Last week, I wrote about the importance of getting involved on campus and at work.  Getting first-hand experience in a certain field does not only enhance your resume, but also your skill set, interview material, and mindset. Employers are increasingly making leadership skills a higher and higher priority in their potential future employees. And for that reason student organizations dedicated to providing their students with leadership training are appearing all over college campuses.

During my freshman year, I joined the National Society of Leadership and Success- UCSB chapter. In order to gain the benefits offered by the Society, there was a set ofrequirements that I, along with all other hopeful members, had to complete before becoming a full member. They include attending three video broadcasts during which professionals, entrepreneurs, and motivational speakers give advice to college students and future leaders; partaking in three success networking team meetings, in which small groups of students discuss their goals and achievements; and one leadership training day, which includes a variety of lessons and activities. Once these requirements are fulfilled, members have access to the website’s resources, letters of recommendation, and an exclusive job bank. Most importantly, we have been provided with professional leadership training that will be a great asset in any future endeavor.

In order to enhance this training, I took on leadership roles within the organization. During my sophomore year, I became the co-promotions coordinator with one of my friends. We were responsible for creating advertisements for our events and distributing/posting them around campus. Having only a light load of responsibilities was a great way to ease myself into a position of leadership. However, it proved to be a great introduction into what running an organization means and how to pull off successful events.

The following year, I became president of the Society. In this role, I learned more about successful communication, event planning, leadership skills, and organizational skills than I had in any other position I had previously occupied. Throughout the year, I maintained contact with our campus’ members, other officers, our faculty advisors, and representatives of the national office. I helped envision and execute fundraisers, weekly meetings, and the end-of-the-year induction ceremony. I scheduled a sufficient number of broadcasts, success networking team meetings, and leadership training days to ensure that pending members would have enough opportunities to complete their requirements during a ten-week quarter. All in all, I feel that I gained a great deal of experience from which I will benefit in the future.

I really believe that the best way to learn about anything is to actually experience it. Engaging in an activity, whatever it may be, will always be the most efficient and effective way of understanding it. While it can be quite easy to forget something that you heard or read, it is usually far more unlikely to do so with a skill or talent you learned through first-hand experience with it. So, keep in mind that simply joining a group will never be as beneficial as actually attending all of the events or taking on a position of leadership. Next time you join a campus organization remember to get truly involved in its vision, meetings, and activities.

As college students, I’m sure you have all been told several times how important it is to get involved in the various opportunities your campus has to offer. Joining ateam, becoming an active member of a campus organization, or simply attending social events are all ways of doing so. With so many choices, though, how should you decide which opportunities to take advantage of and which are just not worth your time?

First and foremost, consider which options sound the most appealing to you. If joining the human rights group or working for the school newspaper does not interest you, it doesn’t matter how good either will look on your resume—you won’t gain much from the experience at all. In order to truly take useful and valuable knowledge away from a position you hold, whether it be as a teammate, a co-worker, or a leader, you must enjoy what you are doing and feel passionate about what you are working for.

While engaging in activities or jobs that help boost your resume is definitely of great importance, it should not be the only thing causing you to take on such a responsibility. However, if you yearn to be a lawyer and the District Attorney’s office hires you as an intern, you have every reason to devote your time and energy to excelling in the position. In other words, take advantage of the opportunities that bring you closer to achieving a goal about which you are passionate or landing a job in the industry of your dreams upon graduation, but don’t waste your time on those that don’t matter to you.

Another thing you should consider is how much of your time you are willing to spend on an opportunity to be involved in campus life. As a student, your first priority must be to do well in your classes. If you’re getting straight Cs, don’t expect the top medical schools to accept you just because you are working at Student Health, interning at the local hospital, and volunteering at a women’s clinic. While those are indisputably all great things to be doing if being a doctor is your calling, your grades must be up to par as well. In other words, don’t let your extracurricular activities hinder your ability to excel academically. If your internship or job is soaking up too much of your time, find an opportunity more conducive to your schedule and workload.

Lastly, keep in mind that any experience is only as good as you make it. You should be devoted to excelling and actively learning in any position you hold or job you undertake. Simply slapping a name or company on your resume won’t get you very far if you have nothing to show for it. Future employers will want to know what skills you acquired from interning for a company. So, if all you did while you were there was get your supervisor coffee and make photocopies, putting that internship on your resume probably will not mean much. 

In conclusion, get involved with the opportunities that interest you, don’t let them affect your schoolwork, and be proactive and driven in any task you undertake. Not only will you have something to add to your resume, but you will have learned some important lessons and enhanced your college experience along the way!

Since my last blog, a lot has changed and a lot has remained the same in my journey towards graduation and entering the realm of life after college. While I am still unsure about my post-June 14 plans, my state-of-mind has continued on in a positive direction. While making the transition out of college and into the real world seems intimidating right now, it only constitutes one small step in the grand scheme of things.

Let me take a little step back? I've wasted hours upon hours of my time since the beginning of my senior year stressing out about what the next chapter of my life will include. I've searched the web, attended meetings, and talked to countless individuals about possible internships, job ideas, or grad school options.  I've contemplated my options, stressed about which is the best of the bunch, and worried that I'm going to end up unemployed and living at home once the last of my days as a Gaucho have passed.

Here is where the big change has been made? I've told myself to stop panicking! For the most part, I've been able to do so as long as I constantly remind myself that anything I do will be an experience, an important part of the journey, and only the very first step in the direction towards my future career. Whether I choose to go teach English in a foreign country, acquire an unpaid internship, or find a less-than-ideal job to hire me, chances are it will not be what I end up doing in the long run, but will have a positive impact on my knowledge or skill base, outlook about my future, and, ultimately, on what career path I choose to follow.

Another important fact that I've come to terms with is the current state of the economy. Because most businesses are being forced to cut costs and consequently lay off many employees, now is not the best time to rely on being hired by the company of my dreams. On the other hand, now is the time to do something that interests me and provides me with some sort of practical experience. I've realized that as long as I continue to be an active learner in whatever field I next enter, I will walk away with something I didn't have before. So, when it comes down to it, no journey I embark on next year will be a waste of time or a setback.

I'd like to end with a quote that I came across one day while reading the back of my Starbucks coffee cup. It read, "The irony of commitment is that it's deeply liberating- in work, in play, in love. The act frees you from the tyranny of your internal critic, from the fear that likes to dress itself up and parade around as rational hesitation. To commit is to remove your head as the barrier to your life." It is indeed ironic that making a commitment (setting a decision in stone) can have a liberating rather than a constricting effect. In applying this concept to my current situation, I've realized that it's time to start narrowing down my options and begin taking the steps toward committing to just one. Once I've made a decision about what exactly it is I'm going to do, my concerns will naturally dissipate.  I'll then have the ability to really start enjoying this new and exciting chapter of my life!

Hi!  My name is Jessica Serber and I’m a fourth-year Global and International Studies major and Professional Writing minor at UCSB.  I will be graduating this June and couldn’t be more nervous about what next year has in store for me.  But, after months of stressing about what my future will look like, I realized that I need to stop worrying and be excited about my post-graduation life.  While the transition may not be easy, there are so many new adventures I have to look forward to!

When I first began thinking about what I wanted to do after graduation, I didn’t even know where to begin.  How was I supposed to choose between all the opportunities and experiences the world has to offer?!  I started by paying closer attention to e-mails I was receiving from the Global Studies department and Career Services.  Many times, they include information about career-related workshops or fairs and links to websites about post-university programs ranging from graduate school to volunteering abroad.  As I read more and more of these e-mails, I realized that there were many things I found interesting and could see myself doing.

In addition, I began thinking about how I could use the knowledge, awareness, and compassion I’ve gained from being a Global Studies major to take that step out of college and into the professional world.  I truly feel that my major opened my eyes to new possibilities that I never imagined existed.  From learning about the United States as well as many other countries and their cultures, I’ve become thoroughly interested in humanitarian issues and working with the worlds less fortunate citizens.

Thanks to all those e-mails I’ve been reading, I now know that there are tons of ways in which I can turn my passions into a job for next year.  My options are endless and include everything from volunteering abroad, to becoming a corps member for Teach for America, to acquiring an internship or job. Over the past few months, I’ve devoted a great deal of time to applying for Teach for America. 

Teach for America is dedicated to eliminating the educational inequality that exists within the United States.  The program places mostly recent college graduates in low-income schools with the hopes of helping students achieve at higher levels.  The great thing for many applicants is that no teaching credentials or education degree is required, only the willingness to participate in a summer institute where you will be professionally trained to become a successful teacher.

Teach for America has already had a huge impact in the lives of thousands of students and continues to thrive each year!  Because of my desire to engage in work that helps the world become a better place, I have spent many hours researching about and preparing for Teach for America’s demanding interview process in hopes of becoming a corps member.

Teach for America is just one of many amazing opportunities out there for recent college graduates.  For now, all I can do now is to continue exploring and researching all of my options until I come across something that’s really right for me.  Although graduating college and moving into the “real world” is undoubtedly an intimidating feat, it is also extremely exciting.