and audience discussion
Lawrence Public Librar
Auditorium
707 Vermont St.
Monday, November 1
7:00-9:00 p.m.
LIBERTY
Adult Classes In Latin,
Swing, Ballroom &
Lindy Hop
DANCE
Get your dance classes in before the holiday season!
（北京）
Fall 1999
Organizations and Leadership Lecture Series
Student Organizations and Leadership Development Center
Sponsored by the
6:30-7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, November 2, 1999
Assessing Your Personal Leadership Style
Are you motivated by a desire for excellence? Are you dominant, but not domineering? Are you self-demanding, but supportive of others? Are you
extremely competent, individualistic, self-condidant and innovative? There are no set rules or formulas for leaders to follow. "Leadership" is an elusive concept that, at times, can be vague and ambiguous. We will look at leaders who are effective and discuss their differing styles of leadership.
Barbara Ballard,
Presenters:
Asst. Vice Chancellor, Student Affairs
computers inc.
Buy/Sell New & Used • Upgrade 1403 W 23rd St. • 841-4611
AN UDDER?
A MOTHER?
A SEXY MAMMAL?
A FREE T-SHIRT?
www.mothersmilkbrewing.com