For all of those who read my entries:

http://www.livejournal.com/users/ewong82/

Long Entry: Beware! If you don't think it's worth your time reading this, then I suggest you to skip along to those other monotonous entries that talk about what they ate for lunch, complain about their shitty day, or gossip about their relationship problems. If you're interested in reading about what I've been up to, some job related issues and investment knowledge, then continue on....  

It's been awhile since I've last updated xanga. I'm not going to go into much detail since I have about a month to cover, but here's the gist of it.

My new job:

I'm currently working for First American Financial (NYSE: FAF) under the Title Insurance Company in the Accounting Department. For those of you who doesn't know what title insurance is, this segment's businesses utilize information to protect real property buyers and lenders from problems that might affect title ownership. In addition to using accounting principles, I'm also learning about the real estate environment since most of the files that I work work deal with premiums, mortgages, taxes, and other financial services. My hours are from 8AM-5:30PM daily. The salary is pretty decent, and in addition, I get paid for overtime hours with full-time benefits.

Job-related issues:

I have a few personal thoughts that I would like to share with you all. Sometime near graduation, my parents and friends would consistently ask me what I have planned "after" graduation. I told them the same thing repeatedly, "I'm not trying to find a job, I'm trying to build a foundation toward my career in finance, financial services, accounting, or in the investment field." You can call me crazy because I know I am. Here's my tip: DO YOUR HOMEWORK! Know what you're getting yourself into before you accept any offers. If you're clearly strong about your decisions and know what you're doing, your determination will eventually pay off. Metaphorically speaking, a true investor only looks for opportunities in the long term. I would personally suggest NOT to choose a position where there's no growth. Even if the the salary may look rosy "for the time being", if there's no growth, there's no hope. I see a lot of people with potential being pigeon-holed. For example, let's say you're working in a decent working environment with considerable pay. However, your duties isn't a reflection of your salary, and you think the company is getting their money worth. You're also working there not because you want to, but because you want something to pay off your bills until you find something better or of your liking. You ask the boss for a pay raise within half a year. Your boss doesn't look excited, but with your outstanding performance, the boss increases half of your salary from $8 to about $12/hr. Would you accept it? Most people would accept it, I mean come on, who wouldn't? Well... that's the flaw that I see happening in America today. They only think about the short term, but a few years later, they noticed that they have wasted their life away. 

I have more things that I'd like to mention, but I will do so in the following entry.

Before I end this entry, is anybody currently investing? I'm starting my brokerage account this weekend and I was wondering if anybody would like to join my investment club? I'm currently a part of Fool.com's forums, but let me know if you're interested.

I filled out an online work application today and it took about an hour and a half or so. It's not that it was a long application, but the questions they asked required a lot of thinking. That's what I get for applying to one of the top investment firms. I hope sometime in the future, the applicants would have the option of saving the application for later use.

My dad and bro will be going to China for summer vacation and will be staying there for about 3 weeks or so. My dad wants me to take care of his bills ensuring that I don't send any late payments. He also wants me to take care of his houses for him. It's time for me to be responsible.

I have an interview this Wednesday and I'm hoping to nail this one. Wish me luck!

Salaries Are Increasing for New Grads

By Kate Lorenz

If you are among the 1.2 million students expected to graduate in 2004, your starting salary should be higher than your 2003 counterparts'. The good news is 24 percent of hiring managers will increase salaries for new grads.

For those college graduates lucky enough to find a job, 60 percent can expect to make less than $30,000 a year, according to CareerBuilder.com's "Life at Work 2004" survey. Of this 60 percent, 17 percent of hiring managers will be offering college graduates salaries of less than $20,000. Further starting salary breakdowns are: 43 percent starting at $20,000 to $29,999; 26 percent starting at $30,000 to $39,999; 8 percent starting at $40,000 to $49,999; and 7 percent starting at $50,000 and above.

The National Association of Colleges and Employers' (NACE) Winter 2004 Salary Survey report provides "positive signs in the job market for new college graduates," says Marilyn Mackes, NACE executive director. "It's important to recognize that the job market isn't booming, but we are seeing improvement."

The study found that more than two-thirds of disciplines studied saw a rise in the average offer. Computer science majors saw the greatest increase of 8.9 percent to $48,656. Information science grads and management information system had conservative increases. Engineering offers nudged up slightly, although the civil engineering sector saw its first decrease since 1995. Business graduates saw a modest improvement, as did liberal arts general studies disciplines, with the exception of psychology majors, which are down 8 percent.

Among the top ten jobs for grads, project engineering garnered the highest average starting salary at $46,241.

Here's what NACE's top ten jobs for grads pull in the first year on the job:
1. Project Engineering $46,241
2. Consulting $44,071
3. Design/Construction Engineering $44,015
4. Financial/Treasury Analysis $42,476
5. Accounting (Public) $40,701
6. Accounting (Private) $40,271
7. Nursing $38,987
8. Sales $35,118
9. Management Trainee/ Entry-Level Mgmt. $34,709
10. Teaching $29,266

Copied this straight from this site:

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