blog 4

            I thought the videos we had to watch for class were very interesting. I thought it was great to see so many Whitewater graduates using their degrees in the real world today. In fact, I would argue that it is really encouraging given the current state of our economy. I know so many people who are working but are not using their degree. I work with several individuals who have four year degrees but are not using them because there is no demand for the type of work that correlates with their education. The testimonies provide hope that my classmates and I will be able to put our college education to good use when we graduate

            Personally, I really enjoyed the interview, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rc5qL5u-8q4, with Melissa DiMotto. I thought she did a great job of providing advice to Whitewater students. She noted that internships are incredibly important for students before they attempt to enter their selected job field. Future employers want students that have experience and an internship is one of the easiest ways to do so. I also felt that I can relate to Melissa because she said that she feels she is a strong writer and public speaker. I can relate because I feel that I too am a strong writer and a public speaker. I also thought it was pretty interesting how important social media is now for most companies especially Wheaton. I also thought it was really interesting that she was part of the team that handled the crisis on campus when the boiler exploded. It’s cool because a lot of what she was explaining is similar to what we will have to do for our final project crisis scenario.

            I also found the interview, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cbZ4VJQ2r_U,

with Rick Daniels to be very informative. I thought Rick provided some great advice to students when he encouraged us to take the smaller internships to start with. He noted that our generation is all about “the big deal.” Meaning that we the internship with the fortune 500 companies. But we have to understand that we have to work our way to the top. We will not simply be placed there on merit alone. It takes hard work and fortitude to get there. I also thought he gave some great advice on networking. He said that giving out a business card doesn’t mean that that person will call you. We need to put in the effort and continue to contact people. Personally, I had to send out a number of different emails before I finally got my freelance job.

            I also found the interview, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dOhAaSEHwCM, with Katie Monfre really interesting. Katie made some great points and gave some excellent advice. She noted that it is important to get internships. She said that it is a good idea to actually have maybe 2 or 3 internships these days. Since the economy is down a lot of people lost their jobs and when we graduate we may be competing with those people and many of them will likely have more experience than we do. Katie also made a great point about UW-Whitewater. She noted that many of the professor at our university went above and beyond to help students. I would have to agree with that. It seems like our professors always make sure they are available to students outside of school and we are extremely lucky to have that luxury.