Tag Archives: Transferable skills

Putting Yourself Out There (Even if You’re a Horrible Dancer)

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One of my favorite things all through middle and high school was driving in the morning with the radio turned to my favorite station. I loved hearing the next big hits, but I also (guiltily) loved listening to the radio hosts interact with each other. For me they were glimpses into two people’s lives that I would never otherwise see. One of the other women I interviewed this summer, let’s call her Liz, is currently a radio host. However, she also works as a freelance writer in order to always make ends meet. As she said in her interview “radio is very volatile.” Even though she had one of the most popular shows in Portland (one that has received high recognition), a few years back they were taken off the air. However, because she had the initiative to always be trying something else, she survived. It didn’t hurt either that everything worked out in the end, as the show was brought back due to high demand.

What stood out to me the most about Liz was her drive to do everything she could to gain experience. While at Scripps, she got involved with a local PBS station that helped her work towards her former goal of working in documentary film. Her mentor would “set [her] loose. She would say what she wanted done, and [Liz] would end up doing all the research, all the interviewing, and all the prep.” While that may sound like a huge task to put on a new college intern, Liz said that it completely prepared her for her first job out of college. She moved to New York and worked for a great company for 8 years where she made documentary films.

Furthermore, Liz during her college years had an internship at a TV station. When she was on a tour of the station with their boss, he turned to all the interns saying “Everyone say what book you are reading right now.” While all her fellow interns started listing autobiographies of famous TV anchors, Liz was flustered. “I just happened to be reading Heart of Darkness so I said that because I couldn’t even make up a book about an anchor because that’s not my thing.” However, her honesty served her well. The boss immediately turned to the rest of the group and told them “That’s the right answer. Don’t be pigeonholed. Read as broadly as you can, take in as much culture as you can from the world at large and you’ll always be good at what you do.”

I have always been that girl that does a little bit of everything decently. My parents made me try ski racing, tennis, soccer, softball, swimming, sailing, ballet, gymnastics, singing, piano, guitar, violin, and so many other activists growing up. I never was fantastic at any of them, but I mostly was able to keep up (not ballet though…my mom actually made me quit because I was so bad). Through high school, I was able to consistently keep up with about five or six of them. While there were activities that I easily could have dropped—I wasn’t a huge fan of the crazy piano teacher that made me make her toast, coffee, you name it—they always told me the same thing Liz’s boss at the TV station told her: that it will come in handy in ways I couldn’t then understand. And honestly, the advice is so true.

^^My relationship with ballet

I have gathered such a weird range of skills from participating in so many different programs. For example, tennis taught me how to center myself and focus on nothing but the task in front of me. Singing taught me poise and confidence in front of large masses of people. Ski coaching taught me how to handle a screaming herd of 7 year olds. All of these skills have come into play for this internship (well…maybe not the screaming herd thing…but I also had to be super organized for that job in order to handle said children). I had to spend hours focusing on getting the job done, confidently speak to women that are living in the real world, and stay really organized to meet various deadlines and appointments.

Last year I kind of let myself relax a bit. I let myself transition into a new environment, and I’m really happy I did so. However, this year I came back ready to take on everything and anything. I think trying new things and experiencing everything is so incredibly important to succeed. Just because you want to be a scientist doesn’t mean you can’t do acappella. Just because you are an English major doesn’t mean you can’t take economics classes. Experience builds a resume and character. You never know what characteristics your future employer is going to see in you that makes you stand apart from everyone else.

            So, what do you think? What experience are you bravely going to try to gain next?

 

 

How CORE helped me

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Scripps College is famous for its CORE program, which aims to challenge the preconceived notions students have of the world around them. Often times freshman year I heard my classmates complain about CORE, and how it doesn’t help garner skills employers look for. However, after going through the process of applying and completing internships, I realize now how wrong we were about Scripps’ CORE program. In this post, I’m going to talk about the abilities CORE gave me and how I translate them into “employable” skills.

For starters, I would never be able to communicate as effectively if I hadn’t partaken in the intimate CORE discussion classes. The subject material was always sensitive, particularly during the first semester when the CORE I theme was violence. Furthermore, the readings (from Foucault to Kant) were extremely challenging and focused around complex philosophical theories. At the beginning of CORE I, I had many opinions and reactions to what I was reading, but lacked the know-how of how to put abstract ideas into words. Also, because the subject matter was so delicate I never wanted to misspeak. I developed a system of how to process my thoughts into concrete ideas so that I could express in a clear manner. My CORE I professor helped with this by instructing us to come to class each day with 3 questions and 3 comments about the previous night’s reading. By coming to class prepared with written statements, I felt confident in articulating my thoughts in in-class discussions. It turns out communication skills is one of the most marketable skills out there – every internship I applied for calls for interns who are great communicators. Listening to others in CORE and then reacting to their thoughts in a respectful manner helped hone my ability to collaborate, express my thoughts, and create meaningful discussion. Though not a “concrete” skill – like knowing STATA or Python – Scripps’ small classroom discussions give us practice for conference rooms and team meetings.

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The emphasis of writing also helped prepare me for internships. CORE essays – though brutal in the beginning – refined my writing skills. I often go back to papers I wrote for CORE to see how I structured my introductions and conclusions, the transition sentences I used, and the overall format. Many employers want to know you can write, and when I explain the three-semester writing-intensive CORE program, they feel confident that I will be able to handle drafting company documents.

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Scripps’ liberal arts education has helped me immensely throughout my work experience. There are loads more skills I learned from CORE [multi-tasking, working under a time limit, looking at organizations from different perspectives…] but I encourage you to think of how you changed throughout the CORE experience, and why.

How I Made My Story

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Along the same lines as last week’s post, my post draws inspiration from How I Met Your Mother. For those of you who missed an epic 10 years, last year one of my favorite television shows ended. Ted Mosby told his kids the story of how he met their mother–for the purposes of my sanity, we are pretending that the alternate ending was the ONLY ending–for a really long time.

The ending of this show was horrible and never happened.

The ending of this show was horrible and never happened.

 

The great thing about Ted’s story is that he crafted his life into a narrative. It was not always smooth, but Ted made it seem linear. And while Ted was not applying for an internship or job, we can learn something about building narratives and drawing connections from Ted. In cover letters and interviews, your future employers want to see a story, growth, and that the position you’re aiming for builds upon your narrative.

Sadly no....

Sadly no….

I’m in no way saying that you should lie or make up a story about your career path. DON’T do that! But I’m sure there are connections between your positions that you may not see. For instance, I’m a Beyond the Elms blogger and a Phonathon manager. How do those relate to each other? As a manager, a huge part of my job is to coach and give callers advice. I don’t write a blog about it, but I use oral communication to achieve similar goals. By participating in both activities, I’m able to develop my leadership and communication skills.

See? It's legendary!

See? It’s legendary!

See? There are reasons you do what activities, internships, clubs, etc. that you do and there are connections, but you need to be able to communicate those connections in cover letters and interviews. Having a narrative makes you sound more confident and like this position will really advance your career in the way you say it will. This week, try brainstorming the connections in your life and discover your own narrative!

Good Luck :)

Good Luck 🙂

What you missed if you didn’t get to know Lesley Bonds…

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I know you all diligently read Beyond the Elms and greatly appreciate the work the bloggers put into each of our posts (just go with me here…). What you might not know, is that there’s a fabulous curator of this blog who edits all our posts, constantly advises and inspires us, and finds the most entertaining gifs for our weekly emails. Her name is Lesley Bonds and tomorrow is her last day at Scripps because it was unfair of us to hog all of her amazingness for 3 years. She’s accepted a position in which she will be directing a program for first generation college students. Personally, I’m beyond excited that she’s pursuing work that she loves and she’s great at, because it means all of the advice she’s given me over the years, to refuse to settle and continue looking for exciting opportunities, hasn’t been BS.

That said, CP&R (and Scripps as a whole) isn’t going to be the same without her and we want to make sure she realizes the impact she’s had. If you didn’t get a chance to meet our resident intersectional-feminist, empowering, and generally wonderful role-model, here’s what you missed out on:

“Three years ago, I met with Lesley for the first time at CP&R. As an already anxious first year, the support she showed for my professional and personal well being meant more than words can describe. Lesley not only helped me write my first resume and cover letter, but she showed me how to navigate the larger job world. Her advice and expertise has definitely helped me get where I am today. ” – Lily Comba

“I think Lesley is great because she made CP&R so welcoming during my first year as a low income student of color. She played a big role in making me realize that I can major in whatever I want and still have stability and a bunch of career options. She also directed me to SCORE, different socially aware internship sites, and helped me find my interest in higher education/student affairs. Also, she has been one of my go to people whenever I’ve had unexpected existential crisis. 🙂 ” – Chandra Dickey

“I’ve been meeting with Lesley since the beginning of the year and she’s such an amazing Career Counselor and person! Lesley is so helpful and just understands students–her ability to connect with students is amazing. From meeting with her and working with her on Beyond the Elms, I know that Lesley a positive impact anywhere and everywhere she goes. But I will definitely miss her advice, GIFs, and positive attitude.” – Elisabeth Mayer

“Lesley is awesome in every sense. From her love of The Beatles (that may surpass my own), to her adorable collection of cat pictures, to her way of finding the perfect gifs for every situation, Lesley is just amazing. Scripps and I will miss her greatly!” – Isabella Levin

“Lesley reassured me that my feminist values can (and should!) have a place in any job I pursued and showed me how to let that structure me search. She told me it was okay to ask employers hard questions about their social justice orientation when it mattered to me- without that guidance I might have ended up in a position that didn’t value my feminisms!” – Claire Hirschberg

“Lesley helped me stay focused and calm during one of the most stressful times in my life! She always pointed out details I might have not otherwise considered, which helped me get noticed by companies I NEVER thought would look at me twice. It’s sad to see her go, but I am so excited to see what she does next!” – Megan Goldman

“Lesley always knows to deliver some sassy feminist one-liners to brighten your day no matter how stressed you are about the job search!” – Rachel Grate

“Lesley is amazing at providing support and guidance that meets students where we are in the cycle of figuring our life/the next 2 months out. I feel like my time working with Lesley is like career personal training–every session I feel more confident and better prepared to tackle career hurdles and reach my goals.” – Mia Shackelford

“Working with Lesley has taught me so much about how to advocate for myself personally an professionally and how to identify who I want to be in this world. Whenever I’m lost or confused about something–be it job applications and networking or personal life–I literally think WWLD (What Would Lesley Do)?” – Laurel Schwartz

Thank you so much for everything Lesley. We’re going to miss you so much. Enjoy your life after Scripps beyond the elms. Please come visit soon.

An Indecisive Narrative

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I am certainly one of those college students who changed my mind about my major hundreds of time. There was even a short 10 minutes when I considered the 3-2 Engineering program–spoiler: that was NOT going to happen as you have to plan for that starting day one. I came to Scripps wanting to be an Economics and Politics major, but quickly changed my mind. Neither were really my passions and I especially did not enjoy my politics classes. The question was: now what? And trust me, everyone was asking.  My friends still tease me about my major selection process, and I have to admit that it doesn’t feel good to feel like the one who doesn’t have it all figured out. Unlike me, my best friend always knew she’d be a Neuroscience major and my boyfriend always knew he’d be a Computer Science major–I felt like the odd one out.

It took some stumbling along the way, but taking Arabic really shaped what I wanted to do. I wanted to somehow incorporate Arabic into a major because I love it so much and want to keep learning about the language. At first, I thought to do Late Antique Medieval Studies through Pomona, but eventually have decided to do Middle East & North African Studies because more language courses can count towards that major, so I can study Arabic for longer and go abroad easily. I had actually stumbled into doing a lot of the requirements and those politics classes that I thought were a waste counted as electives. Phew. That took a while. But I wasn’t satisfied.

Gee thanks, XKCD....

Gee thanks, XKCD….

Last summer–at the tail end–I switched into an English class. I had never once considered studying English in college. After all the talk about how unprofitable it is, I don’t think it once crossed my mind even though I absolutely love literature, arguments, and reading. English, of course, is perfect for me. I get to pick apart texts and read fantastic literature for homework! I have had great experiences with Scripps English faculty and am enjoying my very first Pitzer class as well.

However, then comes the inevitable question I always dread: so….what’re you going to do with that? I’m not completely sure. I want to go to law school and English lends itself really well to law. Learning a second language is a good and marketable skill, so I can easily sell my Arabic skills. But should I have to? I am challenging myself and learning in a way that makes me happy and fulfilled. Scripps prepares well rounded women who can learn to market their liberal arts skills.

If you’re considering an “unprofitable” major, my best advice is to go with what makes you happy. I didn’t decide to be an Economics major because I wasn’t excited by Economics or the job prospects that many of the Scripps Economics majors have. It’s not my thing. If you’re doing a major that isn’t your real interest because you think it’ll lead to a good career, think about what those careers are and why you want to pursue them first. I’ve had Scripps students say things to me like “English majors like you are the reason Scripps doesn’t make as much money [in donations],” which is not true. Some people will be negative about your choices, but that doesn’t mean you should stray from what makes you happy.

You study here, right?

You study here, right?

In fact, you may be much better at selling that Anthropology major that you adore than the Computer Science major that you feel rather meh about. Remember that you can always take Statistics, Economics, Accounting, Computer Science, etc courses to put on a resume without having to really commit to a major that you’re unhappy with. Stay true to yourself and your goals and be okay with those things changing. College isn’t where we have to figure it all out, but it is a unique opportunity to learn and grow in the way you choose to.