Finding and getting the job is the hard part, now the easy part, how to keep it.   Once you are hired it is important to maintain a positive relationship with the company or your employer. 

Tip #1: Keep your personal life separate from you job, an example would be to not use your professional e-mail for personal things.  

Tip #2: Socializing with co-workers is great, you want to develop a professional relationship that allows for better communication which is important.  However, do keep your conversations that do not relate to work to the minimum. 

Tip #3: Be productive and engaged, your boss will see your positive attitude. Commit to help out your coworkers if you finish early, don't ever just sit there doing nothing, help out when ever you can, there is always plenty stuff to do.

Tip #4: Avoid procrastination.  It makes you unprepared  and you look bad.  Always remember that you are representing your company or employer in your actions, product and appearance.

Tip #5: Finally, the most important one always have a positive attitude.

Why would you want to maintain a positive relationship with your employer?  By doing so when you decide you would like move to a different position at another company or employer you will have good references. 

Making your own living is the first step towards independence.  But lets not get ahead of ourselves, before you can make your own living you will need to go through the process of job searching.

If this is your first 'real' job, there are some things you will need to do prior to your job search, this can include: talking to your friends, siblings, guardian, and parents who have work experience, research online about requirements for certain jobs, resume, cover letter and more.  These simple task will help you get ideas on where to start your job search and possibly what job your are best suited for.  Another pro to talking to families and peers is they may know of an employment opportunity that will help you eliminate the need to go job searching, however, it is always a good thing to apply for multiple job positions.  By doing this you'll get more job opportunities.  Don't forget that jobs don't just come knocking on your door, you have to take an initiative to look for them whether its on the internet, newspaper or advertisements. 

Quick Tip: To make the process of filling out job applications less tedious, write up a professional resume and attach the resume to the application. 

Additional articles you may find helpful:
1.) High Quality and Professional Resume
2.) Bad Language, Profanity? No.
3.) Threats to Your Future Career
4.) Outstanding Work Habits.

Ever thought about going into a creative career? If you are into fashion and/or design and love to put unique design touches on your clothes, backpack, and anything else you can think of, graphic design may be the career for you. There are many private and public colleges that are known for their courses in graphic design , fashion, and more.

Graphic designers earn about $46,750 annually depending on the area that you work in:

• Specialized Design Services: $50,190

• Newspaper, Periodical, Book, and Directory Publishing: $40,680

• Advertising and Public Relations: $48,140

• Printing and Related Support Activities: $38,910

On average it would take between two to four years to get a degree in graphic design depending on the college you're attending. One of the principles of graphic design is C.R.A.P. which stands for, Contrast, Repetition, Alignment and Proximity.  Common types of work that graphic designers do includes: logo and branding, web sites, magazines, advertisements, product designing and the list goes on and on.

Everybody wants to live the American Dream of going to school, graduating from college and have a career that will allow them to live a comfortable lifestyle.  However, there are some obstacles that you will encounter, one of these obstacles is an over-exposure of your personal life online, like having inappropriate pictures  in your Myspace, Facebook or any other social media accounts. 

Inappropriate photos and information can portray you as someone who has poor judgment, one that would not be able to represent a school, company or employer in the image that they want.  Your Myspace and Facebook accounts can be searched through by college admission officers and businesses no matter how private they are.   Also, you might want to think about your own safety on Facebook and Myspace in terms of  exposing your real first and last name with your date of birth.  Third parties are often looking for end-user information on Facebook and Myspace. 

Keep in mind that college is a professional environment.  If your email looks something like Lil_shorty@yahoo.com or loverboy_01@gmail.com, you might want to start thinking about a new professional email including your name like mariarosales@yahoo.com, a simple and easy e-mail that shows your professional side.

A resume is a written document which contains a brief description of your skills, experience, education and explains your main objective.  It is mainly used by job seekers . When looking for a job, the first thing that employers are going to look at is your skills and work experience.  A resume is great tool to demonstrate your skills and knowledge in a particular area of study, practice or field. 

An important thing to keep in mind about resumes are: the structure people create them in, for example, themes, formats and logos.  The font has to legible, this ensures that the employer will have no difficulties reading through your resume.  It is very important that you don't forget your contact information -- how else will they be able to let you know that you are hired -- make sure to have a professional e-mail address and a number which you can be reach at all times.  One mistake that people make on their resume is they put too much information, resumes should be under one page in length with the second page dedicated to references, if it applies.

Don't forget that a  resume is just a brief description of what you do. 

Most employers are only seeking a short brief description of what you do, but in a strong and effective way, one way to make your resume stand out is to use action words such as created instead of made, cooperated instead of helped and so on.  

Quick Tip: Resume templates are available in Microsoft Words.  Download sample resume template.