I know I start every “A Day in the Life” post this way, but I am really excited about today’s profile! Why? Because today we are getting a look at the life of Alexander Hochman, the Assistant Director of Career Services here at USF. What you may not know is that Alex is also a food writer (and I know there are a lot of food connoisseurs out there), and, if his post is any indication, he may moonlight as a comedian, although I haven’t verified this (but I am still laughing!).
Alex Hochman has been the Assistant Director of USF’s Priscilla A. Scotlan Career Services center for six years. His responsibilities include: one-on-one career counseling with students and alumni, overseeing the center’s marketing campaigns, coordinating internships, supervising the center’s graduate intern, and regularly presenting career workshops in classrooms and to student organizations. As I mentioned, he is also a food writer and contributes twice each week to Sfoodie, the online food section of SF Weekly. He earned a B.A. Communication from The University of Michigan and a M.A. Career Development from John F. Kennedy University. Alex lives on Potrero Hill with his wife, Pam, and their two daughters Sophie (10) and Anna (8). Stop. The. Presses. Another Communication Studies major?! For those of you keeping count, that is three Communication Studies majors we have profiled here on the blog who work all over campus! See? We’re everywhere! Here is “A Day in the Life” of Alex: April 5, 2011:
“6:30 My wife’s alarm clock goes off. Ignore it. Roll back over.
7:00 Said wife kisses me goodbye on her way out the door to work.
7:10 Girls come into our room to wake me up. They tell me I’m running late. Why do I bother with an alarm clock? Roll back over.
7:20 Shower, shave, get dressed, listen to Murph and Mac talk about the Giants on KNBR.
7:40 Give my older daughter her daily eye drop, put cereal dishes in the sink.
7:45 1st email check of the day on my iPhone. Also a quick first glance at the financial markets, employment news, and food blogs.
7:55 Out the door with the girls.
8:15 Drop the girls at school. Kibitz with other parents on the sidewalk.
8:20 Coffee at Four Barrel on Valencia. As always, I feel like a loser in my khakis and pinstriped, button-down shirt. Everyone here is so damn hip! One of the best features of the girls’ school is its proximity to Four Barrel AND Blue Bottle coffee outlets.
8:30 Arrive at Le Truc, a trendy newish SOMA food truck, to sample their Austin style breakfast tacos that I’d heard raves about. Mildly disappointed. Wouldn’t go back and not worth writing about.
8:55 The parking gods have smiled on me: Lone Mountain ramp parking, my favorite, still has a spot. Sure sign that today’s gonna be a good one. Check emails again while walking to office.
9:00 Sit down at desk. Respond to emails from employers regarding internship listings. Post internships and forward listings to respective majors.
9:30 Gather materials for both morning “in-class” presentation and evening resume workshop for RAs. Print evaluation forms.
9:45 Push out email promoting next week’s Careers in the Arts panel.
10:00 Attend weekly staff meeting. Topics include:
- Career and Internship Fair evaluation results
- Scheduling of year-end events including Student Assistant appreciation dinner and planning retreat.
- Nursing Mock Interviews event update
- Discussion regarding upcoming marketing needs
- Web Student Assistant search update
11:30 Leave staff meeting early to hoof it up to Lone Mountain for a resume workshop for ESL students.
11:45 Resume workshop for 15 ESL students. They’re awesome! Lots of great questions and interaction. It always amazes me how different “proper” resumes are in different cultures. I assure them that a photo is not a good idea for a U.S. resume.
12:50 Check emails and financial news on the way to the car.
1:00 Starving. Late lunch at Jane, a new restaurant on Fillmore that I’m reviewing for SF Weekly. I’m literally one of two guys there. Verrrrryy ladies who lunchish kind of place. Food is painfully average. Who would pay $8.50 for this smallish, dry turkey and provolone sandwich? Oh yeah, the people around me would. Toffee chocolate chip cookies rock! Take notes on my iPhone and then email them to my personal Gmail for later. Get lots of pictures of said sandwich and cookies. Also do a mid-day check in on the food blogs (I read 10 regularly each day). I can’t imagine life without an iPhone.
Looks good, but according to food critic Alex, not that good. Do they make deliveries of those toffee chocolate chip cookies?
1:45 It’s a great parking day. My spot is still there.
2:00 Meet with 2010 Media Studies alum to discuss career goals, job search strategies and resume tips. She’s currently working at a coffee shop and is unsure about what she wants to do. We schedule a career assessment and a follow-up appointment.
3:00 Meet with Exercise Sports Science freshman to help write her resume. She’s looking for summer internships. I love it when freshmen and sophomores come to career services. It makes a big difference when they’re looking for jobs and internships later in their college careers.
3:30 Meet with senior Finance major to discuss pending job search. This is his first time in and he’s shocked to learn that a minimum of three internships is a must if he wants a shot at a good job. He hasn’t done any. Uggh. We discuss a “Plan B” that involves trying to find an internship immediately that maybe can last through the summer.
4:00 Check emails. Respond to a professor who wants a counselor to come speak to her class.
4:30 Catch up for a bit by text and then phone with my wife. Pam works in marketing for Adobe (she’s our primary earner) and her daily work schedule makes mine look like kid’s play. She reminds me to confirm with weekend babysitter. I dutifully follow orders.
4:45 Go over UCAN website usage report and start to brainstorm for June UCAN conference agenda. UCAN is a fantastic 22 school internship consortium that we’re a part of and I’m proud to be its President yet relieved that my three year term comes to an end this summer.
5:15 Check in on Linked-In, Facebook and Twitter to see what’s going on in my virtual worlds. Four USF students have invited me to be a contact on Linked-In. Love it.
5:45 Down the hill I go to Hayes Healy for my RA resume workshop.
6:00 Up the hill I go to Cowell. The organizer rescheduled rooms but forgot to tell the featured speaker.
6:05 This is a night that I always look forward to as I love presenting to the RAs. They’re always engaged, thoughtful and funny and tonight is no different. Big crowd too with over 50 in attendance. We discuss resumes at a high level of detail and also other career hopes and dreams. When our daughters go to college, I want them to be RAs.
7:30 Stick around for a few minutes after the presentation to take one-on-one questions.
7:45 Sprint to my car as I’m late for an 8PM interview for SF Weekly.
8:05 OK, only five minutes late. I interview Katie Sullivan Morford, a local food writer who has recently started a blog called “Mom’s Kitchen Handbook.” We talk for 90 minutes as I furiously take notes and shovel down a late supper of smoked trout salad and a glass of wine. A light meal is much needed as I’ve been eating like crap lately.
9:40 Screw that. I’m at the Jack in the Box takeout window on Bayshore. Four tacos for $3. They are, by far, the best things I’ve eaten today.
9:55 Finally home. I wake up my half-asleep girls and catch up with them and do our tuck-in routine. Luckily, I’m only home this late one or two nights each week.
10:10 Get reprimanded by Pam for waking up the girls and then catch up on our day. I leave out the part about the four tacos but the streak of brilliant red hot sauce on my sleeve makes it pretty obvious. I also reek of tacos.
10:45 Sit down in our office to write. Yes, my Jane review is due tonight! Last minute production: some things haven’t changed since college.
12:30 After many excursions to a variety of sports and food websites, I finally finish my article. I upload the pictures and submit it all to my editor.
12:45 Still online. Chilling out and checking emails, including my Donsmail, one last time before bed. A sad addiction. Search Youtube for clips from the final LCD Soundsystem shows. Wish I was in New York.
1:00 Brush teeth and to sleep. Taco burps pervasive. Must. Go. To. Gym. Tomorrow.”
Wow! Thanks, Alex, for taking us through your day! Alex wins the “Latest Bed Time” award (it is very prestigious). You can learn more about the Career Services Center here: www.usfca.edu/csc or you can visit them on the 5th floor of University Center. They have drop-in hours 11:00-2:00 everyday, or you can make an appointment. I’ve mentioned it before, but the one piece of advice our alums always give when they come back to talk with current students is to visit the Career Services Center. Do it! You can also follow the Career Services Center on twitter @USFcareer.
You can check out Alex’s food reviews here:
SF Weekly Hochman Page: http://blogs.sfweekly.com/author.php?author_id=2134
SF Weekly Jane review: http://blogs.sfweekly.com/foodie/2011/04/lunching_with_the_ladies_at_ja.php
SF Weekly Katie Morford interview: http://blogs.sfweekly.com/foodie/2011/04/qa_with_katie_morford_of_moms_kitchen_handbook.php
I, too, have an addiction to Jack in the Box tacos.
you had me at “screw that, jack in the box tacos”. love this guy!