Prep Week!

Blog Post #2 - 10/05/20

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This week, we did a lot of prep for upcoming important events in ISM. One of the biggest is Business Symposium - an event where we get interviewed by professionals and have a chance to talk and ask questions back as well.

We went over the most crucial steps in order to lock in a good first impression when meeting someone professionally, which included eye contact, body posture, smile, attitude, etc. We learnt a lot this week about how to be well-kept when it comes to the professional aspect of careers, and this has allowed us to utilize those tips and tricks into our practices this week for Business Symposium.

We were asked to prepare to answer some questions regarding basic interviews, such as 'tell me about yourself' or 'what do you consider to be your strengths or weaknesses?' Even though communicating with other people tends to be a strength of mine, I still struggled a little regarding presenting and rehearsing. Sharing these answers to my classmates at first was very nerve wracking - I think I was just really nervous. I tended to speak a little fast and not have enough to say so I'd zip through all the answers and finish in too little time, which was a problem. The Business Symposium sessions are 15 min sessions, so what I have to say in the interview had to be fixed somehow to be more conversational and take more time up.

So, I worked. I kept rehearsing and learnt to slow my speed down, and also added more elaboration to get more time on my interview. It ended up hitting 10 min, which still could use some work, but is a huge improvement.

Slowly, I can start to see how ISM has been pushing me out of my comfort zone a little more and allowing me to strengthen crucial areas of my personality so I can be most successful. Although this week was a little tougher than the last weeks, I am very excited for Business Symposium and can't wait to write about how that goes for the next blog post. Until next time, see you!