Tag Archives: experience

GPA- Is it Worth the Struggle?

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Recently, I attended an award ceremony for seniors graduating from the language department with honors. The opening speech was delivered by the very charismatic German professor Sebastian Heiduschke discussing an article he had read enumerating the reasons why GPA doesn’t really matter to employers. You can imagine that this was a little bit of a controversial topic, since every student receiving an award had at least a 3.8 GPA, and had worked hard to make it that way. But as Heiduschke took us on a journey through the facts, it became clear that GPA truly does matter.richard post July 2014

Let’s start off where he did, taking a look at the things that employers might look at rather than GPA:

 

  1. Knowing how you learn— understanding how you learn is an integral factor in success in education and work environments
  2. Applying theory to real-life situations— we have spent a lot of time getting a degree, we need to know how to use it too
  3. Time management— balancing a work schedule with a healthy social life, as well as all the individual parts of your work life
  4. Relevant Professional Experience— internships you have held, volunteer work in the field, and jobs that can relate to your professional life
  5. Portfolio Work— don’t tell me that all of the work you have done in school is for nothing, you can take all those big projects that you were so proud of and put them into a portfolio
  6. The ability to give and receive feedback— a lot of times employers will want to know that you can give input into a situation just as well as you can receive input and reform your projects
  7. Presentation Skills— not all jobs require this, but being able to present yourself well as well as present in front of others will help you in the interview process at the very least
  8. Writing Skills— and just general communications skills are important if you are going to be working with/for anybody
  9. Your Network— the people that will really get you the job are the people that can attest to your qualities as a worker and person, building healthy relationships with people will come in handy
  10. GPA— finally the employers will look at your GPA as a factor in your prospects as an employee

Heiduschke went on to point out that all of these skills are taught through language classes at OSU, whether they are taken to be a Baccalaureate Core requirement, a minor, or if you are a fully-fledged language major, you will pick up all of these skills in language classes. It just goes to show that language can be a key in our education even if it is not the focal point of our studies.

But, if employers are so interested in all of these before our GPA, why should we even care? Well, the fact of the matter is that all of these points will reflect on your GPA and so if you have a good one, you should flaunt it. But that doesn’t mean that you are out of luck if your grade point is sub-par, you will just have to work hard to get that foot in the door. Remember that it is your job to make yourself look good on your resume, so if you are lacking in one of these ten categories, it’s not the end of the world— just highlight the other categories and be confident in portraying what will make you unique to employers.

We spend a lot of time trying to develop skills that we lack in, but at the end of the day: “If you’ve got it, flaunt it.” We don’t get jobs by telling an employer which skills and attributes we don’t have, or what we are working on. We get the job by showing them just how good we are at what we do best.

 

~Thank you to Sebastian Heiduschke for inspiring this topic, and providing a large amount of input for the post.~

 

by Richard Thomas, Career Assistant

5 Tips on Creating Your Personal Brand

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Branding yourself isn’t just for people already in, or pursuing, a career in marketing. Whether you realize it or not, you are marketing your personal brand every single day to everyone you meet or encounter in your classes and even at work. The personal branding process starts with who you want to be as a person, which can be whoever you want I might add! So take a step back, look at what you really want out of life and start building ypersonal brand imageour personal brand with this foundation. Here are five steps to help you begin thinking about and creating your very own personal brand:

1.)    Define who you want to be as a person, know what you want out of life!

2.)    Identify your personal skills and ownable attributes (the ones you have now or the ones you want to acquire over time).

3.)    Make sure you can excel at each of those skills and attributes.

4.)    Determine whether you can use them to differentiate yourself from others.

5.)    Consider if these skills will bring you success and happiness over the course of your life (the most important part).

Once you have some of these things in mind, begin to think of all the areas in your life that you want success. Of course this would include your career but also think about your social life, relationships, children, and so on. Remember that your personal brand should be aspirational, so what you want out of life, not necessarily where you are right now. This is just a start but it should guide down the right path for personal branding success!

 

posted by Carly Larson, Career Assistant

Find Your Way with the Career Trail

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College is the time to develop the  skills you need and Career Trail  is here to help!  Take advantage of the Career Trail Prep by Step program.   I am excited to be part of Career Services’ Initiative to reach out to OSU students both on and off campus by offering  a new way to engage students in career preparation and develop their skills! Student success is the focus!

Career Trail is our new online career development self-directed and interactive program to reach students and alumni 24 hours per day, making accessibility for all at their fingertips.  Career Trail engages faculty and staff by providing a resource including curriculum/assignments that can be used individually or in a classroom setting.  Career Trail engages users with diverse levels of experience.

One of the  aspects of the “Career Trail Prep by Step” program that I am excited about is how a student or alumni can quickly review the steps and determine where they are at in the career preparation process and find the step they are ready to engage in.  career trail two

  • The Career Preparation process begins with getting to Know Yourself, your strengths, values, interests, and personality.  What a great way to start!
  • Know the World of Work is the next step where you can learn about majors, what you can do with your major, and learn about jobs that excite you!
  • Next it is off to Develop Tools and Skills that will prepare you for a job.  Here you learn about building a stand-out resume and developing stellar interviewing skills.
  • Next you Learn How to Connect.  Connecting with others through your network, expanding your network through informational interviewing and using professional social media like LinkedIn can help you learn about opportunities and be ready to act on opportunities when they present.
  • You can even learn how to develop a professional website or blog under Now Keep Going!

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Link to Career Trail:  http://oregonstate.edu/career/trail

For more help or information visit us at Career Services|B008 Kerr Administration Building | 541-737-4085 | career.services@oregonstate.edu

 

Carolyn Killefer serves as an OSU Career Counselor with over 20 years of professional counseling experience in academic, community, private practice, and industry settings with a commitment to helping others reach their personal goals.

The Opportunity in Every Opportunity

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There is so much information out there about how to find an internship that’s right for you, one that relates to your field of study, or one that will boost your experiences. We’ve covered topics such as:

But the topics hardly ever discussed are those such as: “what to do with your experience after the internship” or “how to hone in on the various skills and lessons you learned from your experience,” even if the experience wasn’t what you expected it to be.

I’ve done two internships during my time at Oregon State, and one the sumblog pic erica 11 29 2013mer following my junior year of high school. I know you must be thinking, “Wow, this girl started early!” But, with my indecisiveness on what to major in, I had to start early.

See, the important thing to understand about internships is that, while you may be able to earn college credits for them, they above all serve as important tools in your career development. For example, the first internship I did following my junior year of high school was through a class at The Art Institute of San Diego. At the time, head over heels for art and computers, I was interested in Computer Animation. Attending a small, private high school, I had no access to Computer Animation classes or an opportunity to experience with the subject. In doing research, I was able to find a Computer Animation summer class offered by The Art Institute, and found it the perfect opportunity to explore the subject. This experience assisted me in exploring computer animation as a potential career, developing hands-on computer animation skills, and networking with top computer animators in the country (my teacher drew Pink Panther and Spongebob)! What this experience also taught me was that Computer Animation wasn’t the right industry for me. The tedious drawing of each and every movement and shift was something I didn’t have the patience for. While some might deem this an unsuccessful internship experience, I ended up learning a lot about myself, including the types of jobs I saw myself a part of in the future. I couldn’t see myself sitting at a drawing board or computer all day; I wanted to be more engaged with others and I decided a job that allowed me to work with people would be one I would succeed most in.

My second internship experience brought similar results. Still unsure of what I wanted to major in, I continued to take opportunities to assist me in figuring it out. As an IT and Investigations Intern at the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s Office, I was able to further develop my IT skills, as well as explore Law Enforcement as a potential path. This experience was beneficial, as I was able to note Law Enforcement as a potential degree path and add numerous skills to my resume. I was able to, again, increase my computer skills, gaining knowledge in databases, as well as serve as a right-hand to attorney’s, first-handedly gaining insight on what being an attorney entails.

My third, and most recent, internship was with the Disney College Program. This experience, much different from the two mentioned previously, brought back my desire to work with people. While my second internship sparked my interest in Law Enforcement, the Disney College Program sparked my interest in the Tourism and Hospitality industry. I was working in the Florida summer (so hot!) in outdoor foods, which I knew I didn’t want to do for a career. While the job itself wasn’t interesting to me, I was able to note various aspects of the job that I enjoyed, such as my love for providing exceptional customer service. I realized that I enjoyed the District Attorney’s Office internship because I was serving the attorney’s; I was assisting them in their court cases by printing photos, recording testimonies, listening to and editing testimony transcripts, and other relevant tasks. Assisting guests at The Walt Disney World Resort helped me recognize my natural passion for customer service and the importance of customer service as an element of my future career.

The point here is, that if an internship opportunity arises and sparks your interest, I encourage you to go for it! You have nothing to lose and everything to gain. Even experiences that show you what you don’t want to do, will surprise you in ways you never thought, many times teaching you a little more about yourself. The cool thing about internships is that they exist to help you learn. An internship is defined as any official or formal program to provide practical experience for beginners in an occupation or profession. From this definition, it is important to keep in mind that an internship provides ‘practical experience’. You may be interested in the study of a particular field or subject, but it is equally important to gain experience working hands-on in that field, in order to confirm it is right for you. So I encourage you to take advantage of the many internships that are out there, because there is ALWAYS opportunity in EVERY opportunity! And for those of you that have participated in internships you thought were a waste of time, you completely disliked, or weren’t what you expected, I encourage you to look back at those experiences and make note of the things you did learn from them.

 

 posted by Erica Evans, Career Assistant

 

Q & A Monday

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Question: What can I do over the summer or while I’m searching for a permanent job so that my resume doesn’t have a gap in it?

Excellent question! There are many things you can be doing over the summer to gain experience, build skills, network, and in turn, make your resume stronger. Here are some ideas:

  • Internship – 9 in 10 employers said they look for students to have one or two internships before graduating, and that those internships should be at least three months each to provide enough experience. If you don’t already have an internship for the summer, create your own! Here’s how! Or get planning for next summer.
  • Part-time or temporary job – you can gain many skills through a part-time or temporary job no matter where you work. Communication, teamwork, adaptability, problem-solving, initiative, hard-working…these are all qualities employers across industries seek in their employees and you can easily demonstrate this on your resume through a part-time job. Also, sometimes that temporary job could turn into full time!
  • Volunteer – there are so many places that could use your help and volunteering is a great way to assist others and also improve your own skills. Thinking about becoming a vet? Volunteer at the humane society. Want to be a writer? Volunteer to start a blog for a nonprofit and write the entries. Interested in teaching? Volunteer at a kids camp or summer school program. The opportunities are endless!!!
  • Go abroad – summer is a fantastic time to travel! Going abroad either through school or on your own can be a great way to learn more about another culture and yourself. You can also build your network internationally and even better if you learn another language (or at least the basics!).
  • Take a class or two – either for your major or just to learn another skill (Photoshop, html code, typing, pretty much there is a class for everything these days!)…and oftentimes you can find them online.
  • Start your own business – due to technology pretty much anyone can start their own business and with little cost. Find out some strategies to get you started.
  • Start your own blog – blogging is a great way to network and be known in your field…or even in an area that isn’t necessarily related to your career. It shows that you have something to offer and you become somewhat of an “expert” on that topic. It also demonstrates your written communication skills and these days many companies have blogs and therefore need people to manage and write for the blog. There are various blogging platforms such as WordPress, Blogger, Weebly, etc. Here is a great article about the top 10 free online blogging platforms.

These are just a few ideas of ways you can gain experience and skills over the summer or while searching for a permanent job and still have some fun! And hopefully you will find that the things you are doing to gain experience and make yourself more marketable on your resume are FUN…this means you are probably going into an industry that fits your interests, strengths, and values and therefore you are more likely to be happy in your career.

What will you be doing this summer to develop your skills and gain experience? Any new ideas from the list above? Any career related questions you want answered during our Q & A Monday post? Comment below!

Jen Busick, Career Advisor & Outreach Coordinator at Oregon State University advises students about internships and the job search, applying to graduate school, resumes/cover letters, and interviewing. She also organizes and updates resources, manages social media for Career Services and coordinates outreach opportunities. She enjoys working with students in coming up with a plan to finding a job and assisting them with figuring out the next steps. She has a lot of international experience, including the Peace Corps, study abroad, and independent travel.