Interviewing...

E-Portfolio Entry

Activity Name & Description: Preparing for a Professional Interview

Your interview will include an open to the campus presentation where staff, faculty, and students can attend as available. For the presentation, we would like you to articulate students’ needs related to sexual orientation and gender identity/expression, and your vision to meet those needs at UC Irvine. Please plan on 45 minutes for your presentation, leaving 15 minutes for Q&A, and another 15 minutes for meeting campus partners.

Activity:

In the Summer Semester of my Graduate experience, I applied for UCI’s LGBTRC Program Coordinator Position and received a phone interview and later an on campus interview. This e-portfolio will describe the experience of preparing for the phone interview, on-campus interview and how I planned to integrate personal strengths, vision of Higher Education and role as a professional as a Reflective Scholar Practitioner in professional interview utilizing a powerpoint presentation.

Date/Semester

 July, 2013, (Summer Semester)

Learning Domains Addressed (Labels)

X Leadership

X Social Justice & Advocacy

X Education

o Assessment & Evaluation

X Personal Development

Learning Outcomes

-Student will be able to prepare for phone interview utilizing 8 techniques gathered from the advice of Student Affairs Professionals.

-Student will be able to prepare for professional (on-campus) interview  utilizing 8 techniques gathered from the advice of Student Affairs Professionals.

-Student will be able to integrate personal strengths, vision of Higher Education and role as a professional as a Reflective Scholar Practitioner in professional interview utilizing a powerpoint presentation.

Assessment Rubric (One Per Learning Outcome)

	SLO #1 – Phone Interview Techniques	SLO #2 – Techniques for on campus interview.	SLO #3 – Integrating personal strengths into presentation.
Advanced	I will be able to speak with other professionals to gather 5 best tips for phone interviews.	I will be able to speak with other professionals to gather 5+ best tips for on-campus interviews.	I will be able to clearly integrate my strengths into my presentation.
Competent	I will be able to speak with other professionals to gather 3 best tips for phone interviews.	I will be able to speak with other professionals to gather 3 best tips for on-campus interviews.	I will be able to display  many of my strengths into my presentation.
Basic	I will be able to speak with other professionals to gather 2 best tips for phone interviews.	I will be able to speak with other professionals to gather 2 best tips for on-campus interviews.	I will be able to some of my strengths into my presentation.
Poor	I will be able to speak with other professionals to gather 1 best tips for phone interviews.	I will be unable to speak with other professionals to gather any best tips for on-campus interviews.	I will be unable to clearly integrate my strengths into my presentation.

 

Evidence

Student Learning Outcome One: Best Strategies for Preparing for Phone Interview

I spoke with multiple professionals that have served both on hiring boards

Below is the list of the best practices/advice I discovered from speaking with Student Affair Professionals:

1. Dress up as if it was a professional interview.
2. Research position, website, goals and vision of department.
3. Print out everything: notes, potential questions to be asked, questions that I have, every resource.
4. Have Resume on hand.
5. Be in a quiet space/office.
6. Use home-phone if possible, in my case I disabled phone applications, and put a DO NOT DISTURB on social media and allowing in phone calls.
7. Get up early and prepare for an interview as if it was an on campus interview.
8. Do everything as if it was a professional interview: body language, smile, have your personality show through.
9. Research job description: figure out every way you can make this position relevant to your job experience.
10. Practice. Do mock interviews in front of the mirror.
11. Be able to articulate WHY you care.
12.  Be ready for anything.

Student Learning Outcome Two: Best Strategies for Preparing for on campus Interview

I spoke with multiple professionals that have served both on hiring boards

Below is the list of the best practices/advice I discovered from speaking with Student Affair Professionals:

1. Be early!!! (Really early and breathe).
2. Practice self-care before interview.
3. Have Extra and back-up everything (resources).
4. Dress to impress-> Show off your style, you passed the interview 
5. BE READY FOR ANYTHING!!!
6. Remember to breathe.
7. You are interviewing from SUN up to the time you leave.
8. It's okay to ask questions.
9. BE YOURSELF.
10. Think before you speak.
11. They already know you are competent, communicate that to them.

Student Learning Outcome Two: Integrating strengths into professional PowerPoint

For additional evidence:

-See Job description, parts of my  PowerPoint and attached document of brainstormed ideas.

Issues affecting the LGBTQQIA Community
Providing insight into current student needs effecting the LGBTQIA
community

 Presented by Darrell (DeeJay) Brown

The Center: A Space to Belong

There is a need for students to have a space.

·       Open House Events

·       1 Gurl, 5 Queers: A discussion answering questions on LOVE, SEX and LIFE

·       Meet Your Campus Queer: LGBTQ students tabling across campus

·       OUTFest: A showcase of queer artists, spoken work poetry and queer exhibitions

·       Coming Out Week: Understanding our stories, struggles and triumphs.

·       One Foot OUT: Welcoming “Newbies” fresh out of the Closet

·       Pride Week: Empowering ourselves and our community.

·       Queer Book Club

·       Lunch Time: Rupaul’s Drag Race Recap

·       Queer Speed Friending

 Constructing your Own Standards: The power of Self-Definition

 -There is a need to empower students to understand their identities as they choose to define it.

·       Coming out Monologues

·       Queer Open Mic Nights

·       Queer Post Secret

 LGBTQQIA in the Media

-There is a need for to discuss the impact of media portrayals and popular culture and how LGBTQ students understand themselves.

·       Queer Talk: Pop Culture

·       Film Series: Movie Marathons

 LGBTQQIA Politics

-There is a need for students to understand how political and educational policies effect LGBTQ students.

·       Fight for Your Rights: A Queer Discussion on Politics

 Queer People of Color

 -There is a need to create a space for dialogue with empowering LGBTQ students of Color.

·       Queer is the New Black?

·       Queer Talk: Queer Across the Color lines

 LGBTQQIA Health and Support

 -There is a need to provide resources on LGBTQ holistic health and community support.

·       Coming OUT for Health

·       Safer Sex Talks

·       That’s Kinky? Exploration of Kink culture in the LGBTQ community.

 Queering Gender

 -There is a need to discuss how gender identity and expression shape our understanding of Queer Communities.

·       Queer Talk/Workshop: Exploring Male and Masculinity

·       Queer Talk/Workshop: Exploring the “Femme” and Femininity

·       Breaking away from the Binary

·       T* Time: Discussion Group

 Queering Relationships?

 -There is a need to discuss Healthy/Unhealthy Relationship Practices in the LGBTQ community.

·       Queer Relationships 101

·       LGBTQ Healthy Relationships

·       Out and Active

·       Queering Sports: A discussion centered on Queer Athletes and Spaces in Sports

 The Standard of Beauty and Body Image

 -There is a need to question how Standards of Beauty isolates certain LGBTQ students and empowers others.

·        The Body Beautiful

·       Queer Talk: The Standard of Beauty

 Navigating Open Spaces/Closed Spaces

 -There is a need to create for students to create open spaces and recognize the importance of closed spaces.

·       Appropriate Closed and Open Discussion Groups

·       Meeting Groups for LGBTQ students with multiple cultural heritages

 Sex and Spirituality

-There is a need to  Negotiate and potentially Reconcile Spiritual Identities with Sexual Identities

·       Queer Talk:Sex and Spirituality 

LBGTQIA Pride

-There is a need to create a space for expressing pride in The LGBTQ community.

·       Queer Talk: OUT and Proud

·       Meet and Greet: Leaders in the Queer Community.

·       Mentoring LGBTQ Leaders: Setting the Stage for Today’s Activists

·       Building Leaders: Workshops, centered on building Queer Leaders.

Oppression in our Own Communities…

-LGBTQ Students need to understand issues not only of homophobia, but also heterosexism, transphobia, cissexism, biphobia, ageism, disability and other forms of oppression relating to sexual orientation and gender identity/expression.

·       Queer Talk: The Trouble with Normal

·       Across the Intersections

 Additional LGBTQ student needs to explore:

 LGBTQQIA experiences outside of America. (International LGBTQ Students)

·       Queers around the world.

 Undocumented Queer Students                

·       Queer and Undocumented

 LGBTQ Experiences around Social Class

·       Why are all the A List Gays on TV?

Recognizing a Need to Advocate for Often Invisible LGBTQ Issues

·       Biphobia: What’s the “B” in LGBT?

·       Abelism

·       Disability

·       Ageism

·       Queer Youth/Homelessness

·       Unsung Heroes

·       Polyamorous Relationships

 Asexuality Discussions

·       What’s with all the Cake?

Career Development

·       Out in the Workforce.

Service Learning

·       Out in the Community.

Programming Examples of Meeting LGBTQ Student Needs:

·       Semi-Structured Facilitated Discussions: Queer Talks/Pride Talks.

·        Monthly Specialized Workshops on Different Queer Topics.

·        SPEAK OUT: Inviting Guest Speakers specialized in exploring mental health, sexual health.

·        Weekly Insights through the Kaleidoscope into LGBTQ Intersectionality.

·        The Need for Self Definition: Coming Out Monologues.

·         Engaging Popular Culture/Media Representations: Movies Across the Rainbow.

·       Coming Out _______: Exploring Unheard Voices in the LGBTQ Community

·       Utilizing Social Media, Passive Programs and Resources: Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook to engage the LGBTQ commuter student population.

·       Did You Know? Board (This passive program highlights the historical LGBTQ facts and thoughts to reflect on relating to the LGBTQ community.)

·       Faculty Discussions: Using faculty speakers to discuss research relating to LGBTQ community.

• My Vision: (Grounding my vision with the Center’s Mission Statement )
• Create a space that is welcoming, engaging, and through intentional programming create a sense of community, belonging and an atmosphere to develop leaders. Through programming this space will build awareness, understanding and a sense of advocacy regarding LGBTQQIA issues.

• Quarter Goals
•  Examining current Center programming, offer 1-3 new programs, revise programming as needed.

• 1^st Year Goal
• Assess 10 new events/reshaping of Programs).

• 2^nd Year Goals
• Assess the Program; propose 10 new events, including 3 reoccurring series.

Reflection

Upon reflecting on my first professional interview. I understood how important it is to prepare. PREPARE, PREPARE, PREPARE became my mantra. I think the most important apart of this experience was synthesizing who I am into this process. I think it was a lot of building confidence and being able to translate why I fit this position into words. Believing you are the right fit is far different than being able to translate you are the right fit.

One of the most important things I learned in this process was working to show my best self, put myself into my presentation and sell myself. I found that as a budding Student Affairs Professional how important it is to take time to assess who I am, what I stand for and what I need to communicate about myself and my craft. It was great to be able to articulate how I can translate my strengths into assets as a professional and use every experience as a foundation for who I am as a professional. I was told by fellow staff that utilizing theories into my presentation showed a level of professionalism that many other candidates did not utilize. I was able to balance informed student development with essential student development theory.

Networking was one of the greatest experiences, gathering information from peers, mentors and former supervisors in how I can best prepare myself. It was an awesome experience to be in the interviews (phone and on-campus) and having an answer to everything students, staff and faculty had to throw at me. I am learning that it's also ok to not have the answers.

In conclusion, this interview process has given me a foundation of how I can share what I've learned with other peers, students and future mentees. Developing good interview skills also translated for me to be able to proud of my strength as a communicator.