Month: November 2017

When I entered college I came in with a career idea, to become an accountant. But, other than completing my course requirements to enter into the BBA program for accounting in Zicklin I don’t know where to start my career. Then I heard about the Starr Career Development Center in Baruch and the resources it can provide for me to establish my career in detail from my FRO course. Later on the same day I was informed about Starr center I attended a information session held by the America Needs You program (A.N.Y.) in the evening. The A.N.Y. program was founded with the  goal to assist college freshman from low income background to develop their career by assigning percipients of the program called “fellow” with successful professionals from fields that are in the area of the student’s intended major offering individual support. Support ranges from developing resume, communication skills, networking, etc. During the session I was informed of the requirements needed to apply for the program which are as follows be a college freshman, be available on Saturdays for workshops, be considered low-income by HUD standards, eligible to work in the U.S., and is a first-generation college student (neither parents have a bachelor’s degree). In addition, there was a panel of current fellows and their mentors explaining their experience in the program and what they gained from it. For instance, their responses to the question of what they gained from the program were similar to the bonds they formed with each other as mentees and mentors on a professional and personal level. To be able to make a connection with someone from a field you are interested is valuable to develop skills to work in the field. After the session was over I was very interested in applying for this program to better understand the field of accounting from someone who is well experience in it

For my last blog assignment, I decided to go to the tech fair this past Thursday. The tech fair was a great place to learn about new start up companies an listen to ways these companies have grown and developed over the years. At the fair a few people gave some speeches and shared some insight on start ups and how to be to succeed with them. There was also a question and answer section which allowed and openned the floor to students with all different kinds of questions, concerns, and inquiries that we had. It was interesting to hear the questions some people had, and it was even more interesting to hear the answers the speaker gave, as he shed even more light on start up companies. Additionally, people from real start up companies were at the fair which made this a great opportunity to network and hopefully be hired by one of these companies. You were able to bring your resume and pitch yourself to these companies and show how you are interested and hopefully qualified to work in their particular company. The tech fair also provided food from the Hillel. This was especially convenient, because the fair took place at 12:30, so it was nice that they provided food for us. The last reason why this club was so useful was because, being that I’m in a club that works hands on with start up companies in Israel, it was also a great experience to see and hear, first hand, about start up companies in America. Although the market in the United States in very different than the market in Israel, start up companies all share many common and fundamental skills that you need to have in order to succeed. This fair was a very useful and an insightful fair. It provided a lot of knowledge about start ups and was a great opportunity to network.

I went to the STARR development center to get help for my resume. In high school, I made a simple resume for college and my job. I just looked up a resume maker and took my random accomplishments and made a messy compilation of them. While I didn’t realize that just doing that wasn’t sufficient in high school, my point of view quickly changed in Baruch. In the beginning of the year, I tried joining a club program but didn’t get to join. They wanted a copy of my resume. Before the club, the last time I looked at my resume was in May before college applications. Once I looked at it again, I quickly realized that it wasn’t good enough. My accomplishments weren’t specified enough, it wasn’t one page, and it didn’t have a consistent, coherent format. When I went to the STARR development center, they taught me some tips to make a better resume. They taught me what the important parts of a resume were, where to put the important parts, and what to specify in the important parts. I would recommend the STARR development center to every freshman in Baruch. A lot of the times, I don’t realize all the resources available to me at Baruch. Despite it being in my tuition, I don’t utilize them often. Many college students probably don’t utilize the resources as well. The STARR development center can really benefit anyone who needs help with improving job or internship prospects and is accessible to everyone at Baruch.

I do not actually know what career I want in the future, I have so many different options it is overwhelming sometimes. The options that appear best to me are not some of the opportunities given to me by college. However, I know that it is unrealistic of me to expect to be able to do what I want in life and so I wanted to see what career I could possibly go into that might not be uninteresting for me. I decided to go to the career fair I heard of, but I did not realize it would just be showcasing the jobs in one field of study. I also forgot it required me to be well dressed so I had to rent a suit to go.

The fair did not show me any jobs that I was interested in but it opened my eyes to the fact that there are so many job opportunities in just one subject that I had previously thought to be very limited in its application. I still do not know what I could possibly do or study but I at least know that whatever I do choose in the end may have jobs that I had no idea about. If anything this fair taught me to be more open-minded about various subjects. I hope that I will figure out what I want to do soon, maybe I will enlist the help of some of Baruch’s other career related services.