Tag Archives: career development

Three Pieces of Advice

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If I could trade back to the beginning of the fall, there are three pieces of advice I would love to give my former self. The first: use the career planning & resources office. The second: personalize your cover letters. The third: do what you want to do, not what you think you should do based on your peers’ career development.

While I did not go onto Handshake to set up an appointment with CP&R until second semester, it was the first thing I did upon returning from winter break. For the first half of the year, I had been aimlessly attempting to write a good cover letter.  I used to dread the cover letter process because it always took a really long time and I never knew if I was writing it correctly.

It was helpful to use online templates, read some of my friends’ cover letters, and have my parents give me writing tips. However, had I gone into the career planning and resources office right away, I would have saved myself hours of writing time. They offer a clear template, some example letters, and give you a straightforward explanation of what to include, what not to include, and how to organize your cover letter. To hear how to correctly write a cover letter from a professional on career advice drastically quickened my cover letter process. I now look forward to writing my cover letter for a given job application.

Even though I learned how to write a cover letter from the CP&R office, it still took me a while to figure out exactly how to impress hiring managers. My first few cover letters were professional, as they should be, but lacked a personal touch. Employers are receiving dozens of other applications from other qualified applicants. I did not realize until about half way through second semester that adding personal stories or thoughts is the best way to get my application noticed. Your personal stories are unique to you, and can help emphasize the reasons why you are best qualified for the job.

I spent a lot of time in the beginning of the year searching for internships that were similar in profession to the internships my friends were applying to. Because most of my friends are also politics majors, and I had no idea what I wanted to do, I just modeled my potential career path off of theirs. I realized that I was not excited about the jobs I was considering applying to. This was a good thing, because it made me reflect on my passions and what I wanted to do with them. I would tell my former first-semester self to just reflect on my passions from the beginning, and to not compare my career development to others.

I have grown a lot this year in terms of career development.  Blogging for CP&R helped me keep track of my ups and downs in terms of figuring out what I want to do.  Although I am only a sophomore, I have an even better idea of what I want to do going into next year, and know I will get an early start to next year’s summer applications.

Things I Learned This Summer

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Let’s all start with a pretty basic post, the classic, “what I did this summer.” Well… this summer I was an intern at the McChrystal Group.

What is the McChrystal Group, you may ask?

It is a management consulting firm which helps companies gain “New Rules of Engagement for a Complex World.” (Yes, I did steal that tagline, not from the website, but from the book Team of Teams written by the founders). By now you should have read that line five times, and are perhaps still confused about what that means. Here is the short answer: Companies do not work, nor is it effective to work, in hierarchical structures. Instead, they are a networked team of teams, and to create a successful adaptive company, leaders should take the best aspects of teamwork in small teams and apply them to the company. Now of course there are many aspects to this, but that would take many more pages (288 pages to be exact).

Let’s move past the jargon of what the company does and move into what I learned while working there this summer.

When I first decided to intern here, I had one small worry (OK, maybe it was a big worry). Generally speaking, this internship really sounded like it had very little to do with my majors (Anthropology and STS), especially considering my background with computer science, and my desire to eventually work in a tech company.  It was something that people would often comment on.  I got encouraging and helpful responses (there is a hint of sarcasm here) like, “this sounds like an interesting job, but I don’t really understand why YOU are doing it.” and  “What does it have to do with your major?” This leads directly to the first important point that I discovered this summer:

  1. Just because an internship doesn’t seem directly related to your major OR even what you might do in five years, it can still be an amazing developmental experience.

Through this internship, I have learned more about myself, and what I enjoy and dislike.  I now view as important everything from simple stuff like: “I want a company with a well-stocked fridge of free food” to “I like feeling (even as an intern) that I have access to high levels within the company.” This brings me to my second point:

  1. Internships/past jobs have always allowed me to learn more about myself and what aspects I find important to look for in companies.

I learned how to do research for a company, and submit that research in a method that helps decisions get made. I learned that even though it is scary, public speaking is not always that bad. That feeling when I completed my first adult presentation was when I realized that in a year, I might just be ready to enter the workforce. I learned that it’s okay to say, “I don’t know” as long as you follow it with “but I’ll find out”, and actually do it. The final point being:

  1. This internship has allowed me to develop great skills that I can take to any job I am going to have in the future, no matter what industry it is in.

At the end of the day, through all the anxiety, sweat and tears of the internship, I learned a lot and developed many skills that are central to moving forward. More importantly, I had a realization that even though I don’t want to do this whole “adulting thing”, I will most likely be fine at it.

 

 

 

Mucho Character

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My mother’s mentality is tough. Growing up, I have been taught that every hardship builds some sort of character. My scraped knees, rainy birthdays, failed spelling bees and crushed crushes were always remedied by my mother’s aggressive assertions that I was fine and these downfalls would help me grow as a human. As a sensitive and emotional child, this was hard to react to. I know that my mom is always right, but I still had a natural desire to pout and be bummed about my petty shortcomings. Sometimes we all have the urge to just throw a tantrum! My mother conditioned me to not cry at every U9 rec soccer game, because: 1. Its recreational children’s soccer and 2. Losing is more useful than winning. I have always had a competitive soul, so I couldn’t comprehend why my mother thought this.  I later learned that my mothers harsh philosophy is valid, and is a useful application.

At the beginning of the semester, I decided that I would I could take on the challenge of Calculus despite my broken relationship with math. I didn’t even place into Calculus but I was so advent on getting my math requirement out of the way, and did not like the idea of taking a lower level class. My advisor and parents both advised me to just take a lower level math class, but I was arrogant. I took Calculus in high school; this should be fine! I was much too confident striding into the class, and became overwhelmed from the get-go. I ended up dropping the class, which upset me to know that I failed. After initial sadness and frustration, my mother’s words came to mind as usual. My downfall has taught to listen to the people around me (who know what they are talking about!) and that these things happen… You just have to move forward.

With this mantra inscribed in the side of my thoughts, I have become stronger from my disappointments in life. I offer that you too can take away lessons from all the wrinkles in life, especially in this often disappointing career world. Buck up, and move forward with strength from your mistakes!