End of the Year Reflection

We’ve come to the end of the academic year!  By April 28, please complete the LoyolaGROW Reflection Activity.

By April 28, find time during your regularly scheduled shifts to complete this reflection. The overall goal of the reflection is to help you talk about your work experience on resumes or in future job interviews.

It should take you about 30 minutes to complete. You do not need to complete it all in one sitting - you can return to your reflection at any time by logging onto The Bridge, clicking My Activity, and finding the reflection under "My Surveys/Forms."

The reflection activity consists of three main sections:

1. Overall reflection on your student employment experience (3-5 minutes)
2. Identifying which Career Readiness Competencies you developed during your student employment (5-10 minutes)
3. Crafting three bullet points to use on your resume highlighting your skills and achievements within your student employment position. (10-15 minutes)

Refer back to previous LoyolaGROW emails, and the information below to help you build resume bullet points.

If you have any questions about LoyolaGROW, please connect with your supervisor or contact Tim Cherney, Director – Career Readiness, Rizzo Career Center.

Communication, Critical Thinking & Technology

As you reflect on your experiences this year, we want you to think about you practiced communication and critical thinking skills. We also want you to consider the different types of technology you learned and used in order to meet your goals.

During your next regularly scheduled shift when you are not working on other tasks, take some time to review the content below.

What is Career Readiness?*

Learn more about all eight NACE Career Readiness Competencies

Communication

Two people who each say they have “good communication skills” may in fact be talking about very different abilities. When you reflect on the communication skills you have and the communication skills you want to develop, what exactly does that mean? Presentation skills? Persuasive dialogue? Clear and concise written statements? The ability to creatively tell a story through visual media?

There is no doubt that throughout your on-campus job this year, you have practiced and developed your communication skills.  Your goal now is to articulate the specific communication skills you’ve honed. Reflect back on the year:

• Who do you speak with on a daily basis in your on-campus job? How do you tailor your communication style when you talk with students, visitors, faculty, or staff?
• Do you primarily speak with people one-on-one or do you speak to groups of people?
• What is your typical purpose of communicating?  Are educating and informing others on the services or policies of your office?  Are you persuading others to attend your office’s events? Are you de-escalating tense situations or gathering information to resolve concerns?
• How would you similar communication skills in the your future intended career?

Critical Thinking

In all of your classes at Loyola, you are trained to gather evidence, understand diverse perspectives, and make decisions based on reliable data. How do you also do that in your on-campus job?

• Reflect on times when you had to make a decision where there wasn’t a clear answer but your supervisor wasn’t present. How did you make that decision? What information, values, or context did you use to make the decision?
• Did you ever have to interpret an office policy or procedure?  Did you ever have to explain the purpose or rationale behind a policy to someone engaging with your office?
• Did you ever have a recommendation for how your office could be more effective, efficient, or inclusive? How did you communicate the problem and your solution to your supervisor? What evidence did you provide for your rationale?

Technology

While some employers will require that you have technical skills in specific software (i.e. any Accounting firm is going to expect you know Excel), many employers are evaluating your ability to utilize relevant technology in order to complete a task.  You may have never used the specific record-keeping software they use in their Speech-Language Therapy practice, but how easy will it likely be to train you on that software?

• What software or web-based solutions did you need to learn how to use in order to complete your daily tasks? On Loyola’s campus, you may have been asked to utilize StarRez Housing Software, The Bridge (CampusGroups Event Management Software), Outlook, Handshake, Canva, Adobe PhotoShop/Illustrator, Qualtrics, IMleagues, etc.
• Do you have access to Personally Identifiable Information (like student ID numbers, phone numbers, on-campus housing assignments, age, etc.)  How did you ensure that you were ethically using these databases? How did you protect the privacy of this information?

Big Interview

Big Interview is your starting point for all things interviewing. You can watch video lessons to learn all the tips and tricks. Use the question library to see commonly asked questions in general and for specific industries. After some learning, you can also practice by recording yourself answering questions. You will receive automatic AI feedback and can send the videos to others for their perspective as well.

Looking for more resources on Interview Prep? Visit the Rizzo Career Center Resources page.

Bullet points are the most important part of your resume. Include enough details to demonstrate not just what you did, but how you did it, the results, and impact.

Bullet Point Formula:

Action Verb + Core Content + Result, Purpose, or Impact

Resume Bullet Examples

• Designed weekly social media posts using Canva and Adobe Photoshop contributing to a 25% in engagement on office’s Instagram account.
• De-escalated emotionally charged housing complaints from parents and students ensuring available resources and next steps were clearly communicated.
• Engaged 30+ prospective students per month during campus tours emphasizing the resources, opportunities, and events offered by the Thrive Center for Student Success.
• Prioritized e-mail responses from the Messina inbox based on urgency, referring critical messages to office leadership.
• Interpret and enforce Fitness and Aquatic Center protocols to ensure the safety and satisfaction of 400+ daily visitors.

*Definitions and Competencies reprinted with permission from the National Association of Colleges & Employers