Throughout my involvement at Mason, I’ve been given numerous opportunities for developing my career readiness. Through personality and strength assessments, I’ve been able to identify my skills and strengths in order to market my experiences so they’re relevant to my career. For instance, when I interviewed to work at ODIME, I used the MBTI to help me explain how I approach decisions and solve problems. This self-awareness is useful because it made it very easy to answer behavioral questions since I have the MBTI to fall back on as a foundation for personality-type questions.
My first on-campus job at ODIME as a front desk receptionist was my introduction to working in a professional environment and learning how to work with a large team of students. After my freshman year, I was given the opportunity to work as a program assistant for the Student Transition Empowerment Program, where I learned how to coordinate events for a 6-week program for 30-students. In this position, I learned how much work happens behind the scenes to make sure that things run smoothly. It was through ODIME that I was introduced to the LEAD office.
After Active Leaders, I was able to utilize the Strengths Finder assessment to help me with my interview for an internship with the Virginia Department of Transportation. Similar to the MBTI, being aware of my strengths and weaknesses helped me to answer behavioral questions. Using my strengths summary, I was able to explain how I plan, organize, and prioritize my work. Both the MBTI and Strengths Finder are invaluable tools that have helped me to hone my self-awareness by identitfying key leadership traits that I possess, which help me succeed in whatever leaderships roles I have obtained at Mason.
I’ve also learned a lot through attending conferences. I attended the Society of Professional Engineers 2016 National Conference in Seattle, Washington which has a mission of the conference was to promote the development of Hispanics in engineering, science and other technical professions to achieve educational excellence, economic opportunity and social equity. I learned the importance of networking and how to present myself professionally when communicating with students and professional engineers from all over the nation. That was the first time I traveled to the West coast, and my first time attending a conference that large. The workshops I attended at the conference ranged from topics such as ‘generational gaps in the workforce’ to ‘how to succeed as a female engineer.’
Using all of the insight I gained from the events above, I have been able to apply these new perspectives to my job at the LEAD Office. As an LC, I developed my skills in facilitation and how to create fun/interactive programs for Active Leaders and Hampton. I also got to explore my creative ideas through all of the flyers that I created for programs such as L-TEAM, Family Weekend Day of Service, and the Incredible Leadership Conference. Furthermore, the Alumni Speaker Series provided me with great insights on entering and pursuing careers. Even though none of the speakers were in the same field as me, what they shared was relevant and applicable to all students leaders. Overall, everything that I’ve mentioned above has helped me to show leadership in various environments.