Go Beyond the Borders
By AgCareers.com

AgCareers.com believes that students have numerous opportunities to build powerful career portfolios throughout their higher education experiences. One of these opportunities is traveling abroad. The life lessons learned while students are visiting other countries are valuable for personal growth, as well as preparation for future career opportunities.

“As we see our population growing larger, more and more companies are looking beyond our borders for resources to grow and produce food, fiber, and fuel,” said Eric Spell, president of AgCareers.com. “This adds to the need for graduates who have first-hand knowledge of agricultural practices abroad, as agribusiness can be easily observed at various levels in all countries.”

Traveling abroad can present challenges for many students including: fear of traveling, the possibility of getting behind in their graduation schedule, and the lack of funds. To help offset the financial constraints; AgCareers.com has developed the Agribusiness Beyond the Borders Scholarship program.

“At AgCareers.com we see the importance of investing in the students who are willing to step outside their comfort zone and take advantage of work experiences abroad,” says Ashley Collins Education Coordinator with AgCareers.com.

The program provides three $1,000 scholarships for students currently studying in North America who are embarking on a study abroad experience. One scholarship is awarded to a student each term (fall, spring and summer) to be used for their study abroad trip in the following term.

Since the launch of the Agribusiness Beyond the Borders Scholarship Program in early 2009, AgCareers has had to opportunity to assist two students with trips to other countries. Matthew Groen, a rising junior at the University of Guelph majoring in Animal Science, traveled to Costa Rica for ten days during the Spring of 2009.

"I choose to go to Costa Rica to learn more about alternative agricultural practices,” Groen said. “In Costa Rica, I got to experience and learn a lot about organic production of coffee and many other fruits that we consume on a daily basis.”

He said the experience taught him how organic production practices affect not only his health, but the entire economy of developing countries.

This summer, Kristen Gossett, a senior at NC State University double majoring in Agriculture Extension and Communication, will spend one month in Australia. She was chosen as the recipient of the summer term scholarship.

Gossett shared her motivation behind choosing this opportunity in her scholarship essay, “This trip can only strengthen my expertise and experience in the field of agriculture, which I hope to work in one day. I had always hoped that I could bring something to my job that was different…that would stand out and bring more to the table. I think the experience of studying abroad can help me do that.”

Gossett added that, "Although studying abroad is an amazing opportunity, the cost is usually pretty high. It's great to have scholarship opportunities like the one through AgCareers.com to help offset some of that expense."

To apply for the Agribusiness Beyond the Borders Scholarship, students need to complete a simple online form and write a one and a half page essay about their trip and why they’ve chosen to travel abroad. Applications are due at various times throughout the year, depending on the dates of the trip. Applications are now being accepted for students going abroad in Fall 2009.

For more information about the Agribusiness Beyond the Borders Scholarship Program, and to apply, go to http://www.agcareers.com/scholarship_form.cfm.

Hyatt's Top 10 Must Do for Seniors

As we all wait for the economy to improve (and we KNOW it will), Hyatt provides some excellent tips for everyone who searches for a position!

Recruiters Corner: Top 10 Must Do for Seniors

1. Stay Positive: The economy will turn around, its just a matter of time, it always does.
2. Be Flexible: Your ideal route may not be available right now; take what you can.
3. Differentiate Yourself: What is it about you that makes you better than the others?
4. Swallow Your Pride: Now is not the time to turn down great opportunities even though
they may not be exactly your ideal job out of college.
5. Get your foot in the door: Whether it is a line position or an internship, these opportunities
allow you to prove yourself to the company.
6. Expand your Relocation Preferences: The more open you are to relocation the more
opportunities will be available to you.
7. Take the Initiative: taking any opportunity the company offers shows dedication and true commitment.
8. College Degree vs. Experience: Even though you will have a college degree you must start
somewhere and you may not always start as a manager but that's OK.
9. Broaden Your Experiences: Now is the time to make yourself a more qualified candidate
for when things turn around.
10. NETWORK: This means creating new networks with those you have recently come into
contact with, and continuing those relationships you have already made with industry
leaders, professors, and peers.

To check out careers at Hyatt, visit: http://www.explorehyatt.jobs/index_flash.php

The Future of Hiring...Agriculture

OK, so some of you may not be in your "dream" job. With news of the economy, more seniors turned to plan B this year: graduate school. Others were willing to accept a position that just a few months ago, they may have considered unacceptable. To all of you who identify with the difficulty of job "search and find" this year, take heart. There is good news.

The 2008 Agribusiness Job Report by AgCareers.com reports that 63% of their companies foresee retirements in the upcoming years that will create many new opportunities. Even better news, many companies are turning to college relations as a way to fill positions, as evidenced by an increase in the number of internship programs and entry-level leadership development programs.

So, what to do now? Use this time to hone your skills. Think about your ideal position. Find several job descriptions online; use websites like AgCareers.com to search for jobs that sound enjoyable and interesting. What can you do in your current job or in graduate school to prepare yourself better for that next position? Pursue those projects, tasks, classes and contacts that will ensure that your next position is close to, if not, ideal.

Highlighting a few other career BLOGS!

As I surf the Net these days, I can find myself going to a wide variety of interesting, but ultimately useless, sites. Here, I've tried to link a few blogs that I find "spot-on" in terms of career advice:

• The M.A.P. Maker: http://mapmaker.curtrosengren.com/. Great tips on goal setting and finding Meaning, Abundance, and Passion in your life/career. Here are a couple of great exercises I found here: Write a letter to yourself and then have it e-mailed back to you at a future date, using FutureMe.org. This takes care of my issue: writing the letter and then forgetting where I put it! I also like the list of positive words I found on this site.
• Allison's Job Searching Blog. Great, straightforward advice in How Not to Find a Job , Tough Interview Questions, and other posts.
• Personal Branding Blog. Written by several, this site has some good tips for standing out--positively--while seeking your next opportunity. I love the recent post The Demise of Job Boards and the Rise of People Searching.

Summer is Almost Here!

As finals week wraps up, I am getting anxious to be done with the semester and start my internship with ADM! This summer I was placed in an internship several hours from home and also in a big city. Although I’ll be far away from my show lambs and rural Missouri, I am looking forward to a great new experience.

Being away from home, college, and friends for a summer internship can be challenging. But… what is the best part about a new home is that it is new. New people, new places, new friends, new opportunities.

The most important part about surviving a summer away is to get involved. Sometimes companies have social events that interns can attend. For example, ADM is participating in the Kansas City Corporate Challenge this summer. KCCC is a wide range of sporting activities in which companies all over Kansas City compete. They already asked me to represent the company and be on the golf team, soccer team, swim team, and even run the mile!

My participation in the sports events may be more amusing for bystanders than competitive for the team. But it will give me a chance to be involved. Find a club in the area near your internship. Or take a summer class at a college close by. Before you know it, summer will be gone! But the experiences from a summer internship you will take with you the rest of your life.

-Charlotte Jackson

Sophomore, Agricultural Education

Professor Maria Rodriguez Alcala, Agricultural Economics, shared the following very helpful tips regarding a career in international development:

I recently attended the seminar by Douglas Casson Couts, Senior Advisor to the U.N. World Food Programme. He provided eight very helpful tips to those consiering a career in international development and specifically, one with the United Nations:

1. Find your passion. 90% of development type jobs = passion. Where do you see yourself 10 years from now?


2. Linked to the issue of finding your passion, ask yourself: Do you want to make a difference? If so, at what level, scale, how much hands on?

3. Do you see yourself more as an office or a field work person? This is key in planning strategically your minors, majors, internships, languages and study abroad programs to build your career.

4. Personal flexibility. How flexible are you? Flexibility not just in terms of moving around, but in accepting different work environment (i.e. different colleagues, different way of doing things, different accents, etc.).

• U.S. Peace Corps experience is a great place to start to later get into the U.N. (basically the U.N. now is hiring from other institutions around the globe that will already provide the initial experience they need. Peace Corps is just one of them).
• The U.N. itself offers a similar program as the Peace Corps, the U.N. Volunteers (http://www.unv.org/) . By the way, the assignments for these are from 1-2 years. However, there are some short-term assignments that are from 6 to 12 months long.
• He also recommended the Peace Corps Master’s International program (http://www.peacecorps.gov/index.cfm?shell=learn.whyvol.eduben.mastersint).

5. Are you interested in long-term development or relief (emergency) type of jobs (90% of the World Food Program funds go to relief). It does matter to make this differentiation, the careers in each are very different worlds.

6. What specific major or courses should students choose? It DOES NOT matter. In the past they hired people with different specializations. Now that’s history; specialists are outsourced (i.e. hired as consultants for short-term periods to address a specific need or question). Most people in development jobs are generalists, they have a broad view of the world and issues we need to treat.

7. Education, basically two main things needed:

• Master Degree. A MUST. Very, very few undergraduates are hired by the U.N. today.
• Fluency (not just read and write, but involve in a conversation) in 2 U.N. languages (English, Spanish, Chinese, Arabic, French, Russian). I asked him more about his recommendations, and here are some tips if you want to learn another language:
  i. You first need some basics (i.e. levels 1,2 and perhaps 3 of college levels of any language, High School levels are not enough).
  ii. You need to go to a foreign country and spend at least 2-3 months without ANY exposure to English. On this he recommended a program he himself used in Canada called the “immersion program” and he mentioned three countries where he knows the programs are good: Mexico, Guatemala and Canada (Quebec Province). You actually spend 2-3 months far from the main cities perhaps in the middle of nowhere where nobody speaks a word of English.

8. There is no luck. You create your way, and you need to be strategic early on. That’s why, the earlier you discover your passion, the better you can plan.

Finally Finals

Finals week is here! As many of us are nervous about the upcoming exams, I share the feeling. This is my fourth time experiencing finals week at Mizzou. Although finals are supposed to be the roughest, toughest week of the year, it always seems to go smoothly for me.

So how do you survive the week? I think the most important part of the week is to actually study. Because there are no classes, there is nothing to motivate you get out the books! I set aside a certain number of hours each day to study during finals week. Sometimes if I procrastinate, I will find myself not studying until the day before, but most times I do a slow progression of studying throughout the entire week.

Secondly, take advantage of the “spoiling” the college and your family gives you during this week. If you live in a residential hall, oftentimes the floor will provide study snacks daily. It also is never a bad time to hint to your family how jealous you are of your roommate’s finals week care package.

Hang in there. One semester is almost down and only three more to go! This great college won’t give you any pressure you can’t handle, so take it all in stride.

CAFNR Career Services’s mission is to help students! Stop in for advice on any topic, whether it be schoolwork, time management, or career assistance.

-Charlotte Jackson
Sophomore, Agricultural Education

The meaning of two small words

Earlier this year a freshman asked me to look over his resume. I was honored that he valued my knowledge and that he asked me to edit it. A few days after helping him make a few changes, I found an envelope he slid under my door. It was a thank you note! He appreciated my help so much that he wanted to say “thank you.” Saying thank you for such a small task took only a few minutes of his time, but it meant the world to me.

In today’s fast paced, technology-driven society, I often find myself forgetting to say “thank you” sometimes to the people who have helped me along the way. Sometimes my gratitude will come in the form of an email, but I have found that people appreciate a hand written note so much more than any sort of online message.

Here are a few times when I feel it is important to write a thank you note:

• After an interview. Nothing makes a lasting impression on the future boss like a big thank you.
• After someone writes a recommendation for you. They took special time to tell someone else how great you are. It’s important to let them know you appreciated it as well.\
• To your family as a surprise. Nothing means more to Mom and Dad than a thank you just for raising you well.

All it takes are two small words. “Thank you” can bring a smile to someone’s face or it might even get you a job someday!

-Charlotte Jackson
Sophomore, Agricultural Education