EP5- Last Post of the Semester!

I feel like prior to my eP, I did not really have a professional presence. I have a LinkedIn, but it is not good at all and needs some effort to make it good. All my social media is too personal to share with potential employers. I have a resume, but it lacks personality. What I like about a LinkedIn and ePortfolio is that it can show the professional aspect of someone, but also their personality. My resume may have all my accomplishments and job history, but it does not give me a chance to show who I am beyond my education and work history. Personally, I think being personable is a successful trait to have when interviewing as it shows that you can be a people person and adapt to all personality types.

Not to sound overconfident, but I love a lot of my eP. Granted, I have had about a year to perfect it and curate it to my liking, nonetheless, I am content with the current state of my website. I like the homepage and my elevator pitch. Some days I do wish to rerecord it using the notes I got from the assignment to perfect it, but I enjoy watching it and having others see it. Something else I enjoy about my eP is the about me page. Again, it shows my personality and I also like updating it and adding pictures to depict some of my interests. Lastly, I like my course projects page. I am extremely proud of each assignment on that site and love how I formatted the page.

The first thing I do not like is the resume page. For starters, I do not really like how it is typed onto the page, but I also do not like how it would look with the resume downloaded on the page. I am still thinking of ways to alter it to the vision I have. Another thing I want to change is the blog page. I have changed this aspect at least three times and each time I do not like it. Again, I am searching for a way to have a blog page, and it looks good on my site. As of right now, I just believe it does not fit into the vibe that is across my site.

My first piece of advice would be to maintain the site outside of class assignments. This is a valuable tool to have when applying for jobs and could be what sets you apart from the competition. Alongside, if you are a communication major, every class will mention it at some point, so it is best to keep it relevant and maintained. Another piece of advice would be to openly share it. It takes a lot of work to make these sites for only professors and peers to see. It does not have to be something flaunted at any occurrence, but simply linking it to a LinkedIn profile or attaching it to an application can bring an abundance of exposure.

There is a large aspect of this course that I enjoyed. Gendered communication is such a foundational part of everyday life, and the concepts were easily applied to real life. Which is something rarely found in college classes. If I had to choose, I would say firstly was the class discussion. I know this is not a part of the course load, but this course had some of the most entertaining, engaging, and insightful discussions that are rarely found in class. Most people hate talking in a classroom setting, so it was nice to see my peers openly share their experiences and opinions so openly during lectures. My personal favorite units were media and gendered interpersonal relationships. I love learning about media and how it influences our society, and the visual aids were so stereotypical and baffling. As for the other unit, relationships of all forms are vital to the human experience, and it is important to understand the underlying reasons for these interactions.

I first learned that drafting a paper in a sequence is helpful. I already know without the research paper assignments; I would have tried to do an 8-page paper with no prior research completed in one night. So, it felt good to only must worry about four pages was relaxing. Something else I learned is the topics in which you are interested. Authoring the paper was fun and I loved learning latest information about my topic. I was probably annoying my friends and family by sharing all the statistics and facts. Lastly, I learned that reading the articles is helpful. As bad as it sounds, I always would skim or read the abstract for my research paper. But with the topic I had, it was somewhat hard to find tons of research, so I had to ensure each article explored my topics in depth.

I do not know what I want to do post-college. I have many careers in mind, but no ideal path. However, no matter what I end up doing, I will be interacting with the opposite and the same sex. Therefore, I feel that this course will allow me to understand others and their views based on the things learned in class. Our way of thinking is influenced by our families, media, and stereotypes and knowing these factors now, can help me see other opinions and viewpoints in situations, which can help lead to resolution and reconciliation.