COMM 202

Career Fundamentals

T27 & T32with Tessa Yin

Let’s get some admin stuff out of the way

www.tinyurl.com/202tinder

We need your emails to send you reminders!

Please go to this link and fill out the information

(60 seconds!)

Please bring your name cards to tutorial, this is how I will

be tracking your attendance and participation!

Agenda

1. Attendance

2. Getting to know your

TA (aka me)

3. Course expectations

4. Putting together a

Skills Matrix

5. Activity

6. Action items

Who am I?

Extracurricular

involvements

Professional work

experience

Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 NOW

Skool Life

Werk Life

Career Peer Advisor @

UBC Centre for Student

Involvement & Careers COMM 483 Leadership &

General Management

Brand

Management

Mentorship

Program

Interests

Failures

My interests & background

SoulCycle

(but so $$$$$)

Game of Thrones

Brooklyn 99

Exchange!

Coffee

How I Met Your

Mother30 Rock

Basically any show available

on Netflix

(if you have recommendations

let me know)

Global issues

Travelling

Sustainability/Environment

ComedyFashion

Chef’s TableGeography

Podcasts

My failures

“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths.”

In first year, I wasn’t sure if

UBC/Sauder was for me and I

came very close to quitting…

Was too focused on minute

details during a case

competition that hindered my

performance because I failed to

see the bigger picture…

My failures

In first year, I wasn’t sure if

UBC/Sauder was for me and I

came very close to quitting…

Was too focused on minute

details during a case

competition that hindered my

performance because I failed to

see the bigger picture and we

didn’t win…

I pushed myself to try different

things that would challenge me,

and during this process I became

resilient and strayed away from the

“status quo”. I did things that truly

meant something to me!

Failure isn’t a bad thing, and I

learned a lot about my own work

habits in a team setting. I managed

to land an internship in Toronto

where I was recognized as a top

intern from the summer cohort!

“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths.”

Course Expectations

Treat this course

like a safe place

to practice

I know

nothin’

It’s all about professionalism

Contributing and sparking in-class discussions

• Using proper in-class/email etiquette

• Being punctual and prepared for each class

• Not using technology during class (unless needed)

• NOT plagiarizing

What this looks like in class:

= 10% OF YOUR

COURSE MARK

I want to take

COMM 202!

BEFORE AFTER

… but that doesn’t meant you can’t be yourself

In fact, you should!

It makes you more relatable and likeable

It helps you build trust and form relationships

You’ll be happier and most satisfied in your

professional pursuit

A girl is no

one…

Jk, a girl is

Arya Stark

Are you here to fit a

certain kind of mould?

Or are you here to be

the best version of

yourself?

Weekly tutorial assignments

For most tutorials, you will have to prepare one assignment, such

as…

• StrengthsQuest reflection

• Skills Matrix draft/presentation

• LinkedIn Profile

• Job Posting Research

• Resume & Cover Letter draft

Each assignment is worth ~2% for a total of 10% in the course

Assignments will be collected in the first 5 minutes of class.

All assignments handed in late will receive a grade of zero!

This class will feel like a

lot, but we will get through

it together

Putting Together Your

Skills Matrix

What you will need to doFor the Skills Matrix assignment, you will

need to produce two sets of deliverables:

1. 6 positive STAR stories

2. 2 failure stories

*Rubric can be found on the COMM 202 blog: Assignments > Skills Matrix > Marking Rubric (bottom of page)

30

Skills Matrix

(positive STAR & failure stories)

Week 12: Employment

Interview

Week 9: Cover Letter

Week 8: ResumeThe Skills Matrix will

help you to clearly

articulate your

experiences and

strengths to

employers during the

application and

interview process.

It will act as the

foundation for the rest

of your professional

toolkit.

Why is the Skills Matrix important?

Professional

toolkit

What are STAR stories?

A positive STAR story is a

structured example of a time

when you exhibited a

personal strength or skill.

Step 1: Translating your strengths into skills

Individualization

Input

Arranger

Learner

Restorative

StrengthsQuest themes Skills

• Observant, personalization, empathetic

• Inquisitive, data-focused, informative

• Organized, flexible, open-minded

• Process-driven, collaborative, initiative

• Problem solving, critical thinking

Step 2: Communicating your skills with

“STAR” statements

Situation

• Context

• Who?

• What?

• When?

• Where?

Task

• The objective, issue, or obstacle that you had to overcome

• Why is this story significant?

Action

• The “How”

• What did you consider/ do to overcome the situation

• What skills were applied

• Your vs. team actions

Result

• What was the result of your actions/decisions?

• How are they relevant to the skill/job?

• Needs to be employer centric

Link

• The lesson

• How will I use this in the future?

Skill demonstrated: Initiative

Fill out the 5 areas for each of your skills

Step 2: Communicating your skills with

“STAR” statements

Situation

•Canadian Tire summer internship

•Brand Marketing department, specifically Innovation

•Tested for Life in Canada consumer program (Tested, for short)

Task

•Tested program was a convoluted process that involved 27 steps with several internal and external stakeholders, I saw an opportunity to help speed up the process

•Never been done before, my manager was on the fence about implementing a project management tool

Action

• I asked my manager to give me the green light on initiating this project

• Evaluated the current process, lag time between different communication channels from various stakeholders

• Shortlisted potential project management tools by creating a criteria that was suitable for my team

• Reached out to TrelloSales Team and they walked me through several demos

• I presented this solution to my senior manager

Result

•Trello was implemented in my team, and I helped other team members

•The Tested team is now using Trello as an interim tool solution as they build a tool from scratch

•Other marketing teams began using Trello as well

Link

•Be observant in the work place, especially as a newcomer

•Looking for fresh solutions can propel team productivity

Skill demonstrated: Initiative

What is a failure story?

A failure story is an example of a time when

something went wrong and the lessons you

learned and steps you took to correct the issue.

These types of questions are very likely to

come up in interviews – and ones that you

definitely need to prepare ahead of time for!

“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles

develop your strengths.”

How to create a failure story?

Situation

• Context

• Who?

• What?

• When?

• Where?

Misstep

• What did I do wrong?

• How am I accountable for the mistakes made?

Failure

• What happened as a result of my actions?

Lesson

• What did I learn through this failure?

Action Steps

• How did I overcome OR what will I do now?

Situation

• Entered the National Consulting Case Competition with a team 3 others

• This was the first case competition for most of us

Misstep

• Before presenting, I started to psych myself out and loss confidence in myself, became very nervous.

• During the presentation, I forgot what I was going to say

Failure

• As a result, our presentation did not have a cohesive story line and we did not make it into the finals

Lesson

• I learned two things: 1) believe in yourself is extremely important, and 2) we are all human and it’s OK to mess up

Action Steps

• I was resilient and didn’t let this experience deter me from entering into other case competitions

• I practiced with other smaller-scaled competitions and re-entered the following year

How to create a failure story?

What a good failure story

demonstrates…

Resilience AuthenticityAbility to

learn

RSVP for office

hours on COOL

1. Tuesday, Jan 23rd

12:30 – 2pm

2. Tuesday, Jan 30th

4 - 5:30pm

***Locations have not been

confirmed, but will be

somewhere in Henry Angus

ACTIVITY TIME!

Take out your notebook/piece of paper and

answer these following questions…

1. What is a career path that you have always wanted to pursue, but feel

intimidated or discouraged from actually pursuing it?

In other words – if money wasn’t an issue, what would you be doing?

2. What does success mean to you?

3. I want you to visualize a typical work day that is 5 years from now.

Describe your surroundings, who you’re talking to, and what kind of state

are you in? Do not write your job title or the company name.

Keep this piece of paper, and we

will revisit it in our last tutorial.

Action items for next week!

1. One on one signups (optional) with me:

www.tinyurl.com/202dates

2. Skills Matrix drafts due in tutorial on the week of Jan 22nd

at the start of class: 2 positive and 1 failure stories (you will

be presenting this in small groups)

3. Final Skills Matrix copy due before 11:59PM on Jan 31st on

Turnitin: 6 positive and 2 failure stories

4. Pay course fee @ HA 443

5. Book your BCC coaching appointment!

6. Next week is lecture!

Call me

maybe?

How to get in touch with me

Email: comm202.5@sauder.ubc.ca

1-on-1: sign ups available here for

timeslots (email me if you can’t

make these times:

www.tinyurl.com/202dates)

Tutorials: feel free to approach me

before or after

Office hours: available throughout

the term as assignments come up

Questions?! Thanks for a great first tutorial!