Workshop Reflection

Both workshops, the Career Development 101 and Writing Academic Articles and Getting Published, have been quiet interesting and informative.

Career Development 101:
This workshop definitely made me realize how important all the details are when networking and looking for job opportunities. Every email sent and elevator talk that one has, can be the decisive factor in whether they receive the position. I did not know how many jobs are actually found solely through networking and connections, instead of looking for official job postings. I will make sure to keep that in mind and take every opportunity to introduce myself to people in my field. The speaker also mentioned different resources that are available to UM students when applying for jobs, including resume workshops and mock interviews. I believe that those tools can be very helpful to increase one's chances of receiving a position. Also, I will make sure to take advantage of the free business cards from the Alumni Center.

Writing Academic Articles and Getting Published:
Even though the speaker was not experienced with scientific research publishing, I still found the seminar very helpful. I agree that the Sweetland Writing Center is very useful if one is looking to receive feedback on their writing. After attending the seminar I have a good idea of the entire process of submitting a journal article for peer review and eventually getting published. I did not realize that one can submit their article  only to one journal at a time. The process of peer review is very long and tedious, including potentially numerous revisions. The speaker gave many useful tips for how to write to get published, including reading many articles from the journal one is applying to, to get an idea if the article is a good fit for that journal and what style of writing is preferred. 

Overall, after attending these seminars I feel more prepared for the future of job applications, as well as academic article publishing.