Cyndi Lynch's seminar, "Essentials of a Graduate Student Portfolio," was packed with strategic insights crucial for any graduate student. The presentation highlighted the CARS (Challenge, Action, Results, Skills) format as a pivotal tool for structuring experiences effectively within a portfolio. Additionally, Cyndi's detailed job search strategies and networking narratives were especially beneficial, serving as a lifeline for graduate students entering the job market for the first time.
The seminar extended beyond mere job applications, emphasizing ongoing personal and professional development to equip students with a lifelong repository of resources. While the discussion on different types of interviews was enlightening, the inclusion of strategies for online interviews could enhance its relevance in today's remote-working world.
Cyndi D. Lynch's seminar on crafting a graduate student portfolio was enlightening. One aspect that stood out was Lynch's adeptness at providing practical examples and resources, making complex concepts accessible and actionable. I particularly enjoyed her emphasis on self-assessment, long-term planning (exemplified by the 'Individual Development Plan'), and Using the CARS format in CV and resume writing.
While the seminar's content was undeniably valuable, however, there seemed to be a discrepancy in presentation quality, particularly with Lynch's delivery, which at times, felt robotic and disengaged. An increased audience participation would undoubtedly enhance engagement and retention of key concepts. Also, I especially commend her introduction to this talk as it made the presentation's flow wonderful.
Nevertheless, Lynch's insights into portfolio development and career preparation remain invaluable. With a blend of refinement in presentation and unwavering content quality, this seminar has the potential to truly empower future attendees on their career journeys.
The information Cyndi has provided in this seminar is genuinely useful and insightful. The self-assessment flow diagram allows one to step back and form a well thought out plan for the future, analysing and incorporating personal attributes with real world job scenarios. Her job search strategies are particularly helpful with university students who have never sought work before, as her explanations are equivalent to a step-by-step guide for attempting to acquire any job position. Extremely handy and comprehensive, definitely saving this for future use. The CARS strategy is reminiscent of her talk on resumes, another tip to showcase one’s ability to solve problems and learn from the experience. Lastly, I thoroughly enjoyed her discussion on the different types of interviews. It was a section of the seminar that proved exceptionally useful as it highlighted an aspect that is easily messed up by applicants. However, some tips about online interviews would prove beneficial to many students, as a lot of jobs are now distance-based.
The "Essentials of a Graduate Student Portfolio" seminar, presented by Cyndi Lynch, is a good resource for any graduate student aiming to build a compelling professional portfolio.
She emphasizes the importance of a well-thought-out narrative in a graduate student's portfolio. The seminar begins with a focus on self-assessment such as reflect deeply on their values, interests, skills, and goals. This foundational step ensures that students can articulate a clear and personalized career trajectory.
The presentation is structured around developing a job search strategy that involves constructing a networking narrative and an individual development plan. The speaker introduces the CARS (Challenge, Action, Results, Skills) formatting as a tool to structure the presentation of experiences in a portfolio, ensuring that each element is communicated effectively and efficiently.
The seminar also extends beyond just the job application process by encouraging ongoing personal and professional development.
In conclusion, Cyndi Lynch's seminar offers a guide to graduate students that covers the basics of portfolio creation, enriches the attendees' understanding of strategic career planning.
This seminar provides a comprehensive and holistic approach to professional portfolios and the subsequent job search process. Cyndi presents a very cohesive and information-centric framework for managing the various aspects of professional portfolio creation, which creates an extremely useful lifelong repository of resources for developing your own professional identity. I liked the fact that she focuses just as much on identifying and developing your own personal satisfaction with your desired job as much as being a competent potential candidate for one. Another focus of this seminar was communicating your identity to potential people of interest and doing so effectively. The thought experiment of "What are the 3-5 things that you want someone to know" was very helpful in coming up with a structure for your elevator pitch as well as building it up into a more comprehensive expression of your professional identity.
After watching Cyndi’s talk about resume writing, I decided to watch this talk as I realized her insight is useful and well communicated. I think that her advice about being a whole person and not just a graduate student is very valuable, as I realize I am guilty of neglecting non-academic activities as a grad student. I think a summary of the talk would be that we should, as graduate students, treat our future plans strategically. Identify what we are good at and emphasize it and identify what skills we lack and put up a plan to develop them. The insight that she gave about what to focus on for different roles (industrial, faculty, head of department) is valuable as it demonstrated how people with similar degrees at the same academic level need to have very different skills to fit in their roles, and this does not show from a publications list for example. The information she gave about interviews is dated as it was about in-place and telephone interviews, which are not that common nowadays. I wish we could have some more insight about zoom interviews and good tips to give a good impression.
I found Cyndi Lynch’s presentation a comprehensive, insightful, and structured guide to navigating the job market. She covered several elements essential to a well-rounded graduate student portfolio and shed light on the diverse set of skills/experiences that are key to an individual’s professional identity. Cyndi’s emphasis on self-assessment, skill evaluation, and career development plans offered practical tools for the audience to reflect on their interests, motivations, and career goals. Cyndi's pragmatism shines through in her advice on job search strategies, interview preparation, and the creation of networking narratives. I found the section on networking narratives particularly beneficial, as it provided a nuanced understanding of how to communicate effectively in different settings and tailor messages to diverse audiences.
The seminar provided a deep dive into the critical aspects of developing portfolio. The emphasis on forming a professional identity through self-assessment and skill analysis was a standout feature. This focus is integral in determining the components of a successful portfolio. One of the strong suits was its coverage of job search strategies, which resonated well with my current stage of career planning. Lynch’s discussion on formulating professional development plans, covering both short-term and long-term career objectives, was insightful and thought-provoking. The seminar was beneficial for its detailed advice on tailoring job applications and comprehensively assessing personal strengths and weaknesses. This guidance is crucial for graduates transitioning from academic life to professional environments. In conclusion, this seminar guides anyone who are looking to craft an effective graduate student portfolio. The seminar’s focus on self-evaluation, strategic job application preparation, and understanding one’s professional identity provides essential tools for students aiming to navigate their career paths successfully.
The video "Essentials of a Graduate Student Portfolio" by Cyndi Lynch offers a comprehensive exploration of the essential elements of a successful graduate student portfolio. First, we need to consider developing a professional identity, which involves self-assessment and skill evaluation. This will assist us in determining what should be included in the portfolio. Also, she introduces the strategy of job searching. In my opinion, these suggestions are really good and I could make use of them in this phase.
Finally, she discussed professional development planning, including short-term and long-term plans, as well as the goals we would like to achieve in our career paths.
Overall, I learned a lot from this video. Her emphasis on customizing job applications and comprehending one's strengths and weaknesses is especially advantageous for students transitioning from academic settings to professional environments. Most importantly, I received clear instructions to follow when creating a portfolio in the future.
First of all, one suggestion for the video format is: Although the presentation was viewable by downloading as a MP4 file, the Flash Player is no longer supported, and thus needs a fix on the website. Cyndi does a perfect presentation in explaining throughly, on the steps Graduate Students need in order to prepare for Portfolio towards the employers. I found this insightful and different from merely talking about what to put down on a resume. For example, Cyndi explains and asks the students to think about Teaching Philosophies and Research Statement, which I never would have carefully thought of, if I were to only put down on a resume. She also emphasizes to put yourself in a reviewer's standpoint and see what information may be missing out, and that you need to include it. She carried on explaining CARS format, which was also useful for formatting the cover letter and the resume.
One of the memorable lesson I learned it that the companies are now recruiting us (Graduate Students) not for the student-status but as a professionals. In order to achieve all the Portfolio objectives, Cyndi explains the usage of Individual Development Plan and Career Strategic Plan. This made me think about what position I would see myself in 10 years. What and how should I work towards this goal to achieve what I am looking for? Who should I find as a mentor that works in that position that I want to achieve? These questions are helpful and deep. Cyndi then summarizes the presentation by bringing up the next topic -- Networking Narratives and Portfolio Narratives. This made me think and draw a map of networking people (friends / family / anyone that I worked with before (meaningful work-relationships).. etc). Overall, Cyndi's presentation was insightful and really made me re-consider what my future goals are, and how it aligns with my current self.
In Cyndi's presentation, she clearly tells students how to be prepared for a graduate study, from job search strategy, self-assessment to individual development plan.
I found that the self-assessment is very useful to prepare for the career. She asked students to list the interests, personality, values and skills. So that we can have a better understanding of ourselves. Based on the self-assessment, we can find out what are we lacking for and what's our strength. For example, I have some good research and leadership skills, but lacking of teaching experience. Thus, I applied for a GTA position, and nourish my teaching skills as well as build my communication skills.
Job search strategies are related to self-assessment. She suggests us to list all the skills we have and compare to the job that we would like to apply. By building a table for comparison, we can easily find out what are the skills that the company requires for and we can gradually build these skills during our study in graduate school. We will also find out how does the job suit for us and how do we fit the position. It is very important to learn these evidence in advance so that we can have enough time to learn relevant skills to obtain our dream job.
After self-assessment and job search, the last thing we need to do is to build an individual development plan with different skill sets and follow the plan in the study.
Cyndi Lynch's seminar on job searching, self-assessment, and career planning is invaluable for individuals entering the job market or preparing for interviews. Lynch introduces a systematic approach, urging the creation of an Individual Development Plan (IDP) to prioritize skills needed for specific job opportunities. Her emphasis on tailoring materials for each job, using a job search log, and detailing progress monthly provides practical strategies for success.
The presentation explores crafting impactful resumes and delves into the intricacies of professional interactions and career choices between academia and industry. Lynch's "CARS" approach to CV detailing and the comprehensive checklist for career strategy, networking, and an IDP offers a structured guide for effective job pursuits.
Despite some visual shortcomings in the presentation, including crowded slides, the content's relevance, and Lynch's engaging delivery, it is a treasure trove of actionable insights. While the seminar could benefit from improved clarity and interactivity, Lynch's strategic guidance and emphasis on foresight and planning make it an essential resource for navigating the complexities of job hunting and career development.
This is a super useful seminar for people looking for job interview or those who will look for interview; essentially it is useful to everybody.
Mrs. Lynch delivered a systematic way for job searching, self-assessment and career planning.
I wish I would have known the strategy Mrs. Lynch taught here when I was interviewing to find major professor in PhD. When I was doing this, I have a list of faculty members I want to contact, and just started to contact one by one. In the materials I sent to those professors, I put everything I have and hope the professor(s) can find it useful. Mrs. Lynch suggested that one should make a log for every job they are seeking and list details like job announcement, required skills, and tailer the materials for each job. Then one can use an Individual Development Plan to gain skills. This IDP can prioritize the skills needed and keep a month-to-month progress.
Using these strategies, one can build a good portfolio.
Cyndi Lynch's presentation on crafting an impactful resume and navigating the intricacies of professional interactions is a goldmine of practical strategies for anyone entering the job market. The "CARS" approach to CV detailing stood out as a game-changer, aligning seamlessly with the transition from academia to real-world challenges.
The exploration of career choices between academia and industry, along with factors like job security and compensation preferences, provided a comprehensive perspective. Lynch's emphasis on the Individual Development Plan as a strategic asset in job interviews showcased foresight and planning as key elements for success.
Lynch's strategic approach to job hunting, from resume building to self-assessment and effective networking, resonated well with the audience. The job search log and analysis tools provided actionable steps for efficient evaluation against job requirements. The checklist, encompassing an individual development plan, career strategy, and networking map, offered a structured guide for successful job pursuits.
In conclusion, Lynch's presentation is a treasure trove of actionable insights for job seekers. Her emphasis on self-assessment, strategic planning, and effective communication provides a roadmap for success in the competitive job market. Despite minor visual shortcomings, the content's relevance and Lynch's engaging delivery make this presentation an invaluable resource for those navigating the complexities of job hunting and career development.
Cyndi Lynch delivered a compelling presentation on crafting an effective and impactful resume, shedding light on the intricacies of professional interactions in various settings. She delineated the evolution from an elevator pitch to a comprehensive interview, highlighting the significance of networking opportunities in both professional and social contexts, such as hallway chats and meetings.
A key takeaway was the "CARS" approach to detailing a CV, emphasizing the importance of showcasing the impact of one's work rather than merely listing acquired skills. Lynch underscored the transition from graduate studies to real-world challenges, urging the alignment of CVs with the expectations of tackling practical issues.
The discussion extended to developing a memorable professional identity within a brief conversation, emphasizing notable achievements, research endeavors, app development, or internship experiences. Lynch acknowledged the transferable skills gained in graduate life, particularly in communication and adaptability.
The presentation also delved into the career choice between academia and industry, exploring factors like job security and compensation preferences. Lynch provided insights into the requirements for a faculty position, encompassing research output, teaching experience, and community engagement.
Addressing the importance of an Individual Development Plan, Lynch advocated for foresight and planning, presenting it as a valuable asset in job interviews. The significance of impactful references and thorough interview preparation, including aligning with job descriptions and understanding company values, was stressed. Lynch concluded by highlighting the influence of appearance factors on interviews, emphasizing rapport building, enthusiasm, and effective communication. Overall, the presentation provided valuable strategies applicable to future job pursuits for an individual. The only downside of this presentation was, given the presentation's age, the visuals, including diagrams and their backgrounds, lacked the visually appealing elements to capture listeners' attention.
The speaker well articulated her main points. She made it very clear from the start, what exactly the topic was. She was concise and straight-forward. She is well-aware of the type of audience she has and carefully set up her presentation that would captivate her audience and found ways to relate to them. Also, provided solid examples and personal experiences throughout the presentation. Experiences such as setting up a chart to visualize the skills asked by the company and the evidence she has to support them, illustrated her orator skills test results, and also explained different networking narratives (i.e. elevator pitch, hallway, meeting, and interview) with concrete examples. I used to think we should give the same narrative no matter the situation but the speaker made me realize otherwise which is extremely useful knowledge to have especially now during career fair season.
The speaker elaborates on the abilities and plan required by a student to find a job in the real world. She starts with the resume building importance and how the first impression through a good resume is important for the student to get a shot at interviews. The self-assessment in terms of personality, interests, values and skills is important as this is how we would introduce ourselves. For skills, we need to have experience as well as the evidence of the skills. She introduced us to the job search log- to remove the clutter from the long texts of job description and focus on what's required. Then , she provided the job search analysis table to see how much the job description matches our profile. The job search log and job search analysis is actually quite helpful to efficiently evaluate our profile against a job.
The individual development plan to improve our skills, career strategy plan to plan for a long-term action in job, networking/mentoring map to seek our support system and reliable references prove to very useful catalog for job-hunting and keeping a job long term. Overall, I like the checklist provided by the speaker and my only complaint is the slide font quality. Rest all proves to be extremely helpful.
I find this presentation beneficial and informative. It helps me to develop an effective strategy when it comes to job search. To do that, I will first research on what kind of specific skills and competencies that the company required. From there, I will assess my own abilities and see whether I fit into these requirements. Other than that, I learn to formulate an individual development plan to improve myself. To be specific, I will list down all the desired skills that I want to learn. From there, I will create timelines to make sure that I make progress for self-improvement. This can help to discipline and motivate myself to become a better job candidate. I believe all these lessons or tricks will be very useful for me in future when applying to any kind of roles.
The seminar on graduate student portfolios and job search strategies was an excellent resource for anyone looking to enter the job market. The presentation's emphasis on self-assessment, networking narratives, and showcasing one's impact provided valuable insights for students to build a strong professional identity. The CARS method introduced in the seminar was a helpful tool for creating an impactful resume. In addition, the seminar also compared industry and academic career choices, offering a balanced view and helping students make informed decisions about their future. The Graduate Student Professional Development Center was highlighted as a valuable resource for students seeking career guidance. Overall, the seminar's content was highly informative and relevant, making it a must-attend for graduate students. Highly recommended.
Seminar was great introduction to what mindset and goals should a graduate student set for himself to increase the probability of getting the desired job. It motivated me to evaluate my skills, abilities and experiences in a very objective manner, but at the same time present them to potential employers in appealing manner. I understood that resume/interview speech should be highlighting strong sides and showing all the important qualities necessary for the job. Seminar also made me understand the first impression importance. Just as prof. Klimeck talked in the very first seminar and when explaining how to write resume, prof. Lynch indicated that recruiter should catch the spark of interviewee in the first couple minutes of conversation. It can be focused on the interesting/relevant research, or very catchy professional experience, such as amazing project or very well-known company. Another important factor during interview is to show the enthusiasm and establishing a very well-built conversation, participating in it and letting others participate as well. With this seminar i have acquired lots of great techniques that I believe will be useful for me to get the desired job.
What I liked about seminar, was that it compared the industry and academic career choice, which is very relevant issue and important choice for current engineering graduate students. Those seeking long-term job stability, full research focus and are ready to accept a lower salary which will grow in long term, may choose an academic career over those who prioritize higher pay and tend to choose industry jobs (which also might be research focused). We got introduced to the massive requirements for faculty position, which we never think of, such as teaching experience, research output, engagement with educational instances, etc.
I had the pleasure of viewing this seminar on Developing a Graduate Student Portfolio presented by Cyndi Lynch. The presentation was excellently structured and provided valuable insights into the significance of creating a student portfolio that reflects both professional and personal identities. The speaker emphasized the importance of presenting oneself to a recruiter in a manner that leaves a lasting impression within a limited time. I found the module on "CARS" (Challenge, Actions, Results, Skills) particularly intriguing, and the examples provided were well-arranged, helping me to brainstorm ideas on how to explain this approach to others.
The seminar also touched on topics such as enhancing professional identity, self-assessment, job search strategies, and networking. Listening to the presentation, I was able to identify the flaws in my portfolio and restructure it accordingly. This is something that many of us may not be able to do without proper guidance and structure, as the job market is highly competitive and requires a unique approach to stand out.
Overall, the seminar was well-presented, with numerous examples and discussions. However, I believe that it could be further improved by including other important factors relevant to the current job market. Nonetheless, I found the seminar extremely beneficial, and it has motivated me to focus more on my professional identity and personal branding, allowing me to make a strong impression when presenting myself to potential employers.
During the seminar, Lynch discussed strategies for job searching and how to tailor a portfolio based on those strategies. She emphasized the importance of collecting all relevant data and considering important points before creating a resume and CV. The CARS format was presented as a useful tool for crafting impactful resumes. Additionally, Lynch highlighted the importance of creating a professional identity through self-assessment, which can aid in tailoring both an identity and a resume. It is essential to assess one's skills to determine a suitable professional career. Although the job search log presented may be outdated, creating a good LinkedIn profile can now serve as a suitable replacement for cataloging and matching job candidates. The job search analysis was helpful, and the networking event slides were informative, providing guidance on essential components of networking events. Lynch's discussion on the types of interviews was also helpful in preparing for various interview situations. Lastly, Lynch emphasized the importance of references and encouraged participants to speak with their professors about them.
In the seminar presented by Cyndi Lynch, she provides insights into building a career portfolio that would be beneficial to any job seeker. She discusses how to develop an individual development plan to quantify personal skills and plan out how to go about further developing certain skills over time. Lynch emphasizes the importance of oral communication, stressing that it is equally as important as technical skills. Through her presentation, she presents the CARS format as a way to succinctly convey ideas.
Overall, I found the seminar on developing a career portfolio to be very informative and useful for networking strategies and job search tips. Lynch's presentation is well organized and offers information on how to assess one's skills and goals, identify strengths and weaknesses, and build relationships with potential employers.The speaker provided valuable insights and strategies that I believe will be beneficial in my job search and career development.
This presentation really changed my perspective on the the job search process and how to demonstrate your skills to recruiters via a portfolio, resume, or elevator pitch. In particular, I had never thought of viewing a resume/portfolio as a collection of skills and evidence to demonstrate each of those skills. I had always viewed it as a summary of accomplishments, but now I realize that isn't the best way to demonstrate the value that I might bring to a company or institution. If the accomplishment isn't acting as evidence to a skill that the employer needs then it isn't worth mentioning. I also appreciated the advice on creating a career development plan by listing skills that I recruiters want and a list on concrete ways to improve those skills. I think that organizing it in that way will really help me to develop my professional skills going forward.
This presentation gave me a significant amount of information and insight about cultivating my skills and my portfolio as a graduate student. Being a master's student that is graduating next year, I realized I need to perform a self-assessment of my skills and the current job market so that I focus on the ones that will help me secure a job, and will enable me to progress my career. She also talked about the "CARS" strategy, which is something I had previously heard of. But her explanation delved into much more depth and helped me to understand how I apply it to myself.
The section on job search was extremely relevant to me, and I would continue to incorporate her advice and develop an "Individual Development Plan", to plan my career and skillset growth over the short and long term.
Overall, I liked the information presented. I would recommend this to all graduate students, especially master's because we have a limited amount of time to hone our skills and develop a portfolio.
I found Cindy Lynch's presentation on graduate student portfolios to be very informative and beneficial. The presentation gave me a better understanding of the importance of providing details in my resume for potential employers. I was particularly impressed with Lynch's introduction to the CARS method, which highlights the importance of showcasing the impact one has made in their career.
The presentation's emphasis on professional identity and self-assessment was also very helpful. It helped me clarify my values and determine what I want to be known for. I especially enjoyed the self-assessment slide, which elaborated on how I can assess my personality, values, interests, and skills to identify what type of jobs would be a good fit.
Lynch's advice on developing a good job search strategy, career strategic plan, and networking narrative was also very beneficial. I found the information on different venues/audiences and outcomes to be especially useful. The Graduate Student Professional Development Center was also a valuable resource and I appreciated their website, which offers various events and workshops.
Overall, I would highly recommend this presentation to any graduate student looking to create a portfolio, develop a job search strategy, and plan for their future career. The presentation's emphasis on self-assessment, the CARS method, and networking narratives provided me with useful insights that I will apply to my job search.
Ms. Lynch gave an excellent presentation on Essentials of a Graduate Student Portfolio, which essentially highlighted on the skills you can work on to land a job in the industry or the academia after completing your grad school journey, as well as techniques to improve our portfolios.
There was a focus on the topic of self-assessment of one's skillset and experiences, along with important portfolio elements. An interesting strategy that was talked about was CARS (Challenge/Context, Actions you took, Results achieved, Skills enhanced), which seemed quite useful for us graduate students to design our resume. Another important thing that Ms. Lynch stressed on was keeping a record of your skillset acquired over the course of your education, since in the long run this will build your portfolio. There was quite a bit of detail given for job search, which would be even more useful the closer we get to graduation. Ms. Lynch also introduced the idea of Individual Development Plan, something that is more short-term but definitely useful in prioritizing and organizing one's development.
Overall I found this a useful presentation, especially as a current grad student. The only thing lacking in my opinion was the lack of good visual tools that could've elevated the presentation even more.
In the presentation, there are several actionable tips and attitudes that can be used to progress one's career and get hired for a desired job. The first part of the presentation talks about self-assessment. Here I learn to recognize my strengths and weaknesses and frame them to be more attractive to employers. Documenting educational experiences over a long period is emphasized by the presenter. This is a way to prove to a potential employer that one is an ideal candidate and has the skills necessary for the position. I learned that evaluating my personality and career plans is critical during self-assessment. As an example, the advantages and disadvantages of faculty positions vs industry positions were given in this regard. This is where freedom vs salary is compared. Additionally, the discussion focuses on job strategies. It highlights the importance of having multiple skill sets to fit different job roles so that one can pick the most appropriate one. There is some helpful general advice on identifying and making known skills that may not be academic but are desirable to employers. These skills include teamwork, effective communication, and interdisciplinary background. In the latter part of the presentation, emphasis is given to the importance of networking. It is shown how it can help one meet the right people. The networking strategies discussed help one stay in touch without bothering someone too often. Last, the presentation ended with a summary of interview preparation and the importance of researching a company's mission and goals. It also remembers that first impressions are paramount.
REVIEW ABOUT "GRADUATE STUDENT PORTFOLIO":
It was an interesting presentation on the requirements and perks of a good, and relevant resume. The speaker,Cyndi Lynch, introduces us to the various forms of professional interaction: an elevator speech, which when expanded to 20-30mins becomes an interview, vs a Hallway chat or a Meeting. These are various opportunities or instances of networking amidst both professional and social set-ups. We learn about the "CARS" approach of detailing a CV. It is so much more important to talk about the impact of our work than just mentioning the skillset one acquired while resolving deliverables. After Grad studies companies expect a professional to take on real life challenges and CVs should also cater to the same.
Cyndi also talks about developing a professional identity, something that a recruiter can remember a candidate by in a 2-3 minute conversation, be it some cool piece of research, an app one developed or some cool internship experience. Leveraging skills from grad life to professional careers is an art to be learnt Cyndi mentions, how a TA experience can help you boost your communication skills and people managing skills. Moreover as grad students, we learn a lot of adaptability and resilience when research and our work doesn't pan out exactly as we would like it to.
Moreover Cindy also talks of the industry vs Academic career choice. People looking for Job Security in the long term and willing to compromise on compensation might lean towards an academic position vs people preferring a higher salary who tend to go into the profitable industry jobs. A thing to takeaway here was the requirements for a faculty position: Research output, Teaching experience as well as Service in terms of engagement with the State, or schools, or summer camps and so on.
The speaker talks of the importance to have an Individual Development Plan for oneself- a where do I see myself in 5 or 10 years?- kind of plan. It shows foresight, and planning on the side of the candidate and is a good advantage in any interview. Additionally having good references who can distinguishably account for your specific skillsets is very impactful. Preparation of an interview is vital- from referencing job description keywords in your resume, to glancing through company webpages as well as going through your key selective projects that are pertaining to the job.
Apart from this appearance factors also impact an interview: how you build a rapport with the interviewer, showing your enthusiasm and willingness to participate, getting cues to speak and letting someone else speak. Overall the interview was pretty informative and I learned a lot of new strategies I feel I will employ in my future endeavors to land a job.
Overall, I think it's an excellent presentation, which generally introduced how we could prepare ourselves to strengthen our abilities to get an interview and even land a job in academia or industry as a grad student. Some concepts including CARS, professional identity, self-assessment, job search strategies, networking, etc., are helpful and highly related to the techniques for the preparation of career fairs. I especially like the points of self-assessment. As a student to find a job, I think we usually write a resume and search the jobs from job boards, like Linkedin or Indeed, and then just apply for a lot of positions. Most students ignore the step of self-assessment. However, it's a critical point for us to better know ourselves and apply for the job precisely. I believe it would help us easily get ideal jobs.
However, one of the points that I think the speaker could be improved is to condense the important points. Since the speaker introduces so many topics, some of them are not so important and it's kind of overwhelmed as a listener. But, I still highly recommend grad students to watch this presentation and it's definitely going to help you a lot!
The seminar 'Essentials of a Graduate Student Portfolio' appealed to me because of its title. I thought the talk would be about the items a graduate student must accomplish during his graduate studies to be well prepared for future endeavours in either academia or industry. However, the talk was about generic career planning for graduate students, which ended up being a little misleading for me. That being said, I really like the emphasis placed by the speaker on long term planning for accomplishing your objectives. Also, the CARS (Challenge or Context, Actions you took, Results achieved and Skills enhanced) method discussed in the seminar is a very useful blueprint while designing your resume or CV.
I found the slides very information heavy and felt they could be made a little easy to comprehend. Overall, I picked up many useful nuggets of information from this seminar, but was a little disappointed since I expected something different.
Lastly, this talk must be downloaded from NanoHub to be viewed. It would be great if that could be changed.
The presentation provides excellent insight into behaviors and mindsets that can be adopted to advance one's career and increase the likelihood of landing the job you want. The presentation's first section focuses on self-evaluation; how to comprehend your abilities and experiences and how to frame them in a way that appeals to potential employers. The speaker stresses the value of keeping records of your experiences over protracted periods of education, like graduate school, as they may be used as data points or evidence to persuade a prospective employer that you are qualified for the position and have the necessary skills. She mentions examples of the benefits and drawbacks of a faculty position versus an industry position, citing the freedom to choose your own research against the possibility of higher income as an example, and stresses the importance of also assessing your personality and your future career plans. She also discusses techniques for finding a job, like how important it is to look at a variety of opportunities and develop a range of responsibilities and skill sets needed for each so that you can decide which one best suits you. A general and very helpful piece of advice is to also recognize and highlight abilities that aren't necessarily academic but might be valued by employers, such as teamwork abilities and cross-discipline experience. She emphasizes the value of networking and how it can help you find people who can help and facilitate the process of obtaining this information. She also offers advice on how to stay in touch without bothering the other person by calling them too frequently.
I’m interested in this seminar because, in the in-person sections of ECE 69400, we did a peer-review resume evaluation so I know how others will evaluate my profiles and resumes one day. However, one thing I particularly like about this presentation is that besides telling us what we should present to employers and others, it also emphasizes the importance of having a self-assessment of one’s own visions, abilities, and interests. This is a very novel view of “building one’s portfolio”. I also like the detailed suggestions the speaker gave about job search strategies. They are very practical and easy to use, so I look forward to using these skills and methods in my future job search.
I think one thing that the speaker could further improve is that for the later parts of the presentation (i.e., the interview and narrative part), maybe more details could be added. I think it might be a result of the limited time the speaker had for the course, but those are indeed important topics as well. Therefore, it would be better if the speaker could cut them out for this presentation and present them in separate circumstances. In this way, more details could be added to the previous parts as well.
Overall, although this is already a very old video, I think it’s still applicable to situations today. Great presentation!
The technical presentation by Cyndi Lynch on essentials for Graduate Student portfolio discusses the need to devise a professional’s portfolio and neatly presents the method to convey one’s past experiences and figuring out current stance and showcasing our skills and abilities. She offers insightful comments and suggestions regarding how best to put together the information that you will present to others.
Compiling one’s portfolio is extremely important and i felt the the speaker conveyed all the essential points in an elaborated and organized manner. She mentions the "CARS" elements in Portfolio. She gives a nice example of "Applying to Faculty Position" to show the order of Self assessment levels which are: Experience, Actions, Outcomes and Mentoring.
Additionally the speaker explains the various narratives to networking, and talked about the services that are offered by Purdue with regards to networking. She mentions how it is important to develop an IDP (Individual Development Plan) which essentially allows us to find areas which we need to work on and gives us an opportunity to reflect and come to a decision if the job is a good fit for us.
She further concludes her seminar by talking about how making a portfolio isn’t just restricted to just a job. Everyone needs to have an IDP as well as a career plan to follow on with the fluctuating markets and need to stay relevant to these conditions.
Overall the seminar was very informative and very much essential to a graduate student, to anyone in fact, to have a successful professional career.
Presentation was well structured but, there was too much information and it was confusing. The clarity of the presentation could be improved if it was more interactive. The presentation does not actually tell how a graduate student portfolio actually looks like. It would have been better if it had one or two examples of the portfolios. Other than that, I found the presentation very informative. I found the CARS strategy very interesting. The part which I liked the most was the job searching strategies. I think it’s really important to do this and find out what kind of job are out there what skill set you need to acquire along your PhD journey. And documenting these along the way was the key take home message from this presentation. One aspect of this seminar that I particularly liked was the focus on long-term personal development. Rather than just talking about how to identify and present personal strengths, this seminar also talks about how to build up those skills and experiences over time while also building a network of contacts and references.
I also felt that this presentation was a part of a series of presentations and would have felt complete if I watched those earlier.
This seminar was very informative. She gives many useful suggestions to develop our career portfolio. She highlights the fact that it is important the way we present ourselves to employers. The speaker also gives suggestions on how to decide what we really want, things we need to prepare while searching for jobs. I feel that we don’t always need to plan everything to move in the right direction. Sometimes we start something and then things align themselves and we figure out what is good for our career. I really liked the CARS method which is similar to the STAR method except that the last S stands for how you improved your skills in the given situation.
Overall, the presentation is very helpful for anyone to learn about strategies for building their portfolio.
The seminar by Dr Lynch provides some useful insights as to what aspects a grad student must pay attention to make their student portfolio appealing. Since I am a 2nd year PhD student, this talk is relevant and useful to plan ahead. She suggests that it takes good planning at the beginning which could span over a longer period of time. Her talk provides some notion of what you need to do to keep track of your career goals and to plan ahead to achieve your goals after 5 or so years. She provides tables in order to track details of progression but I feel like it would be too much to keep track of such details in such tables.
Some of the items that she discussed were not really new information to me because I have attended a few other talks on similar topics. She suggests that it's important to keep track of the people that we network with, which is something I have never thought about doing but could be pretty useful. She also stresses why it's important to keep track of all the things that you do and says that it will make your life easier towards the end of your graduate studies.
Some of the slides had small letters in them and were somewhat difficult to read. It would have been better if she had used better visuals in some slides. Overall, I liked the presentation and the information it provided.
I think one of the most interesting aspects of the presentation was how it framed the job search and associated tasks as a continuous event. Most of the time this type of advice is focused on the next interview or the next job; it’s very short-term focused. But the focus of this presentation was how to make this process continuous.
A unique result of this focus is that the timeline is much longer. The section on personal skills development has a time horizon of 6 months to a year, which is a significant amount of time to look ahead if the thing that you’re searching for is an immediate job. But in the long term, this kind of planning is important since it means that you’ll be well-positioned for the job that comes after your current one.
Outside of the material, I think the presenter could have been more energetic. There was some energy in the presentation, but not a lot. And the slides could have looked more professional as well, especially the two that used low res screenshots in the job search section. But overall very useful.
his seminar could almost be considered a sequel to “Resumes: Develop your message, tell a story”. The seminar not only focuses on how an employer looks at a portfolio but also how a professional should look at their own portfolio. Focusing on discovering and understanding ourselves as a professional before writing our resume and compiling our portfolio not only enhances it but also makes it easy for us to know where to improve ourselves and know our strengths. Another often ignored question is “How does the job suit me” which I think Ms.Lynch addressed really well.
I decided to watch this seminar because I haven’t heard much about grad student portfolios before, and it seems like a useful thing to have. Ms. Lynch’s seminar focused more generally on career planning, rather than just on a portfolio, but I would say most of the content was relevant and interesting. She splits the idea of a portfolio between things that go to an employer and ‘personal notes,’ and breaks down what types of documents she recommends putting together when career planning / searching for jobs. She also talks about developing your professional identity and presenting yourself well to employers. The presentation also goes through a range of additional topics, such as how to decide what you want out of a career, how to search for jobs, how to plan your professional development, and long term career planning.
Ms. Lynch takes a very organized approach to career planning / development, which I’m not sure that I fully agree with. I don’t think you necessarily need to plan out and document every detail to move in the right direction, and that sometimes too much planning can actually be distracting, rather than beneficial. I still got something out of the presentation though because she gave some great tips about networking, interviewing and presenting yourself to companies.
I would definitely change the title of this presentation to reflect something more like “general career planning,” because the scope goes far beyond just a portfolio.
I couldn’t get the web player version of this presentation, and so I had to download the video. This is a bit of an inconvenient process, so it would be nice if that could be fixed.
This is a technical presentation on designing one's professional portfolio, with narrative at its core. She talks about various techniques and aspects to better strengthen one's portfolio, Cyndi Lynch talks about the "Essential Elements of a Graduate Portfolio" and she shares various techniques to make our portfolio stronger. The presentation was helpful because it had important aspects of career preparation. Her presentation emphasized the fact that we need to first be clear about the way we see ourselves and where we want to be in the future, which helps us to improve communication with others and talk about important issues in a limited time frame. This presentation also talks about job search strategies. It suggested that we set goals and then do activities to increase our chances of finding jobs that match our skills and interests. In general, it was a good presentation. It gave a good idea of what people should look for when developing their careers.
The seminar "Essentials of a Graduate Student Portfolio" by Cyndi Lynch is very informative and helpful. She provides a lot of useful suggestions and information that could be very benefitial for students who want to develop their either resumer or career portfolio.
Perform a self-assessment of my values, interests, skills, and goals. It is really important to know 'who we are', 'what we want' and ' what are we good at' before we take further move in job finding/career developing.
Construct a networking narrative, highlighting my attributes and experiences. It is very important to build a network with people who have different background in all different/same field with us, the diversity is quite important to build a network.
Construct an individual development plan to enhance my skills and experiences. We need to improve ourselves while we are working/studying, otherwise there is no meaning to work for money with no development.
Overall, I believe this seminar is really helpful and considerate. Cyndi Lynch pays attention to details and gives us a informative seminar, I highly recommend this seminar to people who want to find a systematic way to start/develop their career.
I think that this could be a very good presentation if a few improvements are made. I think the clarity of the presentation could be improved and I think the presentation would have benefitted a lot from being more interactive. Many of the slides are overcrowded and have way too much information on them for people to read while the speaker is speaking, it would be better to have slides that are sparser with just the most important ideas on them. I think that it would have been better if there was more examples of what good aspects of a portfolio looked like, or if there was a complete mock portfolio because I'm not exactly sure what that would look like all together. The speaker could have also made the talk more engaging and interactive, there were parts where people in the room would talk to each other but I think it is a better style to ask people questions that can sit in their head individually, because it focuses viewers' attention on specifically what is shown in the seminar.
The presentation by Cyndi Lynch on "Essentials of Graduate Student Portfolio" tells about various aspects of a portfolio that one must have as a grad student and how to accomplish important milestones that add value to your portfolio. The presentation is beneficial as it prepares a student for the desired career. The presentation emphasizes knowing oneself and what one hopes to achieve and accomplish in a disciplined manner. The presenter interacts with the audience by making them think about a question like - "how does the job suit me?" and "how do I suit the job?". Answering such questions helps one understand what they are looking for and whether they will get what they are looking for by doing a job at a particular company. The presenter emphasizes self-assessment, job search strategies, how to develop a plan to improve oneself, networking with people, and how to gradually build a solid portfolio.
Overall, I feel this presentation is helpful for the grad students who have never worked in the industry before and helps them strategize about building their portfolios.
It was interesting to hear Dr. Lynch's presentation about graduate student portfolio because this is my first year of graduate student and needed to learn how to prepare and build my portfolio as a graduate student. So her presentation about portfolio really made me to focus on her presentation especially when she talked about portfolio narrative, portfolio library and GSPD services. I also liked when she talked about professional identity and self assessment and learned how important those are to help me find a job that will fit me most.
From Dr. Lynch's presentation, I learned how to do self assessment, learned about job search strategies, job search log, job search analysis, how to make individual development plan, learned about networking narrative and most importantly about portfolio.
I rated her presentation very good because most of the new graduate students will find this helpful if they haven't thought or prepare about making portfolio.
I think Ms lynch delivered a good presentation with some ideas that were new to me but most being things that I have heard many times. I think her approach at delivering this presentation was the best part about it though. She kind of gives her topics in chronological order of some sort. For example, in the beginning she is talking about how you should identify yourself and know what your skills are. Then she uses these topics to talk about how you should look for a job and understand how your identity and skills will fit in the said position. Next she discusses how you should prepare for your career in the long term and understand what you want to do in the future.
Like I said earlier a lot of info in this presentation were things that I had heard before. What was new to me was the CARS method she stated. It is very similar to the STAR method but the last S in cars is for explaining how you improved your skills in said situation. I also really enjoyed her self assessment chart and the sub categories she used in it. With the sub categories, it makes assessing myself easier because I can focus in on each category more in depth.
Overall it was a good presentation. My main complaints are maybe having more audience interaction, because I know that if I were in the love audience it is much easier for me to stay on track when the speaker gets the audience very involved.
Dr. Lynch provides some important aspects in what to do to improve your personal portfolio for your career's future development. The thing that stood out the most was to always focus on self-assessment first. It is critical to undertand what your skills and experiences are, and how to make those attractive to prospective employers. I've learned that it's very important to document your experiences over long periods of time, especially during graduate school. I personally have a lot of experience gained during graduate school, that at first glance might not seem like it can be put in the resume. This definitely changed my entire point of view on writing a porfolio. Dr. Lynch also gave us certain rhetorical questions, such as considering the advantages and disadvantages of different places of work (industry or faculty). Even though I am very set in taking a faculty position in the future, I would want to still take these question into consideration by weighing my priorities. Her presentation was informative and engaging, and certainly allowed me to understand my futures better. Thank you!
As I move through graduate school and get closer and closer to searching for a full-time job, this presentation proved extremely useful to me.
The initial question of “tell me about yourself” is a question that seemed obvious to me at first, but when I try to answer it, I struggle to give a satisfying answer. I realized that I don’t really have a clear picture of myself: what I have achieved, what I am good at, and what are my flaws. Developing a good answer to this question will be critical if I am to succeed in the job market.
I found the self-assessment technique introduced by the presentation to be helpful. By listing the experience, actions, and outcomes of my skills, I was able to get a concrete picture of my skillset. Doing so revealed some areas for self-improvement. For a skill that I thought I was relatively good at, I found that I did not actually have that much experience to back it up. To make my skillset stronger, I will have to seek more opportunities to showcase that skill in the future.
I also found the job search log recommended by the presentation to be useful. Previously when I applied for jobs, I had only recorded very basic information about the positions applied: the company name, the position name, and date applied. But in the future, I should also record the job description, skillset required, and other information regarding the job. By doing so, I can identify trends followed by the companies I am applying to and strengthen the critical skills that many jobs ask for.
In this presentation, the speaker gives really good information on how to make your portfolio different from others. In other words, how to create a unique and interesting portfolio. One really good point made by the speaker is that we're not applying to be graduate students anymore; we're applying to a job. Therefore, the reviewers would like to see impact and results rather than bullet points of your duties or things you have done. This point was also talked about in the last presentation given.
Another very important topic talked about was networking and references. This is often overlooked by many students when applying for positions in the industry or research laboratories. It's far easier to apply for jobs when you have connections with the company. This could either from your family, university, professor or even your friends. When we're progressing through our career we should also take this into consideration and develop our own network. It's beneficial for both ourselves and the people around us.
In this seminar, Cyndi Lynch talks about the "Essentials of a Graduate Student Portfolio".
The speaker begins by listing out the vital elements of a portfolio like CV, Resume, Cover letter, Syllabi, etc. The novel idea of the CARS technique was introduced for formatting the resume. CARS stands for challenge or context, actions you took, results achieved and skills enhanced. She also sustains this with an example. Self-assessment procedure which can be used to choose the right career path were reviewed. Cyndi then discusses strategies to search for jobs by using the job search log and job search analysis charts. After selecting the job, it is crucial to deploy an Individual Development Plan and utilise networking narratives to accelerate the process of securing a job. The speaker continues to deliberate about how to prepare for an interview and the steps to be taken in creating an impactful first impression.
Overall, the lecture covered all the steps involved in the process of building a great portfolio and securing a job.
This presentation is a technical approach to creating a graduate portfolio, where an individual tells about their past accomplishments and future aspirations. The presentation was helpful because it has significant aspects of career preparation. The concept of "tell me about yourself" is highly vital, as a portfolio is all about telling who a person is, what they have achieved, and what they can do. The presentation taught me that we must be clear about how we perceive ourselves and where we want to be in the future, especially about the positions we want to take. After drawing a clear picture of who we are, we can present our skills and capacities. The presentation also offers the questions, "how does the job suit me?” and “how do I suit the job?" Here, it is vital to understand that a portfolio defines a person's suitability for a position. These questions assist one in improving their skills to fit specific positions.
I appreciated the career strategic plans in the presentation. I learned that it is vital to understand one's current skills and the skills they must develop or enhance to increase their suitability for a job. Moreover, the presentation demonstrated that it is vital to create a professional identity that includes oral presentation skills. These are especially vital when attending interviews in organizations. The concept I found most critical in the presentation is the networking narrative. It helps us improve our communication with others and talk about vital issues within limited periods. However, significant networking requires significant considerations, including the venue where the meeting is happening, the audience, and the meeting's required outcomes. While the presentation proved helpful in creating a graduate portfolio, it taught me that it is vital to align one's portfolio to fit the job description. However, it must be accompanied by significant evidence and references to support the claims in the portfolio.
This is a technical presentation about devising one's professional portfolio, with the narrative at the core of it. By narrative I mean the story that one wants to convey to his or her audience regarding his past experiences and future goal.
The presentation starts by "Tell me about yourself". It highlights the fact that we need to first be clear about the way that we view ourselves and the position we want to be in the future. Only after precisely figuring out current stance, we are able to properly present our skills and abilities.
The presentation provides a neat method for figuring out element of our story, by self-assessment. The self-assessment requires us to explore our current stance by know our personality, values, interests and skills.
This talk talks also about job search strategies. It suggests us to first set the purpose, and then follow some activities to increase our chance of finding a job that matches our skillset and interests. There are also tables provided that help us answer the questions about "How does the job suit me?" and "How do I suit the job?"
Making a portfolio does not stop at finding a job. One needs to have an individual development plan as well as career strategic plan to follow up with the trends of job market and new technologies. Remaining relevant to the current conditions and circumstance is very important. One needs to have a properly devised plan for personal and professional development, not to fall behind the trend.
Networking narrative helps us to know how to communicate with other parties and in very short amount of time, talk about things as much as possible. Indeed many things need to be taken into account to have an effective networking narrative. These include the audience, the venue, (where the meeting is happening), and required outcome.
According to this talk, when presenting ourselves for a job hunt we need to be able to answer to questions about our attributes (competencies, skills, etc), our experiences (what we have done and how it relates to this job) and the evidence for all those mentioned before.
All in all, this talk deserves some good note taking. Prior to watching this, although I had some idea of what career portfolio is, but never had any idea about the details which play significant role in making our portfolio effective.
This was a very beneficial presentation given by Cyndi D. Lynch on the “Essentials of a Graduate Student Portfolio”. She touched upon various techniques and aspects to better strengthen one’s portfolio. I for one was able to better appreciate the type of thinking required while preparing my portfolio. She reminded us to keep in mind the bigger picture/long-term goals.
This was a very information dense presentation and some of the information contained in it can come of as redundant or repetitive, especially if one has already attended other related presentations. But it can be seen as a plus to keep reinforcing some key techniques such as the CARS technique. Being so information packed and theory heavy, I felt that the use of more audio-visual content could have definitely helped.
Overall, I appreciate this presentation for the information it provides and although sitting through this presentation in one sitting might seem tedious, the ability to revisit it at our own time makes it invaluable.
This was a very useful presentation that included various essential aspects of one’s career preparation. Mrs. Lynch shared various techniques in order to make our portfolio stronger. She also explained about the CARS method which was unknown to me and seemed very useful. She gave a general learning outcome about various topics that she would cover however the structure wasn’t followed. I felt that the organization of the presentation could have been better, but that’s just secondary. Also having some visual components like images or videos could really help making a strong point.
The presenter brings up the idea of a job search log that one should maintain. This log could be a simple excel sheet that documents what company you’ve applied for, contact information, what skills that company is looking for, and a whole host of other aspects. I really faced the issue of forgetting the company role and skills required after a month or so when the company would contact for an interview. Hence this method will surely come in handy.
Overall it was a good presentation that gives a sound idea of things that one should be aware of when developing his professional career.
This was a very useful presentation that included various essential aspects of one’s career preparation. Mrs. Lynch shared various techniques in order to make our portfolio stronger. She also explained about the CARS method which was unknown to me and seemed very useful. She gave a general learning outcome about various topics that she would cover however the structure wasn’t followed. I felt that the organization of the presentation could have been better, but that’s just secondary. Also having some visual components like images or videos could really help making a strong point.
The presenter brings up the idea of a job search log that one should maintain. This log could be a simple excel sheet that documents what company you’ve applied for, contact information, what skills that company is looking for, and a whole host of other aspects. I really faced the issue of forgetting the company role and skills required after a month or so when the company would contact for an interview. Hence this method will surely come in handy.
Overall it was a good presentation that gives a sound idea of things that one should be aware of when developing his professional career.
The presentation given by Cyndi Lynch is particularly beneficial to graduate students looking for jobs in the industry or in the academia. I agree with the speaker on the fact that the first step towards creating a portfolio is to identify one’s own self. In order to be a successful communicator and to face the challenges in an interview one must clearly recognize one’s strengths and weaknesses and work on them. The format provided by the speaker would be an effective tool in creating one’s professional identity. The speaker also stresses on the importance of assessing one’s fields of interest and values as ways of ensuring job satisfaction. Going through a list of job descriptions is an effective way of understanding the types of skills that are desired by a company and seconding this idea with examples was a wonderful way of clarifying this idea. One of the important take away was the plan for individual development as this is a field I have struggled in. Having different topics to talk at different occasions of also is a point that must be kept in mind while networking.
To summarize the presentation was interesting and informative and a lot of ideas were conveyed.
This was a nice lecture. I am going to break down my review to parts that I liked and parts that I thought could be improved.
What I liked:
The CARS approach is quite intuitive
The difference between qualitative vs quantitative description was well explained with the example of excellent vs experienced oral communicator
The self assessment slide was nice
There were some very nice tools and ideas like job search log, career strategic plan and network narratives
Portfolio library is a very good suggestion and was something that was new to me.
What can be changed:
The links are no longer working. This was probably done in 2010, so this is understandable. The description can have some updated links.
The whole presentation is a bit heavy on theory and light on experiences and stories.
The slides look a bit dated. The whole seminar is based on textual slides, with almost no audiovisual content. Maybe a similar seminar can be arranged now and the videos can be updated.
Overall, the presentation is nicely paced, there is a good amount of interaction with the audience, and everything is well organized.
The lecture given by Cyndi is helpful to me. I learned the importance of builiding the student Portfolio during the interview period. The three key essential features are the same as the ones for the resume: attributes, experiences, and evidence. Again, "CARS" idea is also appliable for the portfolio.
For the experiment part, what makes me interested is that Cyndi strengthed that we should keep supporting documents, including letters, curriculum plans, and etc. Previously, I only think it is important to remember the important brief of the experinces I listed in the resume, and I never saved those heavy supporting papers. However, after listening to the lecture, I realized the importance of keeping those items. We can regularly review them. It can not only remind me the past projects but also gives me a better picture of the whole experience and insight the future work.
Back to the lecture itself, I have one question about the purpose of the portfolio. I hope the lecturer shall spend more time explaining the importance of the portfolio and how the student can carefully biuld their portfolio.
The presentation as given by Cyndi Lynch' provides a useful insight for graduate students as to how to develop your portfolio. One of the good take away from this presentation was that any thing be it cv, resume or our cover letter should portray a clear picture about our skills, expectations and future goals. I really liked the part where she tells about how exactly to shortlist job positions because most of the times, it is a difficult task to look for the job online/offline and find out which jobs really suit your skills and experience and which go tangentially to your interest.
One thing that was came as a surprise was use of CARS method in organizing the portfolio. I've used CARS in answering behavioral questions but she provides rather an innovative method to use it while writing your resume.
Other take away was the organisation of our cv/resume to present our candidature in best possible way. I think this is one of the lectures which has a great practical use for our job hunt.
The presentation was very beneficial and served as a reminder that your portfolio is extremely important, not just your work. We are so often only focused on our own academics and research that we lose sight of the long term goals.
The first step in the job search should be to examine yourself. Figuring out who you are, what you want to do, expanding on your strengths and shoring up your weaknesses are critical moving forward. This all contributes to your unique portfolio.
Dr. Lynch laid out great steps for the job hunt. The tip the I found most useful was about references. I often don't consider connections in certain areas until they are required, so it's important to network along the way so you can have a professional vouch for certain jobs or experiences.
The CARS technique is also beneficial to avoid just listing items on your resume or in a conversation, and remember the impact, actions you took to complete the task, and results. Closing with some interview tips about preparing, how to dress, etc. nicely wrapped up for the final step towards getting a job.
This lecture by Cyndi Lynch talks about the essential components of a Graduate Student’s portfolio. Often times Graduate students just focus on their academics and neglect the development of an extensive portfolio which would help them in their job search. In the lecture Cyndi focuses on a few very important points. Firstly, she talks about self-assessment, wherein she advices us to list our skill set and back them up with experiences that helped us develop those skill sets. She also says that we should look for experiences to develop the skills that are missing from our resume. She mentions this as part of an Individual Development Plan where we try to fill in the gaps in our skills which could be part of the requirements for a particular job position. She also talks about the networking strategies we could follow. She shows a networking map which lists faculty members, colleagues, friends and family as potential contacts who could help us get a position in an organisation. The lecture ends while Cyndi talks about preparing for an interview. She lists reviewing the employer, brushing up on our experiences and thinking about our accomplishments as potential things to do before an interview.
Cyndi's presentation was very well done in expressing how much care one should approach preparing their portfolio with. I will be honest, in the past, I have not treated my portfolio very seriously and certainly not with the same vigor as I have taken when it comes to my thesis. While I disagree that the same amount of effort should be given to both, I do agree that the seriousness of the two are equivalent.
I also appreciate the insight that your portfolio should not just be a list of what you did. Rather, it should be tailored for you are applying for (i.e. just stating your responsibilities as a grad student might not show that you have the applicable skills for industry, but if you tailor what your responsibilities were to an industry light, then you are more likely to be deemed qualified).
A change that I do wish was made is not exactly related to the content of the presentation, but rather I wish that Cyndi would have repeated the questions asked, as the mic did not clearly pick up the audience questions.
Cyndi's presentation was very useful as a first semester graduate student. This talk really gave me the ability to understand everything that I need to consider as I begin to look for future employment, and how it is not necessarily limited to just relevant experience in my field of interest. Compiling this portfolio is something that I have realized is very important, and is something I would like to get a head start on as soon as possible. Some of the items that she listed that should be included in our portfolio were obvious, such as a CV, resume, cover letter, etc. All of these items have one thing in common, and that is that they are provided for the employer. Cynthia recommends that we have another component to our portfolio, and that includes several documents like our networking narrative, job searching strategies, career plans, and references.
Cyndi has covered her networking narrative in great detail in another one of her talks, so I will focus more on the other aspects. Prior to searching for jobs, Cyndi states that it is important to develop an IDP (individual development plan). This allows us to sit down and contemplate what it is exactly that we would like to do. This will allow us to potentially find areas we are weak in, and make an effort to improve them through some sort of experience. Additionally, the generation of the IDP gives us time to reflect and understand if the job is a good fit for us, not just if we are a good fit for a job. It is important to keep this in mind, especially as we work towards our career goals. We should go through and continually update these goals and the IDP as we see fit, so we can continue to evaluate ourselves and make changes as needed so we can achieve our goals.
Lastly, Cyndi mentioned the importance of maintaining a record of our peers that we have networked with. I think this is a great idea in principal, and I do think it would be beneficial to have some sort of document linking certain names to their respective potential reference area. However, I do not think that it needs to be as detailed as Cyndi makes it out to be. This video was released nearly 10 years ago, and although I am not sure the state that it was in at that time, linkedIn seems to be a very good tool that I have been using and I do not foresee myself deviating greatly from this.
The subtitle “Develop your message, tell your story” summarizes Cyndi Lynch’s presentation well, and is honestly excellent advice all on its own. When you present yourself to someone, what are the 3-5 things you want them to remember about you? How are you going to do that so that they’ll remember your story? And can someone corroborate your story? She covers these questions in detail, stressing the importance of developing a professional identity through the lens of what you want to do 10 years down the road. Her future-thinking approach is a good one, and she doesn’t leave students in the lurch about how to go about it, either. She gives plenty of examples (Want to go into industry? Spin your experience as a TA as development of your oral communication skills. Want to be a professor? Connect it to future teaching you might have to do.) She has plenty of concrete methods to improve your skills, with everything from a skill self-assessment tree to a detailed plan to develop yourself. Finally, she hits the point so many other speakers on this topic miss: if you’ve developed yourself and your skills, can someone vouch for you? She talks about finding references and maintaining your network, something I certainly need to remember to do! Good talk, wish I saw it sooner.
This talk by Mrs Cyndi Lynch gave me some important insights about the career portfolio in general and opened my eyes to some some aspects that I was oblivious to.
She begins by introducing what a portfolio is and goes on to talk about self-assessment. I think this is the important process in any job search. Trying to assess our skills and goals will give us a clear picture about what job roles and companies we must look for. Also the speaker stresses on the point of identifying our strengths and weaknesses. This would kind of help us asses our preparedness to the job.
Also another important aspect that the speaker stresses on was the importance of oral communication. Besides our technical skills, oral communication skill also matters equally. This is something that I had ignored previously. But the talk gave me a clear picture of what the recruiters expect from a candidate.
One other thing I got to learn from this talk was the CARS format that the speaker emphasized on to succinctly convey our ideas.
The talk also focussed on some job search strategies which I felt were really helpful. Also, the presentation of individual development plan also would work a great deal for me.
To sum it all, I think the talk was well organized which gave me insights on professional identity and importance of networking that would be of great help during any job search.
I thought that this presentation is really useful for any graduate student who wants to pursue a career in specifically research field. The seminar talks about the elements of a portfolio and compares to writing a dissertation. Cindy Lynch, the speaker, talks about the importance of gathering information and thinking about the elements that should go into in, before actually starting to write it.
The "CARS" format was something that I had not learned before, and I feel that it is a good strategy for formatting information about myself. In CARS, she presented a example about applying to the faculty position, which is also her real-life experience. There are several nice diagrams that she presented in the slides and help us to have a big picture of portfolio.
Ms. Lynch provides a lot of great information in her presentation. Her slide on Job Search Log is so realistic because she takes about communicating in a variety of settings. When we search jobs, the speaker encourages us to use a search log, like a tabular, to record the information of the job, such as company, contact information, documents required, job announcement and deadline. Then we can use another log to make an analysis for these jobs
Overall, this was really helpful for me and I will definitely be using these various methods and resources as I develop my own portfolio
There was a bit that overlapped with the Resume presentation, the slides about: Portfolio Elements, the CARS method and the Professional Identity. In this case I think the overlap just provided a continuation/bridge between the two presentations since this was a PART 1, and probably the Resume Improvement followed this first part.
It was really nice that the objectives of the talk were given from the start, that way the audience could know what to expect to learn about from the start. I did found the same issue as with the other two presentations, the formatting of the slides not being the best with too dark backgrounds with black font, or the badly formatted pictures copy-pasted into the slides.
The presentation included:
Individual self assessment: the Myers-BriggsTypeIndicator, a test that can help one understand the type of personality/ ways in which one better approaches situations. The test can help you asses better your weaknesses and strengths.
Strategies for approaching job search. To identify a purpose and activities related to the purpose of the job search, and how to analyze weather a job is suitable to ones skills.
How to cultivate a professional network, and how it relates also to a mentoring map, they complement each other.
Overall it was a good presentation to have a nice general idea of what things you should be aware of when developing your professional life/career plan and several ways to help achieve a successful outcome.
This was a very valuable presentation that included many important things to consider in preparing oneself for a career. Ms. Lynch shared a lot of useful resources on how to identify areas for improvement using various flow charts and tables. I like how she gave examples of how to use these organizational tools by discussing how she filled them in and what she does to work on lacking areas. The presentation was packed with useful information, but it was still easy to follow along due to the fact that Ms. Lynch progressed from one topic to another in a logical manner. I think she was very comprehensive in discussing various aspects of a graduate student portfolio. She provided good information and strategies on assessing one’s skills, developing a job search plan, and individual development plan. I also like that she explained some useful strategies and steps in developing a career plan and also on the various aspects of networking and mentoring. Another very useful topic she covered was how to actually go about in preparing one’s portfolio library for an interview and in general, and she also explained the CARS method, which I hadn’t heard about before. Overall, this was really helpful for me and I will definitely be using these various methods and resources as I develop my own portfolio.
Professor Cyndi Lynch's speech about the graduate student portfolio is a very insightful seminar which gives a lot useful information concerning the how to be successful both in the path of pursuing the graduate degree and after earning the degree. She gives a general learning outcome of how this speech is constructed at the very start, then she moves on to each subject. However, she did not really follow the structure she provided in the beginning, so it would be better if the orgnization of this speech can be improved.
First of all, she introduced what is included in a portfolio and I found the CARS formatting very interesting and useful. It provided a great way to show one's strengthens and how one can overcome challenges one is faced. Secondly, she started the speech by using the learning outcome she mentioned at the beginning (not in the same order). During this period, I have an overall opinion about what to do to enhance the portfolio based on the job search strategy. Furthermore, based on self-assessment, one can choose the right career path like in industry, in education, or in research. After one figure out what career path he or she wants to pursue, one starts to search jobs based on each job's responsibility, skills and qualification. Next, based on the jobs one chooses, the individual development plan comes into play, like gaining the related experience, taking the related courses and researches, building right relationships with references in the future, etc. During this period, networking narratives play a huge role. Communication is very important for interviews, meetings or even elevator pitch and hallway chat. It shows both how professional ability and social ability a person possesses. Based on the different situation and a different audience, one should know how to communicate accordingly. Last but not the least, after building a great relationship with people one works with, gaining enough skills according to the career one chooses, the preparation phase arrives. In this phase, one should know how to construct a portfolio based on the one's experiences, how to ask for references and how to build an attractive resume. In the end, interviews skill is also important. In the interview phase, one should highlight his or her strengthens and show a great first impression of speaking and body languages. With all these processes, one should be successful in building a great portfolio and finding the right job.
Mrs. Lynch's presentation on the essentials of a graduate student portfolio contained a lot of useful information, but I think the scope of the presentation made it difficult to remember all of the components of a good portfolio. I think providing an outline of the presentation contents at the beginning of the talk and summarizing the talk at the end would have improved the impact of the talk. The ending of the presentation felt especially abrupt, as she ended the talk seconds after she discussed the challenges of the case interview format. In the talk, she mentions other presentations she has given to the seminar class, so this talk might feel more complete if viewed with her other talks.
Mrs. Lynch suggests many different types of tables and outlining tools that graduate students can use in organizing there portfolio, including charts that organize research into job applications and skill webs. The message behind using all of these tools is a message of self-reflection and research into opportunities. I have come away from this presentation with new ideas on how to plan for my future professional career.
We will need to present our portfolio to some employer at some point in the near future. With that in mind, this presentation offers insightful comments and suggestions regarding how best to put together the information that you will present to others. It begins with establishing a professional identity. This has to do with extra-academic aspects like communication and personality. Your professional identity should set the stage, according to the speaker, to answer the rest of the interview’s more technically oriented questions.
The speaker mentions that we should have certain items in our mind to pull up at a moment’s notice to talk about over dinner or at a conference if you run into someone who asks about you. Keeping in mind a few key points seems like a great idea. I’ll definitely summarize my work to myself and use it going forwards. This has to do with the Network Narratives idea the speaker brings up, where different scenarios require you to modify the length/depth of your narrative (elevator pitch vs interview vs meeting).
Going into professionally oriented items, the speaker brings up the idea of a job search log. This log could be a simple excel sheet that documents what company you’ve applied for, contact information, what skills that company is looking for, and a whole host of other aspects. Keeping all this information related to your applications seems like a great idea; I will certainly integrate this into my workstyle as I search for internships in the future.
The presentation itself is well organized, but I can’t help but feel that a few more visual components, or anecdotes, would have made it easier to follow. I feel that anecdotes are well suited for the type of information that was presented here, but were underutilized. Regardless, there are useful tactics and points brought up during the talk that I think other students would benefit greatly from.
The talk was well organized and had a flow which helped to connect different aspects of building professional profile. It started with self assessment which allowed to identify our goals, strength and weakness. Once we identify these it easier to tackle them and it was an import take a way point from that explanation. She also focused on importance of oral communication which can help in different situations.
The talk continued to topic of Job search strategy which I think was on of the most important followed by individual development plan and professional identity. She also stressed on the importance of networking and talked about avenues of networking. The talk ended with talking about interview type.
Overall, the talk was helpful and helped me eradicate some misconceptions I had, therefore was very informative.
Cyndi started the presentation by emphasizing the importance of approaching a graduate portfolio with the same amount of care and thought that would go into a thesis dissertation. She does a good job explaining how skills from grad school that may not directly be applicable to industry, such as teaching, can still be used to strengthen your portfolio. She talks about how it is important to do an honest self-assessment of your skills in order to identify weaknesses as well as strengths that you can use as talking points during the interview process.
The suggestion to create a job search log seems particularly useful. In my experience, the key item recruiters are looking for is how well the candidates skills match the skills necessary to complete the job. Her approach creates an organized method to identify and keep track of jobs that match your skills. She also suggests creating a long term plan of 5 years or more. This is a good suggestion, but is something that is difficult to identify exactly as opportunities continue to change.
It's a great presentation, the lecturer mentioned several topics for the graduate student portfolio.
After this presentation, I will work on getting my CV prepared for each type of employer that I want to target.
Most important thing is that she presented an example of applying to the faculty position, which is also her real-life experience.
The quality of the video is not good. I cannot hear the questions, and the lecturer didn't repeat the questions.
This is a dense seminar. The speaker went over various aspects of creating a graduate student portfolio. A summary slide in the end would help viewers to remember the important points throughout the presentation.
From my perspective the CARS format and individual development plan are particularly helpful. The CARS format puts emphasis on different aspects of a experience/duty. She pointed out that companies are looking for a slightly different skill set than graduate schools.
Individual development plan gives a frame and directions on how graduate students should develop themselves through graduate schools.
This seminar talked about how to develop a portfolio in preparation for networking or interviews. In terms of content, this was a very good seminar. The speaker offered very good insight on how to develop a portfolio from start to finish. Beginning with identifying personal strengths, she then goes into how to develop what she calls an 'Individual Development Plan' to quantify personal skills and plan out how to go about further developing certain skills over time. She then goes on to describe how to take these identified skills to build a portfolio and narrative to bring to interviews and networking events to present to potential employers. One aspect of this seminar that I particularly liked was the focus on long-term personal development. Rather than just talking about how to identify and present personal strengths, this seminar also talks about how to build up those skills and experiences over time while also building a network of contacts and references.
If there is one aspect of this seminar that I must criticize, it is that the presentation was rather lacking. The delivery felt somewhat mechanical and the speaker often lost her place. This hurt my engagement with the seminar since it gave me the impression that the speaker was not well prepared and was not particularly enthusiastic about the topic. As a result, I found my attention often drifting away from the presentation. I feel like a more dynamic and conversational tone of voice would help the seminar feel more engaging. In addition, I feel like there should be more cases of audience interaction as was done towards the beginning of the seminar. Since a major topic of the seminar is personal development, I feel that giving the audience more opportunities to chime in with their personal experiences would only strengthen the overall message.
The speaker talks about the importance of portfolio which helps me understand what a cv should look like. There are four parts which are Self Assessment, Job Search, Networking Narrative and Individual Development Plan. The speaker also introduces the formatting "CARS" with some examples. It is a good framework for preparing portfolio and can help me a lot.
Self Assessment: People should intruduce themselves in a way of own skills, values,personality and interests. It gives me a good point to match myself with a proper job.
Job Search: During job search, people should use a search log to record company information. And then we can compare different jobs, which one is better or we should focus on preparing which job first.
Networking Narrative: Talking to different people, making connections with them that will be helpful to find jobs in the future. The speaker aslo provides some tips how to keep in touch with different people.
Individual Development Plan: People should have a plan in order to improve themselves. For example, learning new knowledge in a fixed time. This characteristic is very important.
The presentation is good overall, howerver, some strategies are too general and cannot be suit for specific job.
This lecture focuses on how to make your own portfolio. The content mainly includes self assessment, job search strategies, network narrative and individual development plan.
When we write portfolio, the speaker proposes a principle for the formatting named as "CARS". That is challenge or context, actions you took, results achieved, and skills enhanced. This is a good framework for portfolio, and it does give me an insight. We first need a self assessment. We need to know our personality, interests, values and skills. Only in this way can we find a proper job for ourselves. When we search jobs, the speaker encourages us to use a search log, like a tabular, to record the information of the job, such as company, contact information, documents required, job announcement and deadline. Then we can use another log to make an analysis for these jobs. We should know the duties of these jobs, the skills/experiences/qualification they need. This helps us to find the jobs that suit us the most. A network narrative is also necessary, the outcomes of it can be obtaining information, making connections with different people and communicating your values. Another thing we cannot omit is individual development plan. A short-term plan will be helpful to prioritize and organize skill development. We cannot stop learning and developing. This characteristic, I believe, is valued by most companies.
Before this lecture, I never thought about building my own portfolio. But after this, I realize the importance of it. I would follow the speaker's suggestion to document my experiences in the future.
This was a good presentation. Ms. Lynch goes over several topics for the graduate student portfolio. She talks about the elements of the portfolio, which are interesting to me. I was not aware that the employer needed so much details from my resume. After this presentation I will work on getting my CV prepared for each type of employer that I want to target.
Her introduction to the CARS method/process is very good. I did not know this is what employers were looking for now a days. I was not aware that the employers were interested in looking what impacts I have made in my career. This is great insight.
The Professional Identity slide was also great. It brings a great point about what you want yourself to be known as. I am actually going to actually set up a meeting with the Career Development department, the Self Assessment slide gave an insight into what to look for once I graduate and what values and things that are important to me.
Ms. Lynch provides a lot of great information in her presentation. Her slide on Job Search Log is so realistic because she takes about communicating in a variety of settings. A couple of questions she discusses about, "How does the job suit me?, and How do I suit the job?," are some of the most important questions for a career.
I have developed an Individual Development Plan (IDP) in my career, but her slide on IDP is excellent, it is motivated me to gain some international experience. I particularly liked her information on strategic planning for faculty positions.
I like her information about how to pay attention to your audience. For example, each network opportunity will have different types of audiences and you have to be more mindful of who you are talking to. I will have to figure out what my 3 to 5 attributes are that might interest some of the employers I am looking to interview with.
I want to definitely go to the career development department at the Graduate School, to fill in the gaps on my resume and my portfolio. Her tips on phone interviewing is just great to be cognizant about what you are talking about and pacing yourself.
This was a good presentation. Ms. Lynch goes over several topics for the graduate student portfolio. She talks about the elements of the portfolio, which are interesting to me. I was not aware that the employer needed so much details from my resume. After this presentation I will work on getting my CV prepared for each type of employer that I want to target.
Her introduction to the CARS method/process is very good. I did not know this is what employers were looking for now a days. I was not aware that the employers were interested in looking what impacts I have made in my career. This is great insight.
The Professional Identity slide was also great. It brings a great point about what you want yourself to be known as. I am actually going to actually set up a meeting with the Career Development department, the Self Assessment slide gave an insight into what to look for once I graduate and what values and things that are important to me.
Ms. Lynch provides a lot of great information in her presentation. Her slide on Job Search Log is so realistic because she takes about communicating in a variety of settings. A couple of questions she discusses about, "How does the job suit me?, and How do I suit the job?," are some of the most important questions for a career.
I have developed an Individual Development Plan (IDP) in my career, but her slide on IDP is excellent, it is motivated me to gain some international experience. I particularly liked her information on strategic planning for faculty positions.
I like her information about how to pay attention to your audience. For example, each network opportunity will have different types of audiences and you have to be more mindful of who you are talking to. I will have to figure out what my 3 to 5 attributes are that might interest some of the employers I am looking to interview with.
I want to definitely go to the career development department at the Graduate School, to fill in the gaps on my resume and my portfolio. Her tips on phone interviewing is just great to be cognizant about what you are talking about and pacing yourself.
The director, Cyndi Lynch, gave a very informational speech that could be a leading beacon during our graduate student period. She demonstrated some useful websites firstly, then listed examples of portfolio elements. She also presented an idea which is CARS, helps us to easy remember. In CARS, she presented a example about applying to the faculty position, which is also her real-life experience. There are several nice diagrams that she presented in the slides and help us to have a big picture of portfolio.
This presentation is very helpful, especially for first year graduate student. Because it helps us to plan during the graduate school period. For the slide, there are some text information on those diagrams are not easy to read, also since this is an introduction, there are too much information that are provided in the slide, which is hard to remember. So that after the presentation, I must look back to review them again.
This seminar talks about what does a portfolio need to say when you are attending an interview. The employer is more interested in performance and impact of what you have done rather than grades. Job search strategies was informative. Updating the resume based the job description, job search log were somethings new I learned and are very useful. Break up of various types of components in networking narratives and their purpose is a great topic.
It was good to know skills that set you apart from the crowd in the portfolio narrative. What to include for a potential professor position or industry were discussed in detail.
I would highly recommend this presentation for someone who is in the process of job search. Types of interviews, what happens in all of them and how to face them is very useful for everyone. I particularly like how this presentation caters to the needs of both academia and industry careers and discusses them in detail. This presentation is a fairly interactive one and it is very difficult to follow the conversation as the audience were not audible. It would be great if it can be taken care of for future uploads.
Cyndi Lynch's presentation on graduate student portfolios did a good job at helping me to better focus the way I present myself to other researchers and potential employers. Having a list of elements typically that would be in a portfolio gave me a good starting point for creating my own portfolio.
The "CARS" format was something that I had not learned before, and I feel that it is a good strategy for formatting information about myself. This also related to the later topic of searching for jobs, where knowing your skills and contributions would help you figure out the jobs that you would be a good fit for based on job descriptions.
I particularly liked the section on the "Individual Development Plan". While I regularly update my resume, I do not necessarily track my skills in particular areas (technical or otherwise). I feel that doing this would help me to improve across the board, as it would give me a reminder of what I need to work incrementally, rather then as needed.
Having the "Portfolio Narrative" section was a good way wrap all the subjects covered about the portfolio together, by providing some insight into how all information in the portfolio should be geared. I plan on using this information to paint a better, more consistent picture of myself to future employers.
One improvement that I think would have helped in the presentation is more information on why having a consistent narrative in your portfolio is important. Other presentations have gone over similar topics, but I feel it is especially relevant here.
This lecture is very useful for students who are nearing graduation and getting ready to find a job. In it, you will learn how to assess your own skill set, keep a connected network, and map out a plan of self improvement. One example of a useful insight was to identify qualities an employer may find admirable, assess yourself in those categories, then develop a plan of how you might go about improving them. The example given was organizing a study abroad after identifying a lack of international experience. This also strengthened many other attributes by extension. This way of framing self-improvement was very helpful to understanding how to go about planning future.
Useful information is also given about how to go about finding a company that's a good fit for you and some basic tips about how to present oneself by pre-identifying impressions you wish to leave. There are also good hints on forming an effective resume using the CARS system instead of listing job duties. Overall, it's very easy to recommend this lecture to those unsure how to start preparing for a successful job hunt.
One big issue is the audio quality. This was recorded as a lecture in front of a live audience, so naturally there are a lot of questions and answers. I found it very difficult to hear what was being said in these sections. I also think the lecture may have pulled too many topics into one session. It could be broken into orthogonal parts fairly easily for shorter, more digestible chunks.
This seminar talks about developing a graduate student portfolio. It talks about the basics of a portfolio and how to apply them in networking or in an interview.
The seminar talks about the elements of a portfolio and compares to writing a dissertation. Cindy Lynch, the speaker, talks about the importance of gathering information and thinking about the elements that should go into in, before actually starting to write it.
I learnt a few things from this seminar. Using the C-A-R-S format to convey information was one. This method uses a 15:45:30:10 ratio to focus on challenge, actions, results, and skills. We are all familiar with the STAR method of answering questions but this is another neat way to present information about ourselves that we want the other person to focus on.
Another thing I learnt, and I really liked was the Self Assessment slide. Cindy Lynch elaborates on each of the four main branches – personality, values, interests, and skills and directs the viewers on how we can assess ourselves to identify what type of jobs will suit us better by figuring out what drives us.
Then she talks about how to develop a good job search strategy, a career strategic plan and a networking narrative. This was another thing I liked learning about. She talks about the different types of venues/audiences and outcomes these may occur in. Then walks us through the ways we can talk about how our skill sets will match their (interviewer/employer) needs depending on each situation.
The video also gives information about the Graduate Student Professional Development center. They have a good website with all their events and workshops advertised for easy planning.
Overall I found this video very informational. The presentation was clear and included a lot of important details. Therefore, I am rating this five stars!
This talk is informative talk that helps graduate students to have a detailed plan to make their portfolios better. The most impressive thing in this presentation -from my point of view- is the good organization of the topics and showing multiple examples. First good point was presenting the experience and skills according to the job you aim to have(Technical,Leadership,Teaching. etc... ).
Also, the speaker mentions expressions like "CARS" elements in Portfolio.She gives a nice example of "Applying to Faculty Position" to show the order of Self assessment levels which are: Experience, Actions, Outcomes and Mentoring.
Moreover, Job search log idea which contains all important details about qualifications, skills, contacts, and employer information is a realistic measure to know if you fits to that job or need a development plan. She gives a nice example of "international experience abroad" to make that point clear.
After that, the speaker gives explains clearly networking narratives and their categories. The first category is venue(like conferences), the second is Audience (like professors) and the third is outcome which is making connections that will be helpful in future. Finally, the speaker mentions some useful tools and services offered by Purdue in that context.
Negative points for me are: 1) Speaking very fast 2) Preparation for interview topic she covers finally isn't suitable for the general context of the talk. Overall rating is very good.
This lecture presents multiple ideas for graduate students in how to create your professional image to get a job, either in industry or academia. Some of the concepts presented here slightly overlap with the lecture about Career fair. It starts by presenting some ideas of elf-assessment: find your skills, values and experience and be able to show them to the industry to get the job you want. She also introduces some ideas in how to look for a job efficiently and talks about having future plans with goals. The talk follows talking about networking. The presenter highlights the importance of having connections with right people in order to find jobs and give some tips in how to keep in contact with people without bothering them. The lecture finishes by presenting some advice on how to prepare for interviews (to research about the company and its values and goals, give a good impression, have professional clothing…)
Overall it is a good presentation and it provides some useful information. Some of the materials is overlapped with other talks and lot of the ideas presented are common sense.
The speaker gives a deep thinking about self definition. The experience you have and the ability you master make you different from others and create a unique portfolio. For a graduate student, a portfolio is a good way to understand the career goal and personality. The value behind each person comes from the experience and each person has his or her unique value. Identifying who you are is a crucial task not only in the career path, but also the entire life. The speaker also talked about the networking skill which is also important in job searching. Reference is very important based on my experience in seeking jobs. Linking yourself to the person that may refer you to a position and keeping contact with this person also needs strategy and skills. The speaker finished the talk by summarizing how to prepare for an interview, we should understand the company's mission, pay attention to the importance of your first impression which includes posture, clothing and gestures, and try to make the interviewer remember you.
I thought that this presentation is really useful for any graduate student who wants to pursue a career in specifically research field. Sometimes when you work on some particular topic for very long period of time it becomes difficult to concisely present your work in efficient way. For a graduate student a portfolio is good way to understand one’s goals, personality and suitability for the job. In the beginning the presenter talks about identifying your own values, skills, experiences and personality. The self-assessment can lead to find a job you want. Presenter also talks about networking narrative where your previous work experiences and the contacts made at the job can lead you to the job you want. It is crucial to highlight your relevant experience and attributes while applying for a job. The career strategy for the future also helps you to keep track of your goals and what do you want to achieve in 5/10 years of span. A very useful point was brought up by the presenter about references. You want to be prepared if the potential employer asks about references without bothering the person by contacting them too often. While finding a job it is important to keep networking, gather information about new jobs and connecting to right people. The job searching strategies such as improving your portfolio to encompass the skillset required for a particular job position are discussed. The presenter also talks about interview skills and how you want to have good first impression on potential employer even if the type of interview is not the conventional one.
The presentation offers very good insight into actions and attitudes that can be taken to further one's career, and improve your probabilities of finding and being hired for a job you want. The first part of the presentation focuses on self-assesment; how to understand your skills and experiences, and how to frame them in a way that is relevant to employers. The presenter mentions the importance of documenting your experiences over long periods of education, such as graduate school, as they might serve as data points or evidence that can later be used to convince a future employer you're suited for the job and possess the skills required. A very useful point brought up as part of the self-assessment is the importance of also assessing your personality and what your future plans for your career are; she mentions examples of the advantages and disadvantages of a faculty position versus an industry position, citing the freedom of selecting your own research versus potentially higher income as an example. She also mentions job search strategies: such as the importance of looking for several options and building up an array of duties and skillsets required for each, so that you might better choose which one suits you best. Some general and very useful advice given is to also identify and make known skills that aren't necessarily academic, but might be sought after by employers: teamwork skills, for example, as well as cross-discipline experience. She stresses the importance of networking and how it can assist with the process of obtaining this information, as well as linking you to people who can help, and gives strategies on how to stay in touch without bothering the person by contacting them too often. Finally, she closes the lecture with a summarized version of how to prepare for an interview, as well as important advice for one: researching the company's mission and goals, the importance of your first impression and nonverbal cues such as posture, clothing and gestures, and to focus on what you want the interviewer to remember about you in particular.
0 Like 0 Dislike
yinchien huang @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cyndi Lynch's seminar, "Essentials of a Graduate Student Portfolio," was packed with strategic insights crucial for any graduate student. The presentation highlighted the CARS (Challenge, Action, Results, Skills) format as a pivotal tool for structuring experiences effectively within a portfolio. Additionally, Cyndi's detailed job search strategies and networking narratives were especially beneficial, serving as a lifeline for graduate students entering the job market for the first time.
The seminar extended beyond mere job applications, emphasizing ongoing personal and professional development to equip students with a lifelong repository of resources. While the discussion on different types of interviews was enlightening, the inclusion of strategies for online interviews could enhance its relevance in today's remote-working world.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Kelechi Gabriel Kalu @ on
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cyndi D. Lynch's seminar on crafting a graduate student portfolio was enlightening. One aspect that stood out was Lynch's adeptness at providing practical examples and resources, making complex concepts accessible and actionable. I particularly enjoyed her emphasis on self-assessment, long-term planning (exemplified by the 'Individual Development Plan'), and Using the CARS format in CV and resume writing.
While the seminar's content was undeniably valuable, however, there seemed to be a discrepancy in presentation quality, particularly with Lynch's delivery, which at times, felt robotic and disengaged. An increased audience participation would undoubtedly enhance engagement and retention of key concepts. Also, I especially commend her introduction to this talk as it made the presentation's flow wonderful.
Nevertheless, Lynch's insights into portfolio development and career preparation remain invaluable. With a blend of refinement in presentation and unwavering content quality, this seminar has the potential to truly empower future attendees on their career journeys.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Abraar Raza Samar @ on
5.0 out of 5 stars
The information Cyndi has provided in this seminar is genuinely useful and insightful. The self-assessment flow diagram allows one to step back and form a well thought out plan for the future, analysing and incorporating personal attributes with real world job scenarios. Her job search strategies are particularly helpful with university students who have never sought work before, as her explanations are equivalent to a step-by-step guide for attempting to acquire any job position. Extremely handy and comprehensive, definitely saving this for future use. The CARS strategy is reminiscent of her talk on resumes, another tip to showcase one’s ability to solve problems and learn from the experience. Lastly, I thoroughly enjoyed her discussion on the different types of interviews. It was a section of the seminar that proved exceptionally useful as it highlighted an aspect that is easily messed up by applicants. However, some tips about online interviews would prove beneficial to many students, as a lot of jobs are now distance-based.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Zeren Li @ on
5.0 out of 5 stars
The "Essentials of a Graduate Student Portfolio" seminar, presented by Cyndi Lynch, is a good resource for any graduate student aiming to build a compelling professional portfolio.
She emphasizes the importance of a well-thought-out narrative in a graduate student's portfolio. The seminar begins with a focus on self-assessment such as reflect deeply on their values, interests, skills, and goals. This foundational step ensures that students can articulate a clear and personalized career trajectory.
The presentation is structured around developing a job search strategy that involves constructing a networking narrative and an individual development plan. The speaker introduces the CARS (Challenge, Action, Results, Skills) formatting as a tool to structure the presentation of experiences in a portfolio, ensuring that each element is communicated effectively and efficiently.
The seminar also extends beyond just the job application process by encouraging ongoing personal and professional development.
In conclusion, Cyndi Lynch's seminar offers a guide to graduate students that covers the basics of portfolio creation, enriches the attendees' understanding of strategic career planning.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Satyavrat Rajaram Wagle @ on
5.0 out of 5 stars
This seminar provides a comprehensive and holistic approach to professional portfolios and the subsequent job search process. Cyndi presents a very cohesive and information-centric framework for managing the various aspects of professional portfolio creation, which creates an extremely useful lifelong repository of resources for developing your own professional identity. I liked the fact that she focuses just as much on identifying and developing your own personal satisfaction with your desired job as much as being a competent potential candidate for one. Another focus of this seminar was communicating your identity to potential people of interest and doing so effectively. The thought experiment of "What are the 3-5 things that you want someone to know" was very helpful in coming up with a structure for your elevator pitch as well as building it up into a more comprehensive expression of your professional identity.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Fouad Afiouni @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
After watching Cyndi’s talk about resume writing, I decided to watch this talk as I realized her insight is useful and well communicated. I think that her advice about being a whole person and not just a graduate student is very valuable, as I realize I am guilty of neglecting non-academic activities as a grad student. I think a summary of the talk would be that we should, as graduate students, treat our future plans strategically. Identify what we are good at and emphasize it and identify what skills we lack and put up a plan to develop them. The insight that she gave about what to focus on for different roles (industrial, faculty, head of department) is valuable as it demonstrated how people with similar degrees at the same academic level need to have very different skills to fit in their roles, and this does not show from a publications list for example. The information she gave about interviews is dated as it was about in-place and telephone interviews, which are not that common nowadays. I wish we could have some more insight about zoom interviews and good tips to give a good impression.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Pallavi Gajjar @ on
5.0 out of 5 stars
I found Cyndi Lynch’s presentation a comprehensive, insightful, and structured guide to navigating the job market. She covered several elements essential to a well-rounded graduate student portfolio and shed light on the diverse set of skills/experiences that are key to an individual’s professional identity. Cyndi’s emphasis on self-assessment, skill evaluation, and career development plans offered practical tools for the audience to reflect on their interests, motivations, and career goals. Cyndi's pragmatism shines through in her advice on job search strategies, interview preparation, and the creation of networking narratives. I found the section on networking narratives particularly beneficial, as it provided a nuanced understanding of how to communicate effectively in different settings and tailor messages to diverse audiences.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Chengjun Guo @ on
5.0 out of 5 stars
The seminar provided a deep dive into the critical aspects of developing portfolio. The emphasis on forming a professional identity through self-assessment and skill analysis was a standout feature. This focus is integral in determining the components of a successful portfolio. One of the strong suits was its coverage of job search strategies, which resonated well with my current stage of career planning. Lynch’s discussion on formulating professional development plans, covering both short-term and long-term career objectives, was insightful and thought-provoking. The seminar was beneficial for its detailed advice on tailoring job applications and comprehensively assessing personal strengths and weaknesses. This guidance is crucial for graduates transitioning from academic life to professional environments. In conclusion, this seminar guides anyone who are looking to craft an effective graduate student portfolio. The seminar’s focus on self-evaluation, strategic job application preparation, and understanding one’s professional identity provides essential tools for students aiming to navigate their career paths successfully.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Chih-yu Liao @ on
5.0 out of 5 stars
The video "Essentials of a Graduate Student Portfolio" by Cyndi Lynch offers a comprehensive exploration of the essential elements of a successful graduate student portfolio. First, we need to consider developing a professional identity, which involves self-assessment and skill evaluation. This will assist us in determining what should be included in the portfolio. Also, she introduces the strategy of job searching. In my opinion, these suggestions are really good and I could make use of them in this phase.
Finally, she discussed professional development planning, including short-term and long-term plans, as well as the goals we would like to achieve in our career paths.
Overall, I learned a lot from this video. Her emphasis on customizing job applications and comprehending one's strengths and weaknesses is especially advantageous for students transitioning from academic settings to professional environments. Most importantly, I received clear instructions to follow when creating a portfolio in the future.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Yoon Suk Uhr @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
First of all, one suggestion for the video format is: Although the presentation was viewable by downloading as a MP4 file, the Flash Player is no longer supported, and thus needs a fix on the website. Cyndi does a perfect presentation in explaining throughly, on the steps Graduate Students need in order to prepare for Portfolio towards the employers. I found this insightful and different from merely talking about what to put down on a resume. For example, Cyndi explains and asks the students to think about Teaching Philosophies and Research Statement, which I never would have carefully thought of, if I were to only put down on a resume. She also emphasizes to put yourself in a reviewer's standpoint and see what information may be missing out, and that you need to include it. She carried on explaining CARS format, which was also useful for formatting the cover letter and the resume.
One of the memorable lesson I learned it that the companies are now recruiting us (Graduate Students) not for the student-status but as a professionals. In order to achieve all the Portfolio objectives, Cyndi explains the usage of Individual Development Plan and Career Strategic Plan. This made me think about what position I would see myself in 10 years. What and how should I work towards this goal to achieve what I am looking for? Who should I find as a mentor that works in that position that I want to achieve? These questions are helpful and deep. Cyndi then summarizes the presentation by bringing up the next topic -- Networking Narratives and Portfolio Narratives. This made me think and draw a map of networking people (friends / family / anyone that I worked with before (meaningful work-relationships).. etc). Overall, Cyndi's presentation was insightful and really made me re-consider what my future goals are, and how it aligns with my current self.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Yi Xie @ on
5.0 out of 5 stars
In Cyndi's presentation, she clearly tells students how to be prepared for a graduate study, from job search strategy, self-assessment to individual development plan.
I found that the self-assessment is very useful to prepare for the career. She asked students to list the interests, personality, values and skills. So that we can have a better understanding of ourselves. Based on the self-assessment, we can find out what are we lacking for and what's our strength. For example, I have some good research and leadership skills, but lacking of teaching experience. Thus, I applied for a GTA position, and nourish my teaching skills as well as build my communication skills.
Job search strategies are related to self-assessment. She suggests us to list all the skills we have and compare to the job that we would like to apply. By building a table for comparison, we can easily find out what are the skills that the company requires for and we can gradually build these skills during our study in graduate school. We will also find out how does the job suit for us and how do we fit the position. It is very important to learn these evidence in advance so that we can have enough time to learn relevant skills to obtain our dream job.
After self-assessment and job search, the last thing we need to do is to build an individual development plan with different skill sets and follow the plan in the study.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Arnav Singh @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cyndi Lynch's seminar on job searching, self-assessment, and career planning is invaluable for individuals entering the job market or preparing for interviews. Lynch introduces a systematic approach, urging the creation of an Individual Development Plan (IDP) to prioritize skills needed for specific job opportunities. Her emphasis on tailoring materials for each job, using a job search log, and detailing progress monthly provides practical strategies for success.
The presentation explores crafting impactful resumes and delves into the intricacies of professional interactions and career choices between academia and industry. Lynch's "CARS" approach to CV detailing and the comprehensive checklist for career strategy, networking, and an IDP offers a structured guide for effective job pursuits.
Despite some visual shortcomings in the presentation, including crowded slides, the content's relevance, and Lynch's engaging delivery, it is a treasure trove of actionable insights. While the seminar could benefit from improved clarity and interactivity, Lynch's strategic guidance and emphasis on foresight and planning make it an essential resource for navigating the complexities of job hunting and career development.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Hanlei Gu @ on
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is a super useful seminar for people looking for job interview or those who will look for interview; essentially it is useful to everybody.
Mrs. Lynch delivered a systematic way for job searching, self-assessment and career planning.
I wish I would have known the strategy Mrs. Lynch taught here when I was interviewing to find major professor in PhD. When I was doing this, I have a list of faculty members I want to contact, and just started to contact one by one. In the materials I sent to those professors, I put everything I have and hope the professor(s) can find it useful. Mrs. Lynch suggested that one should make a log for every job they are seeking and list details like job announcement, required skills, and tailer the materials for each job. Then one can use an Individual Development Plan to gain skills. This IDP can prioritize the skills needed and keep a month-to-month progress.
Using these strategies, one can build a good portfolio.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Jhen-Ruei Chen @ on
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cyndi Lynch's presentation on crafting an impactful resume and navigating the intricacies of professional interactions is a goldmine of practical strategies for anyone entering the job market. The "CARS" approach to CV detailing stood out as a game-changer, aligning seamlessly with the transition from academia to real-world challenges.
The exploration of career choices between academia and industry, along with factors like job security and compensation preferences, provided a comprehensive perspective. Lynch's emphasis on the Individual Development Plan as a strategic asset in job interviews showcased foresight and planning as key elements for success.
Lynch's strategic approach to job hunting, from resume building to self-assessment and effective networking, resonated well with the audience. The job search log and analysis tools provided actionable steps for efficient evaluation against job requirements. The checklist, encompassing an individual development plan, career strategy, and networking map, offered a structured guide for successful job pursuits.
In conclusion, Lynch's presentation is a treasure trove of actionable insights for job seekers. Her emphasis on self-assessment, strategic planning, and effective communication provides a roadmap for success in the competitive job market. Despite minor visual shortcomings, the content's relevance and Lynch's engaging delivery make this presentation an invaluable resource for those navigating the complexities of job hunting and career development.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Aravindkumar Rajakumar @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cyndi Lynch delivered a compelling presentation on crafting an effective and impactful resume, shedding light on the intricacies of professional interactions in various settings. She delineated the evolution from an elevator pitch to a comprehensive interview, highlighting the significance of networking opportunities in both professional and social contexts, such as hallway chats and meetings.
A key takeaway was the "CARS" approach to detailing a CV, emphasizing the importance of showcasing the impact of one's work rather than merely listing acquired skills. Lynch underscored the transition from graduate studies to real-world challenges, urging the alignment of CVs with the expectations of tackling practical issues.
The discussion extended to developing a memorable professional identity within a brief conversation, emphasizing notable achievements, research endeavors, app development, or internship experiences. Lynch acknowledged the transferable skills gained in graduate life, particularly in communication and adaptability.
The presentation also delved into the career choice between academia and industry, exploring factors like job security and compensation preferences. Lynch provided insights into the requirements for a faculty position, encompassing research output, teaching experience, and community engagement.
Addressing the importance of an Individual Development Plan, Lynch advocated for foresight and planning, presenting it as a valuable asset in job interviews. The significance of impactful references and thorough interview preparation, including aligning with job descriptions and understanding company values, was stressed. Lynch concluded by highlighting the influence of appearance factors on interviews, emphasizing rapport building, enthusiasm, and effective communication. Overall, the presentation provided valuable strategies applicable to future job pursuits for an individual. The only downside of this presentation was, given the presentation's age, the visuals, including diagrams and their backgrounds, lacked the visually appealing elements to capture listeners' attention.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Anonymous @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
The speaker well articulated her main points. She made it very clear from the start, what exactly the topic was. She was concise and straight-forward. She is well-aware of the type of audience she has and carefully set up her presentation that would captivate her audience and found ways to relate to them. Also, provided solid examples and personal experiences throughout the presentation. Experiences such as setting up a chart to visualize the skills asked by the company and the evidence she has to support them, illustrated her orator skills test results, and also explained different networking narratives (i.e. elevator pitch, hallway, meeting, and interview) with concrete examples. I used to think we should give the same narrative no matter the situation but the speaker made me realize otherwise which is extremely useful knowledge to have especially now during career fair season.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Arani Roy @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
The speaker elaborates on the abilities and plan required by a student to find a job in the real world. She starts with the resume building importance and how the first impression through a good resume is important for the student to get a shot at interviews. The self-assessment in terms of personality, interests, values and skills is important as this is how we would introduce ourselves. For skills, we need to have experience as well as the evidence of the skills. She introduced us to the job search log- to remove the clutter from the long texts of job description and focus on what's required. Then , she provided the job search analysis table to see how much the job description matches our profile. The job search log and job search analysis is actually quite helpful to efficiently evaluate our profile against a job.
The individual development plan to improve our skills, career strategy plan to plan for a long-term action in job, networking/mentoring map to seek our support system and reliable references prove to very useful catalog for job-hunting and keeping a job long term. Overall, I like the checklist provided by the speaker and my only complaint is the slide font quality. Rest all proves to be extremely helpful.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Jing Yin See @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
I find this presentation beneficial and informative. It helps me to develop an effective strategy when it comes to job search. To do that, I will first research on what kind of specific skills and competencies that the company required. From there, I will assess my own abilities and see whether I fit into these requirements. Other than that, I learn to formulate an individual development plan to improve myself. To be specific, I will list down all the desired skills that I want to learn. From there, I will create timelines to make sure that I make progress for self-improvement. This can help to discipline and motivate myself to become a better job candidate. I believe all these lessons or tricks will be very useful for me in future when applying to any kind of roles.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Rithu Thomas @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
The seminar on graduate student portfolios and job search strategies was an excellent resource for anyone looking to enter the job market. The presentation's emphasis on self-assessment, networking narratives, and showcasing one's impact provided valuable insights for students to build a strong professional identity. The CARS method introduced in the seminar was a helpful tool for creating an impactful resume. In addition, the seminar also compared industry and academic career choices, offering a balanced view and helping students make informed decisions about their future. The Graduate Student Professional Development Center was highlighted as a valuable resource for students seeking career guidance. Overall, the seminar's content was highly informative and relevant, making it a must-attend for graduate students. Highly recommended.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Mariam Gigauri @ on
5.0 out of 5 stars
Seminar was great introduction to what mindset and goals should a graduate student set for himself to increase the probability of getting the desired job. It motivated me to evaluate my skills, abilities and experiences in a very objective manner, but at the same time present them to potential employers in appealing manner. I understood that resume/interview speech should be highlighting strong sides and showing all the important qualities necessary for the job. Seminar also made me understand the first impression importance. Just as prof. Klimeck talked in the very first seminar and when explaining how to write resume, prof. Lynch indicated that recruiter should catch the spark of interviewee in the first couple minutes of conversation. It can be focused on the interesting/relevant research, or very catchy professional experience, such as amazing project or very well-known company. Another important factor during interview is to show the enthusiasm and establishing a very well-built conversation, participating in it and letting others participate as well. With this seminar i have acquired lots of great techniques that I believe will be useful for me to get the desired job.
What I liked about seminar, was that it compared the industry and academic career choice, which is very relevant issue and important choice for current engineering graduate students. Those seeking long-term job stability, full research focus and are ready to accept a lower salary which will grow in long term, may choose an academic career over those who prioritize higher pay and tend to choose industry jobs (which also might be research focused). We got introduced to the massive requirements for faculty position, which we never think of, such as teaching experience, research output, engagement with educational instances, etc.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Veera Adithya Dittakavi @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
I had the pleasure of viewing this seminar on Developing a Graduate Student Portfolio presented by Cyndi Lynch. The presentation was excellently structured and provided valuable insights into the significance of creating a student portfolio that reflects both professional and personal identities. The speaker emphasized the importance of presenting oneself to a recruiter in a manner that leaves a lasting impression within a limited time. I found the module on "CARS" (Challenge, Actions, Results, Skills) particularly intriguing, and the examples provided were well-arranged, helping me to brainstorm ideas on how to explain this approach to others.
The seminar also touched on topics such as enhancing professional identity, self-assessment, job search strategies, and networking. Listening to the presentation, I was able to identify the flaws in my portfolio and restructure it accordingly. This is something that many of us may not be able to do without proper guidance and structure, as the job market is highly competitive and requires a unique approach to stand out.
Overall, the seminar was well-presented, with numerous examples and discussions. However, I believe that it could be further improved by including other important factors relevant to the current job market. Nonetheless, I found the seminar extremely beneficial, and it has motivated me to focus more on my professional identity and personal branding, allowing me to make a strong impression when presenting myself to potential employers.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Mohit Pandiya @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
During the seminar, Lynch discussed strategies for job searching and how to tailor a portfolio based on those strategies. She emphasized the importance of collecting all relevant data and considering important points before creating a resume and CV. The CARS format was presented as a useful tool for crafting impactful resumes. Additionally, Lynch highlighted the importance of creating a professional identity through self-assessment, which can aid in tailoring both an identity and a resume. It is essential to assess one's skills to determine a suitable professional career. Although the job search log presented may be outdated, creating a good LinkedIn profile can now serve as a suitable replacement for cataloging and matching job candidates. The job search analysis was helpful, and the networking event slides were informative, providing guidance on essential components of networking events. Lynch's discussion on the types of interviews was also helpful in preparing for various interview situations. Lastly, Lynch emphasized the importance of references and encouraged participants to speak with their professors about them.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Atharva Rajendra Karpate @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
In the seminar presented by Cyndi Lynch, she provides insights into building a career portfolio that would be beneficial to any job seeker. She discusses how to develop an individual development plan to quantify personal skills and plan out how to go about further developing certain skills over time. Lynch emphasizes the importance of oral communication, stressing that it is equally as important as technical skills. Through her presentation, she presents the CARS format as a way to succinctly convey ideas.
Overall, I found the seminar on developing a career portfolio to be very informative and useful for networking strategies and job search tips. Lynch's presentation is well organized and offers information on how to assess one's skills and goals, identify strengths and weaknesses, and build relationships with potential employers.The speaker provided valuable insights and strategies that I believe will be beneficial in my job search and career development.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Lucas Ryan Buening @ on
5.0 out of 5 stars
This presentation really changed my perspective on the the job search process and how to demonstrate your skills to recruiters via a portfolio, resume, or elevator pitch. In particular, I had never thought of viewing a resume/portfolio as a collection of skills and evidence to demonstrate each of those skills. I had always viewed it as a summary of accomplishments, but now I realize that isn't the best way to demonstrate the value that I might bring to a company or institution. If the accomplishment isn't acting as evidence to a skill that the employer needs then it isn't worth mentioning. I also appreciated the advice on creating a career development plan by listing skills that I recruiters want and a list on concrete ways to improve those skills. I think that organizing it in that way will really help me to develop my professional skills going forward.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Parth Sagar Hasabnis @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
This presentation gave me a significant amount of information and insight about cultivating my skills and my portfolio as a graduate student. Being a master's student that is graduating next year, I realized I need to perform a self-assessment of my skills and the current job market so that I focus on the ones that will help me secure a job, and will enable me to progress my career. She also talked about the "CARS" strategy, which is something I had previously heard of. But her explanation delved into much more depth and helped me to understand how I apply it to myself.
The section on job search was extremely relevant to me, and I would continue to incorporate her advice and develop an "Individual Development Plan", to plan my career and skillset growth over the short and long term.
Overall, I liked the information presented. I would recommend this to all graduate students, especially master's because we have a limited amount of time to hone our skills and develop a portfolio.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Sarang Pramod @ on
5.0 out of 5 stars
I found Cindy Lynch's presentation on graduate student portfolios to be very informative and beneficial. The presentation gave me a better understanding of the importance of providing details in my resume for potential employers. I was particularly impressed with Lynch's introduction to the CARS method, which highlights the importance of showcasing the impact one has made in their career.
The presentation's emphasis on professional identity and self-assessment was also very helpful. It helped me clarify my values and determine what I want to be known for. I especially enjoyed the self-assessment slide, which elaborated on how I can assess my personality, values, interests, and skills to identify what type of jobs would be a good fit.
Lynch's advice on developing a good job search strategy, career strategic plan, and networking narrative was also very beneficial. I found the information on different venues/audiences and outcomes to be especially useful. The Graduate Student Professional Development Center was also a valuable resource and I appreciated their website, which offers various events and workshops.
Overall, I would highly recommend this presentation to any graduate student looking to create a portfolio, develop a job search strategy, and plan for their future career. The presentation's emphasis on self-assessment, the CARS method, and networking narratives provided me with useful insights that I will apply to my job search.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Asawari Walkade @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
Ms. Lynch gave an excellent presentation on Essentials of a Graduate Student Portfolio, which essentially highlighted on the skills you can work on to land a job in the industry or the academia after completing your grad school journey, as well as techniques to improve our portfolios.
There was a focus on the topic of self-assessment of one's skillset and experiences, along with important portfolio elements. An interesting strategy that was talked about was CARS (Challenge/Context, Actions you took, Results achieved, Skills enhanced), which seemed quite useful for us graduate students to design our resume. Another important thing that Ms. Lynch stressed on was keeping a record of your skillset acquired over the course of your education, since in the long run this will build your portfolio. There was quite a bit of detail given for job search, which would be even more useful the closer we get to graduation. Ms. Lynch also introduced the idea of Individual Development Plan, something that is more short-term but definitely useful in prioritizing and organizing one's development.
Overall I found this a useful presentation, especially as a current grad student. The only thing lacking in my opinion was the lack of good visual tools that could've elevated the presentation even more.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Avyay Sah @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
In the presentation, there are several actionable tips and attitudes that can be used to progress one's career and get hired for a desired job. The first part of the presentation talks about self-assessment. Here I learn to recognize my strengths and weaknesses and frame them to be more attractive to employers. Documenting educational experiences over a long period is emphasized by the presenter. This is a way to prove to a potential employer that one is an ideal candidate and has the skills necessary for the position. I learned that evaluating my personality and career plans is critical during self-assessment. As an example, the advantages and disadvantages of faculty positions vs industry positions were given in this regard. This is where freedom vs salary is compared. Additionally, the discussion focuses on job strategies. It highlights the importance of having multiple skill sets to fit different job roles so that one can pick the most appropriate one. There is some helpful general advice on identifying and making known skills that may not be academic but are desirable to employers. These skills include teamwork, effective communication, and interdisciplinary background. In the latter part of the presentation, emphasis is given to the importance of networking. It is shown how it can help one meet the right people. The networking strategies discussed help one stay in touch without bothering someone too often. Last, the presentation ended with a summary of interview preparation and the importance of researching a company's mission and goals. It also remembers that first impressions are paramount.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Prateekee Chatterjee @ on
3.0 out of 5 stars
REVIEW ABOUT "GRADUATE STUDENT PORTFOLIO":
It was an interesting presentation on the requirements and perks of a good, and relevant resume. The speaker,Cyndi Lynch, introduces us to the various forms of professional interaction: an elevator speech, which when expanded to 20-30mins becomes an interview, vs a Hallway chat or a Meeting. These are various opportunities or instances of networking amidst both professional and social set-ups. We learn about the "CARS" approach of detailing a CV. It is so much more important to talk about the impact of our work than just mentioning the skillset one acquired while resolving deliverables. After Grad studies companies expect a professional to take on real life challenges and CVs should also cater to the same.
Cyndi also talks about developing a professional identity, something that a recruiter can remember a candidate by in a 2-3 minute conversation, be it some cool piece of research, an app one developed or some cool internship experience. Leveraging skills from grad life to professional careers is an art to be learnt Cyndi mentions, how a TA experience can help you boost your communication skills and people managing skills. Moreover as grad students, we learn a lot of adaptability and resilience when research and our work doesn't pan out exactly as we would like it to.
Moreover Cindy also talks of the industry vs Academic career choice. People looking for Job Security in the long term and willing to compromise on compensation might lean towards an academic position vs people preferring a higher salary who tend to go into the profitable industry jobs. A thing to takeaway here was the requirements for a faculty position: Research output, Teaching experience as well as Service in terms of engagement with the State, or schools, or summer camps and so on.
The speaker talks of the importance to have an Individual Development Plan for oneself- a where do I see myself in 5 or 10 years?- kind of plan. It shows foresight, and planning on the side of the candidate and is a good advantage in any interview. Additionally having good references who can distinguishably account for your specific skillsets is very impactful. Preparation of an interview is vital- from referencing job description keywords in your resume, to glancing through company webpages as well as going through your key selective projects that are pertaining to the job.
Apart from this appearance factors also impact an interview: how you build a rapport with the interviewer, showing your enthusiasm and willingness to participate, getting cues to speak and letting someone else speak. Overall the interview was pretty informative and I learned a lot of new strategies I feel I will employ in my future endeavors to land a job.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Cheng-yang Tsai @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
Overall, I think it's an excellent presentation, which generally introduced how we could prepare ourselves to strengthen our abilities to get an interview and even land a job in academia or industry as a grad student. Some concepts including CARS, professional identity, self-assessment, job search strategies, networking, etc., are helpful and highly related to the techniques for the preparation of career fairs. I especially like the points of self-assessment. As a student to find a job, I think we usually write a resume and search the jobs from job boards, like Linkedin or Indeed, and then just apply for a lot of positions. Most students ignore the step of self-assessment. However, it's a critical point for us to better know ourselves and apply for the job precisely. I believe it would help us easily get ideal jobs.
However, one of the points that I think the speaker could be improved is to condense the important points. Since the speaker introduces so many topics, some of them are not so important and it's kind of overwhelmed as a listener. But, I still highly recommend grad students to watch this presentation and it's definitely going to help you a lot!
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Akul Malhotra @ on
3.0 out of 5 stars
The seminar 'Essentials of a Graduate Student Portfolio' appealed to me because of its title. I thought the talk would be about the items a graduate student must accomplish during his graduate studies to be well prepared for future endeavours in either academia or industry. However, the talk was about generic career planning for graduate students, which ended up being a little misleading for me. That being said, I really like the emphasis placed by the speaker on long term planning for accomplishing your objectives. Also, the CARS (Challenge or Context, Actions you took, Results achieved and Skills enhanced) method discussed in the seminar is a very useful blueprint while designing your resume or CV.
I found the slides very information heavy and felt they could be made a little easy to comprehend. Overall, I picked up many useful nuggets of information from this seminar, but was a little disappointed since I expected something different.
Lastly, this talk must be downloaded from NanoHub to be viewed. It would be great if that could be changed.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Mohammed Metwaly @ on
5.0 out of 5 stars
The presentation provides excellent insight into behaviors and mindsets that can be adopted to advance one's career and increase the likelihood of landing the job you want. The presentation's first section focuses on self-evaluation; how to comprehend your abilities and experiences and how to frame them in a way that appeals to potential employers. The speaker stresses the value of keeping records of your experiences over protracted periods of education, like graduate school, as they may be used as data points or evidence to persuade a prospective employer that you are qualified for the position and have the necessary skills. She mentions examples of the benefits and drawbacks of a faculty position versus an industry position, citing the freedom to choose your own research against the possibility of higher income as an example, and stresses the importance of also assessing your personality and your future career plans. She also discusses techniques for finding a job, like how important it is to look at a variety of opportunities and develop a range of responsibilities and skill sets needed for each so that you can decide which one best suits you. A general and very helpful piece of advice is to also recognize and highlight abilities that aren't necessarily academic but might be valued by employers, such as teamwork abilities and cross-discipline experience. She emphasizes the value of networking and how it can help you find people who can help and facilitate the process of obtaining this information. She also offers advice on how to stay in touch without bothering the other person by calling them too frequently.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Hongyang Liu @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
I’m interested in this seminar because, in the in-person sections of ECE 69400, we did a peer-review resume evaluation so I know how others will evaluate my profiles and resumes one day. However, one thing I particularly like about this presentation is that besides telling us what we should present to employers and others, it also emphasizes the importance of having a self-assessment of one’s own visions, abilities, and interests. This is a very novel view of “building one’s portfolio”. I also like the detailed suggestions the speaker gave about job search strategies. They are very practical and easy to use, so I look forward to using these skills and methods in my future job search.
I think one thing that the speaker could further improve is that for the later parts of the presentation (i.e., the interview and narrative part), maybe more details could be added. I think it might be a result of the limited time the speaker had for the course, but those are indeed important topics as well. Therefore, it would be better if the speaker could cut them out for this presentation and present them in separate circumstances. In this way, more details could be added to the previous parts as well.
Overall, although this is already a very old video, I think it’s still applicable to situations today. Great presentation!
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Nishant Vellore Thiagarajan @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
The technical presentation by Cyndi Lynch on essentials for Graduate Student portfolio discusses the need to devise a professional’s portfolio and neatly presents the method to convey one’s past experiences and figuring out current stance and showcasing our skills and abilities. She offers insightful comments and suggestions regarding how best to put together the information that you will present to others.
Compiling one’s portfolio is extremely important and i felt the the speaker conveyed all the essential points in an elaborated and organized manner. She mentions the "CARS" elements in Portfolio. She gives a nice example of "Applying to Faculty Position" to show the order of Self assessment levels which are: Experience, Actions, Outcomes and Mentoring.
Additionally the speaker explains the various narratives to networking, and talked about the services that are offered by Purdue with regards to networking. She mentions how it is important to develop an IDP (Individual Development Plan) which essentially allows us to find areas which we need to work on and gives us an opportunity to reflect and come to a decision if the job is a good fit for us.
She further concludes her seminar by talking about how making a portfolio isn’t just restricted to just a job. Everyone needs to have an IDP as well as a career plan to follow on with the fluctuating markets and need to stay relevant to these conditions.
Overall the seminar was very informative and very much essential to a graduate student, to anyone in fact, to have a successful professional career.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Anuj Ashok @ on
3.0 out of 5 stars
Presentation was well structured but, there was too much information and it was confusing. The clarity of the presentation could be improved if it was more interactive. The presentation does not actually tell how a graduate student portfolio actually looks like. It would have been better if it had one or two examples of the portfolios. Other than that, I found the presentation very informative. I found the CARS strategy very interesting. The part which I liked the most was the job searching strategies. I think it’s really important to do this and find out what kind of job are out there what skill set you need to acquire along your PhD journey. And documenting these along the way was the key take home message from this presentation. One aspect of this seminar that I particularly liked was the focus on long-term personal development. Rather than just talking about how to identify and present personal strengths, this seminar also talks about how to build up those skills and experiences over time while also building a network of contacts and references.
I also felt that this presentation was a part of a series of presentations and would have felt complete if I watched those earlier.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Nikita Shirish Chaudhari @ on
5.0 out of 5 stars
This seminar was very informative. She gives many useful suggestions to develop our career portfolio. She highlights the fact that it is important the way we present ourselves to employers. The speaker also gives suggestions on how to decide what we really want, things we need to prepare while searching for jobs. I feel that we don’t always need to plan everything to move in the right direction. Sometimes we start something and then things align themselves and we figure out what is good for our career. I really liked the CARS method which is similar to the STAR method except that the last S stands for how you improved your skills in the given situation.
Overall, the presentation is very helpful for anyone to learn about strategies for building their portfolio.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Adhitha Weerasiri Dias Kariyawasam Majuwana Gamage Don @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
The seminar by Dr Lynch provides some useful insights as to what aspects a grad student must pay attention to make their student portfolio appealing. Since I am a 2nd year PhD student, this talk is relevant and useful to plan ahead. She suggests that it takes good planning at the beginning which could span over a longer period of time. Her talk provides some notion of what you need to do to keep track of your career goals and to plan ahead to achieve your goals after 5 or so years. She provides tables in order to track details of progression but I feel like it would be too much to keep track of such details in such tables.
Some of the items that she discussed were not really new information to me because I have attended a few other talks on similar topics. She suggests that it's important to keep track of the people that we network with, which is something I have never thought about doing but could be pretty useful. She also stresses why it's important to keep track of all the things that you do and says that it will make your life easier towards the end of your graduate studies.
Some of the slides had small letters in them and were somewhat difficult to read. It would have been better if she had used better visuals in some slides. Overall, I liked the presentation and the information it provided.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Nicholas Marino Righi @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
I think one of the most interesting aspects of the presentation was how it framed the job search and associated tasks as a continuous event. Most of the time this type of advice is focused on the next interview or the next job; it’s very short-term focused. But the focus of this presentation was how to make this process continuous.
A unique result of this focus is that the timeline is much longer. The section on personal skills development has a time horizon of 6 months to a year, which is a significant amount of time to look ahead if the thing that you’re searching for is an immediate job. But in the long term, this kind of planning is important since it means that you’ll be well-positioned for the job that comes after your current one.
Outside of the material, I think the presenter could have been more energetic. There was some energy in the presentation, but not a lot. And the slides could have looked more professional as well, especially the two that used low res screenshots in the job search section. But overall very useful.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Aparna Karnik @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
his seminar could almost be considered a sequel to “Resumes: Develop your message, tell a story”. The seminar not only focuses on how an employer looks at a portfolio but also how a professional should look at their own portfolio. Focusing on discovering and understanding ourselves as a professional before writing our resume and compiling our portfolio not only enhances it but also makes it easy for us to know where to improve ourselves and know our strengths. Another often ignored question is “How does the job suit me” which I think Ms.Lynch addressed really well.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Christopher Mark Lacny @ on
3.0 out of 5 stars
I decided to watch this seminar because I haven’t heard much about grad student portfolios before, and it seems like a useful thing to have. Ms. Lynch’s seminar focused more generally on career planning, rather than just on a portfolio, but I would say most of the content was relevant and interesting. She splits the idea of a portfolio between things that go to an employer and ‘personal notes,’ and breaks down what types of documents she recommends putting together when career planning / searching for jobs. She also talks about developing your professional identity and presenting yourself well to employers. The presentation also goes through a range of additional topics, such as how to decide what you want out of a career, how to search for jobs, how to plan your professional development, and long term career planning.
Ms. Lynch takes a very organized approach to career planning / development, which I’m not sure that I fully agree with. I don’t think you necessarily need to plan out and document every detail to move in the right direction, and that sometimes too much planning can actually be distracting, rather than beneficial. I still got something out of the presentation though because she gave some great tips about networking, interviewing and presenting yourself to companies.
I would definitely change the title of this presentation to reflect something more like “general career planning,” because the scope goes far beyond just a portfolio.
I couldn’t get the web player version of this presentation, and so I had to download the video. This is a bit of an inconvenient process, so it would be nice if that could be fixed.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Fangrui Qin @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
This is a technical presentation on designing one's professional portfolio, with narrative at its core. She talks about various techniques and aspects to better strengthen one's portfolio, Cyndi Lynch talks about the "Essential Elements of a Graduate Portfolio" and she shares various techniques to make our portfolio stronger. The presentation was helpful because it had important aspects of career preparation. Her presentation emphasized the fact that we need to first be clear about the way we see ourselves and where we want to be in the future, which helps us to improve communication with others and talk about important issues in a limited time frame. This presentation also talks about job search strategies. It suggested that we set goals and then do activities to increase our chances of finding jobs that match our skills and interests. In general, it was a good presentation. It gave a good idea of what people should look for when developing their careers.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Yuchen Tang @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
Reviewed by Yuchen Tang, PUID 0029609607
The seminar "Essentials of a Graduate Student Portfolio" by Cyndi Lynch is very informative and helpful. She provides a lot of useful suggestions and information that could be very benefitial for students who want to develop their either resumer or career portfolio.
Perform a self-assessment of my values, interests, skills, and goals. It is really important to know 'who we are', 'what we want' and ' what are we good at' before we take further move in job finding/career developing.
Construct a networking narrative, highlighting my attributes and experiences. It is very important to build a network with people who have different background in all different/same field with us, the diversity is quite important to build a network.
Construct an individual development plan to enhance my skills and experiences. We need to improve ourselves while we are working/studying, otherwise there is no meaning to work for money with no development.
Overall, I believe this seminar is really helpful and considerate. Cyndi Lynch pays attention to details and gives us a informative seminar, I highly recommend this seminar to people who want to find a systematic way to start/develop their career.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Joseph Anthony Zullo @ on
2.0 out of 5 stars
I think that this could be a very good presentation if a few improvements are made. I think the clarity of the presentation could be improved and I think the presentation would have benefitted a lot from being more interactive. Many of the slides are overcrowded and have way too much information on them for people to read while the speaker is speaking, it would be better to have slides that are sparser with just the most important ideas on them. I think that it would have been better if there was more examples of what good aspects of a portfolio looked like, or if there was a complete mock portfolio because I'm not exactly sure what that would look like all together. The speaker could have also made the talk more engaging and interactive, there were parts where people in the room would talk to each other but I think it is a better style to ask people questions that can sit in their head individually, because it focuses viewers' attention on specifically what is shown in the seminar.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Vishal Satyavinayak Purohit @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
The presentation by Cyndi Lynch on "Essentials of Graduate Student Portfolio" tells about various aspects of a portfolio that one must have as a grad student and how to accomplish important milestones that add value to your portfolio. The presentation is beneficial as it prepares a student for the desired career. The presentation emphasizes knowing oneself and what one hopes to achieve and accomplish in a disciplined manner. The presenter interacts with the audience by making them think about a question like - "how does the job suit me?" and "how do I suit the job?". Answering such questions helps one understand what they are looking for and whether they will get what they are looking for by doing a job at a particular company. The presenter emphasizes self-assessment, job search strategies, how to develop a plan to improve oneself, networking with people, and how to gradually build a solid portfolio.
Overall, I feel this presentation is helpful for the grad students who have never worked in the industry before and helps them strategize about building their portfolios.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Kyeonghoon Son @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
It was interesting to hear Dr. Lynch's presentation about graduate student portfolio because this is my first year of graduate student and needed to learn how to prepare and build my portfolio as a graduate student. So her presentation about portfolio really made me to focus on her presentation especially when she talked about portfolio narrative, portfolio library and GSPD services. I also liked when she talked about professional identity and self assessment and learned how important those are to help me find a job that will fit me most.
From Dr. Lynch's presentation, I learned how to do self assessment, learned about job search strategies, job search log, job search analysis, how to make individual development plan, learned about networking narrative and most importantly about portfolio.
I rated her presentation very good because most of the new graduate students will find this helpful if they haven't thought or prepare about making portfolio.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Jonah Aifuwa @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
I think Ms lynch delivered a good presentation with some ideas that were new to me but most being things that I have heard many times. I think her approach at delivering this presentation was the best part about it though. She kind of gives her topics in chronological order of some sort. For example, in the beginning she is talking about how you should identify yourself and know what your skills are. Then she uses these topics to talk about how you should look for a job and understand how your identity and skills will fit in the said position. Next she discusses how you should prepare for your career in the long term and understand what you want to do in the future.
Like I said earlier a lot of info in this presentation were things that I had heard before. What was new to me was the CARS method she stated. It is very similar to the STAR method but the last S in cars is for explaining how you improved your skills in said situation. I also really enjoyed her self assessment chart and the sub categories she used in it. With the sub categories, it makes assessing myself easier because I can focus in on each category more in depth.
Overall it was a good presentation. My main complaints are maybe having more audience interaction, because I know that if I were in the love audience it is much easier for me to stay on track when the speaker gets the audience very involved.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Folk Narongrit @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
Dr. Lynch provides some important aspects in what to do to improve your personal portfolio for your career's future development. The thing that stood out the most was to always focus on self-assessment first. It is critical to undertand what your skills and experiences are, and how to make those attractive to prospective employers. I've learned that it's very important to document your experiences over long periods of time, especially during graduate school. I personally have a lot of experience gained during graduate school, that at first glance might not seem like it can be put in the resume. This definitely changed my entire point of view on writing a porfolio. Dr. Lynch also gave us certain rhetorical questions, such as considering the advantages and disadvantages of different places of work (industry or faculty). Even though I am very set in taking a faculty position in the future, I would want to still take these question into consideration by weighing my priorities. Her presentation was informative and engaging, and certainly allowed me to understand my futures better. Thank you!
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Ruochong Wu @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
As I move through graduate school and get closer and closer to searching for a full-time job, this presentation proved extremely useful to me.
The initial question of “tell me about yourself” is a question that seemed obvious to me at first, but when I try to answer it, I struggle to give a satisfying answer. I realized that I don’t really have a clear picture of myself: what I have achieved, what I am good at, and what are my flaws. Developing a good answer to this question will be critical if I am to succeed in the job market.
I found the self-assessment technique introduced by the presentation to be helpful. By listing the experience, actions, and outcomes of my skills, I was able to get a concrete picture of my skillset. Doing so revealed some areas for self-improvement. For a skill that I thought I was relatively good at, I found that I did not actually have that much experience to back it up. To make my skillset stronger, I will have to seek more opportunities to showcase that skill in the future.
I also found the job search log recommended by the presentation to be useful. Previously when I applied for jobs, I had only recorded very basic information about the positions applied: the company name, the position name, and date applied. But in the future, I should also record the job description, skillset required, and other information regarding the job. By doing so, I can identify trends followed by the companies I am applying to and strengthen the critical skills that many jobs ask for.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Zhixiang Wang @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
In this presentation, the speaker gives really good information on how to make your portfolio different from others. In other words, how to create a unique and interesting portfolio. One really good point made by the speaker is that we're not applying to be graduate students anymore; we're applying to a job. Therefore, the reviewers would like to see impact and results rather than bullet points of your duties or things you have done. This point was also talked about in the last presentation given.
Another very important topic talked about was networking and references. This is often overlooked by many students when applying for positions in the industry or research laboratories. It's far easier to apply for jobs when you have connections with the company. This could either from your family, university, professor or even your friends. When we're progressing through our career we should also take this into consideration and develop our own network. It's beneficial for both ourselves and the people around us.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Niveathitha Murugan @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
In this seminar, Cyndi Lynch talks about the "Essentials of a Graduate Student Portfolio".
The speaker begins by listing out the vital elements of a portfolio like CV, Resume, Cover letter, Syllabi, etc. The novel idea of the CARS technique was introduced for formatting the resume. CARS stands for challenge or context, actions you took, results achieved and skills enhanced. She also sustains this with an example. Self-assessment procedure which can be used to choose the right career path were reviewed. Cyndi then discusses strategies to search for jobs by using the job search log and job search analysis charts. After selecting the job, it is crucial to deploy an Individual Development Plan and utilise networking narratives to accelerate the process of securing a job. The speaker continues to deliberate about how to prepare for an interview and the steps to be taken in creating an impactful first impression.
Overall, the lecture covered all the steps involved in the process of building a great portfolio and securing a job.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Zian Wang @ on
5.0 out of 5 stars
This presentation is a technical approach to creating a graduate portfolio, where an individual tells about their past accomplishments and future aspirations. The presentation was helpful because it has significant aspects of career preparation. The concept of "tell me about yourself" is highly vital, as a portfolio is all about telling who a person is, what they have achieved, and what they can do. The presentation taught me that we must be clear about how we perceive ourselves and where we want to be in the future, especially about the positions we want to take. After drawing a clear picture of who we are, we can present our skills and capacities. The presentation also offers the questions, "how does the job suit me?” and “how do I suit the job?" Here, it is vital to understand that a portfolio defines a person's suitability for a position. These questions assist one in improving their skills to fit specific positions.
I appreciated the career strategic plans in the presentation. I learned that it is vital to understand one's current skills and the skills they must develop or enhance to increase their suitability for a job. Moreover, the presentation demonstrated that it is vital to create a professional identity that includes oral presentation skills. These are especially vital when attending interviews in organizations. The concept I found most critical in the presentation is the networking narrative. It helps us improve our communication with others and talk about vital issues within limited periods. However, significant networking requires significant considerations, including the venue where the meeting is happening, the audience, and the meeting's required outcomes. While the presentation proved helpful in creating a graduate portfolio, it taught me that it is vital to align one's portfolio to fit the job description. However, it must be accompanied by significant evidence and references to support the claims in the portfolio.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Hamidreza Lotfalizadeh @ on
5.0 out of 5 stars
This is a technical presentation about devising one's professional portfolio, with the narrative at the core of it. By narrative I mean the story that one wants to convey to his or her audience regarding his past experiences and future goal.
The presentation starts by "Tell me about yourself". It highlights the fact that we need to first be clear about the way that we view ourselves and the position we want to be in the future. Only after precisely figuring out current stance, we are able to properly present our skills and abilities.
The presentation provides a neat method for figuring out element of our story, by self-assessment. The self-assessment requires us to explore our current stance by know our personality, values, interests and skills.
This talk talks also about job search strategies. It suggests us to first set the purpose, and then follow some activities to increase our chance of finding a job that matches our skillset and interests. There are also tables provided that help us answer the questions about "How does the job suit me?" and "How do I suit the job?"
Making a portfolio does not stop at finding a job. One needs to have an individual development plan as well as career strategic plan to follow up with the trends of job market and new technologies. Remaining relevant to the current conditions and circumstance is very important. One needs to have a properly devised plan for personal and professional development, not to fall behind the trend.
Networking narrative helps us to know how to communicate with other parties and in very short amount of time, talk about things as much as possible. Indeed many things need to be taken into account to have an effective networking narrative. These include the audience, the venue, (where the meeting is happening), and required outcome.
According to this talk, when presenting ourselves for a job hunt we need to be able to answer to questions about our attributes (competencies, skills, etc), our experiences (what we have done and how it relates to this job) and the evidence for all those mentioned before.
All in all, this talk deserves some good note taking. Prior to watching this, although I had some idea of what career portfolio is, but never had any idea about the details which play significant role in making our portfolio effective.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Nikhil Suresh Pillai @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
This was a very beneficial presentation given by Cyndi D. Lynch on the “Essentials of a Graduate Student Portfolio”. She touched upon various techniques and aspects to better strengthen one’s portfolio. I for one was able to better appreciate the type of thinking required while preparing my portfolio. She reminded us to keep in mind the bigger picture/long-term goals.
This was a very information dense presentation and some of the information contained in it can come of as redundant or repetitive, especially if one has already attended other related presentations. But it can be seen as a plus to keep reinforcing some key techniques such as the CARS technique. Being so information packed and theory heavy, I felt that the use of more audio-visual content could have definitely helped.
Overall, I appreciate this presentation for the information it provides and although sitting through this presentation in one sitting might seem tedious, the ability to revisit it at our own time makes it invaluable.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Suyash Jagadeesh Ail @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
This was a very useful presentation that included various essential aspects of one’s career preparation. Mrs. Lynch shared various techniques in order to make our portfolio stronger. She also explained about the CARS method which was unknown to me and seemed very useful. She gave a general learning outcome about various topics that she would cover however the structure wasn’t followed. I felt that the organization of the presentation could have been better, but that’s just secondary. Also having some visual components like images or videos could really help making a strong point.
The presenter brings up the idea of a job search log that one should maintain. This log could be a simple excel sheet that documents what company you’ve applied for, contact information, what skills that company is looking for, and a whole host of other aspects. I really faced the issue of forgetting the company role and skills required after a month or so when the company would contact for an interview. Hence this method will surely come in handy.
Overall it was a good presentation that gives a sound idea of things that one should be aware of when developing his professional career.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Suyash Jagadeesh Ail @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
This was a very useful presentation that included various essential aspects of one’s career preparation. Mrs. Lynch shared various techniques in order to make our portfolio stronger. She also explained about the CARS method which was unknown to me and seemed very useful. She gave a general learning outcome about various topics that she would cover however the structure wasn’t followed. I felt that the organization of the presentation could have been better, but that’s just secondary. Also having some visual components like images or videos could really help making a strong point.
The presenter brings up the idea of a job search log that one should maintain. This log could be a simple excel sheet that documents what company you’ve applied for, contact information, what skills that company is looking for, and a whole host of other aspects. I really faced the issue of forgetting the company role and skills required after a month or so when the company would contact for an interview. Hence this method will surely come in handy.
Overall it was a good presentation that gives a sound idea of things that one should be aware of when developing his professional career.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Akhil Prasad @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
The presentation given by Cyndi Lynch is particularly beneficial to graduate students looking for jobs in the industry or in the academia. I agree with the speaker on the fact that the first step towards creating a portfolio is to identify one’s own self. In order to be a successful communicator and to face the challenges in an interview one must clearly recognize one’s strengths and weaknesses and work on them. The format provided by the speaker would be an effective tool in creating one’s professional identity. The speaker also stresses on the importance of assessing one’s fields of interest and values as ways of ensuring job satisfaction. Going through a list of job descriptions is an effective way of understanding the types of skills that are desired by a company and seconding this idea with examples was a wonderful way of clarifying this idea. One of the important take away was the plan for individual development as this is a field I have struggled in. Having different topics to talk at different occasions of also is a point that must be kept in mind while networking.
To summarize the presentation was interesting and informative and a lot of ideas were conveyed.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Shafin Mohammad Jameel @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
This was a nice lecture. I am going to break down my review to parts that I liked and parts that I thought could be improved.
What I liked:
What can be changed:
Overall, the presentation is nicely paced, there is a good amount of interaction with the audience, and everything is well organized.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Weicheng Wang @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
The lecture given by Cyndi is helpful to me. I learned the importance of builiding the student Portfolio during the interview period. The three key essential features are the same as the ones for the resume: attributes, experiences, and evidence. Again, "CARS" idea is also appliable for the portfolio.
For the experiment part, what makes me interested is that Cyndi strengthed that we should keep supporting documents, including letters, curriculum plans, and etc. Previously, I only think it is important to remember the important brief of the experinces I listed in the resume, and I never saved those heavy supporting papers. However, after listening to the lecture, I realized the importance of keeping those items. We can regularly review them. It can not only remind me the past projects but also gives me a better picture of the whole experience and insight the future work.
Back to the lecture itself, I have one question about the purpose of the portfolio. I hope the lecturer shall spend more time explaining the importance of the portfolio and how the student can carefully biuld their portfolio.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Somji Shukla @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
The presentation as given by Cyndi Lynch' provides a useful insight for graduate students as to how to develop your portfolio. One of the good take away from this presentation was that any thing be it cv, resume or our cover letter should portray a clear picture about our skills, expectations and future goals. I really liked the part where she tells about how exactly to shortlist job positions because most of the times, it is a difficult task to look for the job online/offline and find out which jobs really suit your skills and experience and which go tangentially to your interest.
One thing that was came as a surprise was use of CARS method in organizing the portfolio. I've used CARS in answering behavioral questions but she provides rather an innovative method to use it while writing your resume.
Other take away was the organisation of our cv/resume to present our candidature in best possible way. I think this is one of the lectures which has a great practical use for our job hunt.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Peyton Holm @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
The presentation was very beneficial and served as a reminder that your portfolio is extremely important, not just your work. We are so often only focused on our own academics and research that we lose sight of the long term goals.
The first step in the job search should be to examine yourself. Figuring out who you are, what you want to do, expanding on your strengths and shoring up your weaknesses are critical moving forward. This all contributes to your unique portfolio.
Dr. Lynch laid out great steps for the job hunt. The tip the I found most useful was about references. I often don't consider connections in certain areas until they are required, so it's important to network along the way so you can have a professional vouch for certain jobs or experiences.
The CARS technique is also beneficial to avoid just listing items on your resume or in a conversation, and remember the impact, actions you took to complete the task, and results. Closing with some interview tips about preparing, how to dress, etc. nicely wrapped up for the final step towards getting a job.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Oindree Basu @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
This lecture by Cyndi Lynch talks about the essential components of a Graduate Student’s portfolio. Often times Graduate students just focus on their academics and neglect the development of an extensive portfolio which would help them in their job search. In the lecture Cyndi focuses on a few very important points. Firstly, she talks about self-assessment, wherein she advices us to list our skill set and back them up with experiences that helped us develop those skill sets. She also says that we should look for experiences to develop the skills that are missing from our resume. She mentions this as part of an Individual Development Plan where we try to fill in the gaps in our skills which could be part of the requirements for a particular job position. She also talks about the networking strategies we could follow. She shows a networking map which lists faculty members, colleagues, friends and family as potential contacts who could help us get a position in an organisation. The lecture ends while Cyndi talks about preparing for an interview. She lists reviewing the employer, brushing up on our experiences and thinking about our accomplishments as potential things to do before an interview.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Sean Michael Kulinski @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cyndi's presentation was very well done in expressing how much care one should approach preparing their portfolio with. I will be honest, in the past, I have not treated my portfolio very seriously and certainly not with the same vigor as I have taken when it comes to my thesis. While I disagree that the same amount of effort should be given to both, I do agree that the seriousness of the two are equivalent.
I also appreciate the insight that your portfolio should not just be a list of what you did. Rather, it should be tailored for you are applying for (i.e. just stating your responsibilities as a grad student might not show that you have the applicable skills for industry, but if you tailor what your responsibilities were to an industry light, then you are more likely to be deemed qualified).
A change that I do wish was made is not exactly related to the content of the presentation, but rather I wish that Cyndi would have repeated the questions asked, as the mic did not clearly pick up the audience questions.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Matthew G Gaydos @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cyndi's presentation was very useful as a first semester graduate student. This talk really gave me the ability to understand everything that I need to consider as I begin to look for future employment, and how it is not necessarily limited to just relevant experience in my field of interest. Compiling this portfolio is something that I have realized is very important, and is something I would like to get a head start on as soon as possible. Some of the items that she listed that should be included in our portfolio were obvious, such as a CV, resume, cover letter, etc. All of these items have one thing in common, and that is that they are provided for the employer. Cynthia recommends that we have another component to our portfolio, and that includes several documents like our networking narrative, job searching strategies, career plans, and references.
Cyndi has covered her networking narrative in great detail in another one of her talks, so I will focus more on the other aspects. Prior to searching for jobs, Cyndi states that it is important to develop an IDP (individual development plan). This allows us to sit down and contemplate what it is exactly that we would like to do. This will allow us to potentially find areas we are weak in, and make an effort to improve them through some sort of experience. Additionally, the generation of the IDP gives us time to reflect and understand if the job is a good fit for us, not just if we are a good fit for a job. It is important to keep this in mind, especially as we work towards our career goals. We should go through and continually update these goals and the IDP as we see fit, so we can continue to evaluate ourselves and make changes as needed so we can achieve our goals.
Lastly, Cyndi mentioned the importance of maintaining a record of our peers that we have networked with. I think this is a great idea in principal, and I do think it would be beneficial to have some sort of document linking certain names to their respective potential reference area. However, I do not think that it needs to be as detailed as Cyndi makes it out to be. This video was released nearly 10 years ago, and although I am not sure the state that it was in at that time, linkedIn seems to be a very good tool that I have been using and I do not foresee myself deviating greatly from this.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Caleb Tung @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
The subtitle “Develop your message, tell your story” summarizes Cyndi Lynch’s presentation well, and is honestly excellent advice all on its own. When you present yourself to someone, what are the 3-5 things you want them to remember about you? How are you going to do that so that they’ll remember your story? And can someone corroborate your story? She covers these questions in detail, stressing the importance of developing a professional identity through the lens of what you want to do 10 years down the road. Her future-thinking approach is a good one, and she doesn’t leave students in the lurch about how to go about it, either. She gives plenty of examples (Want to go into industry? Spin your experience as a TA as development of your oral communication skills. Want to be a professor? Connect it to future teaching you might have to do.) She has plenty of concrete methods to improve your skills, with everything from a skill self-assessment tree to a detailed plan to develop yourself. Finally, she hits the point so many other speakers on this topic miss: if you’ve developed yourself and your skills, can someone vouch for you? She talks about finding references and maintaining your network, something I certainly need to remember to do! Good talk, wish I saw it sooner.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Gaurav Sreedhar @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
This talk by Mrs Cyndi Lynch gave me some important insights about the career portfolio in general and opened my eyes to some some aspects that I was oblivious to.
She begins by introducing what a portfolio is and goes on to talk about self-assessment. I think this is the important process in any job search. Trying to assess our skills and goals will give us a clear picture about what job roles and companies we must look for. Also the speaker stresses on the point of identifying our strengths and weaknesses. This would kind of help us asses our preparedness to the job.
Also another important aspect that the speaker stresses on was the importance of oral communication. Besides our technical skills, oral communication skill also matters equally. This is something that I had ignored previously. But the talk gave me a clear picture of what the recruiters expect from a candidate.
One other thing I got to learn from this talk was the CARS format that the speaker emphasized on to succinctly convey our ideas.
The talk also focussed on some job search strategies which I felt were really helpful. Also, the presentation of individual development plan also would work a great deal for me.
To sum it all, I think the talk was well organized which gave me insights on professional identity and importance of networking that would be of great help during any job search.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Sushant Susheelendra Kulkarni @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
I thought that this presentation is really useful for any graduate student who wants to pursue a career in specifically research field. The seminar talks about the elements of a portfolio and compares to writing a dissertation. Cindy Lynch, the speaker, talks about the importance of gathering information and thinking about the elements that should go into in, before actually starting to write it.
The "CARS" format was something that I had not learned before, and I feel that it is a good strategy for formatting information about myself. In CARS, she presented a example about applying to the faculty position, which is also her real-life experience. There are several nice diagrams that she presented in the slides and help us to have a big picture of portfolio.
Ms. Lynch provides a lot of great information in her presentation. Her slide on Job Search Log is so realistic because she takes about communicating in a variety of settings. When we search jobs, the speaker encourages us to use a search log, like a tabular, to record the information of the job, such as company, contact information, documents required, job announcement and deadline. Then we can use another log to make an analysis for these jobs
Overall, this was really helpful for me and I will definitely be using these various methods and resources as I develop my own portfolio
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Vianney A. del C. Filos-Gonzalez @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
There was a bit that overlapped with the Resume presentation, the slides about: Portfolio Elements, the CARS method and the Professional Identity. In this case I think the overlap just provided a continuation/bridge between the two presentations since this was a PART 1, and probably the Resume Improvement followed this first part.
It was really nice that the objectives of the talk were given from the start, that way the audience could know what to expect to learn about from the start. I did found the same issue as with the other two presentations, the formatting of the slides not being the best with too dark backgrounds with black font, or the badly formatted pictures copy-pasted into the slides.
The presentation included:
Overall it was a good presentation to have a nice general idea of what things you should be aware of when developing your professional life/career plan and several ways to help achieve a successful outcome.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Phillip Lipinski @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
This was a very valuable presentation that included many important things to consider in preparing oneself for a career. Ms. Lynch shared a lot of useful resources on how to identify areas for improvement using various flow charts and tables. I like how she gave examples of how to use these organizational tools by discussing how she filled them in and what she does to work on lacking areas. The presentation was packed with useful information, but it was still easy to follow along due to the fact that Ms. Lynch progressed from one topic to another in a logical manner. I think she was very comprehensive in discussing various aspects of a graduate student portfolio. She provided good information and strategies on assessing one’s skills, developing a job search plan, and individual development plan. I also like that she explained some useful strategies and steps in developing a career plan and also on the various aspects of networking and mentoring. Another very useful topic she covered was how to actually go about in preparing one’s portfolio library for an interview and in general, and she also explained the CARS method, which I hadn’t heard about before. Overall, this was really helpful for me and I will definitely be using these various methods and resources as I develop my own portfolio.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Chengyi Xu @ on
3.0 out of 5 stars
Professor Cyndi Lynch's speech about the graduate student portfolio is a very insightful seminar which gives a lot useful information concerning the how to be successful both in the path of pursuing the graduate degree and after earning the degree. She gives a general learning outcome of how this speech is constructed at the very start, then she moves on to each subject. However, she did not really follow the structure she provided in the beginning, so it would be better if the orgnization of this speech can be improved.
First of all, she introduced what is included in a portfolio and I found the CARS formatting very interesting and useful. It provided a great way to show one's strengthens and how one can overcome challenges one is faced. Secondly, she started the speech by using the learning outcome she mentioned at the beginning (not in the same order). During this period, I have an overall opinion about what to do to enhance the portfolio based on the job search strategy. Furthermore, based on self-assessment, one can choose the right career path like in industry, in education, or in research. After one figure out what career path he or she wants to pursue, one starts to search jobs based on each job's responsibility, skills and qualification. Next, based on the jobs one chooses, the individual development plan comes into play, like gaining the related experience, taking the related courses and researches, building right relationships with references in the future, etc. During this period, networking narratives play a huge role. Communication is very important for interviews, meetings or even elevator pitch and hallway chat. It shows both how professional ability and social ability a person possesses. Based on the different situation and a different audience, one should know how to communicate accordingly. Last but not the least, after building a great relationship with people one works with, gaining enough skills according to the career one chooses, the preparation phase arrives. In this phase, one should know how to construct a portfolio based on the one's experiences, how to ask for references and how to build an attractive resume. In the end, interviews skill is also important. In the interview phase, one should highlight his or her strengthens and show a great first impression of speaking and body languages. With all these processes, one should be successful in building a great portfolio and finding the right job.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Hans C Ajieren @ on
3.0 out of 5 stars
Mrs. Lynch's presentation on the essentials of a graduate student portfolio contained a lot of useful information, but I think the scope of the presentation made it difficult to remember all of the components of a good portfolio. I think providing an outline of the presentation contents at the beginning of the talk and summarizing the talk at the end would have improved the impact of the talk. The ending of the presentation felt especially abrupt, as she ended the talk seconds after she discussed the challenges of the case interview format. In the talk, she mentions other presentations she has given to the seminar class, so this talk might feel more complete if viewed with her other talks.
Mrs. Lynch suggests many different types of tables and outlining tools that graduate students can use in organizing there portfolio, including charts that organize research into job applications and skill webs. The message behind using all of these tools is a message of self-reflection and research into opportunities. I have come away from this presentation with new ideas on how to plan for my future professional career.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Lakshmi Anirudh Ghantasala @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
We will need to present our portfolio to some employer at some point in the near future. With that in mind, this presentation offers insightful comments and suggestions regarding how best to put together the information that you will present to others. It begins with establishing a professional identity. This has to do with extra-academic aspects like communication and personality. Your professional identity should set the stage, according to the speaker, to answer the rest of the interview’s more technically oriented questions.
The speaker mentions that we should have certain items in our mind to pull up at a moment’s notice to talk about over dinner or at a conference if you run into someone who asks about you. Keeping in mind a few key points seems like a great idea. I’ll definitely summarize my work to myself and use it going forwards. This has to do with the Network Narratives idea the speaker brings up, where different scenarios require you to modify the length/depth of your narrative (elevator pitch vs interview vs meeting).
Going into professionally oriented items, the speaker brings up the idea of a job search log. This log could be a simple excel sheet that documents what company you’ve applied for, contact information, what skills that company is looking for, and a whole host of other aspects. Keeping all this information related to your applications seems like a great idea; I will certainly integrate this into my workstyle as I search for internships in the future.
The presentation itself is well organized, but I can’t help but feel that a few more visual components, or anecdotes, would have made it easier to follow. I feel that anecdotes are well suited for the type of information that was presented here, but were underutilized. Regardless, there are useful tactics and points brought up during the talk that I think other students would benefit greatly from.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Shakti Nagnath Wadekar @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
The talk was well organized and had a flow which helped to connect different aspects of building professional profile. It started with self assessment which allowed to identify our goals, strength and weakness. Once we identify these it easier to tackle them and it was an import take a way point from that explanation. She also focused on importance of oral communication which can help in different situations.
The talk continued to topic of Job search strategy which I think was on of the most important followed by individual development plan and professional identity. She also stressed on the importance of networking and talked about avenues of networking. The talk ended with talking about interview type.
Overall, the talk was helpful and helped me eradicate some misconceptions I had, therefore was very informative.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Aaron M Barnes @ on
5.0 out of 5 stars
Cyndi started the presentation by emphasizing the importance of approaching a graduate portfolio with the same amount of care and thought that would go into a thesis dissertation. She does a good job explaining how skills from grad school that may not directly be applicable to industry, such as teaching, can still be used to strengthen your portfolio. She talks about how it is important to do an honest self-assessment of your skills in order to identify weaknesses as well as strengths that you can use as talking points during the interview process.
The suggestion to create a job search log seems particularly useful. In my experience, the key item recruiters are looking for is how well the candidates skills match the skills necessary to complete the job. Her approach creates an organized method to identify and keep track of jobs that match your skills. She also suggests creating a long term plan of 5 years or more. This is a good suggestion, but is something that is difficult to identify exactly as opportunities continue to change.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Xu Dong @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
It's a great presentation, the lecturer mentioned several topics for the graduate student portfolio.
After this presentation, I will work on getting my CV prepared for each type of employer that I want to target.
Most important thing is that she presented an example of applying to the faculty position, which is also her real-life experience.
The quality of the video is not good. I cannot hear the questions, and the lecturer didn't repeat the questions.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Peng Cheng @ on
3.0 out of 5 stars
This is a dense seminar. The speaker went over various aspects of creating a graduate student portfolio. A summary slide in the end would help viewers to remember the important points throughout the presentation.
From my perspective the CARS format and individual development plan are particularly helpful. The CARS format puts emphasis on different aspects of a experience/duty. She pointed out that companies are looking for a slightly different skill set than graduate schools.
Individual development plan gives a frame and directions on how graduate students should develop themselves through graduate schools.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Peter Bai @ on
3.0 out of 5 stars
This seminar talked about how to develop a portfolio in preparation for networking or interviews. In terms of content, this was a very good seminar. The speaker offered very good insight on how to develop a portfolio from start to finish. Beginning with identifying personal strengths, she then goes into how to develop what she calls an 'Individual Development Plan' to quantify personal skills and plan out how to go about further developing certain skills over time. She then goes on to describe how to take these identified skills to build a portfolio and narrative to bring to interviews and networking events to present to potential employers. One aspect of this seminar that I particularly liked was the focus on long-term personal development. Rather than just talking about how to identify and present personal strengths, this seminar also talks about how to build up those skills and experiences over time while also building a network of contacts and references.
If there is one aspect of this seminar that I must criticize, it is that the presentation was rather lacking. The delivery felt somewhat mechanical and the speaker often lost her place. This hurt my engagement with the seminar since it gave me the impression that the speaker was not well prepared and was not particularly enthusiastic about the topic. As a result, I found my attention often drifting away from the presentation. I feel like a more dynamic and conversational tone of voice would help the seminar feel more engaging. In addition, I feel like there should be more cases of audience interaction as was done towards the beginning of the seminar. Since a major topic of the seminar is personal development, I feel that giving the audience more opportunities to chime in with their personal experiences would only strengthen the overall message.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Anonymous @ on
3.0 out of 5 stars
Name: Zijian Zhu
Purdue ID: 0025178030
The speaker talks about the importance of portfolio which helps me understand what a cv should look like. There are four parts which are Self Assessment, Job Search, Networking Narrative and Individual Development Plan. The speaker also introduces the formatting "CARS" with some examples. It is a good framework for preparing portfolio and can help me a lot.
The presentation is good overall, howerver, some strategies are too general and cannot be suit for specific job.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Ren Li @ on
3.0 out of 5 stars
This lecture focuses on how to make your own portfolio. The content mainly includes self assessment, job search strategies, network narrative and individual development plan.
When we write portfolio, the speaker proposes a principle for the formatting named as "CARS". That is challenge or context, actions you took, results achieved, and skills enhanced. This is a good framework for portfolio, and it does give me an insight. We first need a self assessment. We need to know our personality, interests, values and skills. Only in this way can we find a proper job for ourselves. When we search jobs, the speaker encourages us to use a search log, like a tabular, to record the information of the job, such as company, contact information, documents required, job announcement and deadline. Then we can use another log to make an analysis for these jobs. We should know the duties of these jobs, the skills/experiences/qualification they need. This helps us to find the jobs that suit us the most. A network narrative is also necessary, the outcomes of it can be obtaining information, making connections with different people and communicating your values. Another thing we cannot omit is individual development plan. A short-term plan will be helpful to prioritize and organize skill development. We cannot stop learning and developing. This characteristic, I believe, is valued by most companies.
Before this lecture, I never thought about building my own portfolio. But after this, I realize the importance of it. I would follow the speaker's suggestion to document my experiences in the future.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Shahzad Hameedi @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
This was a good presentation. Ms. Lynch goes over several topics for the graduate student portfolio. She talks about the elements of the portfolio, which are interesting to me. I was not aware that the employer needed so much details from my resume. After this presentation I will work on getting my CV prepared for each type of employer that I want to target.
Her introduction to the CARS method/process is very good. I did not know this is what employers were looking for now a days. I was not aware that the employers were interested in looking what impacts I have made in my career. This is great insight.
The Professional Identity slide was also great. It brings a great point about what you want yourself to be known as. I am actually going to actually set up a meeting with the Career Development department, the Self Assessment slide gave an insight into what to look for once I graduate and what values and things that are important to me.
Ms. Lynch provides a lot of great information in her presentation. Her slide on Job Search Log is so realistic because she takes about communicating in a variety of settings. A couple of questions she discusses about, "How does the job suit me?, and How do I suit the job?," are some of the most important questions for a career.
I have developed an Individual Development Plan (IDP) in my career, but her slide on IDP is excellent, it is motivated me to gain some international experience. I particularly liked her information on strategic planning for faculty positions.
I like her information about how to pay attention to your audience. For example, each network opportunity will have different types of audiences and you have to be more mindful of who you are talking to. I will have to figure out what my 3 to 5 attributes are that might interest some of the employers I am looking to interview with.
I want to definitely go to the career development department at the Graduate School, to fill in the gaps on my resume and my portfolio. Her tips on phone interviewing is just great to be cognizant about what you are talking about and pacing yourself.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Shahzad Hameedi @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
This was a good presentation. Ms. Lynch goes over several topics for the graduate student portfolio. She talks about the elements of the portfolio, which are interesting to me. I was not aware that the employer needed so much details from my resume. After this presentation I will work on getting my CV prepared for each type of employer that I want to target.
Her introduction to the CARS method/process is very good. I did not know this is what employers were looking for now a days. I was not aware that the employers were interested in looking what impacts I have made in my career. This is great insight.
The Professional Identity slide was also great. It brings a great point about what you want yourself to be known as. I am actually going to actually set up a meeting with the Career Development department, the Self Assessment slide gave an insight into what to look for once I graduate and what values and things that are important to me.
Ms. Lynch provides a lot of great information in her presentation. Her slide on Job Search Log is so realistic because she takes about communicating in a variety of settings. A couple of questions she discusses about, "How does the job suit me?, and How do I suit the job?," are some of the most important questions for a career.
I have developed an Individual Development Plan (IDP) in my career, but her slide on IDP is excellent, it is motivated me to gain some international experience. I particularly liked her information on strategic planning for faculty positions.
I like her information about how to pay attention to your audience. For example, each network opportunity will have different types of audiences and you have to be more mindful of who you are talking to. I will have to figure out what my 3 to 5 attributes are that might interest some of the employers I am looking to interview with.
I want to definitely go to the career development department at the Graduate School, to fill in the gaps on my resume and my portfolio. Her tips on phone interviewing is just great to be cognizant about what you are talking about and pacing yourself.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Xiao Hu @ on
5.0 out of 5 stars
The director, Cyndi Lynch, gave a very informational speech that could be a leading beacon during our graduate student period. She demonstrated some useful websites firstly, then listed examples of portfolio elements. She also presented an idea which is CARS, helps us to easy remember. In CARS, she presented a example about applying to the faculty position, which is also her real-life experience. There are several nice diagrams that she presented in the slides and help us to have a big picture of portfolio.
This presentation is very helpful, especially for first year graduate student. Because it helps us to plan during the graduate school period. For the slide, there are some text information on those diagrams are not easy to read, also since this is an introduction, there are too much information that are provided in the slide, which is hard to remember. So that after the presentation, I must look back to review them again.
Overall it has a 5/5 score.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Pushyami Rachapudi @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
This seminar talks about what does a portfolio need to say when you are attending an interview. The employer is more interested in performance and impact of what you have done rather than grades. Job search strategies was informative. Updating the resume based the job description, job search log were somethings new I learned and are very useful. Break up of various types of components in networking narratives and their purpose is a great topic.
It was good to know skills that set you apart from the crowd in the portfolio narrative. What to include for a potential professor position or industry were discussed in detail.
I would highly recommend this presentation for someone who is in the process of job search. Types of interviews, what happens in all of them and how to face them is very useful for everyone. I particularly like how this presentation caters to the needs of both academia and industry careers and discusses them in detail. This presentation is a fairly interactive one and it is very difficult to follow the conversation as the audience were not audible. It would be great if it can be taken care of for future uploads.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Roland N Green @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
Cyndi Lynch's presentation on graduate student portfolios did a good job at helping me to better focus the way I present myself to other researchers and potential employers. Having a list of elements typically that would be in a portfolio gave me a good starting point for creating my own portfolio.
The "CARS" format was something that I had not learned before, and I feel that it is a good strategy for formatting information about myself. This also related to the later topic of searching for jobs, where knowing your skills and contributions would help you figure out the jobs that you would be a good fit for based on job descriptions.
I particularly liked the section on the "Individual Development Plan". While I regularly update my resume, I do not necessarily track my skills in particular areas (technical or otherwise). I feel that doing this would help me to improve across the board, as it would give me a reminder of what I need to work incrementally, rather then as needed.
Having the "Portfolio Narrative" section was a good way wrap all the subjects covered about the portfolio together, by providing some insight into how all information in the portfolio should be geared. I plan on using this information to paint a better, more consistent picture of myself to future employers.
One improvement that I think would have helped in the presentation is more information on why having a consistent narrative in your portfolio is important. Other presentations have gone over similar topics, but I feel it is especially relevant here.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Noah @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
This lecture is very useful for students who are nearing graduation and getting ready to find a job. In it, you will learn how to assess your own skill set, keep a connected network, and map out a plan of self improvement. One example of a useful insight was to identify qualities an employer may find admirable, assess yourself in those categories, then develop a plan of how you might go about improving them. The example given was organizing a study abroad after identifying a lack of international experience. This also strengthened many other attributes by extension. This way of framing self-improvement was very helpful to understanding how to go about planning future.
Useful information is also given about how to go about finding a company that's a good fit for you and some basic tips about how to present oneself by pre-identifying impressions you wish to leave. There are also good hints on forming an effective resume using the CARS system instead of listing job duties. Overall, it's very easy to recommend this lecture to those unsure how to start preparing for a successful job hunt.
One big issue is the audio quality. This was recorded as a lecture in front of a live audience, so naturally there are a lot of questions and answers. I found it very difficult to hear what was being said in these sections. I also think the lecture may have pulled too many topics into one session. It could be broken into orthogonal parts fairly easily for shorter, more digestible chunks.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Yeshani Wijesekara @ on
5.0 out of 5 stars
This seminar talks about developing a graduate student portfolio. It talks about the basics of a portfolio and how to apply them in networking or in an interview.
The seminar talks about the elements of a portfolio and compares to writing a dissertation. Cindy Lynch, the speaker, talks about the importance of gathering information and thinking about the elements that should go into in, before actually starting to write it.
I learnt a few things from this seminar. Using the C-A-R-S format to convey information was one. This method uses a 15:45:30:10 ratio to focus on challenge, actions, results, and skills. We are all familiar with the STAR method of answering questions but this is another neat way to present information about ourselves that we want the other person to focus on.
Another thing I learnt, and I really liked was the Self Assessment slide. Cindy Lynch elaborates on each of the four main branches – personality, values, interests, and skills and directs the viewers on how we can assess ourselves to identify what type of jobs will suit us better by figuring out what drives us.
Then she talks about how to develop a good job search strategy, a career strategic plan and a networking narrative. This was another thing I liked learning about. She talks about the different types of venues/audiences and outcomes these may occur in. Then walks us through the ways we can talk about how our skill sets will match their (interviewer/employer) needs depending on each situation.
The video also gives information about the Graduate Student Professional Development center. They have a good website with all their events and workshops advertised for easy planning.
Overall I found this video very informational. The presentation was clear and included a lot of important details. Therefore, I am rating this five stars!
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Mustafa Abdallah @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
This talk is informative talk that helps graduate students to have a detailed plan to make their portfolios better. The most impressive thing in this presentation -from my point of view- is the good organization of the topics and showing multiple examples. First good point was presenting the experience and skills according to the job you aim to have(Technical,Leadership,Teaching. etc... ).
Also, the speaker mentions expressions like "CARS" elements in Portfolio.She gives a nice example of "Applying to Faculty Position" to show the order of Self assessment levels which are: Experience, Actions, Outcomes and Mentoring.
Moreover, Job search log idea which contains all important details about qualifications, skills, contacts, and employer information is a realistic measure to know if you fits to that job or need a development plan. She gives a nice example of "international experience abroad" to make that point clear.
After that, the speaker gives explains clearly networking narratives and their categories. The first category is venue(like conferences), the second is Audience (like professors) and the third is outcome which is making connections that will be helpful in future. Finally, the speaker mentions some useful tools and services offered by Purdue in that context.
Negative points for me are: 1) Speaking very fast 2) Preparation for interview topic she covers finally isn't suitable for the general context of the talk. Overall rating is very good.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Daniel Mas Montserrat @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
This lecture presents multiple ideas for graduate students in how to create your professional image to get a job, either in industry or academia. Some of the concepts presented here slightly overlap with the lecture about Career fair. It starts by presenting some ideas of elf-assessment: find your skills, values and experience and be able to show them to the industry to get the job you want. She also introduces some ideas in how to look for a job efficiently and talks about having future plans with goals. The talk follows talking about networking. The presenter highlights the importance of having connections with right people in order to find jobs and give some tips in how to keep in contact with people without bothering them. The lecture finishes by presenting some advice on how to prepare for interviews (to research about the company and its values and goals, give a good impression, have professional clothing…)
Overall it is a good presentation and it provides some useful information. Some of the materials is overlapped with other talks and lot of the ideas presented are common sense.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Jialiang Yu @ on
3.0 out of 5 stars
The speaker gives a deep thinking about self definition. The experience you have and the ability you master make you different from others and create a unique portfolio. For a graduate student, a portfolio is a good way to understand the career goal and personality. The value behind each person comes from the experience and each person has his or her unique value. Identifying who you are is a crucial task not only in the career path, but also the entire life. The speaker also talked about the networking skill which is also important in job searching. Reference is very important based on my experience in seeking jobs. Linking yourself to the person that may refer you to a position and keeping contact with this person also needs strategy and skills. The speaker finished the talk by summarizing how to prepare for an interview, we should understand the company's mission, pay attention to the importance of your first impression which includes posture, clothing and gestures, and try to make the interviewer remember you.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
Rasika Kalwit @ on
4.0 out of 5 stars
I thought that this presentation is really useful for any graduate student who wants to pursue a career in specifically research field. Sometimes when you work on some particular topic for very long period of time it becomes difficult to concisely present your work in efficient way. For a graduate student a portfolio is good way to understand one’s goals, personality and suitability for the job. In the beginning the presenter talks about identifying your own values, skills, experiences and personality. The self-assessment can lead to find a job you want. Presenter also talks about networking narrative where your previous work experiences and the contacts made at the job can lead you to the job you want. It is crucial to highlight your relevant experience and attributes while applying for a job. The career strategy for the future also helps you to keep track of your goals and what do you want to achieve in 5/10 years of span. A very useful point was brought up by the presenter about references. You want to be prepared if the potential employer asks about references without bothering the person by contacting them too often. While finding a job it is important to keep networking, gather information about new jobs and connecting to right people. The job searching strategies such as improving your portfolio to encompass the skillset required for a particular job position are discussed. The presenter also talks about interview skills and how you want to have good first impression on potential employer even if the type of interview is not the conventional one.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.
0 Like 0 Dislike
SofÃa Nicole Cerdas @ on
5.0 out of 5 stars
The presentation offers very good insight into actions and attitudes that can be taken to further one's career, and improve your probabilities of finding and being hired for a job you want. The first part of the presentation focuses on self-assesment; how to understand your skills and experiences, and how to frame them in a way that is relevant to employers. The presenter mentions the importance of documenting your experiences over long periods of education, such as graduate school, as they might serve as data points or evidence that can later be used to convince a future employer you're suited for the job and possess the skills required. A very useful point brought up as part of the self-assessment is the importance of also assessing your personality and what your future plans for your career are; she mentions examples of the advantages and disadvantages of a faculty position versus an industry position, citing the freedom of selecting your own research versus potentially higher income as an example. She also mentions job search strategies: such as the importance of looking for several options and building up an array of duties and skillsets required for each, so that you might better choose which one suits you best. Some general and very useful advice given is to also identify and make known skills that aren't necessarily academic, but might be sought after by employers: teamwork skills, for example, as well as cross-discipline experience. She stresses the importance of networking and how it can assist with the process of obtaining this information, as well as linking you to people who can help, and gives strategies on how to stay in touch without bothering the person by contacting them too often. Finally, she closes the lecture with a summarized version of how to prepare for an interview, as well as important advice for one: researching the company's mission and goals, the importance of your first impression and nonverbal cues such as posture, clothing and gestures, and to focus on what you want the interviewer to remember about you in particular.
Reply Report abuse
Please login to vote.