The Black Oracle

Michael, a fiction writer, wrote a 20something profile last year. His book The Black Oracle is now available for purchase. Here’s what he had to say about it:

Humans, you are not alone.

“Joachim is a hunter in the jungle of a post-apocalyptic Earth. Though generations have passed since the Great Death, something has evolved in the trees beyond the giant glowing mushrooms, mutants that want to see human entrails spread along the jungle floor.

And now they’ve taken Joachim’s wife.

To get her back, Joachim will have to give the leader of these demons something in return: immortality. A creature knows when he is going to die, after all. Plunged into a world of magic and darkness, Joachim must find the only woman who knows where the ingredients are. She is a prophetess known as the Black Oracle living in the realm of Zalm, but she’s a little preoccupied at the moment. She leads a rebellion against the ruthless High Council, and when Joachim seeks her out, he too finds himself consumed by her struggle.

Student creates a Lego résumé

Photo credit: Imgur, Pastlightspeed

You’ve been to the Lego store. You’ve watched the Lego movie. But have you seen the Lego résumé?

Last year, college student Leah Bowman created a Lego-themed résumé for an Account Services internship. Using Lego Digital Designer, Bowman created a Lego version of herself and placed it on her résumé.

Bowman’s résumé also contained “assembly instructions” that highlighted her skills and explained why she was the #1 choice for the internship.

20something with Down’s syndrome lands dream job through Twitter

Photo credit: Mercury Press & Media Ltd

It’s been very difficult for millennials to find jobs in today’s economy, but what about millennials with special needs?

This article discusses how a Twitter campaign helped Ben Small, a 26-year-old aspiring chef with Down’s syndrome in England, land his dream job:

#GiveBenAJob: Twitter campaign helps aspiring chef with Down’s syndrome land dream job (telegraph.co.uk) 

Why millennials value volunteering

Photo credit: Indevjobs.org

Despite stereotypes of being self-absorbed and apathetic, millennials actually care more about volunteering than older generations — at least according to a poll that the Associated Press and GfK conducted. This poll finds that people under 30 are more likely to say that citizens have a “very important” obligation to volunteer.

Why is volunteering so important to millennials? Perhaps because so many of them grew up in a culture that encouraged and even required volunteer work. For 24-year-old Morgan Gress, community service was required at her high school, and there were numerous opportunities to volunteer at her college.

20something profile: Luisa

This post was written by Luisa, who works with artificial intelligence and is a career coach:

Before graduating, I’d always thought I’d join one company and work my way to the top over the next two decades. The past few years could not have been more different. I’ve been a business analyst, a startup entrepreneur, an artificial intelligence analyst, and now a success coach.

I graduated in 2010 from Princeton with a degree in Electrical Engineering and a minor in Robotics. With a record of academic success under my belt, I fully expected to continue my success in the “real world.”

I could not have been more wrong.

Millennials doing worse than expected after college

Photo credit: head4success.com

Cosmopolitan.com conducted a survey where they asked around 800 twenty-somethings whether their post-college lives were better or worse than what they had expected. The majority of those surveyed — 73% of women and 53% of men — felt that they were doing worse than expected in their careers, savings, or living situations:

Most Millennials Are Doing Worse Than Expected After College (cosmopolitan.com)

20something profile: Stephanie

This post was written by Stephanie, who wants to provide counseling for families and children:

Hello all! I’m here to share my 20something journey thus far. My name is Stephanie Graham. I graduated in December 2013 with a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology.

For as long as I can remember, I wanted to be a psychologist. When I was young, I wanted to be a psychologist because it was seemed to be a very appealing and professional career, plus I heard they make good money. 😉 When I grew older, I realized I loved helping people and had a natural ability in listening to others. Ask any of my friends, and they will tell you that I have a very reliable set of ears and give pretty insightful advice.

20something profile: Brittany

This post was written by Brittany, who has traveled throughout the world:

What are your career aspirations, and what have you done to fulfill those aspirations?

My vision is to have the greatest positive impact on the world as possible, through business, writing, travel, education, and community engagement. With a holistic perspective of business, I am passionate about finding the intersection of business strategy and sustainability.

Through sustainability consulting, I have worked with Fortune 500 companies across industries, developing sustainability strategies and reports/communications, analyzing and benchmarking sustainability performance, and facilitating workshops and stakeholder engagement initiatives. I capture sustainability trends and best practices from client engagements through blog posts and articles on SustainGenuity and GreenBiz Shift Happens.

What successful people were doing at 25

Oprah in her 20s (Photo credit: YouTube/OWN TV)

Last week’s guest post discussed how, in this age of technology where everything’s fast and instant, we expect professional success to come instantly as well.

And it doesn’t help that we’re constantly seeing and hearing about exceptional young athletes, musicians, and actors who have all achieved high levels of success before their mid-20s.

But not everyone who became successful had their careers figured out by their mid-20s, as this Business Insider article proves:

What 18 Extremely Successful People Were Doing At Age 25 (businessinsider.com)

20something profile: Irina

This post was written by Irina, who works in finance and blogs about beauty:

Since I was a little girl, I knew I wanted to be a lawyer, but before graduating school, I had no idea what I wanted to do with my life. So, I decided to go with the flow and applied to a technical university. In 2009 I graduated Engineering and Management in Telecommunications, but I was still not sure that this was what I wanted to do further in my life.

A couple of months later, I started my master’s degree, also in Telecommunications. At the beginning of 2012, I was done with my university, and I was still indecisive about my future. I was feeling like I failed big time.