San Diego State University Career Journal Entry Career Journal Entry Imagine yourself preparing for a job interview. You know the panelists will ask you t

San Diego State University Career Journal Entry Career Journal Entry

Imagine yourself preparing for a job interview. You know the panelists will ask you to describe the general qualities you can bring to the position, and you assume you will be asked to provide specific examples of those qualities taken from your work, academic and volunteer experience.As you prepare for the imaginary interview, plan to write two paragraphs for a journal entry.

For the first paragraph, think of one of the strongest assets you could bring to a job. Brainstorm and come up with a list of strengths like leadership, working well under pressure, sales ability, strong people skills, etc. Then choose one of those assets and write a paragraph describing why you think the skill is important to the career you want to pursue, or the company you want to work for. Keep your descriptions general in this paragraph, and focus on only one strength or asset.

In the second paragraph, describe a specific situation when you put that strength into action. For example, describe what you actually did to become a leader in an organization, what explicit strategies you used to increase sales in a particular position, what specific ways you engaged people in a volunteer activity that proves you have people skills. In this paragraph, be very precise: you’re offering concrete evidence taken from your experience that verifies the general quality listed in the first paragraph. Limit yourself to one example of one quality.

If you think hard about this task, you’ll be using the resume and cover letter to prepare for an interview, and that’s what you want to do.