finding an internship...start now!

That's right, the program hasn't even started yet, but the sooner you go after that perfect internship the more likely you'll be to find it.  The summer internship can be a golden opportunity to take your pick of companies and job functions and turn it into a career!  Here are some things Kirk has done to (hopefully) find a great internship and a few suggestions he's gleaned along the way.  

1- As a couple, talk about what you want out of the internship.  Is this just a summer experience or will it lead to a job offer after school?  

     -what type of job are you looking for? Obviously a good place to start.

     -what kind of company culture are you both okay with? work-a-holic, family friendly, flexible hours, work from home, travel requirements...

     -compensation--signing bonus, average starting salary, benefits, time-off, relocation benefit, etc.

2- Where do you want to settle down?  East coast vs. west coast, close to family (far from family?), big city, suburbia, rural...Is there any location you absolutely want to rule out?  If your internship leads to a job after school, you maybe living there for quite some time.  Make sure you're okay with that. 

3- Make a list of the top 10 companies you want to work for.  Research them in depth, define what you are interested in doing at each of those companies and why they appeal to you so that you can succinctly communicate that to them as you ask about internship opportunities.  Make them see that you know what you want.  If you're not sure, really focus on what you do know; don't be wishy washy and noncommittal.  

4- Network, network, network....NOW! Don't wait until you start school, and definitely don't wait until the first year starts winding down, reach out to people now!  Use your friend-of-a-friend connections on linked-in, Facebook, family connections, etc.

5- Prepare a few responses to questions you might expect to hear.  Don't make them sound stiff, but be smooth, well-spoken, and succinct.  Recruiters are professionals at screening people who don't meet their requirements.  You've got to be prepared and know your stuff.  There are lots of great books for interview prep.  Kirk recommends "Boost Your Interview IQ" by Carole Martin.  Kirk-approved = guaranteed awesomeness.  

6- When recruiters google your name, what are they going to find?  That your work experience on LinkedIn consists of some part-time, no-skills-required-we-just-need-a-warm-body job?  Update that profile! Show them you have some solid work experience (or make the best of what you've got).  Post a decent profile picture of yourself.  Be cautious about what's on your Facebook profile as well. Put your best foot forward, or your first impression may be your last.  

7 reasons why we chose byu's mba program

Yep, we are BYU bound.  The Marriott School of Business is a respected, reputable program with some awesome perks.  Here are some of the reasons we are totally excited about BYU.

1-cost
Forbes recently ranked BYU's MBA program 17th in the nation for return on investment.  Because the university is mostly funded through tithes paid by members of the LDS Church, it is a relatively inexpensive private university.  The program cost is $45,120 for non-LDS students, and $22,560 for LDS students (much like in-state versus out-of-state tuition).  That's a smokin' deal for an MBA from a respected university.

Provo's cost of living is 7.9% below the national average, which makes those two years in grad school a little more affordable.  We also looked into Northwestern, UCLA, & UC-Berkeley, where the cost of living is almost twice the national average.  California would have ben a fun place to live for two years, but saying goodbye to the additional debt is a relief.

2-rankings (check out more rankings for BYU's MBA program here)
1st--Princeton Review Most Family Friendly
17th--Forbes
27th--U.S. News & World Report
32nd--BusinessWeek
Impressive numbers.  They speak for themselves.

3-strong alumni network
BYU grads are very supportive of each other and willing to help out a fellow Cougar.  We've experienced the strength of the alumni network directly; each of Kirk's jobs have come as a result of alumni connections.

4-placement of grads in west
41% of BYU MBA grads accept a job in the western United States, which is where we hope to settle down.  They have great connections with tech companies like Adobe, Amazon, & Hewlett-Packard.  They have a "TechTrek" to visit companies like Google and Apple.  But going back to the last point, if you are willing to leverage the strength of the alumni network and reach out to people, you can make things happen anywhere.  24% settled in the southwestern U.S. and 20% in the Midwest.

5-100% of grads had a job offer within 3 months after graduation.  Boom baby.

6-proximity to extended family
Both of our families live in Utah and Idaho, and we are so looking forward to being close to grandparents, siblings, and cousins.  Yay for free babysitters! :)

7-#1 most family friendly program in the nation (Princeton Review)
People, let me tell you something.  When selecting an MBA program, check out the spouse's association/joint venture clubs if you are married with kids.  These programs offer support, friendship, and growth opportunities for your family as they support you in school.  I am beyond excited to participate in MBASA, BYU's MBA spouse association.  MBASA plays a large part in creating experiences that earn BYU's #1 rating as the most family friendly MBA program.  Check out some of the activities they offer in any given month...

• BBQ's, date nights for students and spouses with free babysitting, socials 
• kids soccer teams, play dates
• service opportunities galore
• sports teams for the adults, hiking groups
• education classes & craft classes for spouses

This is just a sampling of the activities offered by MBASA.  With multiple activities each week, the kids and I will have plenty of experiences to make our experience at grad school enriching and fun.

Impressive, right?  BYU offers so many great opportunities to both students and their families at a much lower cost than most similarly ranked universities.  I'm glad that Kirk will be attending a top notch program, and I'm grateful that I will have a great support network to ease our transition at home.

If you have questions about BYU, MBASA, grad school, etc., please comment!  I can definitely address questions in future posts or individually in the comment section.

planning our move - packing checklists

We have three months until our move, but I plan on doing a little bit at a time here and there so we can spend our weekends enjoying our friends and favorite places here in PA.  Who knows when we'll ever make it back to this beautiful, historic part of the country?

Here are a few checklists I'm using to stay organized...

•  This one from Martha Stewart breaks things down week-by-week starting six weeks out from your move.  It has extra space to add your own tasks.  Plus, it's totally Martha-fied and cute.  
• Real Simple magazine created a moving list that has some great reminders of things that are easy to forget.  Refill prescriptions, obtain copies of medical records (great for establishing with new doctors/dentists), and have the car tuned-up prior to moving. 

My "little bit" this week was to gather items for a "donation" bag and pack my maternity clothes.  Look for a clothing drop box, thrift store, or consignment shop to drop off any items you haven't worn or used in a year.  

I'll be working on Dayton & Emma's clothes this month, but here's a tip for tackling baby/kids clothes.  They can be used as hand-me-downs for younger siblings, so hold onto them if you have the storage space.  I love the big plastic bins because I can label them (i.e. "boy--newborn, 3-6 months, blankets") and see inside without opening them up to dig through.  The low profile ones are wonderful for storing clothes out of the way, under a bed or in a closet. 

20" x 42" Under-Bed box on Amazon

Here's my baby step towards being prepped to pack--a couple of drawers and my closet de-junked.

cleaning out some drawers

maternity, baby clothes, piles to keep and donate

spring is coming

I'm not sure who is more grateful for the sunshine; me, Dayton, or our downstairs neighbor.  There is nothing better than getting outside to run and explore after the long winter months.  Signs of spring have popped up all over PA.

After volunteering at our local Special Olympics doing face painting, I conned Dayton into letting me paint his face with a promise that he'd look just like Simba.

I'll let you decide if this qualifies as a pass or fail.  :)  He was happy, so that's all that matters.

Miss Emma thinks that she's allowed to grow like a weed just because she turns one next month...I never agreed to that!  But in return for growing up too fast, she hands out plenty of giggles and snuggles.  Give the girl a binky and a blanket and she turns into a butterball.  She is a sweet, sweet baby.

 We spent the weekend touring Washington DC with some cousins.  Somehow my phone never took any pictures of all of us together (how did that happen?) but we really enjoyed seeing some family on this side of the country.

Carousel at the National Zoo 

White House!  And future Mr. President.

Lincoln Monument

planning our move - moving with a rental truck

As I said in the previous post, we used Penske for our first move as a married couple and had a really good experience.  It was a great deal, the truck was reliable and in good shape, and my husband (The Negotiator) got us a $100 refund for returning it early.

For our upcoming move to Utah this summer, we would have chosen Penske again if ABF had not offered us such a stellar deal.  Factoring in the price of gas for the truck equalizes the cost because we are traveling so far.

But for those who are planning to do the rental truck option, here are some tips from our experiences with moving.

• Our first move as a married couple in 2010 was a milestone of sorts.  Neither one of us had ever driven anything longer than a minivan, so we were a bit intimidated by the thought of driving from Arkansas to Colorado in a 16' moving truck while towing one of our cars behind it.  How would we safely drive through heavy traffic, switch lanes, park at hotels, etc?  (Looking back, it's really not that difficult to drive a moving truck, but we assumed it was a big deal.  As my do-it-yourself Dad would say, "You'll be fine.")  So we bought a set of walkie-talkies, one for him and one for me.  I drove our other car behind the truck and told Kirk when the coast was clear to switch lanes or do whatever "risky" maneuvering he needed to do.  We soon realized if you take it slow and drive responsibly, it's really quite possible to safely drive a moving truck without a "scout vehicle" to help.  :)  But if nothing else it was fun to chat on our long drive. Who doesn't love playing with walkie-talkies, right?
•  For that first move, we made hotel reservations ahead of time using Priceline's "name-your-own-price" tool. You choose the price, star-level, and area, and Priceline finds a hotel.  We saved some cash because we were willing to stay in a rinky-dink motel with a 2-star rating--just make sure you select areas that are generally safe and lock the moving truck!  Nobody likes to wake up to find that some of their belongings were stolen out of the truck or vandalized during the night. 
• I would change this a bit by not making the hotel reservations in advance.  When you start to feel done for the day, pull out your smartphone and find a cheap hotel nearby using a Priceline or Hotwire app.  Hotels are more likely to give you a deal on a room when it's short notice because otherwise the room would probably sit empty.  Plus it removes the pressure on you to go farther than you think you can tolerate, or if you feel like truckin' on, you can get in a few more hours.  Flexibility, my friends.  
• To use space efficiently, stand sofas, mattresses, etc. securely on one end.  In other words, take advantage of the height in your truck.
• Disassemble furniture!  Take the legs off your kitchen table, take out shelves, break down cribs.  Don't risk damaging or breaking furniture by leaving it assembled.  Things will be jostled whether your drive is long or short.  Another option is to use plastic moving wrap for any furniture with doors and drawers to keep them in place.
• Speaking of the plastic wrap, it's really awesome stuff.  My husband's company paid for our third move and hired a moving company to pack our things.  The movers wrapped most of our furniture in plastic.  Keeps it clean and gives it a bit more protection from bumps, scratches, and tears.  Wrap it around a stack of boxes to make them more stable.  There are some creative uses for it as well.  I love this idea from Valerie Write Now.  She has other great suggestions, like wrapping bed frames together.  

• Keep track of bolts/screws/small parts in a ziploc bag that you either label or tape/wrap onto what it belongs to.  
• Many hands make light work.  Get help from family, friends, coworkers, church members if you can. 

Driving with Kids

When it was just Kirk and me, it was no big deal to drive long hours for a move.  Now that we have two kids, I scoffed hesitated at the thought of driving by myself with the kids for 33+ hours while Kirk drove the truck.  It would slow us down considerably and wear down everyone's patience pretty quickly, not to mention the kids would probably feel miserable at times.  We looked into the cost of flying me out with the kids or paying for Grandma (we heart grandmas big time!) to come out and fly back with the kids while we drove together.  Another option would have been just putting on my big girl panties and taking it slow, stopping for breaks as the kids needed them.  We do what we have to do and it could always be worse.

 In future posts, I'll write about what we'll be doing to keep our kids content and our sanity intact on our long drive.  

Have you had experience using a moving truck before? What are some of your recommendations?