Reflection

How are you planning to use the reflection in developing your e-portfolio content pages? Can you give any examples on how this reflection page can benefit you and what specific things it can do to better you and your understandings. What is your understanding of reflection? How is it different from description? Take the time now to reflect your reflection ;) and tell us about it!

Interviewing Part II

When being interviewed, there are a few different questions that come your way. Of course, the standard “How do you work with others?” or “Why did you leave your last job?” comes up. Those are pretty easy to answer, although it is best to think of something like a good example of why you answered the questions the way you did. I like to give them a reason to trust the things I say about myself. There are also non-standard questions that are used to find out a little bit more about the way you work and think. These are the ones on which you really want to “wow” your potentially future employers.

What do you think is the best way to answer each of these types of questions? Why?

Not all interviews are in person, either. Some employers do not have time to sit down with you and conduct the interview over the phone. How would you deal with that situation? Another type of interview is a panel interview, where you are being asked questions by a whole panel of people. What then? Also, the time always comes when you want to find out how much money you are going to be making with this company. When is an appropriate time to ask that seemingly uncomfortable question? A lot of times it’s the interviewee who has to ask, not the interviewer simply offering up the information.

We want to know how you will deal/have dealt with your interviews. It’s something everyone has to go through, so what are your strategies?

Practice Interview

During my practice interviews, the questions asked were mostly things I had thought of in the past, so my answers came pretty easily. It is important to consider all of the questions an interviewer might ask you before you go into the interview. It’s good to be prepared. My responses coming quickly and smoothly provide a sense of confidence in myself, something not easily faked, but that comes naturally. I am confident in my work and my past experiences, and it shows. Since I was typing my responses, it was a lot easier for me to be concise and well-worded than if I was speaking. Good English is very important and is one of the first things people notice about you when you are having a conversation. I may need to work on my vocal responses before my next interview, nerves have a tendency to make me fumble my words. Compared with the alternate response, my questions were pretty on target. The coach helped me remember to clarify my answers and present them in chronological order when making lists, and to make sure that they are not too wordy. One thing I have found in my interview experiences that confidence and physical presentation are just as important as what you have on your resume. If you look sloppy, you are probably not a very organized worker. It also shows them that you have taken the time to impress them and are really serious about getting the job. Of course, getting your responses ready is also very important, but a lot of people underestimate the power of physical appearance.



Here are two practice interviews I completed on Perfect Interview:

http://www.perfectinterview.com/online/review_gateway.asp?id=3020897&type=standard

http://www.perfectinterview.com/online/review_gateway.asp?id=3020898&type=standard


When you did your practice interviews, how did it go? What were some of your strengths and weaknesses? What did you learn from this experience? Hopefully this practice will help you find more comfort in your job interviews in the future.

Personal Philosophy, Career Goals, and Academic Opportunities

We would like for you all to think about your personal philosophies. In regards to your professional life, what are they? Personal philosophies are your values and beliefs, and we want you to talk about how these are incorporated to your professional life and goals after college. Would you say your philosophies are interdisciplinary? Why or why not? I try to take aspects from many parts of my beliefs and intertwine them together to create my personal philosophy; it’s generally not just one thing. Also, how have your career goals altered since you first started thinking about them? A lot of times throughout college people change majors and have several different goals for the future. I know I’ve changed quite a few times since I first seriously thought about it. How about you?

Cover Letters and Resumes

Cover letters and resumes can hold the keys to your future. What your cover letter says about you can open doors in ways you never thought possible. In a cover letter you always want to address what your looking for and how you are the person to accomplish that task in a concise head turning, attention grabbing manner. Do you have any experience in writing a cover letter? If you do, can you share with us a bit about it? In what ways can your resume highlight your interdisciplinarity. Being an interdisciplinary major can be a new concept for some, and some potential employers can be confused with the major. Your resume needs to make the IDS major easy to understand and how it makes you the better candidate when applying for a position. Your not only skilled in one area! My best advice is to make yourself stand out with strong, positive, reaffirming words. What is some advice you can offer in writing a great resume?

Professional Opportunities and Job Skills

In today's workforce it's extremely important to be multifaceted in many areas. Being an interdisciplinary student, how do you think you can use this in your professionsl life? What are some of the weak/strong points that you've had to face in your line of work and how has your IDS studies played a role in your chosen field? What are some of the things that could help you imporve on your weaker points? Nowadays many potential employers are looking for interns to get their foot in the door. Internships and other organizations can help improve your interdisciplinary skills. For instance, I have had the chance to intern at a news station and in doing so, I have been able to broaden my levels of understanding. When you typically start as an intern somewhere, they have you work bit and pieces of everything within the company so you can have an understanding. Being an intern has helped me improve my weaknesses and given my interdisciplinary skills a good challange. Have you had a similiar experience whether it was an internship or organization?

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is an important part of being interdisciplinary. Without it, IDS would not be beneficial, but simply a fall-back major for someone who can make up their mind. Using critical thinking skills is something that is going to get you where you want to be in life, not just graduated with a degree you’ll never use.

When using the Virtual Philosopher, how did it score your responses and what insight have you gained about your own critical thinking and reasoning? Being confident in your critical thinking is important, and everyone should have the chance to focus on it without interruption. Fortunately for you, you are given this opportunity through IDS. Also, how does the outline of your critical thinking disposition match with the application of it in doing the Virtual Philosopher?