Youtube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozYoBilWBSE
My name is Emily Kennedy and having been a student at the University of Maryland College Park for the past 2 years, I am now certain that I would be a great asset to the marketing industry. My most recent work experience has been handling various office tasks through an on-campus job for the University of Maryland School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. One reason I particularly enjoy this business, and the challenges that go along with it, is because of the many opportunities that there are to connect with people. I consider my real strength to be my time management abilities. I pride myself on my reputation for following through and meeting deadlines, while still allowing time for other projects and hobbies. In college, I have maintained a high GPA, held an on-campus part time job and stayed involved in my volunteer tutoring organization as well as my sorority. What I am looking for now is an honest and supportive company that values customer relations, where I will join and form a strong team and have a positive impact on customer retention and sales.
Wednesday, November 18, 2015
12. Synthesis of Course
I feel so lucky to have taken this course and program because it was purely by chance that I chose to join BSE, but it has given me such high rewards. This program has completely changed my internal thought and will continue to from here on out. After all the extensive class readings, assignments, discussions and this very lengthy IOCSR, I had begun to think in a communications mindset 24/7, whether I wanted to or not.
More people in the world are afraid of public speaking than they are of dying in a plane crash. Though I still don't really know why, I have always been one of these people. Coming into this class, I knew it was about public speaking, but I didn't really have any high hopes or expectations because I have taken tons of classes focused on presentations and communication skills, but never really felt that they taught me anything that actually made a difference. However, this class has helped with my fear more than I could have ever thought, and showed me how important it is to get over this fear. Public speaking and business communication skills are used every single day, especially in the job force between work presentations, job interviews, and dealing with clients and customers. There were many powerful aspects of this class that spoke to me and actually showed me how to develop my skills, instead of just telling me how to.
Elevator Speech
The first part of this class that made an impact on me was the elevator speech at the very beginning of the semester. When Dr. Wellman assigned this to our class right off the bat, all of us were in shock and realized that we had an interesting semester ahead of us. I didn't expect the bandaid of public speaking to be ripped off so quickly, but I'm glad it was. Developing and giving an elevator speech showed me that I actually need to be able to sell myself to someone face-to-face, because just a resume isn't going to do it for me. After giving my elevator speech, which wasn't great but was decent for my first time, I started to be much more self-aware about what skills I actually do have to bring to the table and use as selling points to someone else. I started to constantly notice what I was good and bad at. For example, I know I am very good at organization, which is a very important skill to have in a busy workplace. I constantly make to-do lists for myself and carry them with me everywhere, to make sure I don't forget about anything important.
I also realized that I am an effective worker in a team setting, and am proactive when it comes to solving problems. In my other communications class this semester, COMM107, I was assigned in a group with 3 other people who just so happened to be some of the most quiet and introverted people in the class. Because of this, I ended up being the unofficial leader of the group. Our assignment was to create an outline about a communication issue and how to solve it. This outline would eventually turn into a speech in front of the class. Since all of us were very busy people, it was difficult to meet up as often as we wanted to. This made it difficult to touch base and stay updated with the extent of everyone's research and progression with the assignment. To solve this problem, I came up with the idea of creating a Google Doc for all of us to compile our research information into one accessible source, instead of doing research separately. We could refer to this source if we had any questions or if we wanted to see what information other people were finding and make sure not to repeat anything. Using this Google Doc, we were able to create the outline over the Internet, allowing us to do the work at whatever time was best for us and not having to deal with the stresses of trying to find a time to meet face-to-face that worked for everybody.
Something I realized from becoming self-aware that I need to work on is accepting constructive criticism. Since I have always lacked confidence, when someone criticizes my work I tend to get defensive and put a wall up. I either get really emotional and sad about what was said, or I get angry and offended and completely disregard what was said. If I stay in my own little bubble, I will never see things from another persons' point of view. Getting feedback from others is one of the best ways to realize what you need to work on to better yourself, so I need to be more open-minded to this.
360Reach
Being told to create an account with the 360Reach website was one of my favorite activities of the whole class of CPBE225. The website consists of a self-survey that you complete about your feelings on your strengths, weaknesses, and the qualities you feel you have. Then, you are asked to type in a list of emails you want to be sent the same survey, which they filled out about me. When looking at the responses, I realized that I don't actually know myself as well as I thought I did, and it takes the opinions of others to actually notice things beneath the surface and build a desire to improve.
Out of the 15 email addresses I typed in, I received 9 anonymous responses that showed me what others thought of me. First of all, I noticed that other people saw me as a leader, which is a characteristic I would have never called myself. Four out of 9 people said that in a group setting, my role would be the leader. Having this kind of praise was new for me and it made me feel good and gain much more confidence. After gaining this new piece of information that some people see me as a leader, I decided to put myself out there and try to assume a leadership role on my own. This year, my sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, participated in the first annual Phield Day philanthropy event with Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. This event involved local elementary school students coming to our chapter houses to play games and learn about fun things they can study in college. We needed someone to be philanthropy chair for this event, so I stepped up to the plate and took the responsibility. I didn't know if I could actually do it and the thought of failing and letting everybody down was scary, but in the back of my mind I knew that I have the skills to handle this challenge. As philanthropy chair, I organized the time table for the event and bought all the supplies and decorations we needed to make the event fun for the students. This experience gave me a great sense of determination and pride when the event ended up going smoothly, teaching me that I can do anything I set my mind to.
TED Talk
Even though I haven't presented it in class yet, one of our CPBE225 assignments was to develop our own TED talk and give it in front of the class. This semester I have watched more TED talks than I can count, and I learned a lot from them. Watching these talks and preparing my own gave me a new appreciation for all that goes into giving a good speech.
I learned the importance of charisma in a presentation. Much like creativity which we learned about last year, charisma is not a quality that someone is inherently born with. It can be taught and strengthened by everyone using techniques like powerful body language, eye contact, and voice control. Additionally, charisma is built by having good relations with other people. Like Dale Carnegie says in his bestselling book, How to Win Friends & Influence People, we need to become genuinely interested in other people. If you truly care about what someone else has to say, they will feel special and then care what you have to say in return.
I also learned about how important it is to understand your audience and tailor your presentation to their personal needs and interests. Giving a speech about how to balance a checkbook would not resonate with an audience of middle schoolers, much like a speech about Twitter would not resonate with an audience of senior citizens at a nursing home. You need to have a message that your audience actually cares about, and that you care about too. I learned that your audience won't care unless you genuinely care, too. I decided I would give my CPBE225 class TED talk on why we need to make College Park beautiful. This is a topic I feel strongly about, because as a proud UMD student, I want to be able to be proud in the town I live in as well. However, this city is riddled with crime and unappealing sights, so I feel that we should support city improvement projects, and my audience will agree.
My overall opinion on this course is that it helped me better myself in ways I never thought I could do. Admittedly, the beginning of the course felt somewhat slow and didn't have as much hands on experience. But once things got moving and I began working on this IOCSR, I saw how much this class would help me out in the future. Enterprise Communications forced me to start thinking about the future NOW instead of later. Like Ira Koretsky said, it's much better to start developing skills early-on instead of right when you need them, because you will have much more time to prepare and once it comes time to actually use theses skills, you are already a pro. I feel that as long as I use this newfound knowledge about elevator speeches, personal branding, and marketing myself, I will be well prepared for finding an internship this upcoming summer and beyond.
I feel like a much better student sophomore year as opposed to last year. Because of this class, I am always thinking about what skills and experiences I should develop to make myself the best job candidate I can be. I think about the future all the time now, and I have even done research o
n good interview techniques and looked for internships in my free time, which I never ever would have done a year ago. I even created a "Job Search" tab on my computer's web browser which has all kinds of websites that can help me develop my personal brand and improve my resume. This class made the future a reality for me, which I will always be thankful for.
Coming into this class, I had very little confidence in my abilities as a student and future employee. I didn't get the best grades last year, and felt like I wasn't doing as much as the students around me were. I also was still incredibly nervous to speak in front of groups of people before this class. Now that I am almost finished this course, I have noticed a tremendous change in my confidence and the way that I think about connecting with other people. I'm not saying that I've done a complete 360 change into the most hardcore go-getter person out there, but I have definitely been given the tools and advice to make things a lot easier for me. I now have a starting point or a base of public speaking skills that I can bounce off of in the future. Instead of not having a clue on how to market myself to get a job, I now have lots of experience doing things like giving an elevator speech, marketing myself on LinkedIn, and having a successful job interview. Paying attention to qualities I lack and skills I struggle with isn't easy, but absolutely necessary to improve myself, which I plan on doing. All of these things gave me much more self confidence and awareness than I could have ever imagined to gain in just one semester, and I know I will continue to improve over time.
More people in the world are afraid of public speaking than they are of dying in a plane crash. Though I still don't really know why, I have always been one of these people. Coming into this class, I knew it was about public speaking, but I didn't really have any high hopes or expectations because I have taken tons of classes focused on presentations and communication skills, but never really felt that they taught me anything that actually made a difference. However, this class has helped with my fear more than I could have ever thought, and showed me how important it is to get over this fear. Public speaking and business communication skills are used every single day, especially in the job force between work presentations, job interviews, and dealing with clients and customers. There were many powerful aspects of this class that spoke to me and actually showed me how to develop my skills, instead of just telling me how to.
Elevator Speech
The first part of this class that made an impact on me was the elevator speech at the very beginning of the semester. When Dr. Wellman assigned this to our class right off the bat, all of us were in shock and realized that we had an interesting semester ahead of us. I didn't expect the bandaid of public speaking to be ripped off so quickly, but I'm glad it was. Developing and giving an elevator speech showed me that I actually need to be able to sell myself to someone face-to-face, because just a resume isn't going to do it for me. After giving my elevator speech, which wasn't great but was decent for my first time, I started to be much more self-aware about what skills I actually do have to bring to the table and use as selling points to someone else. I started to constantly notice what I was good and bad at. For example, I know I am very good at organization, which is a very important skill to have in a busy workplace. I constantly make to-do lists for myself and carry them with me everywhere, to make sure I don't forget about anything important.I also realized that I am an effective worker in a team setting, and am proactive when it comes to solving problems. In my other communications class this semester, COMM107, I was assigned in a group with 3 other people who just so happened to be some of the most quiet and introverted people in the class. Because of this, I ended up being the unofficial leader of the group. Our assignment was to create an outline about a communication issue and how to solve it. This outline would eventually turn into a speech in front of the class. Since all of us were very busy people, it was difficult to meet up as often as we wanted to. This made it difficult to touch base and stay updated with the extent of everyone's research and progression with the assignment. To solve this problem, I came up with the idea of creating a Google Doc for all of us to compile our research information into one accessible source, instead of doing research separately. We could refer to this source if we had any questions or if we wanted to see what information other people were finding and make sure not to repeat anything. Using this Google Doc, we were able to create the outline over the Internet, allowing us to do the work at whatever time was best for us and not having to deal with the stresses of trying to find a time to meet face-to-face that worked for everybody.
Something I realized from becoming self-aware that I need to work on is accepting constructive criticism. Since I have always lacked confidence, when someone criticizes my work I tend to get defensive and put a wall up. I either get really emotional and sad about what was said, or I get angry and offended and completely disregard what was said. If I stay in my own little bubble, I will never see things from another persons' point of view. Getting feedback from others is one of the best ways to realize what you need to work on to better yourself, so I need to be more open-minded to this.
360Reach
Being told to create an account with the 360Reach website was one of my favorite activities of the whole class of CPBE225. The website consists of a self-survey that you complete about your feelings on your strengths, weaknesses, and the qualities you feel you have. Then, you are asked to type in a list of emails you want to be sent the same survey, which they filled out about me. When looking at the responses, I realized that I don't actually know myself as well as I thought I did, and it takes the opinions of others to actually notice things beneath the surface and build a desire to improve.
Out of the 15 email addresses I typed in, I received 9 anonymous responses that showed me what others thought of me. First of all, I noticed that other people saw me as a leader, which is a characteristic I would have never called myself. Four out of 9 people said that in a group setting, my role would be the leader. Having this kind of praise was new for me and it made me feel good and gain much more confidence. After gaining this new piece of information that some people see me as a leader, I decided to put myself out there and try to assume a leadership role on my own. This year, my sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, participated in the first annual Phield Day philanthropy event with Phi Delta Theta Fraternity. This event involved local elementary school students coming to our chapter houses to play games and learn about fun things they can study in college. We needed someone to be philanthropy chair for this event, so I stepped up to the plate and took the responsibility. I didn't know if I could actually do it and the thought of failing and letting everybody down was scary, but in the back of my mind I knew that I have the skills to handle this challenge. As philanthropy chair, I organized the time table for the event and bought all the supplies and decorations we needed to make the event fun for the students. This experience gave me a great sense of determination and pride when the event ended up going smoothly, teaching me that I can do anything I set my mind to.TED Talk
Even though I haven't presented it in class yet, one of our CPBE225 assignments was to develop our own TED talk and give it in front of the class. This semester I have watched more TED talks than I can count, and I learned a lot from them. Watching these talks and preparing my own gave me a new appreciation for all that goes into giving a good speech.
I learned the importance of charisma in a presentation. Much like creativity which we learned about last year, charisma is not a quality that someone is inherently born with. It can be taught and strengthened by everyone using techniques like powerful body language, eye contact, and voice control. Additionally, charisma is built by having good relations with other people. Like Dale Carnegie says in his bestselling book, How to Win Friends & Influence People, we need to become genuinely interested in other people. If you truly care about what someone else has to say, they will feel special and then care what you have to say in return.
I also learned about how important it is to understand your audience and tailor your presentation to their personal needs and interests. Giving a speech about how to balance a checkbook would not resonate with an audience of middle schoolers, much like a speech about Twitter would not resonate with an audience of senior citizens at a nursing home. You need to have a message that your audience actually cares about, and that you care about too. I learned that your audience won't care unless you genuinely care, too. I decided I would give my CPBE225 class TED talk on why we need to make College Park beautiful. This is a topic I feel strongly about, because as a proud UMD student, I want to be able to be proud in the town I live in as well. However, this city is riddled with crime and unappealing sights, so I feel that we should support city improvement projects, and my audience will agree.
My overall opinion on this course is that it helped me better myself in ways I never thought I could do. Admittedly, the beginning of the course felt somewhat slow and didn't have as much hands on experience. But once things got moving and I began working on this IOCSR, I saw how much this class would help me out in the future. Enterprise Communications forced me to start thinking about the future NOW instead of later. Like Ira Koretsky said, it's much better to start developing skills early-on instead of right when you need them, because you will have much more time to prepare and once it comes time to actually use theses skills, you are already a pro. I feel that as long as I use this newfound knowledge about elevator speeches, personal branding, and marketing myself, I will be well prepared for finding an internship this upcoming summer and beyond.
I feel like a much better student sophomore year as opposed to last year. Because of this class, I am always thinking about what skills and experiences I should develop to make myself the best job candidate I can be. I think about the future all the time now, and I have even done research on good interview techniques and looked for internships in my free time, which I never ever would have done a year ago. I even created a "Job Search" tab on my computer's web browser which has all kinds of websites that can help me develop my personal brand and improve my resume. This class made the future a reality for me, which I will always be thankful for.
Coming into this class, I had very little confidence in my abilities as a student and future employee. I didn't get the best grades last year, and felt like I wasn't doing as much as the students around me were. I also was still incredibly nervous to speak in front of groups of people before this class. Now that I am almost finished this course, I have noticed a tremendous change in my confidence and the way that I think about connecting with other people. I'm not saying that I've done a complete 360 change into the most hardcore go-getter person out there, but I have definitely been given the tools and advice to make things a lot easier for me. I now have a starting point or a base of public speaking skills that I can bounce off of in the future. Instead of not having a clue on how to market myself to get a job, I now have lots of experience doing things like giving an elevator speech, marketing myself on LinkedIn, and having a successful job interview. Paying attention to qualities I lack and skills I struggle with isn't easy, but absolutely necessary to improve myself, which I plan on doing. All of these things gave me much more self confidence and awareness than I could have ever imagined to gain in just one semester, and I know I will continue to improve over time.
Sunday, November 15, 2015
11. My Transformation: How I've Changed and What I've Learned
If someone came up to me back in August, at the beginning of this "Enterprise Communications" course and told me that by the winter I would be a completely changed person, I would probably think they were nuts. However, that is exactly the case with this class I am finishing up.
I first saw this course as a lot of work with no real benefits. I felt like the lessons were unnecessary and didn't apply to me because I wasn't one of the "ambitious ones" who knows what they want and goes after it. So far, I have been a fairly timid person when it comes to the job force and following a track that's right for me. I'm not the type that can just go up to someone experienced and ask them questions or explain why I should be hired, so I was hoping that this class would give me a little more background on that. I just felt so left out because everyone else in the class seemed to be more motivated than me. It wasn't until I got inspired by various guest speakers, readings, and people in the world that these types of communication skills can be taught and relearned by anyone, that I got over the hump and started to see the class for what it was: one of the most interesting and educational so far. I can see this class being the basis for a whole new me.
When I think back to freshman year Emily, I think about how incredibly far I have come from then until now. I came into college still living in the past, thinking I was super smart and didn't really need to try super hard, and boy was I wrong. In high school I was ranked at the top of my class and got straight A's every semester. However, when I came to college I realized that everyone around me was just as smart and mostly smarter than me. If I wanted to do well, I would have to work harder than I ever had at something. My scholars class last year taught me how to question everything around me- a useful skill to have when entering college and the real world. Before BSE, I used to always just accepting things as standard. But after that first class, I learned to ask "why?" about everything that was accepted to be true, and brainstorm ways to make things better using design thinking. I needed to learn how to notice my faults and be more self-aware on how to improve them. I needed to learn what the business world actually was. I needed to find something I was passionate about, cultivate that knowledge, and pursue it as a major, since I came into University of Maryland as "undecided". I needed to get more involved and build my resume to start thinking about internship opportunities for my future self. I needed to do a lot of things as I entered this new phase in my life... and I didn't know how. The first-year BSE class, How Do Innovators Think, gave me that opportunity to start planning for the future and developing my strengths while improving on my weaknesses both individually and working with a group.
Now, as a second-year BSE student, I had learned about innovation and how to better myself and the things around me, but I had no idea on how to give an effective presentation in front of an audience or how to to well on a job interview. I had learned a lot of skills last year, but this year would be when I attempt to put these skills to the test. Dr. Wellman and our guest speakers gave me great advice on how to implement this new knowledge in my future plans and move forward to improve. The sheer thought of the elevator speech assigned at the beginning of the semester made me cringe. I even contemplated dropping the class it was that bad. I have always had a fear of public speaking, even though when I'm with my friends I am usually the most talkative one of the bunch. When I gave my initial speech, it was so painful I literally blacked out and don't even remember doing it. Every time I look at the recording of myself, I first am incredibly embarrassed, but second I realize that this is something I can fix with practice. Throughout the rest of this course, I only improved since the initial elevator speech in September. With the help of the Dan Parsons evening session, the second round of the ILIAD assignment, and the TED talk, I was basically forced to overcome my fear. Additionally, I was given so many readings and presentations that helped me develop good public speaking techniques. One of the easiest ways that I began to feel more comfortable around other people was realizing that they all felt the same way as me. I also started to feel more comfortable when I started having more confidence in my presentations, because I learned how to have a good opening, body/message, and closing for my audience, and I learned how to appeal to the exact demographic I was talking to. Soon enough, before I knew it I had a lot more confidence than I did originally.
The ILIAD assessment helped me improve on goals that I set for myself a year ago, which is a practice that everyone should be doing. Why should I be afraid of something that I know is coming? It's going to happen sooner or later, no matter who you are. So instead of being scared and panicking, I now take actions and plan ahead that I can try to make myself the best I can be, like identifying my weaknesses and making plans to improve them. I then welcome any other unexpected failure with open arms and an open mind to learn from those experiences.
Compared to what I knew before this class, I have learned so much about how to be engaging with others which will significantly help with networking. Last year I learned what LinkedIn was, this year I learned how to actually use it. I added so much new information to my profile that I didn't have last year, and made so many new connections because of it. Networking is a skill that allows you to have the world at your fingertips. For example, Dr. Wellman planned out entire BSE New York field trip last year using LinkedIn and connecting with UMD alumni. Keeping a strong network of connections is essential for success in the business world. I am much more confident after taking this class that I have the personality and the skills to effectively network and market myself to future employers. I definitely have the drive and the motivation, I just need to keep my confidence high and work on developing my skills at all times to become a highly desirable employee.
10. Ten TED Talks
1. Sir Ken Robinson: Do schools kill creativity?
Sir Ken Robinson's talk on schools and creativity is the #1 most watched TED talk in the world, therefore I had very high expectations upon first watching it. Robinson starts off his talk speculating on all of the TED talks that have been presented thus far in the conference, and marveling at how creative everyone is. He then starts to crack a few jokes about people who work in education and how they are usually not invited to dinner parties, which sets a light-hearted tone and gets several laughs out of the audience. Education is meant to take us into the future which we can't grasp. Nobody even knows what the world will look like in 5 years, yet we are teaching young children now who will be retiring in the year 2065. He goes on to introduce his thesis, which is essentially that creativity is as important as literacy. I felt that this opening was very effective at winning over the audience with Robinson's keen sense of humor and charisma. Additionally, the human interest stories where he shared funny stories of children to the audience were very entertaining and not as serious as some other TED talks commonly are.
One of the main points in this TED talk is the fact that if you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original at all. Nowadays, we stigmatize mistakes and say that they are the worst things we can do. We get educated OUT of our creativity because many highly-talented, creative, brilliant people think they're not. They think the thing they were so good at in school wasn't valued, or was actually stigmatized. Sir Ken Robinson's ending is about how TED celebrates the gift of the human imagination. He suggests we use this gift wisely by seeing our creative capacities for the richness that they are, and our children for the hope that they are. I think he could have related the ending to his opening a little better, so that the talk came full-circle. However, I liked his ending because it ended on a positive and inspiring note for the audience to reflect on, and reminded everyone that we must focus on preparing our children for the future.
2. Dan Pink: The puzzle of motivation
"The puzzle of motivation" is another widely popular TED talk, and after watching the speaker you will know why. Pink starts off his talk with a serious tone, saying, "I have a confession to make." He builds up the suspense and then continues on to say, "I went to law school and didn't do well." However, today, he said he plans on using what he knows to make a hard case that will make the audience rethink the way the world run's businesses. This was a powerful opening in my opinion. Pink is basically saying that even though he has never practiced law a day in his life, there is enough evidence out there to back up his opinion. Not only does this capture the attention of the audience, but it makes them feel like they should have been able to come to the same conclusion as well, because they also are not lawyers.
Pink's talk explains the different things that motivate us, and how incentives most of the time do more harm than good. In the case of "the candle problem", where people were asked to attach a candle to the wall without having wax drip off, the group that was given an incentive actually took longer to complete the task than the group who was not given an incentive. However, this is not the way our world works. Everything today is incentivized, whether it's bonuses, commissions, or their own reality show. Rewards narrow our focus, so for creative tasks they actually dull our thinking and block creativity. Dan Pink argues that autonomy, mastery, and purpose are the best form of motivation, and uses Wikipedia as a prime example. Dan Pink wraps up his talk with 3 main ideas, and he numbers them as he tells them, which I think is helpful to the audience so they walk away with the knowledge that the speaker wanted them to have. All in all, we need to repair the disconnect between what science knows is true, and what the business world does when it comes to motivation.
3. Amy Cuddy: Your body language shapes who you are
As a social scientist, Amy Cuddy begins her talk by turning to the audience and asking them to analyze the way they are sitting at that moment. She asks them if they are hunched over, making themselves appear small, holding their arms, spreading their arms wide, sitting straight, and so on. She then leaves her opening in a cliffhanger, and says she will come back to that thought a little later, and then proceeds to define body language. This opening was interesting because it engaged the audience right away, and made them pay attention to the way they are seated right off the bat. I liked this introduction because it forced the audience to participate and pay attention, but I also think it might have been distracting to the message that Cuddy was actually trying to say. Following the opening, Amy Cuddy explains how in today's society, we make sweeping judgements and inferences based solely on peoples' body language. However, aside from other people being affected by our body language, we ourselves are affected by it as well. Expressions of power in the animal kingdom always involve getting bigger and occupying more space - with people it is no different. The question that Amy Cuddy is investigating is, can our nonverbals force us to feel a certain way, even if we don't actually feel it at first. For example, when we are forced to smile by holding a pencil in our teeth, it actually makes us happier. The same goes for the alpha gorilla stance, which forces us to feel powerful.
Not only do our minds change our bodies, but our bodies also change our minds. Amy Cuddy tells us not to only fake it til we make it, fake it til we become it. Do it enough until we actually become it and internalize. She says that tiny tweaks can make so much of a difference. For two minutes, try making yourself large and feel powerful, you need to get your testosterone running and demonstrate to the job interviewers who you really are. Cuddy ends her talk by challenging the audience to both try a power pose and share a science. By sharing these techniques with people, you can significantly change the outcomes of their lives. She knows this because it happened to her, when she felt she didn't deserve to be at Princeton when she did. This conclusion was clearly very effective because Cuddy got a standing ovation.
4. Sheryl Sandberg: Why we have too few women leaders
The COO of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg investigates why a smaller percentage of women than men reach the top of their professions. Her presentation begins by explaining how everyone in the room is lucky, because they all grew up in a world where they had basic human rights, meanwhile there are still women in the world who don't have them. She then gives off statistics of how few women leaders there are. In a New York office, she says she found out she was the only woman to have ever given a pitch in the fancy office for over a year because the men who worked there didn't even know where the bathroom was. This opening was a good one because it was
both humorous and shocking.
Sandberg explains that there are 3 clear messages that are being given off to women who want to stay in the workforce. (1) Sit at the table. (2) Make your partner a real partner. (3) Don't leave before you leave. Men attribute their success to themselves while women attribute it to other factors. Women do 3x the amount of child care than men do, so they end up having 2 jobs. We put more pressure on men to succeed than women. We have to make it as important a job to work inside the job for both genders if we want to even things out. From the moment a woman thinks about having a child and adding that into the mix of everything she's doing, she stops pushing herself. She "leaves before she leaves", because she stops volunteering to take a promotion, take on a project, or challenge herself. Sandberg ends with this thought: once you have a kid, your job needs to be really really good to motivate you to go back to it. However, if before you left your job you didn't try to climb the ladder and the person next to you did, you're going to be bored when you go back because you didn't keep your foot on the gas pedal. This was a powerful ending that made the audience and even myself think, as a woman, about the decisions that we make, especially the unconscious ones that may be setting ourselves back instead of pushing us forward.
5. Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action
Using examples from some of the most popular brands and people, Simon Sinek tells us how the best leaders think, act, and communicate. He shows us how some leaders are able to inspire while others aren't, using his concept of "the golden circle". Sinek begins his talk referencing famous movements we are familiar with. Why is Apple so innovative? Why did Martin Luther King lead the civil rights movement? Because the way they market their ideas is different.
People don't buy what you do they buy how you do it --- this is Simon Sinek's mantra of the presentation that he repeats over and over again. For example, in the case of Apple, this company is so successful because they reverse the order in which they explain their products by sharing their philosophy first, and it works. The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe. What you do simply proves what you believe, not why. Instead of telling people what needed to change in America, Dr. Martin Luther King Dr. told people what he believed. By doing this, people who believed the same things that King believed took his cause and made it their own. There are leaders and there are those who lead. Those who lead, inspire us and we follow them not because we have to but because we want to. This closing by Simon Sinek was incredibly inspiring and made the audience think.
6. Derek Sivers: How to start a movement
In his 3 minute talk, Derek Sivers uses a funny video clip of people dancing to explain how movements get started. The leader begins by standing up in a crowd of people and dancing like a crazy person. As soon as the first follower comes and joins him, the leader embraces him as an equal. It's not about the leader anymore, it is about them (plural). The follower then calls to his friends.
The first follower is a form of a leader in itself, because it takes guts to stand out like that. The first follower is what transforms a lone nut into a leader. The second follower makes it a movement, as three is a crowd. Once there are three people dancing on that hill, the new followers grow exponentially. This is the tipping point, and eventually as more people join in, it's less risky. Those who were sitting on the fence at first, now have no reason not to join. They can still join the movement and be part of the in crowd, if they hurry. Sivers ends his talk by explaining the main point of the video, that is not always clear. Leadership is overglorified. The first follower transformed the lone nut into a leader. If you really care about starting a movement, you should have the courage to follow and show others how to follow. I thought this talk was very entertaining because it explained a revolutionary thought with the aid of perfectly timed video footage to put Sivers' ideas to life. Because the video was only 3 minutes, the speech was a bit different and did not have a clear introduction or conclusion, but the idea given off was still heard.
7. Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution!
Sir Ken Robinson makes a funny follow-up to his 2006 talk on schools killing creativity. In his talk, he makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning, creating an environment where kids' natural talents can be flourished. He starts off his talk in his usual fashion of making jokes to warm the audience up. He says that there is a hunger for videos of him, which gets a good laugh out of the audience as well as myself. When beginning his talk, he talks about the difference between people who love what they do to the point of it being who they are, vs. people who just simply get by with what they're doing without any real happiness. He says the reason for people not loving what they do is because of something that you wouldn't think- education. Education dislocates many people from their natural talents.
Reform is of no use anymore, because it is simply repairing a broken model. Education needs to be a revolution and transform into something else. The real challenge is to innovate fundamentally in education. It means challenging what we take for granted. Robinson remarks on a quote that says, "college starts in kindergarten", by simply responding, "no it doesn't". Kindergarten begins in kindergarten. We have built our education systems on the models of fast food, where everything is standardized. We must customize, not standardize. Sir Ken Robinson ends his talk by saying that every day, everywhere, there are children who spread their dreams beneath our feet, and we must tread softly. Robinson delivers his speech so eloquently that he gets an immediate standing ovation at the end of his speech. I really enjoy Sir Ken Robinson's speeches because of the combination of effortless charisma, thought-provoking quotes, and inspirational ideas.
8. Erik Hersman: Reporting crisis via texting
Hersman explains a revolutionary of something called Ushahidi, a Google map mashup that allows Kenyans to report and track violence via cell phone texts, and has evolved to continue saving lives in other countries. Hersman doesn't really have an introduction, he just gets right into the topic of reporting and stopping violence in Kenya. In 2008, there was post-election violence all over the country. He developed a system where anyone with a mobile phone can report violence that they see. It was a simple concept where you could look at a map and there were markings of places where violence had occurred, and what specific type. However, Hersman realized he needed to use this idea and make a platform so that it could be used all over the world.
What Hersman explained is that if this idea works in Africa, it can work anywhere. By building it to work in the most first-world location, it is much easier to develop it and make minor changes for it to work anywhere. He begins his conclusion by talking about "the next big thing", which is the way we process crisis information. When something serious happens, there is an information overload whether its word of mouth or on social media. We need to develop something that filters this information so that we know what to believe. Because this was a short talk, there was not a very clear structure. I thought the talk had a very good message, but a more clear structure would have made it more engaging.
9. Seth Godin: The Tribes We Lead
Seth Godin, an entrepreneur, argues that the Internet has ended mass marketing and revived the human social unit from the past known as tribes. Founded on shared ideas and values, tribes give ordinary people the power to lead and make a big change. He starts off his talk by with a story of how one man named Nathan transformed the SPCA from being an animal killing organization, to a no-kill organization purely by traveling to different cities and reaching out to the community. Godin argues that it's tribes- not money, not factories, that can change our world, politics, and align large numbers of people. Not because you forced the people, but because they connect with what you think.
A movement is formed because people want to join with those who they connect with. Thousands of people aligned with Al Gore's thoughts, and he created a movement by his true fans who care enough to spread the message for him. Movements aren't for everyone, they are about finding the true believers. Godin wraps up his thoughts with three questions. First of all, he asks, who are you upsetting? Because if you're not upsetting anyone, you aren't making a change. Second, who are you connecting? Third, who are you leading? Focusing on these questions will help you make a movement. Leaders challenge the status quo, build a culture, have curiosity, connect people to one another, and have charisma. You don't need charisma to be a leader, being a leader gives you charisma. The last thing Seth Godin says, is asks the audience to create a movement. I really liked this talk as it was very inspiring, but I wish it had more humor like the other talks I have been watching.
10. Drew Dudley: Everyday Leadership
Without knowing it, we all have changed someone's life in some way. Drew Dudley explains what leadership and asks us all to celebrate it by continuing to improve others' lives. He begins his talk by asking the audience, "How many of you are comfortable calling yourselves a leader?" When not many of the audience puts their hands up, he proceeds to go right into his topic by saying that most people think leadership is bigger than them. Being a leader is something they may deserve one day, but to say they're a leader now means they are cocky and arrogant. He worries that people spend so much time celebrating amazing things that nobody can do, that we start to devalue the things that we can do every day. We don't let ourselves take credit for the times when we actually are leaders.
Dudley tells a story about something he calls, "the lollipop moment", where he apparently impacted someone's life so severely, yet he doesn't even remember it. We celebrate birthdays, where all you have to do is not die for 365 days yet we don't tell someone they have changed our lives significantly. It can be scary to think that we matter that much to someone. As long as we make leadership something bigger than us, we give us an excuse to not expect it from ourselves, and not each other. It is our light and not our darkness that frightens us. To wrap up his talk, Dudley's call to action is that we need to get over our fear of how extraordinarily powerful we can be in each others' lives. We need to get over it so that we can move beyond it. He claims that we've made leadership about changing the world, and there is no world. There are only 6 billion understandings of it. If we redefine leadership this way, it will be so much more effective.
Sir Ken Robinson's talk on schools and creativity is the #1 most watched TED talk in the world, therefore I had very high expectations upon first watching it. Robinson starts off his talk speculating on all of the TED talks that have been presented thus far in the conference, and marveling at how creative everyone is. He then starts to crack a few jokes about people who work in education and how they are usually not invited to dinner parties, which sets a light-hearted tone and gets several laughs out of the audience. Education is meant to take us into the future which we can't grasp. Nobody even knows what the world will look like in 5 years, yet we are teaching young children now who will be retiring in the year 2065. He goes on to introduce his thesis, which is essentially that creativity is as important as literacy. I felt that this opening was very effective at winning over the audience with Robinson's keen sense of humor and charisma. Additionally, the human interest stories where he shared funny stories of children to the audience were very entertaining and not as serious as some other TED talks commonly are.
One of the main points in this TED talk is the fact that if you are not prepared to be wrong, you will never come up with anything original at all. Nowadays, we stigmatize mistakes and say that they are the worst things we can do. We get educated OUT of our creativity because many highly-talented, creative, brilliant people think they're not. They think the thing they were so good at in school wasn't valued, or was actually stigmatized. Sir Ken Robinson's ending is about how TED celebrates the gift of the human imagination. He suggests we use this gift wisely by seeing our creative capacities for the richness that they are, and our children for the hope that they are. I think he could have related the ending to his opening a little better, so that the talk came full-circle. However, I liked his ending because it ended on a positive and inspiring note for the audience to reflect on, and reminded everyone that we must focus on preparing our children for the future.2. Dan Pink: The puzzle of motivation
"The puzzle of motivation" is another widely popular TED talk, and after watching the speaker you will know why. Pink starts off his talk with a serious tone, saying, "I have a confession to make." He builds up the suspense and then continues on to say, "I went to law school and didn't do well." However, today, he said he plans on using what he knows to make a hard case that will make the audience rethink the way the world run's businesses. This was a powerful opening in my opinion. Pink is basically saying that even though he has never practiced law a day in his life, there is enough evidence out there to back up his opinion. Not only does this capture the attention of the audience, but it makes them feel like they should have been able to come to the same conclusion as well, because they also are not lawyers.Pink's talk explains the different things that motivate us, and how incentives most of the time do more harm than good. In the case of "the candle problem", where people were asked to attach a candle to the wall without having wax drip off, the group that was given an incentive actually took longer to complete the task than the group who was not given an incentive. However, this is not the way our world works. Everything today is incentivized, whether it's bonuses, commissions, or their own reality show. Rewards narrow our focus, so for creative tasks they actually dull our thinking and block creativity. Dan Pink argues that autonomy, mastery, and purpose are the best form of motivation, and uses Wikipedia as a prime example. Dan Pink wraps up his talk with 3 main ideas, and he numbers them as he tells them, which I think is helpful to the audience so they walk away with the knowledge that the speaker wanted them to have. All in all, we need to repair the disconnect between what science knows is true, and what the business world does when it comes to motivation.
3. Amy Cuddy: Your body language shapes who you are
As a social scientist, Amy Cuddy begins her talk by turning to the audience and asking them to analyze the way they are sitting at that moment. She asks them if they are hunched over, making themselves appear small, holding their arms, spreading their arms wide, sitting straight, and so on. She then leaves her opening in a cliffhanger, and says she will come back to that thought a little later, and then proceeds to define body language. This opening was interesting because it engaged the audience right away, and made them pay attention to the way they are seated right off the bat. I liked this introduction because it forced the audience to participate and pay attention, but I also think it might have been distracting to the message that Cuddy was actually trying to say. Following the opening, Amy Cuddy explains how in today's society, we make sweeping judgements and inferences based solely on peoples' body language. However, aside from other people being affected by our body language, we ourselves are affected by it as well. Expressions of power in the animal kingdom always involve getting bigger and occupying more space - with people it is no different. The question that Amy Cuddy is investigating is, can our nonverbals force us to feel a certain way, even if we don't actually feel it at first. For example, when we are forced to smile by holding a pencil in our teeth, it actually makes us happier. The same goes for the alpha gorilla stance, which forces us to feel powerful.
4. Sheryl Sandberg: Why we have too few women leaders
The COO of Facebook, Sheryl Sandberg investigates why a smaller percentage of women than men reach the top of their professions. Her presentation begins by explaining how everyone in the room is lucky, because they all grew up in a world where they had basic human rights, meanwhile there are still women in the world who don't have them. She then gives off statistics of how few women leaders there are. In a New York office, she says she found out she was the only woman to have ever given a pitch in the fancy office for over a year because the men who worked there didn't even know where the bathroom was. This opening was a good one because it was
both humorous and shocking.Sandberg explains that there are 3 clear messages that are being given off to women who want to stay in the workforce. (1) Sit at the table. (2) Make your partner a real partner. (3) Don't leave before you leave. Men attribute their success to themselves while women attribute it to other factors. Women do 3x the amount of child care than men do, so they end up having 2 jobs. We put more pressure on men to succeed than women. We have to make it as important a job to work inside the job for both genders if we want to even things out. From the moment a woman thinks about having a child and adding that into the mix of everything she's doing, she stops pushing herself. She "leaves before she leaves", because she stops volunteering to take a promotion, take on a project, or challenge herself. Sandberg ends with this thought: once you have a kid, your job needs to be really really good to motivate you to go back to it. However, if before you left your job you didn't try to climb the ladder and the person next to you did, you're going to be bored when you go back because you didn't keep your foot on the gas pedal. This was a powerful ending that made the audience and even myself think, as a woman, about the decisions that we make, especially the unconscious ones that may be setting ourselves back instead of pushing us forward.
5. Simon Sinek: How great leaders inspire action
Using examples from some of the most popular brands and people, Simon Sinek tells us how the best leaders think, act, and communicate. He shows us how some leaders are able to inspire while others aren't, using his concept of "the golden circle". Sinek begins his talk referencing famous movements we are familiar with. Why is Apple so innovative? Why did Martin Luther King lead the civil rights movement? Because the way they market their ideas is different.
People don't buy what you do they buy how you do it --- this is Simon Sinek's mantra of the presentation that he repeats over and over again. For example, in the case of Apple, this company is so successful because they reverse the order in which they explain their products by sharing their philosophy first, and it works. The goal is to do business with people who believe what you believe. What you do simply proves what you believe, not why. Instead of telling people what needed to change in America, Dr. Martin Luther King Dr. told people what he believed. By doing this, people who believed the same things that King believed took his cause and made it their own. There are leaders and there are those who lead. Those who lead, inspire us and we follow them not because we have to but because we want to. This closing by Simon Sinek was incredibly inspiring and made the audience think.
6. Derek Sivers: How to start a movement
In his 3 minute talk, Derek Sivers uses a funny video clip of people dancing to explain how movements get started. The leader begins by standing up in a crowd of people and dancing like a crazy person. As soon as the first follower comes and joins him, the leader embraces him as an equal. It's not about the leader anymore, it is about them (plural). The follower then calls to his friends.
The first follower is a form of a leader in itself, because it takes guts to stand out like that. The first follower is what transforms a lone nut into a leader. The second follower makes it a movement, as three is a crowd. Once there are three people dancing on that hill, the new followers grow exponentially. This is the tipping point, and eventually as more people join in, it's less risky. Those who were sitting on the fence at first, now have no reason not to join. They can still join the movement and be part of the in crowd, if they hurry. Sivers ends his talk by explaining the main point of the video, that is not always clear. Leadership is overglorified. The first follower transformed the lone nut into a leader. If you really care about starting a movement, you should have the courage to follow and show others how to follow. I thought this talk was very entertaining because it explained a revolutionary thought with the aid of perfectly timed video footage to put Sivers' ideas to life. Because the video was only 3 minutes, the speech was a bit different and did not have a clear introduction or conclusion, but the idea given off was still heard.
7. Sir Ken Robinson: Bring on the learning revolution!
Sir Ken Robinson makes a funny follow-up to his 2006 talk on schools killing creativity. In his talk, he makes the case for a radical shift from standardized schools to personalized learning, creating an environment where kids' natural talents can be flourished. He starts off his talk in his usual fashion of making jokes to warm the audience up. He says that there is a hunger for videos of him, which gets a good laugh out of the audience as well as myself. When beginning his talk, he talks about the difference between people who love what they do to the point of it being who they are, vs. people who just simply get by with what they're doing without any real happiness. He says the reason for people not loving what they do is because of something that you wouldn't think- education. Education dislocates many people from their natural talents.
8. Erik Hersman: Reporting crisis via texting
Hersman explains a revolutionary of something called Ushahidi, a Google map mashup that allows Kenyans to report and track violence via cell phone texts, and has evolved to continue saving lives in other countries. Hersman doesn't really have an introduction, he just gets right into the topic of reporting and stopping violence in Kenya. In 2008, there was post-election violence all over the country. He developed a system where anyone with a mobile phone can report violence that they see. It was a simple concept where you could look at a map and there were markings of places where violence had occurred, and what specific type. However, Hersman realized he needed to use this idea and make a platform so that it could be used all over the world.
9. Seth Godin: The Tribes We Lead
Seth Godin, an entrepreneur, argues that the Internet has ended mass marketing and revived the human social unit from the past known as tribes. Founded on shared ideas and values, tribes give ordinary people the power to lead and make a big change. He starts off his talk by with a story of how one man named Nathan transformed the SPCA from being an animal killing organization, to a no-kill organization purely by traveling to different cities and reaching out to the community. Godin argues that it's tribes- not money, not factories, that can change our world, politics, and align large numbers of people. Not because you forced the people, but because they connect with what you think.
A movement is formed because people want to join with those who they connect with. Thousands of people aligned with Al Gore's thoughts, and he created a movement by his true fans who care enough to spread the message for him. Movements aren't for everyone, they are about finding the true believers. Godin wraps up his thoughts with three questions. First of all, he asks, who are you upsetting? Because if you're not upsetting anyone, you aren't making a change. Second, who are you connecting? Third, who are you leading? Focusing on these questions will help you make a movement. Leaders challenge the status quo, build a culture, have curiosity, connect people to one another, and have charisma. You don't need charisma to be a leader, being a leader gives you charisma. The last thing Seth Godin says, is asks the audience to create a movement. I really liked this talk as it was very inspiring, but I wish it had more humor like the other talks I have been watching.
10. Drew Dudley: Everyday Leadership
Without knowing it, we all have changed someone's life in some way. Drew Dudley explains what leadership and asks us all to celebrate it by continuing to improve others' lives. He begins his talk by asking the audience, "How many of you are comfortable calling yourselves a leader?" When not many of the audience puts their hands up, he proceeds to go right into his topic by saying that most people think leadership is bigger than them. Being a leader is something they may deserve one day, but to say they're a leader now means they are cocky and arrogant. He worries that people spend so much time celebrating amazing things that nobody can do, that we start to devalue the things that we can do every day. We don't let ourselves take credit for the times when we actually are leaders.
9. Strengthen your LinkedIn Profile using the guidelines provided
There's no doubting that LinkedIn is one of the most powerful ways to network out there. Luckily, in our BSE class last year, we were forced to hop on that train in order to put ourselves out there. LinkedIn is recruiters' top social network of choice for hiring, so it is important to make sure your profile is in top shape for anyone who may view your page.
In the BSE program, we are given lots of advice on how we can market ourselves to possible employers or business connections. I was given advice my of our readings as well as from Dr. Wellman, Professor Miller, and guest speaker Ira Koretsky. Since making my LinkedIn about a year ago for the first-year scholars class, I hadn't really used it much until now. After hearing Koretsky talk about how important this social media platform is, I started to check it more regularly and update my accomplishments.
The first step I took to improve my profile was updating my experiences. Since making my LinkedIn a year ago, I had worked at two more jobs. The first one was my volunteer job as a mentor and tutor for local elementary school students in the community. The second job was my UMD work study job as an office assistant for the School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures, where I learned basic secretary roles and office tasks to support the more senior-level staff in the office. I think both of these experiences will reflect well on who I am as a person and employee, because they show I care about the community, but also am a diligent worker in an office setting. I should have put them on my profile much sooner, but it's better late than never.
Another step I took to improve my LinkedIn profile and appear more competitive was add to my list of skills. Posting a set of skills and having people endorse them is a great way to show people what you're good at and how many other people think so as well. Some of the skills I added were Microsoft Work, PowerPoint, Customer Service, Social Media, Teamwork, Time Management, and Problem Solving to name a few. Adding these skills on my profile gave me a confidence boost because when all of those attributes about myself are laid out in front of me, I realize that I actually do have a lot to offer, and I hope others can see this as well. I also wrote a brief summary about myself, which I think gives my profile more personality as opposed to just a list of interests and accomplishments. I also added a list of the courses I have taken at UMD so far, to show people that I have a diverse knowledge in many different areas.
The last and most important task I did to improve my LinkedIn Profile was make connections with people. When I logged onto my account for the first time in several months, I had dozens of connection requests left unanswered. I wasn't expecting this, and it only proved to me how many people are utilizing this form of business-centered social media. At this moment I realized I needed to get serious about LinkedIn. First, I accepted everyone who requested to connect with me. Next, I went to my suggestions page and connected with everyone that I knew. After that, I tried to find people who went to UMD and also shared my major, and requested to connect with them in order to prepare for possible networking later on. As I learned from Ira Koretsky, every invitation I sent had a personal message instead of the generic one that says, "I would like to connect with you". Many of my requests were accepted within hours, showing me how often others check their profile and how often I should be as well.
Overall I am extremely proud of myself for improving my LinkedIn profile to being updated and more professional. I can tell that the changes I made to my profile will make a big difference, and already have. On the side of my profile when I log in there is a section that says my rank for profile views has improved by 27% in the past 7 days. I am also glad that BSE has sort of forced all of its students to utilize this website because even if it doesn't seem too important right now, it will be in the future and it's a great idea to build connections as early as possible. I'm glad that I removed things from my profile that are outdated, because it makes me look like I'm not living in the past and focusing on more current and relevant experiences. It also showed me how much I have to improve on, because I was much more involved in high school than I am in college currently. There are still plenty of things I can work on improving for my profile, like getting a more professional photo and including a descriptive summary. Being on LinkedIn shows me how many other people there are in the world who are in my same boat. I can learn from the profiles of my peers, and also help myself stand out more against my competition.8. Mock Interview
Youtube Link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cWTrVWqXIxI
Being a person who has never actually had a formal job interview before, I have little to no preparation for what to say and how to act when my first interview does arise. For this reason, it's a good idea to practice and prepare responses to common questions ahead of time. Developing these interviewing skills is very important because a job interview is the #1 way to differentiate yourself from your competition. If you can kill it in an interview, it can make up for any holes on your resumes or mistakes in the past--- employers love people skills. I have only ever had an informal job interview where I already knew I was getting the position and my boss was just asking some follow-up questions about my character, so it isn't the same experience. For this section of the IOCSR, I prepared a list of commonly asked questions during a job interview, thought about them, and then prepared responses. The recording of this mock interview is below.
Tell me about yourself.
I have been a student at the University of Maryland College Park for the past 2 years, and am hoping to immerse myself into the marketing industry. My most recent work experience has been handling various office tasks through an on-campus job for the University of Maryland School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. One reason I particularly enjoy this business, and the challenges that go along with it, is because of the many opportunities there are to connect with people. I consider my real strength to be my time management abilities. I pride myself on my reputation for following through and meeting deadlines, while still allowing time for other projects and hobbies. For example, throughout high school I had a part time job as a waitress at a crab restaurant (where I still work today!) while still making principal's honor roll in school and staying involved in various extracurricular organizations and clubs. The same is true in college, where I have maintained a high GPA as well as held an on-campus part time job and stayed involved in my volunteer tutoring organization and sorority. What I am looking for now is an honest and supportive company that values customer relations, where I can join a strong team and have a positive impact on customer retention and sales.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I'm looking for a role in a company I can grow with and continue to take on new challenges over the next 5 years and beyond. I'm not too hung up on titles, but I know I would like to take on more management responsibility, and ultimately step into a product leadership position. Ultimately, I want to work for a company where I can build a career.
How have you worked to achieve your own professional vision?
One of my visions is communication, and thus I am a very big believer in being a team player. I have been told I'm an excellent communicator and have the ability to work cohesively with any group of people and still be successful. I've had various opportunities in my work and school to develop my teamwork skills, which allowed me to learn early-on the importance of the strength of a team over the individual. For example, from my experience in the restaurant industry as a waitress, I learned how to take care of myself and my own tables, but also to look out for others and help out with things that ultimately make the entire restaurant run more smoothly as a whole. By helping out other servers when the place gets busy, you are still helping yourself and establishing a sense of teamwork in the restaurant.
Have you ever had a conflict with a boss or professor? How was it resolved?
I recently had a conflict with a peer in the fraternity that my sorority was working with to plan a philanthropy event supporting local elementary school students in College Park. He had sent a rather urgent email accusing my committee of derailing his project and not taking the necessary steps to plan all aspects of the event on time. I responded by asking him to get together with me in person for coffee and for him to walk me through everything he wanted us to have done and by when. I then walked him through our ideas and our timelines. From this conflict I realized the importance of face-to-face interaction when trying to make time-sensitive decisions. It turns out, we were both on the same page and just needed to meet in person to realize this, and the philanthropy event turned out successfully.
Tell me about one of the toughest groups that you've had to work with. What made it difficult? What did you do?
In my other communications class this semester, COMM107, I was assigned in a group with 3 other people who just so happened to be some of the most quiet and introverted people in the class. Because of this, I ended up being the unofficial leader of the group. Our assignment was to create an outline about a communication issue and how to solve it. This outline would eventually turn into a speech in front of the class. Since all of us were very busy people, it was very difficult to meet up as often as we wanted to. This made it difficult to touch base and stay updated with the extent of everyone's research and progression with the assignment. To solve this problem, I came up with the idea of creating a Google Doc for all of us to compile our research information into one accessible source, instead of doing research separately. We could refer to this source if we had any questions or if we wanted to see what information other people were finding and make sure not to repeat anything. Using this Google Doc, we were able to create the outline over the Internet, allowing us to do the work at whatever time was best for us and not having to deal with the stresses of trying to find a time to meet face-to-face that worked for everybody. From this experience, I realized that I am an effective worker in a team setting, and am proactive when it comes to solving problems.
Being a person who has never actually had a formal job interview before, I have little to no preparation for what to say and how to act when my first interview does arise. For this reason, it's a good idea to practice and prepare responses to common questions ahead of time. Developing these interviewing skills is very important because a job interview is the #1 way to differentiate yourself from your competition. If you can kill it in an interview, it can make up for any holes on your resumes or mistakes in the past--- employers love people skills. I have only ever had an informal job interview where I already knew I was getting the position and my boss was just asking some follow-up questions about my character, so it isn't the same experience. For this section of the IOCSR, I prepared a list of commonly asked questions during a job interview, thought about them, and then prepared responses. The recording of this mock interview is below.
Tell me about yourself.
I have been a student at the University of Maryland College Park for the past 2 years, and am hoping to immerse myself into the marketing industry. My most recent work experience has been handling various office tasks through an on-campus job for the University of Maryland School of Languages, Literatures, and Cultures. One reason I particularly enjoy this business, and the challenges that go along with it, is because of the many opportunities there are to connect with people. I consider my real strength to be my time management abilities. I pride myself on my reputation for following through and meeting deadlines, while still allowing time for other projects and hobbies. For example, throughout high school I had a part time job as a waitress at a crab restaurant (where I still work today!) while still making principal's honor roll in school and staying involved in various extracurricular organizations and clubs. The same is true in college, where I have maintained a high GPA as well as held an on-campus part time job and stayed involved in my volunteer tutoring organization and sorority. What I am looking for now is an honest and supportive company that values customer relations, where I can join a strong team and have a positive impact on customer retention and sales.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I'm looking for a role in a company I can grow with and continue to take on new challenges over the next 5 years and beyond. I'm not too hung up on titles, but I know I would like to take on more management responsibility, and ultimately step into a product leadership position. Ultimately, I want to work for a company where I can build a career.
How have you worked to achieve your own professional vision?
One of my visions is communication, and thus I am a very big believer in being a team player. I have been told I'm an excellent communicator and have the ability to work cohesively with any group of people and still be successful. I've had various opportunities in my work and school to develop my teamwork skills, which allowed me to learn early-on the importance of the strength of a team over the individual. For example, from my experience in the restaurant industry as a waitress, I learned how to take care of myself and my own tables, but also to look out for others and help out with things that ultimately make the entire restaurant run more smoothly as a whole. By helping out other servers when the place gets busy, you are still helping yourself and establishing a sense of teamwork in the restaurant.
Have you ever had a conflict with a boss or professor? How was it resolved?
I recently had a conflict with a peer in the fraternity that my sorority was working with to plan a philanthropy event supporting local elementary school students in College Park. He had sent a rather urgent email accusing my committee of derailing his project and not taking the necessary steps to plan all aspects of the event on time. I responded by asking him to get together with me in person for coffee and for him to walk me through everything he wanted us to have done and by when. I then walked him through our ideas and our timelines. From this conflict I realized the importance of face-to-face interaction when trying to make time-sensitive decisions. It turns out, we were both on the same page and just needed to meet in person to realize this, and the philanthropy event turned out successfully.
Tell me about one of the toughest groups that you've had to work with. What made it difficult? What did you do?
In my other communications class this semester, COMM107, I was assigned in a group with 3 other people who just so happened to be some of the most quiet and introverted people in the class. Because of this, I ended up being the unofficial leader of the group. Our assignment was to create an outline about a communication issue and how to solve it. This outline would eventually turn into a speech in front of the class. Since all of us were very busy people, it was very difficult to meet up as often as we wanted to. This made it difficult to touch base and stay updated with the extent of everyone's research and progression with the assignment. To solve this problem, I came up with the idea of creating a Google Doc for all of us to compile our research information into one accessible source, instead of doing research separately. We could refer to this source if we had any questions or if we wanted to see what information other people were finding and make sure not to repeat anything. Using this Google Doc, we were able to create the outline over the Internet, allowing us to do the work at whatever time was best for us and not having to deal with the stresses of trying to find a time to meet face-to-face that worked for everybody. From this experience, I realized that I am an effective worker in a team setting, and am proactive when it comes to solving problems.
7. REFLECT Action Plan
The REFECT test that we had to take for our BSE program was a huge shock to me because it gave me the complete opposite results than what I expected. I still have trouble believing that a generalized online test can tell me more about myself than I can. Nonetheless, at the end of the test I was presented with an overall summary of how I would perform in the business world as well as the positive and negative aspects of my behavior.
According to REFLECT, I'm a practical and levelheaded contributor but I lack originality in creating new ideas. I act impulsively without thinking of the process required to make a good decision. I also focus more on day-to-day goals instead of on long-term success. This is something I can actually agree with, but I think it is easily changeable. Additionally, REFLECT says I set high standards for myself, and this fuels team success. I definitely think I work well in a group setting because I am a great believer in teamwork, and I feel I can feed of the energy and knowledge of others, allowing me to better myself in the process. I have always set high standards for myself, ever since elementary school when I cared about getting good grades from an early age. I have never found this to be a bad thing, because it gives me a goal to work towards and presents me with a strong motivator. Additionally, I like making my family and myself proud.
When approaching day-to-day tasks at work, the test says that I'm self confident and don't let the perceptions of others hold my back. I may not recognize my limitations or when to ask for help. I disagreed with this part of the report right away. I know for a FACT that I lack confidence and other people even tell me that. If anything, I feel like I ask for help too much. I also disagreed with REFLECT on the idea that my direct communication style may unintentionally hurt someone else's feelings if I don't watch my tone of voice. Personally, I am one of the most sensitive people out there, and this I am extremely cautious and sensitive of other people's feelings as well. Sometimes I feel like I run into situations where I actually value others' feelings more than my own, and most of the time this is a bad habit to have because I end up not doing what's best for myself. I am still incredibly confused why this test suggests that I have a harsh and direct communication style, but I suppose I should try to consider the impact of my actions on others more often. To the right is a screenshot of the full REFLECT report for my performance on each of the different skills. While there is definitely room to improve on all 10 of them, I decided to choose 3 to focus and improve on- Strategic Vision, Resilience, and Collaboration. Last year for the first-year PCR, I chose to improve on operational thinking and the process really helped me, so I know that creating an improvement plan for 3 more skills is another helpful idea.Strategic Vision
The results of my strategic vision show that I pay more attention to short-term issues rather than the long-term. I lack thought about my future growth and long-term goals and instead focus on day-to-day issues. For this skill, REFLECT suggested that I start creating an environment that encourages forward-thinking ideas and learning while remaining open to those new ideas. I think the reason why I struggle with forward-thinking is because I let the fear of being wrong or the fear of failure get in the way of my future goals. For example, last semester I took a very challenging class called Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Literatures (LGBT265). The course description sounded like an interesting elective, but I had no idea what I was getting myself into. All the others in my class were extremely opinionated and well-researched on LGBT cultures and current events, unlike myself. The classes were full of strong discussion about current events as well as the wordy texts we were assigned to read for homework. Participation was a huge part of the grade, but unfortunately, I was too focused on simply getting the class over with, I didn't even try to raise my hands even if I did have thoughts I wanted to contribute. I just felt that what I wanted to say wouldn't be good enough, so I chose to say nothing at all. In the end, my grade suffered and I wished I had done things differently. If I had just had more confidence and realized that there are no stupid contributions, I could have gotten a better participation grade for the class. Even if I did say something wrong, that would be a learning experience for me and I could have done better the next time. I need to remember that we must fail in order to succeed in the long run. Instead, I focus on succeeding in the short run and don't give any thought to the future.
A way that I have started thinking for the future is the process of me finally deciding my major this semester. Freshman year of college was difficult for me because I didn't know what I wanted to do, and I tried many different tracks before finding the right one for me. Instead of actually thinking about what I wanted to do, I just expected the decision to come to me and it wasn't going to. It took me actually experiencing different classes and talking to people to realize that I want to major in communications and I would follow the public relations track. Freshman year I came in with an undecided major, then I decided I would try to apply to the business school; not because I actually saw myself doing business, but because I didn't have any other solid leads and I just figured why not. Once I was in a few business classes and wasn't doing well, I questioned if this was actually a major I should be pursuing. I reached out to seniors in my sorority, Kappa Alpha Theta, for advice. I explained my questions and concerned, and finally realized that I could do what I'm interested in as well as have more free time to gain real-world experience through internships if I majored in communications. This way, it is a very similar major to marketing (which I would have done if I applied to the business school) and I can still get all the same internships if I truly apply myself. I wish I had talked to people earlier than this semester, because I could have totally avoided taking classes like business statistics which brought my GPA down, but I am glad I finally took initiative and created a plan for the future.Resilience
The results of my resilience show that I tend to work in short, intense spurts and am passionate about my work. Peers appreciate my urgency to get things done in a timely manner. However, challenging situations tend to make me become self-critical, anxious, or tense, which could negatively affect my team's attitude and productivity. For this skill, REFLECT suggested that I start analyzing the situations in which I become frustrated and anxious. I think a good example of times when I get frustrated and stressed are times in school when I have exams. I always feel that I study super hard and then sometimes still do badly. However, I need to understand that it's not how much I study, it's about how I actually do it. For example, the first exam of the year in my geography class seemed difficult, so a few days before the exam I started cramming every night, but still got a low B on the exam when I was aiming for an A. Someone could study geography for weeks and still not remember a thing if they don't actually do it the right way. Instead of simply just memorizing facts and looking over my notes, I need to find new ways to study. For example, creating flash cards and having other people quizzing me on them would be one good way. Another would be creating possible test questions for myself and then finding the right answers and studying them. The ability to notice what is and is not working and then refining your habits to adapt is a very important skill to develop for life both in and out of the workplace. To achieve your goals, there is not always one clear-cut way to get there. You need to have a trial and error period where you still have the resilience to keep trying.
A way that I have started building my resilience and battling stress is by starting to use an online Google Calendar. I decided I would be less frustrated about exams if I planned out times to study for them piece by piece well in advance, so I don't have a tendency to cram right before my exams. I first color-coded each of the events that would be going into my calendar. Periwinkle events were for homework, turquoise was for social events, sea foam was meetings and study sessions, blue was necessities (showering and eating), and all the other colors represented my different classes. I started out by planning out my weeks very loosely, then I adjusted my method to being more strict because I found that it was very helpful. I am so happy I got into this practice because even though it seems a little intense, I was still able to remain flexible because if I didn't actually do an assignment at the time that I said I would, I can just drag and drop the little box on Google Calendar to another day so that I still make sure I get it finished at a different time. When I actually took the time to focus on the details of my assignments, I no longer rushed or stressed when I was doing things I needed to do.Collaboration
The results of my collaboration show that I work well with others and enjoy team interactions in most circumstances. While I may prefer individual work, I recognize the advantages of working on a team and I encourage it. However, I may not initiate team assignments or projects on my own. For this skill, REFLECT suggested that I keep maintaining a balanced amount of individual and team oriented tasks. An example of a time when I work with others as well as individually is during my waitressing job this past summer in Annapolis, MD at a crab restaurant. Many people may think of waitressing as an individual job, where you are only focused on serving your tables and making sure you get good tips. However, this is not the case. There is a lot that goes on behind the scenes that requires teamwork between all of the servers and kitchen staff. For example, every server at my restaurant has side work assigned to do throughout each night: such as taking down clean cups from the dish room, making sure the straws and lids are stocked, and helping the food runners carry out food to the correct tables. If people are simply focused on their own tables, nothing ever gets done. You need to help each other out in the restaurant industry or else there is a chain reaction that causes everything to be slow and it ends up affecting everyone. If I see another waiter struggling with a lot of tables in one section, it is my instinct to go over there and assist a table that has maybe been waiting too long for their drinks, or I will go back in the kitchen and check on the status of the food they ordered. I do this because it is the right thing to do, and it'll end up making the whole restaurant run more efficiently. Additionally, if the server I help sees that I did them a favor, they will return it to me whenever I'm in trouble myself. Being a waitress taught me the importance of being part of a team and helping others in order to help myself, and I will keep this lesson with me in every other job or task I encounter.
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