Freshman Seminar Fall 17 DWC

 

College has started. What am I going to major in? What do I need to do for my career? Am I on the right track? At some time, all college students ask themselves these questions and are unaware to head in the right direction. Sometimes sources are available but you don’t know where to go to get these answers. As Baruch students, we have an amazing place for us to visit to learn about career fairs, internships, jobs, mentoring, and much more. There are people attending who may be there with the questions just like you and together collective learning and attending workshops provides with the help you may need to reach your goals. At some time during anytime of any type of career we are evaluated at what we are doing and can do. The Starr Career development center helps you to get your resume reviewed to set you on a path to better presenting yourself to recruiters. One of the biggest challenges in the Job market are interviews. Your interview along with your resume really shape up how your employer interviews you and your acceptance is determined. Starr Career Development helps us by guiding us with the right steps to shape our careers. It is truly a precious resource available to Baruch College Students. Approach the Career center and you will be helped by someone at the reception.

 

 

Today I visited the Starr Career Development Center. I went because after our freshman seminar class, I thought that I needed help choosing a career path to go down. Immediately as I walked into the room on the second floor, I was approached by a young man asking me if I needed any help. I told him that I was just hoping to talk to someone about choosing a potential career path. He said that I would have to reserve a meeting with an advisor online through Starr Search. As I walked out of the Starr Career Development Center a lot of thoughts were going through my head. I though to myself “do I really need help figuring out a career path, right now?” I am in the middle of my first semester as a college student, and I am only taking four different subjects. None of the subjects I am taking right now even interest me, so of course I am having a hard time figuring out what I want to do. I am not sold on a specific field, so that makes things a little more difficult. I realized that I need to take my time and wait until I have a couple of more semesters under my belt taking classes that I enjoy, and that will lead to a more focused idea of what I want to do with my life, regarding a career. 

I attended the STARR Career Workshop on Wednesday on 11/8/17. This workshop was called “Small-Talk”, and a representative from the department came to discuss about how to start conversations with people you do not already know. I did not understand what this workshop was about because their was no description in the STARR website. I just decided to take it because the next available workshop was next week and this assignment was due before the workshop. When I attended the workshop, this was the first one ever, I was surprised to see how the room was setup. Everything was setup in a manner that was easy and accessible to me. The kids came in and sat down and waited for the representative to come and get settled. I was also surprised to see that most of the kids (90%) were freshman just like me and no seniors at all. This made me feel more comfortable. The speaker came in and introduced herself and gave us sheets to follow along. And there she taught us about the importance of starting a speech with someone. An example where we might use the techniques where we were taught is during the Career Fairs. Many companies and corporations are going to come and interview us to get more information of internships or even a full time job. I had a great experience and learned and a lot of skills that are important in my future. I hope to attend more of these STARR workshops to further improve my skills.

Ever since the beginning of the semester I have been making use of the amazing library that Baruch provides us with. It’s the perfect place to go when I have free time in between classes. I love that there are so many seating options to suit whatever I’m feeling on a given day, whether it be a desk or just lounging around. I also like that there are many computer stations available if I don’t feel like using my own computer or don’t have it. It’s nice to know that there is always someone there to assist with anything; right at the help desk. Although I haven’t needed any assistance so far, I’m happy that there will be people ready and waiting when I do need them. It’s also nice to know there’s so many resources available for whatever it is I’m working on. My favorite part though, is the atmosphere. It’s always comforting and calm, I find that I’m able to focus on my work best at the library. I will definitely use the library more throughout my college experience.

Last week, I visited the STARR career development Center to seek for advisement on how to write resumes. I found them really helpful as they could answer all my questions regarding how I should start my work, how I should start building up my portfolio and bits of tricks that I can write or do. Although I may be undecided in what I want to major in, the academic advisors told me that it’s ok to be undecided and that I can explore what the school has to offer me such as going to different clubs, attending different workshops and internships. As I asked more questions on STARR career itself, I was amazed at the fact that they provide so much services to offer such as reading and correcting your resume, preparing you for your interviews and you can always go as many times as you want as long as you book an appointment for it and also they are there to just guide you in your development for your future career. I’m also amazed at how professional they are and how they are so willing to help you. I wanted to join the program “let’s get started” but sadly it’s on wednesdays during my math period, however I would love to join future programs that Starr has to offer. For now I’ll be sure to make use of the opportunities I have and probably visit Starr when I’m more sure of what I’m majoring in or when I’m lost like a sheep.

 

Growing up as a Sikh I have always read about stories of sacrifices in Sikhism. Sikhs always stood up for their belief and only picked up the sword to defend never force conversion. These are some things I have witnessed in Judaism also. One of the most infamous moments in history is the Holocaust. Although this is known by mostly everyone but not everyone knows of the 1984 Sikh Massacre. A mass murder or genocide of sort happened in 1984 where thousands of Sikhs lost their lives seeking referendum from the Indian government. To me this brings me close to Judaism as they have witnessed and share historical experiences similar to Sikhs. Jewish and Sikh values match very similarly.  This Jewish club brings to me a feeling of acceptance even though I am not a Jew.

Last week I signed up for a career event on the STARR website. The workshop I attended took place in the evening. It was a workshop that helped its attendants on how to hold friendships and have small talk.  The key to making and keeping friends is to reach out to others, showing interest, treating others with respect and valuing yourself and others. I learned that these are the key principles you have to follow in order to maintain friendships. The workshop representative started off by giving us a list of conversation starters. The tip was to start a conversation by introducing yourself or giving a comment. To keep the conversation going you will have to ask open ended questions so the person you are talking to can reply back with a detailed response rather than just a yes or no.  Asking follow up questions and talking about common interests also keeps a conversation going and makes it last longer. The workshop also talked about body language, they showed up how closed body language such as arms kept to self shows others you would like to be left alone and makes you look unapproachable. Having open arms shows how a person is available for contact. They gave a booklet out with a list of safe questions we can ask someone when we first meet them, a huge tip when you meet someone new is to make sure you speak no evil of others so you don’t scare the person off. This workshop helped me gain knowledge on how to start conversations as well as how to end them, I learned not to just say bye and leave because the person may think something. Instead I can say something like “I hope to see you soon” which will show my interest even when the conversation is over. Overall I enjoyed this workshop because not only was it fun to actually do activities where I used small talk to meet new people, I also learned things which I might have made mistakes on in the future.

On tuesday 11/14/17, I visited the Starr Career Development Center with David after having class. We walked in and spoke to a person there. I asked to get information about any workshops and events they have coming up and they were very helpful and directed me towards their schedule. They explained what type of activities they do. For example, the office can help with exploring your career and seeing what is best fit for you. They can help you with reviewing your resumes and assist with preparing you for any upcoming interviews.  I thought it was interesting that this office even offers to provide any business attire you might need in case you have an interview coming up. This great tool and center can help you with making a wise decision about a job or internship opportunity and in the future about with major or minor you decide to choose. I hope to make a better use of it in the near future when I am applying for internships and jobs. In the future, I want to be part of a mentoring program or service and they told me, I can go speak to them for opportunities related to that. I 100% recommend everyone to go and visit the Starr Career Development Center to give you a sense or direction in terms of your career and studies. After inquiring information from the Starr Career Development Center, I have become interested in the Rising Starr Sophomore program which is a program that helps students of all majors and disciplines to get a headstart with their careers. The Starr Career Development Center is a very helpful tool and program that is offered through Baruch College.

Last week I attended the majors and minors fair with a group of friends and found that the fair was not only interesting, but helpful too. I felt that the fair was helpful to many freshman’s, because many of us have undecided majors and the fair probably made us interested in some majors we’ve never thought about. Although I already have a major in mind, I was looking for a minor. Personally, I felt that the displays they had at the fair caught my attention the most. When I first walked in, the photography display caught my attention, so I walked up and asked about the photography minor. The representative for the photography minor was super nice and helpful. Even though photography was something I found super cool, I never thought I would be interested in becoming a photographer, but after the different introductions and talks the representative gave, I started to consider it. Although I talked to the photography representative, I also went around and talked to the management major, science majors and etc. In my opinion, I really liked the fair and I felt that it opened me up to varies kinds of minors. Now I’m deciding whether I should peruse a language minor or a photography minor. I would highly recommend this to incoming freshman’s, since it helped a wide range of people. The only thing I would change about the fair is to host it in the gym, since the area it was hosted in got super crowded in a short time period. Overall, I was satisfied by the fair and it allowed me to find other possible careers.