Emma's Career Management Blog

 In today's class, we worked on our marketing plan again. We moved on to step 5, which is our strategy. It starts with our start line, and moves towards the finish line with an action plan that includes deadlines. For me, I have deadlines for myself to complete certain goals like graduate college, get a job, move into my own apartment, etc. We also worked on step 6 of the marketing plan, which is segmentation and positioning. This is having a target, and deciding how we want to be perceived. My personal target is to work in marketing, and I want to be perceived as a hardworking, good employee. These activities were very motivating and interesting to build confidence for myself in the future workplace

 Having goals and objectives is so important to be succesful in life. In today's class, we worked on the objectives section of our Marketing Plan. The whole section is about setting goals for yourself. Some of these goals can be short-term goals, like passing a class or exercising. Other goals can be medium-term, like getting a summer internship or job. Lastly, you can have long-term goals, like getting married or having a family. All goals are equally as important as one another, and they must be specific, measurable, and realistic. Having a set time frame for when your goal can be achieved, and knowing exactly when it is completed are important aspects of goal-setting and achieving. 

 Today in class we watched a video on motivation and positivity. It is so important to be motivated in whatever you do, especially in your career. Motivation is one of the key factors of success. This lesson made me think of my mom. She went to college and studied accounting all the way through her graduation. Once she graduated, she did an internship for an accounting firm and absolutely hated it. Because she had no motivation to do accounting, so she quit and completely changed her career path. Now she owns her own dance studio, and does what she is passionate about every single day. I hope to be motivated in my career like she is one day.

 Today in class we did the body-mapping exercise. This exercise really made me think. I was actually happy afterwards, because it was hard for me to think of many things that were low points in my life! This exercise was definitely interesting to see how other people's experiences have made them who tjey are today. I have really enjoyed working on the different personal exercises of the marketing plan. I am excited to see how they turn out!

 We had a guest speaker in class today named Francesc Granja. He told us all about his car accident, and how he did not let it ruin his life. Although he may not be able to walk, he still has so much to contribute to this world, as he showed us in his lecture. He told us how he worked as a businessman for a long time, until someone suggested he start counseling. He said he found such a passion in helping others, that je completely changed career paths. This made me think about how happy I am that I switched my major at my home university! If I had stayed with my original plan, I know I would have been very unhappy with my career and life. From this lecture, I have learned to go with what you are passionate about and always trust your gut!

 Today in class, I was most influenced by the TED talk we watched. The lady who spoke was very relatable to me, and I felt like I could connect to what she was saying. I was most fascinated with the part where she said you can not choose which emotions to "numb." If you num one bad emotion, your brain is forced to numb all of your emotions, which will leave you miserable. I feel that this can be taken literally with emotions, as well as metaphorically for life. For many things in life, the good has to come with some bad. With that being said however, you cannot have the good things in life without dealing with some negative. You can always make light of a situation and find the silver lining, but if you numb out the bad, you will be left with nothing. This is something I will definitely think about in the future moving forward.

 As we work more on our marketing plan, I am enjoying the exercises more and more. My personal favorite for today's was the list of influential people and the list of moments. For the influential people list, I automatically knew who to put down. The first person I wrote was my mom. My mom is my biggest supporter, and one of my role models in life. I strive to be even half as successful, happy, loving, charismatic, and intelligent as she is. Next, I wrote down my friend Lia. I am so influenced by Lia, for so many reasons but mostly because of her mindset. She does whatever she wants and never cares what others will think of her! Lastly, I put my dance teacher, Rachel. Rachel has always been like a second mom to me, and has taught me so much more than just dance. I am so influenced and so honored to know and have these ladies as a part of my life.

 In class today we started to really work on our marketing plan. We spent most of the class doing self-assessment activities which were very eye-opening to me. I was especially interested in the attitudes and identities matrix. I thought it was interesting to compare and contrast who I wanted to be in different aspects of my life. I think sometimes I can find myself behaving differently amongst different people and different atmospheres. I'm not sure if this is something I should change, but it was definitely very interesting to see. I think it would be even more shocking if we had friends, family, and coworkers fill out the matrix about us!

 In today's class, we watched a portion of the movie "the Guardian." I found this movie so moving, as the main character Jake fought so hard to protect his instructor, because he knew that was his main value. After we watched the movie we did a very interesting exercise, where we thought about happy situations and came up with 7 verbs and 7 nouns to describe these situations. We then picked our favorite of each category, and formed a sentence with the verb and noun. Little did we know, this sentence would end up being our personal mission! My sentence is not something I would ever write if I was told to come up with a "personal mission" so it was very eye-opening to see.

 Today in class I learned what an assessment center is. In America, when competing for a job, you do not typically meet the other candidates or even know how many people applied. It is a much more personal and confidential process. In the video clip we watched, I honestly felt like these assessment centers would be more harmful than good. All of the candidates became very defensive and probably did not show off their best skills. I am interested to see how an assessment center would work in real life. Would the potential candidates be more professional? As we discussed in the blog post prior, professionalism is one of the most important traits to have in a job interview, or "assessment center."

 In todays class, we discussed the topic of creativity largely. In order to be creative, you must not be ashamed of your inner child. We learned about different techniques like analogy technique, brain writing, thinking hats, etc. All of these techniques help with idea forming in the most creative ways. We also discussed the importance of professionalism. Especially on social media, it is extremely important to look professional and "clean." As technology and the internet are growing rapidly, social media is becoming more and more relevant in every day life, and thus, will be significant factor when looking into people and businesses.

 Today we talked about being successful in your career. We discussed the career development cycle in depth: info fathering, experience, reflection, career concept, and the cycle continues. I think each step of the cycle is important and there should be significant time spent in each time. We discussed that succes is not necessarily about how much money you make, but if you enjoy your life. No matter what career path you choose and what anyone may think, make a difference in what you do.

 The video that I felt most impacted by today was the TEDtalk on "Givers and Takers." I thought it was interesting to see who was typically "more successful" in the end. I also found it interesting how the "takers" have the tendency to take from people, and then put them down. I feel that I am mostly a giver, as I love to help and teach others. In America, I am a dance teacher for students of all ages. I am also studying marketing, which could be translated as a form of giving. Being able to create advertisements and market different products to target audiences is something I am very interested in. This could be seen as a form of "giving" to customers.

 In class today we talked about the importance of being happy and smiling. When you smile, you are much more approachable and seem much nicer on a first impression. To a boss, or potential boss, it is very important to make a nice and lasting impression, so that they think highly of you. I also really enjoyed the movie clip we watched about the son supporting his mother in helping her fix her problem. The movie clip made me feel happy towards the end, when the mother felt supported.