Freshman Seminar Fall 17 LC06

Another blog, a career one

Greeting to who click on this blog.

This is a blog about an internship seminar that I attended. As everyone knows, internship seminar is about internships. I learn many types of internships, such as paid, unpaid, and with credit. Any for profits company internship must be paid or with credit. It is an illegal practice for those companies to recruit student and don’t pay money which is an unpaid internship. (And the wages must be equal or higher than minimum wage, or it would be an unpaid internship). Some for-profits companies were involved in lawsuits and paid for their lesson (some interns gain quite a fortune form lawsuits). So more and more internship are now either paid or with credit. In addition, an unpaid internship is more for non-profit organizations or companies.

If you want to gain credit from internships, you must be admitted to one of the schools and have a major. Moreover, the internship must be related to the major. Some company offer internships that require student to have credits from it(so they can avoid paying and don’t get lawsuits.) For freshman student, there will be a problem as we aren’t accepted into the school yet, and we can’t gain credits. However, the starr career center is providing a zero-credit internship course to solve this type of situation. They will explain to the company, and you could get the internship. Sadly, This does not apply to international students (me). So, international students must be accepted into a school then applied for internships.

There are also many resources on starr research to help us, such as find an internship, write a resume, and practice for interviews. There are walk-in sessions hold from Tuesday to Thursday (3 pm-4:30 pm). This internship seminar is very helpful to me, and I learn more about internships. I would definitely attend more workshop from starr to prepare my future career.

 

 

Baruch Accouting Society

     On Thursday, I went to Baruch Accouting Society with my friends. Before the meeting, I thought it would be bored and serious, However, it is really interesting. When I got into the room, I saw lots of people were chatting with each other. The amount of people who came to the club meeting exceeds my expectation and the whole lecture room was full. Since the club started at 12:30, in order to take care of those students who just finished their class, club members prepared a lot of pizzas, snacks, and drinks. The meeting started with playing the zoom in picture game. There were total eighteen pictures. After the interesting game, president of the club introduced the goal of the club. She also showed us the activities and events that the club held before. Club members talked about how this club could help students get started in their professional developments.They introduced the purpose of the club, the activities of the club,and the meaning of the club. In order to be the club member, I need to complete five corporate events, two general meetings, and two volunteer events. There were few committees for me to join.Attending this club could help me to make more friends, learn more about my major, and do some interesting activities to help me feel comfortable and involve in my new college life.

accounting society

 

Moon cake festival at CSSA

October fourth which was the August fifteenth in Chinese lunar calendar. That day is a Chinese traditional festival— moon cake festival. There is a lovely story about the moon cake festival, which we also called the mid fall festival. This is one of the legends of ancient China. Long long ago( I know right, every legend starts with this three words. ), there was a beautiful woman named chang’e, and she got an elixir. She did not tell her husband and ate the elixir, and as a punishment she had to go to the moon, which separated from her husband yi. Her husband made moo cakes in memeory of her.

This year CSSA offered the free moon cakes, food, and drinks for the members. I went here with my best two friends in Baruch College. We ate food, played games called werewolves of miller’s hollow, and drew a lottery or raffle, which I got a number of seven. But unfortunately, we had class in the afternoon we had to leave early. We told the president of CSSA, she is very nice and totally understand us. That day was my first mooncake festival during my College life, it was an unforgettable experience and I think I will remember it forever. I enjoyed the student life in Baruch College I am looking forward to enjoy more after-school life here, and participate more to fullfill my college life.

 

Career Blog

Career workshop is a good opportunity to learn more about the resources and career experience at baruch college. Every student can join career workshop. The upperclassmen and professor will teach students how to prepare interview and some skills.

Student can ask office or seek the board information to see the workshop information, time and location. I went to workshop with my friends. We had to sign up our basic information including name and student ID. Many students in the classroom and four students stood front of the desk. They started speech when everyone is here. The speech was about prepare a personal pitch, resume model and sample and leadership skills.

For example, when people interview themselve, it should be 30 seconds to 2 minutes long. Introduce must be clear and include personal skill and goal, it must indicate the your decision and  strategy. Also, dress is an important point, the first impression and outfit can make up interviewer’s mind. For instant, wear the business type of shirt and skirt, simple earrings and necklace. No sandals, boots; No big earrings or bangles; No strong perfume; No tight or revealing clothes. Those tips are best for women dress.

They finished speech and students can ask some questions about interview. They answered those questions which help me a lot. Finally, I got the career workshop signature and a career fair preparation guide. It was a good opportunity to learn the interview skill and students should be join it. It would a help you a lot in future.

Career Blog

On Tuesday, September 12, I went to a Career Fair Preparation Workshop directed by the Starr Career Development Center with my friends. This workshop taught us tips and guidelines in preparing for a career fair at Baruch. A presentation was given by four Baruch students and a supervisor was there. Before the career fair we need to research the corporations that interest us in advance so you know which companies you would go to. We need prepare resume and print them in resume paper which can be found in the 6th floor of Newman Library. I was informed that we can print 10-15 copies per week. In addition, you need a personal pitch which includes your skills, strength, goals and motivation that should be about 30 seconds to 2 minutes. We were informed to dress professional, low heeled shoes, minimum jewelry and no perfume. During conversations with the employers, always demonstrate your enthusiasm and your passion, and your positive attitude. Find a way to stand out of the crowd and leave a strong impression. Remember to always ask questions at the end to show your interest in the company. After the workshop ask for business cards or emails for follow up so you can send them a Thank You email. From the Career Fair Preparation Workshop, I learned many tips and strategies regarding resume, sample interview questions, personal pitch which will help me in the next year when I will attend career fair and apply for internships. Practicing and be prepared is always the key to success.

Student Life Blog

The 4th of October this year was a traditional Chinese festival: the Mid-Autumn festival. There are different traditional celebrations in different parts of China nowadays, but one of the most common ways to celebrate is to eat mooncakes. Al kinds of mooncakes have a round shape, which is a symbol of the moon. People always think Mid-Autumn festival as a symbol of family reunion, so it is usually a day for family gathering together to enjoy mooncakes and seasonal fruits while chatting with each other.

In Baruch College, CSSA offers delicious mooncakes to students during on that day. I went to their celebration with two of my best friends in Baruch College, there are many kinds of free mooncakes and drinks in the room for you to enjoy, and you can get a sticker to participate in the lucky draw at the end of the celebration to win the prize. People in CSSA were very friendly and enthusiastic to invite us to join them and told us do not be too shy to afraid to enjoy. Since we had classes later in that day, we had to apologize to the President of the CSSA that we need to leave a little bit earlier, and she totally accepted and told us that we can leave whenever we want. I had an unforgettable wonderful experience in CSSA, they made Baruch College become a place as warm as home in this Mid-Autumn festival.

 

Joining Hindu Student Association

For my second blog post, I went to the Club Fair on Thursday, October 5th. I was getting my Henna done with the Hindu Student Association. I was very interested because my religion Sikhism gets a lot of beliefs from Hinduism. I still pray at the Mandir(Hindu Temple). I asked them what this club was about. The wanted to demonstrate their culture to everyone. They talked about another Holiday called Diwali which is the Festival of Lights. I was familiar with this because in my religion we also celebrate Diwali but we have another reason behind it. They were kind to me and my friends, even though we were not Hindu. They provided us with mango juice and donuts

   I would definitely join this club because not only do they focus on Hinduism they also go over current events. I would like to be in a club where they speak about current events because I would love to get others opinions and discuss them. There also meditation and yoga classes. This is a great benefit because meditation and yoga tend to relax your body. They also go over all the Hindu festivals and it is always good to be informed about other cultures and not only be limited to yours.

   This club influenced me to become more active in my community. I am motivated to be able to express my religious views in a group of people that share the same. I am Sikh hence,  I will be looking forward to joining the Sikh Student Association. I was a part of it in high school and want to continue to do the same. Religion is an essential aspect of my life. I want to give other the information to be better Sikhs and learn from other people as well. Overall, I always love club hours because there is always free food and S.W.A.G., but also you get to learn the purpose of many different clubs and what they advocate for

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BLOG 2

For my second blog, I decided to to go to the gaming room to have a better experience of what I should expect if I were to join the gaming club. I didn’t really know where it was but I knew it was on the 6th floor of the library building. It took me awhile because I forgot what the number of the room. I had to ask for assistant and a lady helped me out. When I arrived the room was closed because outside of the room everyone is studying and they don’t want the noise from the gaming room to disturb others. I had to knock and after awhile they opened the door and kindly welcomed me.

When I walked in I was just looking around and was very shocked because of the computers they had. I was always a gamer, I love playing video games. Most of my free time goes to video games and sometimes I play more than I should because it’s so addicting. Personally, I don’t have the best computer to play games in which made me more excited toward the computers the college had to offer for us “gamers”. I looked for an open spot and sat there with a huge monitor in front of me. I took a little breather to let it sink in the fact how huge the screen was compared to my tiny computer. I started looking around my whole setup and was so amazed because this is a setup most of the gamers I watch uses.

I took no time but got started playing a game on the computer. It was pretty uncomfortable because of how big the screen was. However, the quality was so beautiful and I fell in love with it. One thing I forgot to do was to sign in and the people there helped me out with that. Experience wise I had a great time and it gave me a better understanding of the people I will be around if I were to join the gaming club. I will definitely go back many more times during my free time. I forgot to take a picture so here is a screenshot of a video I took when I was in the gaming room!

 

Student Life Blog (UCLA)

               For my student life blog I decided to join a club. As I walked towards the room, I heard a lot of voices. I’ve always been shy and antisocial so going to a general interest meeting was a huge step for me. I was interested in this meeting which was for UCLA (United Chinese Language Association). As an asian, I guess I thought i could meet people I had commonalities with. When i entered, I saw a room full of people and one of the members of the club immediately welcomed me.

              As i took a seat, everyone was getting to know each other. The girl to my left made an effort to start a conversation and from there, I felt like i already made a new friend. She was a senior named Tiffany and studied accounting, which is what i intend on majoring in as well. The members of UCLA were starting to introduce themselves and their positions in the club. They seemed really nice and outgoing.

             After the introductions, the members explained what the main goal of the club was and what they were striving for. They also explained all the events that are going to be happening in the future. Later on, we were playing ice breakers games like google feud and zoom it. I think it was a great way to ease any nervousness and bond with everyone. The room was split into two groups, both being very competitive.

           At last, the games were coming to an end and the members brought in food. Everyone in the room lined up and got a plate. There were many choices of food and drinks which made my time there very enjoyable. I really had a great experience and hope to join more of UCLA’s events in the future.

Blog #2 career

On Tuesday September 12, I attended one of the school’s Starr Career Development Center Workshop. The workshop I went to was the “Fall 2017 Undergrad Career day – Prep workshop.” When we entered the supervisor had us sign in with our names and empid. I saw that many of the people who were already seated looked like they were upperclassmen. Me and my friends were probably the only freshmans there. After being seated the workshop started. There was a supervisor and four current Baruch students that gave us the presentation. The supervisor didn’t do much talking , the four Baruch students basically did all of it. I learned many things from the workshop. One thing that I learned is that before a career fair we should prepare a 30 second – 2 minute long personal pitch. A personal pitch shows the employer who you are, what your greatest strength is, and what you can bring to the company. Another thing I learned, is that during the career fair always ask for their business cards so you can send a “thank you” email and other follow up emails. When the workshop ended we went to speak with the supervisor, I wanted to ask him more about the career fair. He said that many companies now are hiring freshman interns for internships. Continue reading “Blog #2 career”