美国大学生为找好工作入学前开始做的20件事（上）

偶然在网上看到转载的《波士顿环球报》刊登过的一篇文章，题目叫“为了找到好工作现在要做的20件事”，奉献给大家一起体会。今天先跟大家一起分享前部分~后部分明天见欧

1.Get out of the library. You can have a degree and a huge GPA and not be ready for the workplace. A student should plan that college is four years of experience rather than 120 credits," says William Coplin, professor at Syracuse University and author of the book, 10 Things Employers Want You to Learn in College."

第一，走出图书馆。就算有了学位和很高的GPA你也不见得就为工作做好了准备。学生应该有规划，校园四年的人生经验比120个学分更重要。

感想：在美国大学里，课外活动常常和功课一样重要，通过课外活动可以得到很多课本外的知识。

2. Start a business in your dorm room. It's cheap, Google and Yahoo are dying to buy your website, and it's better than washing dishes in the cafeteria. Note to those who play poker online until 4 a.m.: Gambling isn't a business. It's an addiction.　　

第二，从宿舍开始做生意，这很便宜。雅虎、谷歌都会争先恐后地买你弄出来的网站，这比餐馆里洗盘子好多了。至于那些通宵在线玩扑克的人，记住赌博不是生意，赌博是瘾。

感想：要想创业可从大学同步开始，不见得需要大量的启动资金。大学有大把的时光和大量的人力及知识资源。

3. Don't take on debt that is too limiting. This is not a reference to online gambling, although it could be. This is about choosing a state school over a pricey private school. Almost everyone agrees you can get a great education at an inexpensive school. So in many cases the debt from a private school is more career-limiting than the lack of brand name on your diploma.

第三，别债务缠身。这和在线赌博关系不大，虽然可能有关系。这是关于应该选择一所州立大学而不是昂贵的私立学校的问题。几乎所有人都同意在不那么贵的学校里也能得到良好的教育。所以从个人前途上看，无债一身轻比花钱买个名牌文凭要有利得多。

感想：不要仅仅盯着大学排名，需要选择适合自己的学校，才会有更大的发展。

4. Get involved on campus. When it comes to career success, emotional intelligence -- social skills to read and lead others -- get you farther than knowledge or job competence, according to Tiziana Casciaro, professor at Harvard Business School. Julie Albert, a junior at Brandeis University, is the director of her a capella group and head of orientation this year. She hones her leadership skills outside the classroom, which is exactly where to do it.　

第四，积极参加校园文化活动。哈佛商学院的Tiziana Casciaro教授在谈到事业的成功，情商――阅读和领导别人的社会技能――均来源于在大学做合唱团的指挥和领导，在那里获取的能力要远远超过你的学识和工作能力。这在美国文化中，是所谓"领袖素质"的基础。

感想：通过校园活动，可以学会怎么理解、帮助别人，满足别人的需要和别人沟通。找工作时会被别人另眼相看。千万不要认为这些仅仅是校园生活而已。

5. Avoid grad school in the liberal arts. One in five English Phd's find stable university jobs, and the degree won't help outside the university: "Schooling only gives you the capacity to stand behind a cash register," says Thomas Benton, a columnist at the Chronicle of Higher Education (who has an English degree from Yale and a tenure-track teaching job.)

第五，避免在文理学院中读研究生。五分之一的英语博士可以在大学里找到稳定的工作，走出校门(找工作)，学位没有任何帮助。Thomas Benton(一位高等教育纪事报专栏作家，拥有耶鲁大学英语学士学位和一个任期的田径教学工作)说：大学仅仅是给你一个站在收银机后面的能力。

感想：除非你离了学术不能活，读博士对实际工作毫无帮助。在美国博士不见得比本科更好找工作。与中国情况相反，中国有很多公司，硕士生以下不要。不能拿中国的经验去套国外的生活哦。

6. Skip the law-school track. Lawyers are the most depressed of all professionals. Stress itself does not make a job bad, says Alan Kreuger, economist at Princeton University. Not having control over one's work does make a bad job, though, and lawyers are always acting on behalf of someone else. Suicide is among the leading causes of premature death among lawyers.

第六，Alan Kreuger(普林斯顿经济学家)说：跳出法律学校的轨迹。律师是所有职业中最压抑的。本身有压力的工作并不代表是一份坏的工作。律师总是代表别人去争利，没有办法掌控自己的工作，是一份坏工作。自杀是律师中第一号非正常死亡的原因。

感想：收入高不代表是好工作。人的一生不仅仅只有工作。

7. Play a sport. People who play sports earn more money than couch potatoes, and women executives who played sports attribute much of their career success to their athletic experience, says Jennifer Cripsen of Sweet Briar College in Virginia. You don't need to be great at sports, you just need to be part of a team.

第七，参加体育运动。调查表明，大学从事体育运动的人，毕业后比那些不沾体育的同学明显收入高。美国人从事体育不仅是锻炼身体，而且是培养竞争的才能和领袖素质。一个大学运动队的队长到华尔街找工作，优势不可限量。

感想：生命在于运动。美国大学里的体育生需要完成与其他人一样的学习，训练通常是每天都要占3~4小时(我孩子告诉我，体育校队的人每天下午4点到7点进行训练，天天如此)。这也是美国大学一视同仁的特色，这样毕业出来的人难道不更优秀吗?

8. Separate your expectations from those of your parents. "Otherwise you wake up and realize you're not living your own life," says Alexandra Robbins, author of the popular new book "The Overachievers."

第八，别按着父母的期待生活。"否则你醒来后会发现你过的不是自己的日子。"

感想：父母有父母的生活经验，但孩子有孩子的喜好。按照自己的人生去生活，自己会感觉更快乐些。

9. Try new things that you're not good at. "Ditch the superstar mentality that if you don't reach the top, president, A+, editor in chief, then the efforts were worthless. It's important to learn to enjoy things without getting recognition," says Robbins.

第九，做一些你并不擅长的新事物。你对自己未必了解，这是苏格拉底给人类的教诲。“如果你没有达到顶峰、做总统、得A+、做主编，看起来你做得毫无价值，没有达到巨心得状态。重要的是要学会享受没有得到认可的事情。

感想：请给自己一个机会。什么自己不擅长这个，不擅长那个，作茧自缚。很多人二十年后会生活在自己完全没有设想过的现实中。

10. Define success for yourself. "Society defines success very narrowly. Rather than defining success as financial gain or accolades, define it in terms of individual interests and personal happiness," says Robbins.

第十，以自己为中心来定义成功，“社会上成功的定义非常狭隘，相比较收益和荣誉的定义，成功应该定义为个人的兴趣和幸福感更重要。以自己为中心来定义成功，别以外在的东西(比如金钱)来定义成功。