Week 8

     This final week of Interdisciplinary exercises will be about reflection. Reflection is a self-analysis of what was learned and discovered from a particular event. After taking the Capstone IDS class, I’ve learned that I think more systematic than empathetic. This is interesting to me because women tend to be more empathetic and men more systematic. This self-analysis has helped me reflect on the importance of empathy and how I interact with others. I consciously think of social encounters and think of the other person’s feelings more than I have before and have helped strengthen some relationships I have.

     For this exercise, I want you to reflect on what you have learned in your Cornerstone class. Write a brief summary of three things that you learned this past semester and how they may have changed the way you act, think, or may have even brought clarification to your areas of study.

    Then choose one of the following quizzes and right a brief summary of what you learned about yourself that you may not have realized. These exercises can help you think about areas in your life you would like to improve on or accentuate your strengths. 

Personality:

http://www.humanmetrics.com/cgi-win/jtypes2.asp

Systematic Thinking: www.tinyurl.com/7taj8

Empathetic Thinking: www.tinyurl.com/dbsd8

What type of animal are you?

http://www.serengetibook.com/your-safari/what-animal-am-i/quiz/
or
http://www.youthink.com/quiz.cfm?action=go_detail&sub_action=take&obj_id=1442

Denise vonGartzen 

Topic 7: Resume Workshop

Hi Cornerstone students, my name is Amanda Tellez and the topic for this week will be “Resumes.”

As you all know resumes are a very important aspect of finding a job so this week we are going to help you build an effective resume. Many of you may already have a resume and that is great, we will just work to perfect it. Here are this week’s activities:

Activity 1:
If you don’t have one already, draft a rough resume. (Here is a really good website that will help you create or perfect your resume. You can use one you have already started or start from scratch. http://www.livecareer.com/resume-builder ) It doesn’t have to be perfect but it will get you started. After you draft a rough copy upload it into your Skydrive in your UCF email account. Make sure you share the file as a link and post that link into your comments to this topic so we can review it and make suggestions. Then answer these questions:

A. What makes a resume stand out (in either a good or a bad way?)

B. What do you want your resume to say about YOU?

Activity 2:
Take a look at the career services handouts website: http://www.career.ucf.edu/Students/Undergraduate_Students/Write_Effective_Resumes_and_Cover_Letters/Handouts_49_193.aspx and answer the following:

A. Which handouts were most helpful? Least helpful? Explain why or why not.

Mentoring Group 8

You have scored the interview!!! Now what…..

Greetings Cornerstone students! I hope everyone is doing well half way through the semester. I am Melissa King and my areas of concentration for my IDS degree are Education and Public Affairs with a minor in Woman’s Studies. Although my areas of concentration might be very different from each other, I hope to use my degree to assist me in continuing my military career or help me to establish a solid foundation for a master’s degree.  I am looking forward to graduation this coming spring and seeing how I can use my degree in a professional setting.

This week we will focus on a professional setting. More specifically, we will be focusing on our initial communication in a professional setting with a perspective employer. If you haven’t guessed it yet, I am talking about going to an interview. For many of us an interview is our opportunity to give a great first impression and allow our professional skills and abilities to shine, therefore leaving a memorable impression on our potential employer.

Indeed, interviews can make or break our professional experience at times.  Interviews can manifest in a variety of settings such as a one-on-one interview, a panel interview, a phone interview, or several rounds of interviews. Our communication skills, both verbal and non-verbal, must be exemplary and we must enter each encounter with confidence, ease, and positivity. This often takes adequate preparation.

Activity:

You will have a chance to complete a mock “perfect interview”. Please follow the steps closely.

1. Click on the link: http://www.perfectinterview.com/ucf/
2. Go to create a new account
3. Put in the required information and enter in your g-mail email account.
4. Check your email account for password information and follow the link to complete your interview.
5.  Once completed, reflect on the interview. Write a paragraph to describe how you did and answer some of the following questions.  Did you handle the questions well? Interviews can come in various forms. How would you deal with a phone interview of a panel interview? When would be a good time to talk about salary? Post this paragraph with your reply after completing the exercises below.

Exercise 1:

·          Reflect on past interview(s) that you have gone on. What are some areas you feel were positive points in your interview? What are some areas you could have worked on? What did you learn from the experience(s)? NOTE: If you have never gone on an interview please reflect on what concerns you might have about your first interview.

Exercise 2:
 Non- verbal communication plays a large part in the interview process. As an exercise, the next time you speak to a friend or a family member, focus on your non-verbal communication. Take note of the following: How did you position yourself? Did you use a lot of gestures? What were your facial expressions like? Did you make eye contact? Keep in mind these are non-verbal communications in a less formal setting. How might you be able to use appropriate non-verbal communication in an interview setting?

Make sure that you post your responses as comments to this blog post and not as a brand new post. Again, be sure any responses to a particular person’s post are done as a reply to that person’s post and not a brand new comment. This helps keep the conversation going. Feel free to respond to more than one post if you have something to share. As always, reach out to the mentors through the comments and we will reply as quickly as possible. We look forward to learning and sharing more with you this week.

- Group 8 Mentors

Personal/Professional Opportunities and Job Skills

Welcome back Cornerstone students. My name is Kiticha Sapp and the topic for this week focuses on “Personal/Professional Opportunities and Job Skills.” I know that you probably feel overwhelmed with everything that you have to consume in your cornerstone class. I felt the same way the first couple of weeks. So just relax and remember that in the end you will have gained knowledge that will help you with your career. I hope that you have enjoyed the blogs so far and have gained useful information that will prepare you for your future.

This week’s activities will focus on “Personal/Professional Opportunities and Job Skills.” Please answer in complete sentences.

Instructions for activity 1: Create a personal/professional plan in 1-2 paragraphs

1: State your Personal/Professional Goal in 2-3 sentences
2: In 1-2 sentences list the skills and knowledge that you have already acquired to help you reach this goal.
3: In 1-2 sentences list the skills and/or knowledge you still need to acquire to attain this goal.
4: Who can help me accomplish my personal/professional plan and how, specifically, can I call on them for help? ( Mentors, family, peers, etc.)
5: Research one professional organization or club you could join that aligns with your IDS focus areas. Which organization/club would you join and how would membership help you accomplish your personal/professional goal?

Instructions for activity 2: Job Skills: Provide a 1-2 paragraph answer using the prompts below.

1: List your 3 strongest job skills?
2: List your 3 weakest job skills?
3: Describe how you can improve your weakest job skills.
4: Do you have a professional job history that has contributed toward meeting your goal? If so, what is it?