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Yet again, I forgot about my blog and realised I would have to do it last minute. Luckily for me, we were sent an email by Marwa, giving us options of events to attend that would be acceptable to blog about.

In this meeting, I was able to gain a greater understating of the United Nations and more directly, the EU. The part of this gathering that was most interesting to me was the fact that we were actually being talked to someone who had taken part in the EU and NATO. I have to admit I was overwhelmed with all of the information shared. Though there were many things I missed, I was still able to learn things such as how the EU is the largest contributor to the United Nations. Overall, this was a very informational discussion, with someone who definitely knows what there talking about, but if I were to tell someone to come listen, I would advise them to make sure they have a good knowledge of the UN and more importantly the EU’s role in it.

 

Today i took the Vark questionnaire, the idea behind it is that you answer some questions and they tell you about your learning preferences and at the end it gives you recommendations for the best way to learn.

In the beginning I answered questions about my learning preferences, how I like to learn certain stuff, both physical and intellectual. The questions gave real world scenarios and how I would prefer to learn in those scenarios.

At the end it gave me a rating one what type of learning I prefer, my highest rating was in aural which was 7. It also gave me suggestions on how to tailor my learning experience to get the most out of it.

I think this was a good experience, it gave me insight into myself that I didn’t know before and I can use this in my academic life to help get the most out of my education.

I completed the online questionnaire and my results told me that I had a slight kinesthetic preference in learning. To take in information I️ prefer to: use all my senses, field tours, examples of principles, lecturers who give real-life examples, applications, hands-on approaches (computing), and trial and error. Things I️ should be mindful of when studying: my lecture notes may be poor because the topics were not ‘concrete’ or ‘relevant’., I will remember the “real” things that happened, I️ should put plenty of examples into my summary, use case studies and applications to help with principles and abstract concepts, talk about my notes with another “K” person, and use pictures and photographs that illustrate an idea. To preform well on exams I️ should write practice answers, paragraph and play out the exam situation.

 

At this Starr Career Workshop, I learned how to format a resume.  There are eight sections of a basic resume: education, honors and awards, related coursework, projects, work experience, leadership activates, commuter skills, and languages. I also learned that there are two types of resumes: chronological and functional. My resume should include both hard skills and soft skills. According to Investopedia, “Hard skills are specific, teachable abilities that can be defined and measured, such as typing, writing, math, reading and the ability to use software programs. By contrast. Soft skills are less tangible and harder to quantify, such as etiquette, getting along with others, listening and engaging in small talk.” My resume should include more hard skills than soft skills, because these skills make you stand out from other candidates. When formatting my resume, my resume bullets should include strong action verbs. If I want to include my GPA on my resume, it should be at least a 3.0. In addition to writing a resume, some employers may also want a cover letter. It should be no longer than one page and should explain how I can apply my skills to the desired position. Since I am a college student, there should be no high school related information on this resume. Throughout the workshop, there were many quizzes on the PowerPoint slides. At the end of this workshop, I realized that the resume that I used in the past needs some work. I also took a short assessment at the end.

The Starr Career Development Center provides students with one-on-one resume evaluations. I will visit this center throughout my academic career in order to format my resume. Although I do not have much work experience, I can include extracurricular activities. For example, I am currently in the student newspaper, The Ticker.

I attended the Team Baruch meeting in October because my mom egged me on to try out. I arrived there pretty early on even though I got lost for a bit trying to find it since I never went to the Multimedia Rooms before. It was basically empty when I got there. There were rows of chairs and I was surprised to see that many since I didn’t expect a huge turnout. People started trickling in, but soon enough the room was full.

Before the meeting started I talked with someone about the meeting. They seemed interested in Team Baruch and I can tell by their lively personality. It was interesting to hear about their Freshman Seminar mentor and what they thought about them, which was all praise. It was nice to see a different perspective on their experiences.

The meeting overall was pretty normal, like a GIM for a club. I was kind of disappointed to see food wasn’t provided. It went over all the different aspects of it and how to sign up for it, etc. Even some students who are already in Team Baruch came up to talk about their experiences and tips. It’s hard to describe Team Baruch after this but it gave off the impression of some kind of leadership program. It was kind of intimidating because the selection process seemed kind of rigorous. Plus the things they said was hard to apply to someone like me.

Nothing else really happened besides that. It was a typical information meeting and made Team Baruch sound way out of my league. The loud stranger around me seemed more suitable and more mature and there were so many of them. That kind of competitive environment was kind of suffocating. After the meeting though I gained a renewed respect for the type of people at Team Baruch. They seemed so confident and purposeful, very befitting of a leader. Knowing that maybe some of my peers would be similar to that is kind of breathtaking.

Obviously at this point I’ve already submitted the admittance form and I have to do the interview for it tomorrow of the time I’m writing this. It makes me stressed and pained in the stomach just thinking about it. Adding that to the things I already have to do for classes just makes it worse for me. I can’t wait until it’s winter break, free from this cycle of pain.

I wanted to learn more about how to have a successful job interview. Thus, I decided to attend a career workshop about interviews presented by representatives from Target. I went to this workshop last month, so I can’t remember much of the specifics. The three representatives were very comfortable presenting useful tips on prepping for an interview. They emphasis the need to have scenarios that will answer questions. In other words, you would answer questions by describing a situation including what you did to solve the situation and what you learned in the end. This will help the interviewer to know more about you and your skills. They also emphasis the need to practice before coming to the real interview. In addition, they mentioned to make the interview as quick as possible so the interviewer won’t have room for more questions which may be a bad sign as it might mean that your answers were not clear and concise. Furthermore, they discussed that it is important to ask questions and to send them a thank you note afterwards. Besides discussing the interview prep, they also talked a lot about the Target Corporation. I never knew it was such a complex company until this workshop. Many attending the workshop were actually prepping themselves to interview for Target. Hence, this workshop had gave me a new perspective in Target Corporation in addition to prepping for a job interview. I still have not experience my first interview, so I do not know much about the process. However, this workshop certainly helped me understand more on what to do during an interview.

I went to an Internship Seminar during club hours, and I was surprised of how much information it had to offer. First off, they started off by telling us what an internship is. An internship is where a student of trainee of some kind gets to gather experience and knowledge of a specific field that will maybe someday lead to a job. Then they explained how to get internships and what the benefits of some internships may be. Internships, as most people think, are not always unpaid. There can be positions where internships can not only be a place to learn, but a entry-level job. The instructor then gave us a list of websites and told us which was good and which was bad. In the future, I plan on getting an internship during my junior or senior year at Baruch College.

https://drive.google.com/open?id=0BzfSsj_627iGcGhRc2JtRUYzVXpMQm56b2R6MDd4THZGTF9r

 

Though I didn’t get to take a picture at the event itself, I learned and attained essential information that helped me understand Team Baruch and what it has to offer. My friends all decided to attend Team Baruch’s information session, while I wasn’t entirely sure whether I was interested or not, or even what Team Baruch had to offer in the first place. Letting my curiousity get the best of me, I arrived to the session ready for disappointment and regret. But evidently as the session continued, I became more and more enlightened. The students that coordinated the event gave an impression of confidence and maturity, unlike other meetings I’ve attended. They explained how generous Team Baruch has been to them and how gracious they were to be a part of it. The students also gave an impression that rather than working or doing a chore, they were making the most of their time by helping others. One mentor spoke about his time teaching a FRO class and the relationship he built with a former member of the military. He shared the troubles his pupil went through and all the efforts he made to help him through it. The mentor then concluded by talking about being in the his life past the time he spent in his FRO class and how proud he was of him when he found out the job opportunity the he recieved as a result of the mentors efforts of helping him. This reccollection was the determining factor that made me want to be in the Team Baruch atmosphere. Leaving that session I made a decision in trying to join this group and helping others just as much as the peer mentors do for us freshman everyday.

 

FRO BLOG #3

Writing Winning Resumes

This writing session proved to be very useful and has given me knowledge on how to write a winning resume. The instructor informed us on what a resume contains, the format, and how to effectively write one based on our intended major.

A resume is how an employer views you and gets a general introduction of who you are and what you have accomplished so far. It must contain contact information, education, skills, and experience in jobs or through volunteering. However, things not to include in a resume are personal information (age, pictures), repetition of words, and typos or inconsistencies.

A resume entails a length of only one page and should be in black and white. It should be done in chronological order with the most current experience on top. With each experience it is important to have bullet points to give recognition for the work done during time in a job, volunteer program, or school club/team. In each bullet point there should be key words to highlight writing skills by using action verbs such as analyzed, marketed, coached, etc. Key words such as these give specifics on what you have done in your experiences. All grammar and sentence structure must be perfected and tailored to position you are applying for.

Depending on which major you are studying in, there are different key words that must be used if you want to secure an interview in your field. Keeping these tips in mind when writing a resume can lead for an employer to keep your application rather than throw it out over minor errors.

From this session, I now have a better sense of how to apply all of these steps and essential tools into future resumes I write and can put myself into the employer’s position to know how to make sure my resume is noticed and selected for a possible job interview.

 

Over the weekend I wasn’t in New York, so I wasn’t able to go to a New York Museum. I stayed at my friends dorm and explored the city. I ended up walking by this museum and thought it was a great opportunity to walk around and hang out with my friends. There were many exhibits that on display but the ones that caught my eyes were the exhibits on space. There were models of different planetary masses and it was fun to see these realistic models of different stars and planets. One that stuck to my mind was a model of the sun. The sun wasn’t just a yellow ball of fire, but was more detailed. It had cool and hot spots, sun spots, and sun rings. If anyone is in the Boston area I highly suggest checking out the Boston Museum on Science.