Freshman Seminar Fall 17 DTD

Today, I went to the Starr Career workshop named On Campus Recruiting Program with my several friends in 5pm to 6:30pm. This workshop led by Kaitlyn Riky. Basically, I think this workshop is a great way for us students to learn more about an organization and its opportunities, as well as network with Baruch alumni and business professionals.

At the beginning of the presentation, she taught us how to attend a corporate presentation and why should we go. Attending a corporate presentation will allow us to assess the various companies and culture; also, we can learn about available positions and qualities they look for in candidates. Then, she also mentioned what should we prepared. Sometimes, we can just bring copies of your resume in case that they are being collected at the event, and you can do some research before attend a corporate presentation. After that, she talked about what should we do over there and what should we wear. Basically, we need to wear suits. And during the presentation, we can just take notes and ask the questions about the company.

Then, we talked about how to use the Starr Search Mock Interview Module. Riky taught us how to log in to the website and do the mock interview step by step. Next, she mentioned some problems when we are doing the interview. She said that we should wear appropriately, and we need to avoid some word during interviewing such as: “like”, “um” something like that. Also, she gave us some basic knowledge about how to make a resume, like what should you put on the resume.

Actually, this workshop is really helpful. Because I never think about those kind of things before. After joining this workshop, I find that I should star to think about what is my future job and these things seriously.

The Starr Career Development Center provides comprehensive career services to undergraduates beginning in their first year at Baruch and continuing through graduation. They build and maintain relationships with alumni and employers to develop internship, job, and career opportunities.

I went to a workshop at this center was based on how to write a resume for our job interviews. The materials and needs was presented in a PowerPoint way so it was very easy to understood and clear. The resume is our first impression to an employer. The resume must convince the employer within a matter of seconds that you are a qualified candidate fir the position and should be interviewed. When writing a resume, it is necessary to put significant effort into creating a resume that is clear, concise, consistent and relevant to the position or industry. There are two types of resume, chronological and functional. The chronological resume is the most widely used format. Its defining feature is the listing of work experience in reverse chronological order with the most recent experience listed first and most employers prefer this format. The another one, functional resumes omit work experience and instead list various abilities and accomplishments under functional heading, it is typically used for individuals who have been in a career for a number of years and desire a career change.

I learned a lot of general resume tips by attending this workshop such as resume must be one page unless you have significant work experience like over 10 years. Also it is good to use heavy bond paper in a professional color considered as white, ivory, or beige if you are mailing the resume or attending a job or internship fair. I think the Starr Career Center is very helpful for all the students who are attending Baruch. It helps student to develop their career path step by step. It is a great place to went for internships and job.

             Last Tuesday, I decided to go to a career workshop named Cover Letters and Other Business Correspondence. It was an interesting experience to meet new people that want to learn how to make a cover letter. At first, I thought making a cover letter was easy but I was so wrong. It has a lot of processes to make one. Ricki Weitzen, our advisor, with her assistant gave us tips and a worksheet to understand how to make a cover letter. For the next two hours, Ms. Weitzen gave us a presentation on how to make a cover letter.

            First, she asked the audience some true or false questions to test our knowledge about cover letters. This is when I learn some new information about cover letters. I learned that a cover letter should not be so colorful and creative at all. The recruiters want to learn your experiences, internship, or any voluntary/leadership positions you took. A cover letter should be simple, nice and professional. Also, I learned that there are many different types of cover letter and you need to write a different cover letter for each different job opportunity. This will be so annoying to me. Then, the teacher taught us the necessary format on how to write a formal letter. There should be an introduction, a body paragraph describing how your previous work experiences will help you for this job, and a conclusion to give your email and phone number to the client. Also, she tells us tips on what to do and what to not do in a cover letter. After that, we looked over samples of the cover letter. to see what is the difference between an excellent cover letter, a mediocre cover letter, and a poor cover letter. I was assigned to a group by the instructor and my group discussed the requirements to make an amazing cover letter. Next, we presented it to the class and it was an interesting and curious experience. Finally, the workshop was over and everybody left. This workshop showed me that a cover letter is not something easy to make.

As a student who attends a business school, I want to be prepared well enough to get a job in a professional setting. Yes, however, I am on the pre-med track, but, getting a job from any field would require one thing: to master the job interview. I went to this workshop to see how I could make myself look impressive during a job interview.

The workshop was led by Kaitlyn Riley and she showed us a PowerPoint and gave us a packet with information on how to dress, answering questions, make a personal pitch, and other methods to use during an interview.

Kaitlyn was very informative and kept us engaged throughout the presentation. She would tell us how she did certain aspects to get ready for the interview and she also had some of us talk about our own experiences. The packet had so much helpful information, from stores to get professional attire, tips to help relieve anxiety, how the interview should flow, vocabulary to use, questions to help prepare, and finally a template to write a thank you letter after the interview.

In the workshop, we also partnered up to have a little mock interview. We started off with a firm handshake and got to know each other better. I wasn’t as nervous as I was before. There were other freshmen around me who was going through the same thing as me. They wanted to learn how to become a better interviewer. At the end of the “interview”, I left with a new friend, so it was nice.

Although I knew most of what I got from the workshop, I wish I attended this during high school. The very first interview I have ever done went by poorly because of my lack of proper professional clothing, terrible answers, and no knowledge of the company I wanted to join. This workshop really would have saved me from the horrible interview and from reliving it again in my memories.

I didn’t know what to do for the last FRO blog post on the career part, until I saw a poster near the library where we rent out laptops. The career decision workshop held by Tanuja Ramchal was on Thursday October 19th at 12:20pm – 2pm located on 14-240. There was a website where we’d have to rsvp for the event.

It was Thursday the day of the career decision workshop. Theatre class ended around 11:45, leaving an ample amount of time to chill and relax before the workshop starts. As expected, I miscalculated on my time because I forgot to add traffic time, resulting in me being late for the workshop. Furthermore, I didn’t know how to get to the 14th floor; I thought the 13th floor was the last floor because there were no visible pathway for the usual stairs and elevator route that I’ve been used to get to class. I began to panic when I got to the 13th floor. I inquired a random person, hopefully he has a greater knowledge of the building. I finally got to the 14th floor and I was once again lost. The 14th floor was basically a maze for me. I would follow the signs but wouldn’t be the right room. This reminds me of those Scooby Doo’s shows where the monster would chase the gang through ghost as a comedic, filler scene. It took a good 20 minutes of my time until I found the room.

I entered the room with such haste and asked another random person whether or not this was the right room for the career workshop. That person was a photographer and I assumed he was pursuing a higher college degree.The workshop itself was unexpected. First of all, I realized that there were only eight or ten people including the host, Tanuja Ramchal. Second of all, these people were older than me, ranging from seniors to graduates. I was shocked on my discovery but at the same time question myself whether this was a good idea to register for this career workshop. In spite of the weirdness, I didn’t regret not registering for this workshop; the workshop enlightened me on how to make good decisions and overcome fear. There was this one exercise where Ramchal told us to write whatever dreams you want to achieve if there were no limitation. To my surprise, a lot of people would rather relax or pick another career where they enjoy the most than to work despite their years obtaining their college degree. Ramchal explains this phenomenon as a boarder line to an individual’s living. She further explains that the individual’s living standard is considerably much lower than one’s dreams, thus making it impossible to achieve it. Therefore, she explains that we have to increase the living standard and make a reasonably dream, instead of hovering just above the expenses of standard living.

Another exercise was to close our eyes and imagine the possible outcomes of the decision you’ve made in the shoe’s of your future self. She told us that when making a good decision we must think ahead of all the possible problems. Overall, the workshop helped me to reevaluate my life and think ahead in my future self.

I attended a STARR Career Center Workshop for Dining Etiquette. Terri Thompson taught us about how to conduct ourselves at a formal dinner or a job interview that involves eating. She was telling us the proper way to load your plate and the proper way to eat with utensils. She also suggested a price range for what you should order if they’re paying which is a dish in-between the lowest and highest priced meal. Usually though, these interviews are conducted at a buffet and her advice there is just not to load too much onto your plate and to go back for seconds if you want more. Alcohol in the casual business environment was also discussed and what you should do in the event that you are offered alcohol while on a job interview. Some people said that you should follow what the person interviewing you is doing but ultimately Terri said that alcohol should be avoided altogether. She also suggested not to try to carry too many things back from the buffet table at once and to just make a second trip if you need something else like a drink or napkins. We also learned basic manners such as where to put our bags while we eat. In addition to this she also gave advice on proper attire for both women and men. This workshop helped me realize that I do need to plan and start to prepare for my future beyond Baruch. Before I went to the workshop I didn’t really think about what’s to come after I graduate from Baruch and find a job. My thoughts were limited to only the next 4 years ahead of me. Its hard to think about the future when you have so much to do in just the next week but this workshop did remind me that there is more that I work toward for long after I leave Baruch.