a.akindude – First-Year Seminar 2017

LinkedIn Workshop

Yesterday, I went to a workshop on how to build a LinkedIn profile and how to use it to its fullest extent. LinkedIn is basically the Facebook of the employment world. It lets you post your prior job experiences, talents, skills, and all the things you would put in a resume, but in a digital format. More and more employers are using LinkedIn because it is an easy way to find exactly the type of employee they want. In the same way using LinkedIn, trying to find employment works well, because it narrows down your job search according to your qualifications. Also, you can make connections, for example, if you went to the same university as someone who works where you want to work, that can be a good conversation starter, which leads to questions about the position you’re applying for.

In the profile, we were advised to keep it concise and write in bullets, because paragraphs disinterest people. Additionally, Mr. Blake, the person running the workshop, said to highlight the best thing you’ve done at each job. In the LinkedIn profile, there is space for a summary, which is just an extension of who you are, as a person and employee, and why you’d be a good candidate.

Blog Post #2

On Thursday, October 12, I attended a couple club meetings. First, I went to the West Indian Culture club’s general interesting meeting. Here, we all introduced ourselves and what country we are from or represent to get a feel for everyone’s heritage. I joined the club to get more in touch with Jamaican culture, because my mom is from Jamaica. We played a game where we tested our knowledge of Caribbean culture. To my surprise, I got almost all of the questions wrong. But the high point was that there was free food which was 50 percent of the reason why I went. Then, I went to Black Student Union for a meeting. I got there a little late because I split up my time between that and West Indian Culture club. When I arrived at BSU, we were having a discussion about what it means to be black. Some interesting points that were made were that race is a social construct, but it is also biological. I found this discussion quite interesting. Also, we discussed whether people should date outside their own race. This seemed to be a hot topic because there was a lot of yelling and arguing. I enjoyed this part the most.

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Blog #1

I recently visited the Canada art gallery in Chinatown to see a Bernadette Meyer exhibit. Bernadette Mayer is an author, and an artist. I expected the exhibit to be boring and really small. Mayer wrote a couple books in the 1970s recounting her experiences and encounters, which was completely unfiltered. She wrote a book called A Midwinter’s Day in 1978. On December 22, Mayer wrote down her thoughts all day, from waking up to falling asleep. The way we think, is not formed in sentences, but thoughts and bursts of ideas. Therefore, Mayer’s book is comprised of run-on sentences for pages and pages. My English professor assigned for us to go to the gallery to view a collection of photos. These photos were taken everyday for a couple years. She depicted her life throughout the years. Also, at the exhibit there was a recording of one of her books, I did not recognize. However, I found the exhibit extremely boring. This was the only attraction at the Canada gallery. There were so many pictures, that for the most part were unrelated and put together weirdly. I guess there was no revision in the parts of her life. There was no one there besides me and an occasional wanderer that ended up in the gallery looking to use the bathroom.