BLOG #5: MASTER'S: NOW OR LATER?

           In the past, a university degree was more than enough for you to get a job since you met the requirements of companies in terms of education level. However, the world is changing every day, today, more and more people are able to finish their post-secondary education. It's either no longer easy to get employed just with a degree from universities or you can find a job, but the salary is really slow since university degree becomes too common. So the choice of many people is to continue studying graduate program and get a master degree. Now the question is, should we take it right after undergraduate degree or after a few years of working. In this blog, I'm going to analyze the benefits of taking master degree both right after university and after several years. 

(Retrieved from https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/20140520115703-10999323-design-your-own-master-s-degree-in-7-easy-steps)

1) RIGHT AFTER UNIVERSITY: 

• Still fresh and young: You've been studying for 15 or 16 years in a row without any interruption."You’re accustomed to putting in all-nighters, spending every waking hour in the library, and having no social life outside of hanging out with your textbooks". In another word, you're still in student mode, your main work is studying so you have the motivation to continue studying and everything becomes easy. 

• Scholarship: As a fresh student. you're more likely to get a scholarship from schools. I'm sure that the school completely won't give their scholarship to someone who is working and is able to pay for their studying. Besides, if you have good academic record, it will be easier for you to get a scholarship as you show you're a great student who is hard-working, contributing and you deserves the scholarship.

(Retrieved from http://www.nabainc.org/scholarship)

• Clear goals and targets: You have your own target, you wanna do it anyway and you won't be affected by any factors such as family, your career and time. If you take it after a few years, you have your own career and you're able to earn money so you don't want to study anymore. Something like that can absolutely prevent you from getting a master degree and you'll never think of it anymore. 

2) AFTER A FEW YEARS:

• Self-finance: I think the most common reason for students not to studying graduate is they can't afford the tuition fee. After a few years of working, people are able to earn and save an adequate amount of money for their studying. 

• Work experience: It might be easier for you when studying for the master degree as you enhances the experiences in your field by working.  

• Give you a break: You've been studying for years, you may be under pressure, tired and you're not ready to continue studying. You can take time off and travel or get a job, and then, when you come back, you'll come to it refreshed. 

References: 

1. http://www.mastersportal.eu/articles/275/masters-now-or-later.html
2. http://www.excite.com/education/blog/should-i-get-a-masters-degree-now-or-later

BLOG #4: IS STUDENTS DOING PART-TIME JOBS GOOD OR BAD?

(Retrieved from http://applikasicomp.blogspot.ca/2012/10/advantages-and-disadvantages-working-as.html)

I believe that most of the people experienced doing part-time jobs as students though different people have different purposes. And until now, there are still arguments about the benefits and drawbacks of a part-time jobs and both of 2 opinions are true. So in this blog, I'm going to list some of the advantages and disadvantages of doing a part-time job to students and it is possibly helpful for students who plan to find a part-time job in the near future to consider.

• ADVANTAGES:

1) Improving skills: No matter what kinds of part-time jobs you are doing, you are required to meet a lot of people, talk to them and satisfy their need. Therefore, you're able to develop your existing skills and learn new skills that you cannot learn while studying. Time management is an example of the skill you may learn when working. When you study, if you're late for class or assignment, you're the only one who is affected. But when you work, being late will have negative impacts on your customers. Also, working makes you be responsible for your act and speech.

(Retrieved from https://elearningindustry.com/how-to-develop-your-skills-from-elearning)

2) Networking opportunities: It will be completely useful for students' future career if they're able to build some good relationships while working part-time. For example, they might be customers, colleagues or boss. The students may get a reference, connection or even a full-time job after graduating if they do well on their work. 

(Retrieved from http://dastornews.com/tag/networking/)

3) Money: I think most of the students do part-time job for earning money. Some of them want to earn money to support their studying while other people may use it like pocket-money for personal purposes. As they came into adulthood, they have many things needed to be paid so part-time job is a good idea. Besides, they will know how to appreciate money as it is gained by themselves, I believe they're not going to waste it. 

• DISADVANTAGES:

1) The imbalance between studying and working: Before working, students can spend all their time focusing on studying to make sure that they can get a high mark. But when doing a part-time job, students need to reduce their studying hours and go to works a few hours a day. And after finishing the work, students may not have time and strength to complete their homework. If students don't know how to balance the amount of time spend on studying and working, it can strongly affect their studying result. 

2) Increase stress: For some students, studying and working at the same time may be a challenge. Sometimes, they're unable effort both things to make sure they are good. Students may be stressed and it seriously affects their working and studying productivity. 

(Retrieved from http://psychoanalysttoronto.com/stress.html)

BLOG #3: CHALLENGES WHEN STARTING RUNNING A NEW BUSINESS

          In recent years, it seems like startup has been a new trend when more and more young people want to start their own business instead of working for distinct companies. However, startup is never easy since it requires tons of skills and it's also risky. But once you succeed, your earning per day may be far higher than the money you make in a full year as an employee. So, if you are an ambitious and determined person and enjoy challenges, startup is not a bad idea. In this blog, I'm going to write about some of the challenges that you might face when starting a new business. 

(Retrieved from http://platform.votigo.com/fbcontests/rules/Startup-Challenge)

1) Lack of finances: I believe that all of the young people when starting their business have to face this challenge. Start running a business, which means you have nothing at first and you are definitely unable to found a company and maintain it without capital and money. To make it clear, let's take a simple example. Mark Zuckerberg is currently the CEO of Facebook, a social media which is being used by billions of people all around the world. But do you know, in the early days of Facebook, one of the biggest that he faced was how to attract investors and bring money to the company. It was said that Facebook must reach 1.5 million users by the end of 2004 in order to get the first angel Investment and it is completely a big challenge for him. Maybe if he hadn't reached the requirement that time, we might not have had Facebook like today. 

(http://www.businessalligators.com/7-biggest-problems-mark-zuckerberg-faced-early-days/)

(Retrieved from http://www.telegraph.co.uk/finance/newsbysector/banksandfinance/10082689/Lack-of-investment-costing-SMEs-billions.html)

2) Business ideas issue: Basically, when you want to start a business, what you need to do is find an issue that humans face in their life which hasn't had any solution yet. Your work is to find a problem and find a solution for it. For example, Bill Gates becomes a billionaire and a successful entrepreneur since he knew what people need, which was Microsoft, an operating system needed to be installed in a new personal computer or laptop. However, this is not an easy thing when in these days and ages, people's life becomes much more convenient due to different types of available services and it seems like they don't meet any difficulties. 

(Retrieved from http://www.entrepreneur.com.ph/tag/december-to-january-2015-issue)

3) Hiring employees: Besides money, a company is unable to survive without the work and support from employees. And it's true that hiring employees is not a simple thing. Firstly, if your company is not a famous one and make profits, people will not want to work for you. There are a lot of companies that have to stop working due to lack of workforce. Another difficulty is you need to go to several stages like viewing resumes, doing interviews and this process might repeat so as to find best employees and it takes much time and effort. But once you can have best employees, your company may be able to be successful. So hiring workforce can be seen as one challenge that an entrepreneur need to face. 

(Retrieved from http://yourbizsuccesscoach.com/category/employee-hiring/)

4) Marketing and Customer Loyalty: Market is changing everyday! It is clear that today, the customers need your products but tomorrow, they possibly don't need it anymore. Besides, as time passes, more and more companies have been founded which sell the same products as yours with better function. Then, the market is much more competitive and that will be definitely a fight in terms of marketing. You need to find and think of marketing strategies that can attract your new customers and retain existing customers and make them buy your products as much as possible. It can be advertisements, social media, billboard or something more creative and attractive. If not, you will lose your customers and this is a big risk to your company. 

(Retrieved from http://www.seo-company-india.net/)

BLOG #2: HOW TO WRITE A GOOD CV ?

      Curriculum Vitae, also known as CV, is a piece of writing that a person has to write when applying for a job. Basically, a CV contains information about personal detail, education and qualifications, relevant skills and working experiences.CV is very important and it has to be perfect because it's one of the reasons makes the recruitment of a company decide on people they would hire. And in this blog, I'm going to talk about how to write a good CV that can impress the company. 

(Retrieved from https://www.myworldofwork.co.uk/getting-job/example-cvs-and-cover-letters-school-leaver) 1)  About Layout and Structure: The company will not want to read your CV if it's not clear, not well-organized, too many words and no space. - Length: two to three page long - Font and Size: Time New Romans and Arial are two most common font, size should be 12 and larger for heading.  - Most important information should be in the upper middle area of the first page because it is where the recruiter's eye will naturally fall. (https://www.theguardian.com/culture-professionals-network/culture-professionals-blog/2012/mar/15/cv-tips-first-arts-job) 2) Keep it simple, keep it short, keep it relevant: It is obvious that employers don't want to read a long and complicated CV, so the CV should be easy to read and use active and formal language.  3) Accuracy: Remember to check spelling, grammar, tenses, names of companies and people, etc before sending it. Accuracy is the most basic skill and if you can't meet that requirement, how can the employers believe in your ability and hire you? It is better if you can give it to your friends or colleagues to ask for opinions.  (https://www.thebalance.com/curriculum-vitae-format-2060351) 4) Tailor a CV to a specific job: Instead of sending a generic CV, you should write a script which is relevant to each job application. (http://www.bbc.com/news/business-15573447) 5) Basic information: name, address, phone number and email. Many people forget to put these primary things. And don't include your age or photo if not being asked. (http://www.jobs.ac.uk/careers-advice/cv-templates/1516/how-to-write-a-good-cv) 6) Recent information: When writing about your education or your achievements, just list some things happened recently. They will not be interested in what you did in primary or secondary school. (http://learnenglish.britishcouncil.org/en/professionals-podcasts/advice-writing-cvs)

BLOG #1: UNIVERSITY OR COLLEGE IN CANADA? WHICH ONE MAKES MORE CHANCE TO FIND A GOOD JOB?

In recent years, after finishing secondary education, there are two ways for students to choose, the first one is starting working without any degree and the another one is continue doing post secondary education. However, besides university, there is a second choice that students can consider is colleges. So, in this blog, we are going to discover the differences between universities and colleges in Canada and discuss which one is better for you to get a good job after graduating.

(Retrieved from http://www.collegebound.net/blog/what-is-the-difference-between-a-college-and-a-university/)

1) University:

- A university is an institution that offers undergraduate and graduate degrees. Universities offer graduate programs leading to a master’s degree or a Ph.D (http://www.bestvalueschools.com/faq/what-is-the-difference-between-a-college-and-a-university/)

- There are tons of programs can be chosen at universities such as business, law, finance, accounting or computer science. 

- It generally takes students about 4 or 5 years to finish the program.

- Focus on research and theory, students don't have much environment to practice what they've learned. 

(Retrieved from http://www.flaticon.com/free-icon/university_5109)

2) College:
- College is  a smaller institution that typically offers undergraduate degrees. (http://www.bestvalueschools.com/faq/what-is-the-difference-between-a-college-and-a-university/)
- Concentrate on practical training to make students have a better preparation for workplace.
- Usually offer two year or three year degree.
- It is usually easier for students to go on a college than an university as its requirement is lower. 

(Retrieved from http://gleeconsultancyservices.com/tag/study-in-canada/)

3) University or college ?
- If you plan to become doctor, dentist, lawyer or businessman, which need a lot of understanding and research, university is the best choice for you.
- If you wanna do jobs that need practice such as nursing or tourism, college is a great environment for you to enhance experience before working.

4) Top universities and colleges in Canada:
- Université de Montréal, University of British Columbia, University of Toronto: Psychology
- McGill University, University of Waterloo: Mathematics
- Queen's University, Simon Fraser University: Computer Science
- Western University, York University, University of Alberta: Business
             (http://www.macleans.ca/education/2017-program-rankings/)
- Top colleges; Centennial College, Humber College, George Brown College, Seneca College,...
             (https://www.newcomerscanada.ca/studying/best-colleges/)

5) Facts about university and colleges in distinct countries:
- In the U.S, saying "I went to a university" and "I went to a college" mean the same thing
- In Canada, going to a university or college is not an important thing, as long as you can get a good job.
- However, in some countries like Vietnam or China, students are under pressure to go into a prestigious and famous university and they might be seen as a loser since people think that university is the only way which leads to success. Besides, it's hard for students to find job without a degree from university.

Basically, in Canada, no matter you go to a university or college, you can have a good job, as long as it is suitable for your ability and your future career. That's all about my comparison between university and college in Canada and I hope that after reading this blog, you can have the proper choice for your post secondary education. If you have any opinion or addition about my blog, leave a comment below and I'll try to make it better. Thanks for reading.