Category: Career

Today I went to Career Center Workshop in room 2-190 NVC. The workshop that I attended was Internship Seminar and I learned a lot about Internships of how to apply to them and its benefits. The instructor taught us about different internships such as a paid internship, unpaid internship, credit internship etc. I learned that currently New York City’s minimum wage is $11 per hour and after December 31, it will be $13 dollars which are very exciting. Also, if any internship provides less than minimum wage then it’s not considered paid internship and one can reach to Department of Labor for that. On the other hand, for unpaid internships, senior status students can receive college credit guide. It is also very important to update “my account” on star careers at least once per semester. In Baruch College students can go to OCR internship which is very competitive because the students have to look at a tutorial and take the quiz, once the student passes the quiz they can apply for it, however, there are many requirements for it such as high grades etc. The instructor also opened the star career site and showed us the process of applying for the internship through OCR. OCR is for an interview on campus rather than to their site. Most important things for applying for an internship is resume and cover letter and to polish it SCDC can help to review it. Some outside opportunities are indeep.com, idealist.org, jobs.gov, linkup, and creative interns.com. For most employers cover letters are highly recommended. Some tips for resume was to put any experience on the resume even if its connected to the job because employers want to see those. Also, font size shouldn’t be less than 10. Few tip he told us for the interview was to ask questions, don’t say too little or too much” and research the company before going for the interview. The instructor also told us that we should keep in touch with the employer after the internship because for later jobs and internships they can write recommendation letters for us.

So I went to this place called Sigma Alpha Delta Honor Society in Room- 3-215 in which they gave tips on how to do well on interviews and we also did mock interviews. They also gave us an explanation about things that should be included in an interview and also a resume. They told us that in a resume it needs to sell out our best points that could interest the interviewer and make it short and not over exaggerated. Also, they told us about what you should do in an interview when you first begin and that is to shake hands and greet them in a polite way. We have to “act” professionally so the interview doesn’t have a bad first impression of you.

This helped me out a lot because even if I knew all of these I couldn’t really practice it because it was kind of awkward to do it with my family or high school friends. So it was a great opportunity to go to this workshop and participate in the mock interviews and get some experience.

On November 22nd, I went to STARR’s workshop titled “Let’s Get Started: Building Blocks for First and Second Year Students.” There were several workshops listed in the email, but I felt like this workshop would provide great school resources and opportunities for me in Baruch. Once I went in, the instructor immediately handed out worksheets and pamphlets. I was not expecting any physical papers, but I’m really glad the instructor gave it out so I can look back to it if I forget anything she said. There was a powerpoint that went along with the worksheets and we did an activity with the person next to us from greeting to each other to sharing our major/minor we are pursuing. In the worksheet, we had to fill out what are the steps we need to take in order for us to pursue our career. The person next to me said she wanted to go into psychology and I suggested in volunteering at a hospital or talk to one of our psychology professors. I have volunteered in a hospital and worked there before and it really exposed me to their environment and surroundings.  We spent a lot of time going over the details about creating a LinkedIn profile. There I learned how to professionally create one and to incorporate all the right information that employers might want and need that a resume does not have. There’s also a worksheet that explained in full step by step on how to create one which is extremely helpful! One memorable thing she said was that it’s ok to have a social media page but to keep your posts or pictures private because it shows to the employers that you are a “look-able” person. She mentioned that many companies would search you up on social media websites like Facebook to see who you are as a person. Without a social media account, to them, you are just a resume paper. I thought that was an interesting point which made me totally revamp my whole Facebook page.

For  my final blog post I had a hard time deciding to choose to go to a workshop or schedule an appointment at the Starr Center to go over a resume. I decided to go to the marketing expo to explore another business field and to get to know what the Starr center has to offer in the future in terms of events. The workshop started off with power point presentations given by professors in the event. In the workshop I learned the differences between advertising and market which I thought were the same. The difference is marketing is the specifics and managements of the business while advertising is the more artist or creative side, in how you will present this product and how you will get this product out into the public. With the workshop I learned that  written or type up resume is not the only way to present your resume, a professor presented a student’s video resume which I found is a great an unique way to present yourself it shows the companies you are applying for in the future that you think outside the box which I may consider doing myself, it also shows the true side of you not some face that you are putting on to get the job. After the presentation we sat and discussed with companies at our tables will was an amazing experience getting to know and talk to top companies whom may or may not be our employers  in the future. There were a wide range of companies covering many fields like news, games, music, etc.

I decided to attend this workshop to understand more about marketing since I need to know more about marketing and advertising for some of my businesses. When I got there, I just realized that this is about the marketing industry, not really the place for an entrepreneur like me. However, I ended up learning something helpful as well as how to distinguish marketing and advertising.

Marketing Carrer Expo is a networking event for marketing professionals to meet Baruch undergraduate students to connect, recruit and share industry knowledge.

From Marketing Career Expo, I know the difference between marketing and advertising, integrated marketing communications, integrated marketing communications for job opportunities. Besides, there is an interesting way to make a resume, it is by videos.

People usually get confused by the definitions of marketing and advertising because they think that they are the same. Basically, marketing is about business strategy, financial management, budget & pricing, product quality &, development, sales & distribution, advertising & communications. While advertising is about creative strategy & development, media planning/buying, production, promotion, public relations, events & sponsorship, social media.

Through integrated marketing communications for job opportunities, there are fields such as digital marketing advertising agencies. In digital advertising, there are digital agencies, social media agencies, digital services firms, digital media agencies, advertising agencies, entertainment agencies, and media agencies (planning/buying). Besides, there are advertising, trade promotion, special events in public relations, consumer promotion, direct response.

In entertainment agencies, there are shopper/retail agencies and sports agencies.

There are media companies such as Time Warner, Verizon, ABC, NBC, CBS, Radio Networks, Out of Home, Conde Nast…

After the professors’ presentation, students who sat in group together can discuss with professionals in their group as well as communicate with each other.

Companies participated in the event includes PG MediaBrands, Horizon Media, McCann WorldWide, High 5 Games, Publicis Media, iCrossing, Newsday, R/GA, GroupM, Omnicom Health Group, 4A’s, MAIP, Status Labs, 20th Century, PRSA & IMG Agency + Records.

I scheduled an appointment with STARR Career Development Centre, to help me proceed and explore the job opportunities. So firstly, I made an appointment to draft my first resume as I had no idea how to start and how to make a resume which I could upload on my STARR profile and use for applying for other jobs too. I went there and met my career counselor. We started discussing and she explained me the format, the points to mention in my resume, the main categories that I need to cover etc. The headings included education, work experience, activities, honors and awards, skills and interests/hobbies. She was really cooperative and patient which helped me understand things even better. We had a conversation for about 25 minutes. Then she handed me a booklet which I could use to draft my resume. Then we decided that I ll make my resume covering all the points she told me to and then to again make an appointment so that my resume could be reviewed and I could make necessary changes. So after a week, I scheduled an appointment with her and went to see her. This time we started with discussing all that I mentioned in my resume. She made all the changes and she elaborated the points so well. The changes really made a difference and my resume looked a lot more professional. I told her that I don’t really have much to write under work experience but she explained and I got points to write in that section too. Then after fixing my resume, we had a conversation about how to engage in other activities and what other things I should do which could go on my resume and could make it even more stronger. Going to STARR and being guided by the counselor was a great experience and really helpful.

           I attended this star career workshop called Ad-Hoc major on October 26. This event took place in the second floor of the vertical building. During this event, we learned about creating our own major. Compare to double major, this kind of major actually lets us combine our study in the weirdest way possible. Double major usually means majoring in two specific field. While an Ad-hoc major is about combining two fields as if they are one major. Some people choose to create their own major because there are not enough classes offered within their field in the college or does not extend to what they want. So through ad-hoc, they are able to take marketing classes and music classes which needs approval by the dean. Thus, gives them the freedom to form a music and marketing major. Although it lets us create our own major, it is generally a part Weissman school of the arts and science. So, the number of business courses (non-liberal arts course) that can be taken is three. In addition, there is a process in which the major must receive approval and requirements must be met. Some requirements are “A minimum of 30 credits, including 24 liberal arts credits, a minimum of three courses from two different departments within the Weissman School of Arts and Sciences, and A maximum of three non-liberal arts course”. Furthermore, a 250-300 word proposal must be written. The proposal should give a unifying theme that connects the courses together to form an ad-hoc major. It should persuade the advisors and the dean that there is an overall meaning  in relating these courses together. Through this workshop, not only did I learned about creating my own major, but I also got to familiarize with what Starr is. From the workshop, I also learned that the career center also offers an assessment test for people who are undecided on their major.

On the last week, I attend a workshop that introduces the criteria that needed to be the focus of the interview and the resume. The adviser began the speech by stating the important notification on the resume, which including four prominent features. The first one is the limitation of the resume length, which should be one page only, and that brings the attention to the rest of the three criteria. In order to present yourself interestingly among the other competitors with the one-page summary, the resume should be overall clean and use neat format. In addition, to be the unique one, the information that had been put on the resume should be relevant to the job and including the unique experiences that might beneficial to your future company. Most importantly, the adviser mentions the main mistake people might make in the resume, which is the grammar mistake. Therefore they explain in a way that highlights the importance of grammar mistake, “People should treat the resume as if it was the final draft of the college paper.” They mention that the interviewer might think the participates as if they aren’t very concerned and motivated about the job, where they count mistakes as disrespectful. After all, the advisers strongly encouraged us to attend the Starr Career Center before we hand in the resume.

After the resume section, these advisers began the introduction on the important criteria for the interviews. It really widens my knowledge after the workshop mentions that people should prepared questions before the interview for the attending company. The reason for asking the question isn’t just for the interviews have an appreciation on the participate of how they have a basic background knowledge about the company, but also it is an important way to notice that if this company is motivated and worth to work for. Overall, I learned much important knowledge that I am going to apply in the future.

Every week Thursday is the last day of school for me. So of course when the last class of the last school day ends all you want to do it to go home. But with constant battling of the lack of sleep I stayed at Baruch in order to attend Ad-Hoc workshop. I did not know much about the program before but just the promise of creating your own major sounds exciting and challenging so I decided to check it out. The class where the workshop happened was small and not many people came. It gave sense of comfort and allowed everybody to ask all their questions. First, the very informative presentation was help by one of the members of the STARR center. The representative talked about what Ad-Hoc is, what are the requirements and why is it beneficial to pursue such degree.  Later, students who already graduated Baruch with Ad-Hoc degree talked about their experience and how is their careers looking now. One of the invited students graduated with major titled ‘Integrated Marketing Communications’ which was really interesting to me personally. His major incorporates courses from marketing, graphic design, and communications. Pursing Ad-Hoc major allows to get course from two different departments in Baruch and still have an opportunity to get two minors. As one of the speakers put it: “…it works for those to who studying one area is not enough…”. I think his words apply to many students at Baruch but common fear of creating your major is not be able to be employed after graduation. I had the same fear and as turned out many others who came to the workshop. One of the students in the auditory asked about getting the job after school and how hard it was to compete with graduates who had the known majors. However, the speakers proved wrong all the stereotypes about being not able to get employed with an Ad-Hoc degree. One of them is currently studying at medical school and another is working at the entrepreneurship project.  The whole workshop was extremely interesting, engaging and helpful. Now I know what options do I have if at some point of my Baruch career I will feel that choosing one major is not enough for me.

 

 

 

 

Since there is a blog post due, I decided to go to somewhere in order to get rid of the due thing. Mistily by accident, I went into the Starr Career Development Center. Before stepping in, I looked at our student handbooks for its details. It is “the primary source of career service for undergraduate students, employees, and alumni.” I did not get the points of employees and alumni from the meeting, maybe its because my mind was actually on the midterms so even though I tried to listen carefully, I was not memorizing too much. Basically the staff talked about how important our resumes are since they are the only way for those companies to know us before an interview. And they gave much information on professional area such as how to form a proper resume, how to impress people, and how to introduce our achievements as fast as we can without being disgusting. The guy also talked about Career Fair which gives me an illusion that I was at a wrong place because I never knew what is Career Fair. It is something completely new to me. Unfortunately, I haven’t known what it is until now.  Overall, the Starr Career Development workshop would be useful for those people who really want to get a better resume and so on. For me, I think it was too early to consider about that since I need 120 more credits to graduate. But anyway I need to enjoy now, because I heard that the study will become heavier and heavier.