Alum Brings Job Advice

Every expert learned somewhere, and Western Illinois University alumni Paul Rega learned his lessons at the unemployment office. Now, Rega will share his experiences with students with his new book "How To Find A Job When There Are No Jobs."
Author of one of Amazon's Top 100 job hunting books, and president of Paul J. Rega & Associates, Rega hopes that his collection of personal stories and insight of the business world can provide some form of guidance for college students wondering what comes after graduation.
Rega is also a well-known research professional and career coach, and is passionate about having the opportunity to shed light on the dark areas of establishing a career. Rega describes his book as the book he wishes he had after graduating.
Rega graduated from Western in 1981 with a degree in biology, and like many college students, he was unsure of how he could find his place - a question which was emphasized months later when he found himself sitting in an unemployment office in Illinois. Now, the head of his own executive search firm and author of one of the top job-hunting books available, Rega recalls what got him through the earlier stages of his journey.
"As I was sitting in the unemployment office, this elderly gentleman leans across the desk he was sitting behind, and gave me probably the best piece of advice I've ever received. He said to me, ‘Push on, no matter how disgusting," Rega said with a laugh.
Rega faced both adversity and triumph. His first job with Fisher Scientifics established the Self Defense Academy still operating in Macomb today, but his career also had a moment where he lost all of the employees of his business firm.
"The one thing I would tell students now is to not let yourselves get discouraged. I'm going to be honest, there are going to be times where the bulk of people you are trying to find employment with won't get back to you," Rega said. "The one thing I would tell students looking for work after graduating is to go after what you're interested in. Don't just take a job as a truck driver if that's not what you want to do, because you'll be doing it for a very long time.
"If anything, I would suggest working part-time to work towards your goals for the future," he added.
Fourteen years in the making, "How To Find A Job When There Are No Jobs" covers a variety of topics from Rega's personal perspective. The book offers in-depth explanations of how to develop a resume, the importance of having an education, utilizing social media, how the business world functions and other topics of interest.
"This book is something you can pick up on right away, and I think it would be a great help to any student trying to pursue their post-graduation goals," Rega said.
Readers can follow @Paul Rega on twitter
Paul Rega
First pinted in The Western Courier

The Humorous and Not So Witty Path to Writing

I did not learn how to write until I went to college. “How does one get accepted into college without knowing how to write? What I mean is that writing correctly was not one of my strongest points. I had my share of dangling participles, run on sentences and incorrect use of tricky words, i.e. to, too, who, whom, lose, loose and so on. So becoming an author was never in the picture.

When I decided to go to college, I was in my late twenties, which was a surprise to me, because I had no interest in going to college when I graduated from high school. However, that all changed when I started to work at a textile company that made linings and interfacings. The company employed home economists in various regions of the country. Their job was to go into stores and demonstrate how to use those materials when constructing clothing. This is when I became interested in becoming a home economist.

Since a degree in home economics was required, I made up my mind to register at a community college where I obtain a Liberal Arts Degree. During my first year there, I was required to take English. The professor, who taught this subject, inspired me to be a better writer. She made the course exciting and stressed good grammar, correct use of words, and proper sentence structure in a clear-cut way. Still, becoming an author was never on my radar. I went on to complete my BS degree in Home Economics. That was in 1979.

In 1982, the court summoned me for jury duty. While serving, I met an editor who represented a major publishing house. When she discovered that I was a Home Economics Consultant, she thought I should write a book on home management. I made it very clear that I was not interested in writing a book. She kept insisting, and I kept saying, “No.” She was persistent. Finally, I gave in, developed an outline and sent it off to her publisher. A couple of weeks later, I heard from the publisher. They turned down the idea. I cannot remember the reason they gave for rejecting the synopsis.  Even though my heart was not into writing this book, my ego was somewhat bruised.

Then in 2006, I started my second online dating site. Everything was going great; people were joining and becoming paid members, and I was making money. Then the unthinkable happened. After operating this site for over a year, and without any warning, the affiliate closed my site. After getting over that initial shock and displeasure, I wrote an article about the incident. From that piece, I wrote and self-published my first book, “Making Dollar$ And Cent$ Out Of Online Dating.” It is my personal journey into the difficulties I encountered while finding a company to host my site.

Eventually, I started to write short stories and decided to put those narratives into a book called “Shades of Deception,” a collection of ten short stories, and “Malicious Acts,” an anthology of five short stories. The genre is contemporary romance. Since my business is all about romance, my stories center on relationships, love, lust, deception, manipulation, betrayal, scandal and fraud.

Writing these books has had its challenges, but the rewards of having a product that you were involved with from start to finish, outweigh the setbacks. As a self-publisher, I have had my share of blunders. Even though I consider myself a good writer and sometimes become overconfident, I make mistakes and so do traditional publishers.  After publishing my books, I had to revise them, thanks to an author who gave me some constructive feedback. He found my stories clear and engaging but thought my segments were too long. After reviewing my books, I understood what he meant. Therefore, I split my lengthy paragraphs into shorter bits, and corrected a few mistakes, which somehow my proofreader and I missed. I learned a very good lesson. No matter how great of a writer I may think I am, I am not flawless.

For over twenty years, I wrote and edited articles for my past two publications and created a singles’ publication. I did not realize it then, but I was preparing myself to become an author. I still do not see myself as a novelist. Writing comes naturally to me. If I had to choose between reading and writing, I would pick the latter. Recently, someone asked me to provide a letter of recommendation. I did and read to her what I had written. She then asked, “Did you write author after your name?” I laughed and said, “Of course not.” :)

~*~  

Vivienne Diane Neal The author is now semi-retired, but she continues to write short stores and articles on love, romance, relationships and other topics of interest.