Job Search

Well, graduation is drawing near and the job hunt is on. So far I've applied to over twenty different companies, and applying to more each day. The major response that I keep hearing from different companies is that they are waiting on a job and if they get it they'll start hiring again. This is pretty frustrating especially when I'm only three weeks away from graduation. I have, however, been very fortunate to get a couple of interviews these past two weeks. My first break came when I was contacted by Jacobsen Construction, a huge contractor in Utah, for an interview. I was nervous, but my first interview went well and I was called back for a second one. The second one was nerve-racking, but I think I did well. I am now waiting to see if they will offer me an internship for the summer. I really hope they do because working for Jacobsen would be my dream job, but I can't put all my eggs into one basket and I continue to apply for jobs each day. My next big break came when I attended an info session for PCL. I arrived early and sat in the very front. I also, helped the recruiter with the computer and overhead, so I was hoping that would help me get an interview. When the recruiter wrapped up he said that he had only two interview spots left and that he wanted to know who wanted them. Twenty students raised their hands. I handed my resume to the recruiter and left, thinking there was no way. A little after 9 PM I received a phone call from the recruiter informing me that I had been awarded the last interview spot. I was so relieved, because I thought there was no way that I would be given an interview with so many other candidates. I had my interview first thing in the morning at 7:30 AM. The recruiter also asked if I would check in for him online at Southwest Airlines, so I did and printed off his ticket as well. I arrived there five minutes early and found the room locked, but fortunately for me I had become friends with the main guy at BYU's career center in the weight room and he just happened to show up at 7:30 AM and he unlocked all the doors for me. Anyways, my interview went well and I felt relieved because I had done everything that I could have done and it paid off. There's still a lot more work ahead that I need to do to find a job, but at least I'm heading in the right direction.

Lone Peak

For this months blog I was looking at some of our mountain climbing pictures and I came across a couple of pictures of Lone Peak. This is my favorite mountain to climb in Utah. Not very many people climb it, and the trails at the top aren't very good. These pictures are of the second time we climbed Lone Peak. We had tried the year before, but from the Alpine side. Sarai was with us on that climb and it was brutal. It was even steeper than the Draper side and we had to do a lot of bouldering. These pictures are from our last hike from the Draper side up Jacob's Ladder. Jacob's Ladder is a super steep trail with no breaks for about 5 miles. Then once you get to the top you make your way to a meadow and then from there the trails stop and you have to make your own way up. The reason why there aren't any trails is because the top of the mountain is granite. There's a valley rimmed by vertical cliffs of granite. To get to the top you enter must get on the ridge. The ridge is pretty steep and a little scary in some places because you have steep drops on each side. Once you get close to the top the drops become even more dizzying, with thousand foot drops on both sides. Rachel didn't feel inclined to go the last 100 yards because it's super dangerous. I, however, could not be restrained. Must be that Stone's blood I have in me. The very top of the mountain is a flat piece of rock about the size of a table. On three sides there's a vertical drop of over a thousand feet. It's pretty nerve racking, but it's awesome. I would recommend this climb to anyone, but you better be in good shape. It's a long hike in and even longer hike out. The hike took us about 12 hours. On the way down I came way too close to a rattlesnake. Luckily I had my ski poles out in front and was making lots of noise, so it heard me coming and decided to get off the trail.

Basketball

For those who don't know, I have been playing on an intramural basketball team here at BYU. Suprisingly the team I'm on is made up almost entirely of friends from Moses Lake who graduated with me. David Lawson, Reece Baker, Brayden Willis, and Brad Grant are all on my team as well as a couple of other friends from BYU. We started the season in the lowest bracket and hoped that we would be able to do better than last year. Last year we lost one regular season game and were placed in the third division for the tournament and won three post season games. This year everyone improved and we ended up winning all of our games by ten or more points. We found out this past week that we had moved up and that we would be playing in the second division for the playoffs. Our first game is tomorrow and we hope that we can do well. There is only one division above ours and only 16 teams are allowed to compete in that one, whereas there are about 100 teams in our division. We have a pretty good team and look to go far in the tournament despite the fact that we moved up one division. To tell you the truth I was glad we moved up because we weren't being challenged in the lower division. I don't say that to brag, but it's the truth. We're not the best team, but we do have an advantage in that the majority of the team has been playing together for years and we know how to play together. We'll see how we do tomorrow.

Job Hunt

This past month has flown by. I can't believe that in a month and a half I will be graduating from BYU. I don't feel old enough and definitely don't look old enough. Every time I go and play basketball and I meet somebody new, they always ask me if I'm a freshman. I like to see the look on their faces when they here that I'm a senior and will be graduating in April. Anyways, I have a lot to get done before graduate, like get a job. This past month, much of my time has been spent researching companies and submitting applications. I am hoping that something will turn up. There are still companies hiring college students, but the market appears to be overcrowded. For every job opening there's a hundred people waiting in line. I'm hoping to get a job with a large commercial company to get some experience. It appears that the residential market is stalled and will remain so for a while longer. Also, my main goal is to be a part of the building of a temple and to do so I would need some commercial experience. I am going to be calling MATT Construction tomorrow and I hope the call goes well because they are a great company with high standards. The representative that I met at the competition I went to in Reno, said that many of their standards were based off of the Church's standards. They also said that they cared about the family and flew the wife in for interviews. I've also applied to quite a few other companies, so if tomorrow doesn't go as well as planned, there's always another company. Well I better get to bed tomorrow is going to be another busy day.