YOUR SENIOR SKILLS PRESENTATION

 

How To Sign Up For Your Presentation

In October, sign-up sheets will be posted on WebCT/BBVista.

 

Guidelines for your Senior Skills Presentation

In late-October/early November you will present a sample of your skills to department faculty and a panel of fellow seniors. The format will be that of a 15-minute presentation, seated at a table, so...

• Dress appropriately.
• Bring eight (8) copies of your resume.
• Bring a portfolio that is appropriate for your future career, demonstrating your professional-quality work.
  • Make sure this is organized by skill set or by project type. (No scrapbooks!)
  • Also include brief captions explaining the skills you applied in order to complete the example.
  • Portfolios should be neat and clean.
• Rehearse your presentation to be sure that you can cover everything in 15 minutes.
• This presentation is different from a job interview in that once you respond to the "Tell me about your skills and what you can contribute to a potential employer" opening question, it's up to you to lead the discussion of how you can contribute to a potential employer. You will not be answering employment questions but will be showing how your skills can contribute. You will be showing pieces from your portfolio in so far as they are concrete evidence of what you can contribute.
• Each of the students present should be prepared to comment on each senior's presentation.
• Each Senior Skills Presentation will be videotaped. Your first Career Development paper next spring semester will include instructions for your critique of the videotape of your own presentation.

 

What to Include in Your 15 Minute Presentation

Begin your presentation with a review of your Personal/Work-related Background and Career/Industry Knowledge. Spend 2 minutes answering the interviewer's question, "Tell me about your skills and what you can contribute to a potential employer"

 

1.    Focus briefly on:

• Who you are:
  • Your education and training, highlighting any special awards or accomplishments.
  • Your professional experience:
    • Your relevant professional history. Relate experience with past employers and your responsibilities there. Focus primarily on your most recent professional experience. Remember that professional experience encompasses your internships and co-ops, summer jobs, campus activities, leadership positions, and volunteer work as well as paid employment.
  • What position(s) you are looking for:
    • This could include full- or part-time employment as well as graduate school. For professional jobs, mention the position and job responsibilities you would like to pursue. For graduate school, discuss your study interests and how you see yourself applying them after graduation.
    • As part of talking about the position(s) you are looking for, summarize: (1) what it is you know about the career you want to pursue, and (2) your knowledge of the industry you want to work in. Remember to visit www.wetfeet.com for Career and Industry Profiles.

 Then in the next 10 minutes...

2.    Demonstrate your Professional Preparation - Make a transition in which you explain you will now talk about the key skills you possess, prove you have these skills by referencing your portfolio, and relating how your skills will aid an employer. Articulate five principal job skills you have by presenting a portfolio sample or an oral example of each skill. You will be asked to explain in some detail two of your skills and to explain how items in your portfolio provide evidence of those skills. [Remember: you prepared this portion in your October COM 403 report.]

 

3.    Demonstrate your ability to communicate to an designated audience - In your portfolio, pick out the single piece of college work of which you are most proud. This could be from any class or co-op and in any medium. Explain how you identified and analyzed the needs of the project's targeted audience, and what methods you employed to communicate effectively and persuasively.

a.    Explain how you determined the target audience for this work and its needs.

b.    Explain what the purpose or message of this work was.

c.     Explain what methods you used to meet the needs of the audience.

 

4.    Prove your Technological Proficiency - Use the items in your portfolio to show that you have achieved a level of proficiency in the use of technology appropriate to your intended field. Although the group may not be able to view, listen or interact with it during your Senior Skills Presentation, we would like you to bring the example of your proficiency. Possible examples include an audio or video demo reel, a web site, a computer graphics layout, a PowerPoint presentation, or a technology-based lesson plan. [Remember: you prepared this portion in your October COM 403 report.]

 

5.    Conclude by restating your strengths and what you could contribute to your future employer or graduate school program.

-updated Sept. 13, 2007