Resolutions, they come and go. Will I do any of these things? The answer is probably no.
Making New Year’s resolutions is often easier than following through on them. Year in and year out, a common resolution is some variation of growing your career or making yourself more marketable for a position in your desired field. Regardless of your career planning stage, here are five basic but practical resolutions for 2018 that can help you achieve your goals: Keep Up With Industry News It’s easier than ever to stay informed on the latest influencers, practices, restructuring, conflicts and other happenings in your field. When consuming news take your pick between push notifications, podcasts, email newsletters and daily digests, or more traditional media such as television and radio. These are just a few of the options that you can use to stay in the loop. Following industry related news will give you the confidence to strike up a conversation with a stranger while networking and sound intelligent in front of your friends, or more importantly, in a job interview. Stay Up To Date On Social Media Trends Social media has and will continue to revamp all forms of communication in 2018, not strictly interpersonal communication. Just like keeping up with the news, it is imperative to track how thought and industry leaders are reaching their target audiences and shaping public opinion through social media. Ask yourself what platforms are most effective or seem to last in the ever-changing media landscape? What aspects of these new forms of communication can be improved? What is the difference between a hashtag or platform that catches on versus one that doesn’t resonate? It’s no secret that employers sift through social media profiles of job candidates but also consider how, as a job seeker, following social media accounts can play a significant role in your own background research of companies or organizations you may want to work for down the line. Consider Your Ideal Lifestyle Take some time to reflect on likes and dislikes of previous work experiences or academic courses. Then think about how your current or previous positions have influenced your day to day personal life. Finally, decide what, if anything, you would like to change. Do you want to live in the suburbs or are you more of a city dweller? Do you want more free time on nights and weekends in exchange for making a bit less money? Is your long commute taking its toll on you? Would you rather have the freedom to work from home, or do you prefer to work alongside others in a more structured setting? External job factors such as location, hours, and workplace interactions have a dramatic effect on your overall well-being. So make sure you know how a job’s requirements will impact your daily routine. Get Organized For the last decade, information overload has resulted from the availability of media platforms for creation and consumption. Part of getting your ducks in a row could be reevaluating your subscriptions and ending the ones that are no longer relevant to the type of career you want to pursue. Or a step in the right direction could be developing a filing system for your email inbox that makes it easier to prioritize the many tasks associated with making your next career move. After all, that 15 gigabytes of free Google storage won’t be free forever. Whether you’re a twenty something seeking a promotion, a recent graduate, or trying to decide the next steps to take in your job or internship search during your Winter Break, stay on track by making and following these four resolutions and you will see progress in 2018.
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Exploring the volunteer efforts of students who go above and beyond by serving the local and campus communities Name: Kelsey Seiferth '18 Organization: Food Recovery Network Role: President What is your organization's mission? Food Recovery Network is the largest student movement against food waste and hunger in America. We strive to take food from the dining hall that would otherwise go to waste and bring it to local agencies in Poughkeepsie. What does your organization do on campus to help Marist and the surrounding community? Food Recovery Network members collect the unserved food from the dining hall five days per week. We strive to bring awareness about food sustainability and conservation to the Marist community. We get involved in fundraisers and collaborate with other organizations on ways to further achieve our mission. We participate in other volunteer opportunities when possible with Youth Mission Outreach and Dutchess Outreach for example. Last semester, Food Recovery Network held a book drive for the children of Youth Mission Outreach and this semester we are currently holding a school supply drive. Describe your role in the organization. As president I am in charge of overseeing all of the other board members. I designate roles and responsibilities so that our food runs can go smoothly each day. I seek additional opportunities to get involved in promoting our club’s mission both on and off campus. I also search for additional volunteer opportunities that may further assist our agencies. In addition, I listen to club members’ ideas and strive to implement them into our club. Club members choose the days and times for runs by voting. This ensures that as many students who want to participate in the club can do so. I communicate monthly with the Food Recovery Network Headquarters about successes our chapter is having and ask for ways to improve. Why did you join this organization? Food Recovery Network provided me with an opportunity to get involved in an organization that strives to help others. I have always enjoyed participating in community service and helping others. Food Recovery Network allowed me to escape from the Marist College campus and make a difference in the surrounding community that would be my home for four years. I continue to participate in Food Recovery Network because I love getting involved on campus, helping others and meeting new people. What are some skills you have acquired through your leadership position in the organization?
Being president of this organization has taught me so much and has been an honor. I have learned the importance of establishing board positions and trusting board members to carry out their respective roles. In addition, I have learned how to be confident through holding meetings and events. I have enhanced my communication skills by communicating with local agencies and sustainability organizations in the Hudson Valley. Food Recovery Network has provided me with the opportunity to network and mentor other potential chapters such as the one at the Culinary Institute of America. How do you think these skills will help you along your career path? As a graduating senior with a major in psychology/special education I think being on the board of Food Recovery Network has enhanced my communication skills. As a teacher I will be communicating with administrative staff, other teachers and parents. In addition, collaboration in the classroom is key just as it is essential to Food Recovery Network. I collaborated with my board members each meeting and asked them for their opinions or ideas on how we could execute certain tasks successfully. Through this leadership role I have become more confident and as a future educator and I will need to be confident in my ability to effectively teach all of my students. Photos courtesy of Kelsey Seiferth. Join the Food Recovery Network - Marist College Facebook group and follow FRN_Marist on Instagram. If you're interested in volunteering, email [email protected]. Exploring the volunteer efforts of students who go above and beyond by serving the local and campus communities Name: Maura Sullivan '18 Organization: Autism Speaks U Role: President What is your organization's mission? Autism Speaks U is dedicated to promoting solutions, across the spectrum and throughout the lifespan, for the needs of individuals with autism and their families and friends through advocacy and support. Autism Speaks U aims to increase understanding and acceptance of people with autism spectrum disorder and raise funds for advancing research into causes and better interventions for autism spectrum disorder and related conditions. At Marist College our organization engages in volunteer work, fundraising, and increasing awareness in our community. What does your organization do on campus to help Marist and the surrounding community? Autism Speaks U has a very active fall and spring semester with many events and activities that help raise awareness for those with autism. Our fall semester consists of our community service yoga event, which is taught by Lacy Catto, one of our ASU board members, and raises money for Autism Speaks U. We get many people at this event such as avid yogis, other clubs and greek organizations, and members of the community, not just our ASU members. We also raise funds through our bake sale. We get to know other members of the club through our Game Night and are looking forward to our first collaboration with the Marist hockey team and Best Buddies in December. In the spring our club celebrates World Autism Month in April by lighting up the Marist Rotunda in blue and wearing blue on World Autism Day. We hang posters, educate the Marist community, and share why we light up the rotunda in blue every year. Also, for the fifth year in a row, our club will be holding our Color Run, which raises thousands of dollars for Autism Speaks U. Each year this event generates a lot of interest through our efforts of holding this 5k on campus while throwing blue powder on runners and walkers. Describe your role in the organization. As president of Autism Speaks U I work with my talented board to organize meetings, fundraisers and other events. Starting as a general club member, I knew I wanted to help make a bigger impact in this club. I ran for treasurer my sophomore year and have since been president for my junior and senior years. Other than facilitating general meetings, holding monthly board meetings helps me gain insights from the board to new events we can hold as a club. My board is very involved with other organizations on campus, so they help me tremendously with coming up with ideas to increase membership and involvement. Why did you join this organization? I joined this organization as a freshman because I truly love giving back and helping in any way that I can. Growing up with a brother who has autism showed me the kind of amazing things that those with autism can do and all of the barriers they can overcome. When given the resources and support for success my brother was able to attend mainstream schooling, graduate high school and is currently working toward a bachelor’s degree in Computer Science. He has dreams and aspirations of being a talented cartoonist and I hope that by following the mission of Autism Speaks U our organization can help all individuals with autism achieve their dreams. What are some skills you have acquired through your leadership position in the organization? As president of Autism Speaks it was first and foremost important to learn how to speak in front of a group of people for club meetings. This was a fun task to tackle, as I tried to incorporate videos, music, and stories into club meetings to make it more collaborative. I also learned the importance of delegation. In order to put on a successful Color Run that raises thousands of dollars every year, for example, I needed to learn how to ask for help from others. I also learned many professional skills such as how to access a conference call for when we had monthly check-in meetings with our Autism Speaks representative in New York City. Little did I know that the same kind of conferencing was utilized in other internships and jobs that I had. How do you think these skills will help you along your career path? In my future career I never believed that I would be able to supervise and inspire a team of individuals to achieve a common goal. Through my work with Autism Speaks U I have quickly learned that through facilitating members and working as a team I can achieve things greater than I ever imagined. In my future career I hope that I am able to make an impact on people and help them in any way that I can. I learned valuable skills and met many people through my time working with Autism Speaks U and I hope to continue utilizing these skills after graduation. Photos courtesy of Maura Sullivan. Join the Autism Speaks U Facebook group and follow asu_marist on Instagram. A crucial part of your LinkedIn profile, and ultimately your personal online brand, is your headshot. You’ve mostly likely been inundated with the same advice before: make sure your photo looks professional and avoid selfies and inappropriate photos captured with friends or on other occasions. Whether you already have uploaded a headshot to your profile or had a few taken at our LinkedIn Photo Booth on Nov. 29 and you’re trying to decide which one to use, it’s important to know how you can use your profile photo to benefit your career aspirations. Research shows that your LinkedIn headshot helps employers form perceptions of you before you even meet in person. Photofeeler, a website that allows users to upload photos and see others’ immediate perceptions, conducted a study to investigate the elements that produce the most effective LinkedIn profile photos. The study was “based on over 60,000 ratings of perceived competence, likability, and influence for 800 profile photos” in the database. Each photo was tagged with a long list of characteristics, which allowed Photofeeler to control absolute values. Once the results were analyzed the findings were narrowed down to favorable and unfavorable visual aspects. The results confirmed the following trends:
The psychological conclusions from this study highlight that your physical appearance helps employers determine many of your qualities such as how influential, competent, reliable, hardworking, ambitious, or intelligent you are. If your LinkedIn profile photo does not meet the guidelines in the list above, consider choosing a different one so you’re not hurting your only chance of building a great first impression online.
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AuthorInformation on the latest professional development trends and advice, plugs for Marist College Center for Career Services events and initiatives, and stories from your Marist peers. Content is produced by Marist students for Marist students. Categories |