In the second unit, we created LinkedIn profiles as a gateway to start networking and resume building over social media. I had created a LinkedIn profile before in high school but never understood its importance back then with limited work and volunteer experience. Revisiting my profile now, I feel that over the past 4 years of my undergraduate career I’ve been able to narrow my professional interests (research and student leadership) and pursue opportunities related to them and because of that, I’m able to display that on my LinkedIn profile to connect with people with similar interests which may open up new career opportunities. Also when I was creating my LinkedIn profile, I think the summary section is a great way to express your personality and professional interests, allowing those viewing your profile to get a good first impression of you and highlight what you want other people to focus on as they go through your profile.
We have also started to work on our formal reports and as I began to brainstorm ideas for the formal report, my thought process was to first think about which extracurricular activities have enhanced my experience at UBC. Having been part of several clubs on campus, I felt that student leadership was an area I was most interested in as I was part of the Science Undergraduate Society (which aims to support UBC Science students with academic, physical, and social resources they need) for the past 2 years as a Human Resources Coordinator. In this role, I work with a partner and as a team we are tasked with the hiring, training, and management of our volunteers. As I plan to graduate in April, new HR coordinators will have to be hired next year where volunteers need to be a priority to create an enriching training experience for them and as such, I hope to implement a solution to achieve this goal which was the main premise for my proposal.
In terms of writing the outline, I found that it was different from writing a scientific paper. Something I found that helped me write this outline was when the assignment called for details in the outline and while it was difficult to write at first, I think that it will greatly benefit me when writing my report knowing what to focus on for each section. In terms of report progress, I think I’m in a good position where I have my interviews scheduled, access to volunteers for surveying, compiled a list of secondary sources, and have a detailed outline to begin writing the report. Now the main task is use the data from surveys and interviews to propose a solution in improving volunteer training quality and experience, supplemented by the secondary resources in creating a cohesive report that builds a story.
The second unit gave us the opportunity to do two peer reviews, one for our formal report proposal and the second for our LinkedIn profile. While reviewing Yuta’s formal report proposal about illegal dumping in North Vancouver, I thought that his proposal was very intriguing since I don’t know much about illegal dumping but thinking about it more, I think that it can cause serious environmental and wildlife effects and is a problem that should be investigated. And when reviewing Carmen’s LinkedIn profile, it was very interesting to see the experiences that another student has had from a different faculty and made me appreciate the different backgrounds and writing styles that each individual has. I think peer reviewing has impacted my view of writing by being more critical of my own work. I noticed that it’s easier to critique work that isn’t my own so now I’m starting to approach my writing by keeping my audience in mind, putting myself in their shoes, and asking myself what would my peer reviewer suggest for improvements.
Overall, I think this unit has been a great learning experience through making our LinkedIn profiles and developing our own brand, as well as, learning more about current issues in different communities through reading each other’s report proposals and investigating solutions to these problems. I’m looking forward to see how our reports develop and how we can continue to use LinkedIn as a tool to open up new opportunities.
Attached:
Formal Report Proposal – Peer Review
Revised Formal Report Proposal