While this is my first semester as a Blogger for Beyond The Elms, the role has had a large impact on my time at Scripps, my interests, and my internships.

Through blogging for CP&R, I have become closer with the CP&R team and learned about all the resources they offer. As CP&R staff member Rachael reminds the bloggers of upcoming events, I have been able to take advantage of several of them, including the Financial Literacy series.  The Budgeting Session that was part of that series taught me the value of keeping track of my spending habits, which I have been doing ever since.

Blogging for CP&R has also given me an outlet to express my excitement and frustrations with finding a major, searching for an internship, and choosing a career path. Blogging has allowed me to think deeply about the choices I make in relation to my career. In addition, I feel that I am now more self-aware of how I can I present myself on my resume, in cover letters, and in interviews. Blogging about these topics helped me to realize that it is perfectly acceptable to not yet know what my major will be or what career path I want to follow.

While applying to internships, I had no idea how much my position as a CP&R blogger would help me. As I was preparing for an interview for an internship at a startup, I discovered that the startup had a blog. I loved reading all of the content on the blog about living in New York and was excited that the internship might allow me to create content of my own. During the interview, the interviewer asked if I liked writing or not. I responded that I loved writing and was currently writing for my college’s Career Resources blog: Beyond the Elms. She was ecstatic to hear that I had blogging experience. Soon after the interview, I was asked to complete an assessment in order to continue in the recruiting process. Part of the assessment required me to create a blog post about living in the West Village, a neighborhood in New York. I felt very confident in my ability to write a polished and informative blog post for the startup because of my blogging experience with CP&R. Ultimately, I was offered the internship and will be interning at the startup this summer. Through this experience, I have realized the true and unexpected value of being a CP&R blogger. I honestly do not think I would have been selected for my summer internship if I were not a blogger for CP&R.

I am very grateful for the opportunity to blog for CP&R this semester and for all the benefits it has provided me. If you are interested in careers in communications, marketing or social media, I highly recommend the role!