Weekly Reflection #5: September 28,2016

            After taking the FOCUS 2 self-examination tests, most of my results seemed like old news to me.  However, there were some things that I found out that have caused me to think about my major at UNC, as well as the career paths I might take.  Focusing on the work interest assessment specifically, my results did not surprise me here.  My Holland code is ICR, or investigative, conventional, and realistic.  Investigative are “the thinkers,” which definitely sounded like me after I read where investigative people prefer to work independently with minimal supervision.  Conventional people are “the organizers,” and the part of this category that stood out to me was that they enjoy working with computers.  While I’m not really considering anything to do with computers as a potential major at the moment, I definitely have an interest in computers, and would like to take classes to further expand my knowledge.  My third highest category is realistic, or “the doers.”  I would say that of the three categories I got, I am more realistic than anything else.  The description for realistic people says that they enjoy playing sports, working outdoors, and being physically active in general.  I definitely relate to all of those activities.  Therefore, I agree with the Holland Code that I was given as a result of the tests.  As I said earlier, for the most part, the work interest assessment results didn’t surprise me.  What did surprise me however, is the variety of the recommended occupations that I got after taking all of the FOCUS 2 tests.  The field of work that was most common was by far engineering.  I have always been successful in math, however, continuing my pursuit of math in college and then working a job that involves dealing with math every day had never occurred to me before.  I have always thought that I’ll either pursue a career in business or perhaps in medicine.  Never before had I seriously considered becoming an engineer, but now seeing the results of this test, I am going to take them into consideration when deciding my major.  Some careers that were recommended to me were careers that sounded interesting, but after reading the description of the job, I determined that it may not be the right career for me.  For example, zoo veterinarian came up as a potential career for me.  I have always been interested in animals, but after reading some of the specific duties that zoo vets have to perform, I don’t think that it is a potential career for me anymore.   All in all, taking the FOCUS 2 test has been an eye-opening experience for me.  It confirmed some things that I already knew about myself, as well as presented new ideas that I hadn’t previously considered, but will now.  Deciding what career/major path I want to pursue has proven to be a difficult task, and taking assessments such as this one are very helpful in me gaining an understanding of what steps I want to take next in my journey.

Weekly Reflection #3: September 14, 2016

            While at the career fair, I am planning on talking to recruiters from different companies that are each unique in the product that they offer.  I want to talk to many different companies because I am still unsure of what I want to pursue for a career, so my goal for this job fair is to learn as much as can about all different kinds of career paths, and use the information learned to help influence my next step in life.  The first employer I will plan on targeting will be Apple.  I’m going to approach Apple because I am familiar with their company and have used their products for a long time now, but the main reason I’m going to talk to their recruiter is because they welcome employees with all majors.  I want to talk to their recruiter to find out what collegiate pathway I should start myself down in order to be considered for a job that doesn’t specify what major it prefers.  This knowledge will not specifically help me prepare for a job at Apple, but instead it will prepare me for all careers that don’t require a specific major.  The next employer I will approach will be Fleet Feet Inc.  I’m going to approach this company’s recruiter because their employment opportunities are in entrepreneurship, which is something that I wish to learn more about.  In addition to learning what steps to take in college, I want to learn what a potential entrepreneur should be expecting when applying for a job such as this.  I’m still not sure if I want to pursue business as my major, and learning more about the major pathway I need to take will help me with my decision.  The third employer that I am going to approach will be IBM, for essentially the same reasons why I’m approaching Apple, except IBM offers a summer internship.  A summer internship is a perfect way to put yourself in a scenario to learn how a company functions and to see if you would be a good fit.  Since this is an internship at a company that is heavily technology based, I will also want to approach a recruiter for a company that isn’t based on technology, which leads me to my next choice.  The fourth company that I’ll approach will be The Hershey Company.  The reason I will approach this employer is to broaden the variety of different career paths to explore at the expo.  Most of the companies I’m thinking of approaching involve technology of some sort, and by asking the recruiter for The Hershey Company questions, I’ll be able to gain some knowledge that is completely unrelated to the information I’ll be gathering regarding technological companies.  The fifth and final recruiter that I’ll approach will be Vidant Health.  I’m going to approach this company because as I said earlier, I’m not sure what career path I’m wanting to pursue, and one possibility for me is healthcare.  I’m going to use my opportunity with this company to learn about what steps I should take if I plan on pursuing a career in healthcare.

Weekly Reflection #2: September 8, 2016

The whole idea of an elevator pitch is to give someone a summary of important information about you in around 30 seconds, roughly the time it takes to ride an elevator.  When crafting my own elevator pitch, I'm trying to consider everything that I have done in my life, and think of what skills I have learned from these experiences that I could tell a potential employer.  I would only want to tell them relevant information, for instance, I wouldn't want to tell them that I've been to Disney World before, because this information is more than likely useless to them and will tell them that I don't have enough experiences to contribute to their company.  Personally, I have been through several experiences that have shaped who I am today and could be very relevant information to bring up in an elevator pitch.  For example, I went on a mission trip to Hawaii several years ago, where I was out of my comfort zone.  Being in a foreign environment around locals who needed our help both helped sharpen my interpersonal skills, as well as open my eyes to the diversity that there is in the world.  Another experience that I went through was playing high school for four years, and even being given the role of captain my senior year.  I learned many valuable life skills from playing sports, but arguably the most valuable was learning how a team functions.  Many jobs function similar to how a sports team does, and my previous experience would be something worth mentioning to a recruiter.  In addition to being on the team, being given the role of the leader of the team taught me valuable skills as well, such as having to be responsible for those who are on the team.  All of these experiences have affected me positively in some way, and should definitely be included in my elevator pitch.  My only concern as of now about engaging recruiters at the job expo is finding a smooth way to enter myself into a conversation with a recruiter, without ending his conversation or seeming awkward.  This was a topic that we discussed in class, but I might do some further research to make sure that when the time comes, I am prepared for the situation.  Once I am engaged in conversation with the recruiters, the first question I will ask is "What skills are they looking for in the person who fills the job position?"  I'm going to start out with this question first because if the position requires skills that I don't have an interest in or I'm not proficient in, then there's no point in me pursuing the job.  The second question I'll ask them will be "What steps do you recommend I, a college freshman, take now to start myself down the path towards this job?"  I'll follow up with this question because showing them that I\m willing to change my major or even career path will show them that I'll be dedicated to the job.  The third and final question I'll ask will be "What opportunities for advancement are there in this job?"  This question will be my last because it will show the recruiter that if I were to get the job, I would be dedicated and motivated in order to achieve a goal of advancement.

Schuyler Eldridge