“Mind the Message”—UD-CAP Professional Development Workshop

Making a good first impression is crucial. Studies show that we can grab someone’s attention and make a memorable first impression within only 8-12 minutes. Therefore, it is necessary to know what messages you are going to deliver and how. Barbara Horowitz, an executive communication coach, was invited to be our first guest speaker of fall semester, she provided insightful advices regarding effective introductions to our career ambassadors.

Here is what I learned from her speech.

Making a common link between the speaker to be introduced, your audience and yourself.

When you are assigned to introduce someone in a meeting, it is essential to meet the person beforehand so that you know more about the person about his/her role and experience in a more comprehensive way rather than only based on the information you obtain online.

While talking to the speaker, it would be better to briefly describe the status quo of the meeting, meaning that you need to let him/her know what the audience are, and what connections between the speaker and your audience have. For instance, you can start saying things like “We are career ambassadors at the University of Delaware aiming to help UD students to achieve their career goals. Your speech will help us to make a precise introductions to student groups when promoting career services center.” In that case, you simply make a common link between you, your audience and your speaker, which also helps the speaker be clear about what information he/she is going to say during the meeting that will be more useful to target audience.

Last but not least, when you are ready to introduce the speaker to others, don’t forget to introduce yourself first. This is a very important part of introduction as well. Even though the leading role in the meeting is not you, you still play a significant role in linking all parties together.

Know your key messages.

One of the tasks in CAP summer challenges is to learn to make your own 30 seconds commercial. When introducing yourself to employers, you want to make sure all you say in 30 seconds is relevant to either your skill sets or your goals. Here is where key messages come into play. During the workshop, Mrs. Garland asked each one of us to introduce ourselves clearly to others with three key messages, including your name, major, role and your personal goal. This exercise helps us to think deeply and thoughtfully about what we want to say in order. I think key messages are like a system of information where messages are pre-selected and prioritized, which is also an amazing part of communication, isn’t it?

One thing to remember is that whenever you talk to different audience, your key messages need to be modified. The messages you delivered to employers is not going to be the same as those to student organizations. Even when you interact with the employers in different industries, the messages conveyed are constantly changing among various circumstances. So next time, make sure you are prepared before talking to them.

At the end of the workshop, we all commented that making an effective introduction takes time to think and more important, to practice.

What is your opinion on the art of introduction? Feel free to share your insights.

How to Develop Your Personal Brand

It was with much honor to interview S. Renee Smith, an image consultant, motivational speaker and author. My heart was truly fulfilled after an hour inspiring talk with Ms. Smith on the topic  of student branding and life coaching.

By the time we ended the conversation, we both came to the conclusion  that without truly knowing yourself, it is impossible to develope your own positive personal brand. Personal branding is not only about selling yourself  but it also includes being highly aware of the spiritual side or the inner core of oneself. Here are some of the tips that I gleaned from  from my interview with S. Renee Smith that may  help you get closer to your true self to create a better self-image.

1. Find out your space.

When discussing the most important factor of student branding, S. Renee pointed out that finding your space is the first step. A majority of students consider the success of their college career merely as high GPA in academics. But what we, as college students, really need to focus on, is the process of discovering who we are and what we want in life. Some students are pleasant about following what their parents want them to be instead of questioning their inner desire. Some students know what they love, but lack  courage and confidence to follow their heart. As former CEO of Apple Inc., Steve Jobs says, your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life.

2. Be consistent with who you are.

When presenting in public, some people describe themselves in one way, but act in the other way. If you want your self-image stay in people’s mind and gradually grow your credibility, you need to correspond your words with your actions. People trust what they actually see more than what they hear, so the bottom line is BE HONEST with yourself and be consistent.

3. Identify your strengths.

During most interviews including the career ambassador  interview that I participated in, , you will be asked a lot of questions about your strengths. If you are not certain about who you are …your strengths and weaknesses or have never even thought about them  yet, now is the time to do so..  But how do you do that?  Begin learning about  yourself through other people’s perspectives.  You can begin by asking other people  for their honest feedback about you.  People you select to ask for feedback could be from your work as an intern, like your boss or your co-workers or it could also be from your private life, such as your family members and close friends. Ask them to write down your strengths along with a specific example so that it can be credible and useful. How others think about you may hinder or even harm your own self assessment. Therefore, trust yourself and believe in your own values and voice because external voices can sometime be a distraction. While on the other hand,  external voices, can assist you with  maintaining  an objective view point about yourself..

4. Showcase your talent by taking actions.

After being completely conscious about who you are, what you want and what strengths you have, the last thing you need to do is to take action. During college, you can start  by keeping up with the latest news within the industry you are planning to work after graduation;  connecting with professionals in the field that you are interested in; or utilizing Blue Hen Careers to find a winter or summer internship. Don’t think all those actions are something one can postpone until graduation. Start doing them NOW! Then you will find your personal brand is developing as fast as what you could ever imagine.

Finally, I want to quote one word from S. Renee Smith to motivate everyone, that quote is ” Life is a journey of discovering the truth of who you really are.”

What are your opinions and comments about personal branding?

UD Career Ambassador Program Interview–A real-life practice for your future job interview

Moving onto the second step of the career ambassador interview process, I was invited to the “group interview” with curiosity, but still anxious feelings. I discovered later it was a surprise, and what a pleasant surprise! I was actually selected to participate in the 2012 career ambassador program.  May 2nd, 2012 is one of the most memorable days of my life.

The “group interview” turned out to be a party to celebrate our success of completing the interview. Thinking back at the whole selection process, it was just like a real-life job interview experience?

Now, as an official CAP member, selected out of over 40 applicants, I want to share my thoughts and interview preparation tips with students who may be interested in joining the career ambassador program next year.   Below you will find some interview tips which I found very helpful.

1. Answer application form questions thoughtfully.When applying to participate in the career ambassador program, all students are required to complete an on-line application.  It is important that you take time to carefully respond to all questions on the application.  Questions should be answered with honesty and after you have conducted your research carefully about the organization, its mission and vision.  For instance, CAP’s mission is to assist students in achieving their career goals via marketing important professional development workshops and directing students to use the Career Map.  With that in mind, you should tie your responses closely to the objective of the organization and include your own intentions of why you want to serve as a career ambassador.

2. Organize the information in your own way and show your own understanding in the presentationThe second part of the interview is to present a 3-5 minutes presentation on a career services workshop topic. I chose the workshop titled “Job Search Strategy for I0nternational Students” since I am an international student at the University of Delaware.  My desire is to promote this particular workshop to students who have a similar background to mine.  I watched the workshop video and took notes on things that I thought would be pertinent for students to include in my powerpoint presentation (ppt).  In the last slide of the ppt, I included tips on conducting the job search strategy as well as my own thoughts about the job search

 3. Review your resume beforehand and prepare to talk about it in details.

One of the interview questions that I had been asked was “what student organizations are you involved in that assist you with developing professionally.”  Be able to speak about your role in these organizations and elaborate in detail about your college experience.  Practice answering interview questions before you get to the interview.  Just like participating in a sports contest, doing warm ups beforehand is recommended– just like it is also important to practice before an interview. Practicing is helpful in releasing your nervousness and it helps you get your head in the game quickly.

In addition, every interview will contain questions beyond your expectations.  Maybe some questions that the interviewer asks, you have never thought of, but just be confident about yourself and don’t hesitate to respond.  If you need time to think about how to respond, know that it is okay to ask the interviewer let you think about the question or ask whether you can come back to the question.

4. Dress appropriately and be confident and flexible during interview.

The last thing you need to take seriously is the dress code. If you are not sure, just ASK the person who scheduled the interview with you.  As we all know, first impressions are lasting impressions. These impressions whether positive or negative contributes to your final success in the interview process— so make sure you dress appropriately.  An old adage states to dress for the job you want and not for the job that you have.  Just remember, it is better to error on over dressing than to under dress for an interview.

What’s your CAP interview experience? What do you find useful to share with our future applicants?

 

 

5 Differences Between Chinese and American Social Media Sites

5 Differences Between Chinese and American Social Media Sites

 

QQ, RenRen and Micro Blog (also known as “Weibo”) are some of my favorite Chinese social media sites. They are closely tied to daily social networking for Chinese younger generations.  Instead of only visiting those sites in my comfort zone when I came to America, I decided to experience American social networking as well.  However, after using Facebook, Twitter, and other social media platforms. a question popped into my mind: Why do most Chinese social networking sites look so similar to each other while American sites are so different?  Here are a few reasons why:

1. Different Needs and Purposes: Because Chinese social media is booming but still not very advanced compared to American social media, Chinese online users, especially the younger generation, tend to seek out content mostly about entertainment.  Their ultimate purpose is simply to gain happiness and joy through these social networking sites.  Also, there are a variety of interesting applications listed in those sites, such as video games, radio stations, online live shows, and an online store for decorating their own blogs or Facebook pages.  There is even a system of “internet money” that users can buy virtual presents and gifts with, and people even have the ability to express their feelings with moving emoticons.  However, the relatively simple needs might not be satisfying to American online users who tend to absorb different types of content so as to achieve or meet their goals.  Examples of this include online job or internship searching and academic discussions.

2. “All in One” vs. “One-on-One”: This might be the most obvious difference between the two country’s social media sites.  The fundamental reason why QQ, Weibo, and RenRen look alike is because all of them contain similar functions and applications.  This means that even if you only open and constantly use one site, you still can be offered the same level of service such as watching video and listening to the radio stations. This is much more convenient.  Unlike the structure of Chinese sites, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Linked-In have distinct characteristics, which appeal to certain types of people with certain needs.

3.Target Audience Varies Depending on Each Site: The ‘all in one’ model targets general online viewers, regardless of if their age or education level. Everyone can obtain their own satisfaction through social media, whereas, the ‘one-on-one’ model gathers specific ranges of people sharing similar levels of social values and knowledge altogether in order to make progress and act in their best interest.

4. Distinct Mindsets Reflected by Cultures: One thing that RenRen has but Facebook does not, is a section showing the amount of online viewers that visit your personal page. Most individuals have a strong desire to share more interesting content to help increase the number of visitor hits. This is only more exemplified by the level system on RenRen, which teaches that with more friends a person’s “level” may increase, and those who are newcomers to the site have a much lower level of popularity.  The more attractive your webpage looks like, the higher amount of “fans” you will get, which is a common phenomenon showing how important Chinese people care about how others think about them more than caring about themselves.  Although this is a universal aspect to modern culture, it may be stronger in Chinese culture, due to the sense of collectivism as opposed to individualism, where every single person goes their own way without paying too much attention on other peoples’ expectations.

5. The Extent of Awareness of Using Social Media to Brand Yourself: After participating in the PRSSA-UD Twitter Chat Skill Slam last week, I was surprised by the amount of students eager to become PR pros in the future and that used Twitter to look for internship opportunities.  I was also truly inspired by how sophisticated they present themselves by writing blogs including their own portfolio and resume. In general, Chinese college students are not aware how they can use social networks to build their careers while American students really take advantage of these online tools.

 

Written by Kathy Hu.

 

Below are my personal web pages from each Chinese social media site that I mentioned above.  Get a sense of how Chinese popular social media sites look and how Chinese and American social media differ, so that they can learn from each other:

 

Renren: http://www.renren.com/profile.do?id=277792718

Weibo: http://www.weibo.com/2163593131/profile?topnav=1

Posted by PRSSA UD at Tuesday, October 18, 2011