Throughout the year, Comm 299 has helped me develop my public speaking skills, resume and cover letter skills, interview skills as well as networking skills. The public speaking half of the year allowed me to be more confident while speaking in front of an audience. The feedback that was given to me also helped me improve the negative aspects of my public speaking skills.
The second half of the course was more focused on resume, cover letters, interviews and networking. The resume and cover letters helped me realize how out of date my resume and cover letter format was and how weak they were. I was really surprised to find out how CAR statements are done and how to format the resume to look professional. I used to google how to write resume and cover letters and they turned out to be extremely mediocre compared to the Sauder School of Business format. I’m actually ashamed of what I had written before and can understand why I was never asked for an interview when applying for a job position.
However, my greatest lesson learned from this course would be from the training I had received from the interviews. I had never done any interviews and I always had a standardized format in my head. It didn’t take long for me to realize that the interview skills that I had developed myself were not adequate for the world which is why I probably have never had a job before. The powerpoints and tutorials significantly contributed to my learning in terms of interviews and how they are done. I was extremely impressed with the format and it was surprising to me at first. I was really glad I was able to learn how to introduce myself, how to structure CAR statements in order to sound professional and how to structure my answers for strengths and weaknesses. Above the interview skills, I really learned how to build up my professional side and really build my own brand. Although the resume and cover letters helped, it was the interviews that really helped me develop my brand. In addition, the mock interview that we did for marks allowed me to witness what a realistic interview w0uld be like. I was glad that I was able to be familiar with the atmosphere and setting of interviews which would prepare me for future interviews. The mock interview allowed me to realize how nervous I would get during an interview which would allow me to control it better in the future when I go in for actual interviews.
I’m extremely excited to go job hunting in the future as I feel like my strengths have been magnified and I have built up a strong brand for myself. I am now more confident in myself and more confident when I get invited for an interview. I now know what to expect and hope to utilize the skills I have learned in the near future. Comm 299 has been one of my favorite courses this year and I have definitely learned life long lessons from this class.