Module 3 Overview

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From the course by University of California San Diego

Networking and Volunteerism for Career Success

2 ratings

University of California San Diego

Networking and Volunteerism for Career Success

2 ratings

In a very competitive workplace, establishing, growing, and leveraging your professional community can make all the difference as you search for your initial work opportunity, improve satisfaction at your current job, or find your next work adventure. In this course, you will learn how to tap into your existing personal and professional networks to find your tribe and then leverage your professional community for your benefit (and sometimes the benefit of your employer!). Given that job satisfaction and job opportunities, are often integrally intertwined with “doing good,” you will engage in an introspective exercise evaluating your interests and values so you can incorporate those ideals into your work. Finally, you will understand how service experiences can be extremely valuable in growing your professional community and contributing to company success.

From the lesson

Building Your Professional Community through Service

Module 3 Overview3:45

Building Your Professional Community Through Service0:53

The Service Learning Model2:21

Finding Good Work Through Service to Others0:16

Finding Career Success through Service8:39

Reflective Essay and Discussion Board Post0:30

Module 3 Recap0:40

Meet the Instructors

Jess Yuen
Gretchen Laue

Welcome back.

Lesson three is about service.

How service can help you grow your personal and professional communities.

And even potentially lead you down a new and different and fulfilling career path.

You know, some people,

when they're kids, they just know what they want to be when they grow up.

I have friend who knew she wanted to be a doctor,

and another friend who knew he wanted to be in law enforcement.

And they both were convinced that they were going to do it,

ever since they were little.

So they followed an educational and life path that was pretty clear cut and

they applied to jobs within those industries right out of school.

And they grew from there.

They never wavered in what they wanted to do professionally.

Me on the other hand, I had no idea what I wanted to do when I grew up.

I just knew that because my parents were lawyers, I didn't want to be a lawyer.

Funny story, I'm totally a lawyer, I'm barred and everything.

But I don't practice or play one on TV.

So how did I wind up being lucky enough to have a career built

in policy and politics?

It was mostly because I was open to new opportunities,

including volunteer positions.

And I worked hard, even though I wasn't being paid.

But it paid off, in relationships and experience.

Some background about me.

So you know I wasn't kidding when I said I didn't know what I wanted to be

when I grew up.

I started off as a math and physics major when I first got to college.

And when that didn't pan out I switched to anthropology and.

I thought I wanted to do advertising because it seemed creative and fun.

I got an internship at a small ad agency between my sophomore and

junior years of college.

Great, right?

Just do that again, next summer.

And then get a job after graduation, be totally fine.

Well I applied to a bunch of internships during the spring of my junior year,

large ad firms in New York City, that sort of thing.

One firm actually wound up giving me some scholarship money but

no internship offers by the time finals were over, zero.

So what was I going to do?

I wound up looking for internships on Craigslist,

what can I say that was 15 years ago and the internet was a very different place.

But I came across an ad, Andrew Cuomo's campaign was looking for volunteers.

Now, up until then, my interest in politics had really been only academic,

and the only thing I knew about Andrew Cuomo was that he was Mario Cuomo's son.

But they seemed desperate, and I was desperate to fill a hole in my resume.

So I sent in a resume and cover letter.

I wound up as an unpaid intern, a glorified full-time volunteer

along with a bunch of other college kids, and I had a blast.

I learned a ton and I met really great people.

And I got hooked.

The next year, when I was graduating from college, I applied for

a job on John Kerry's presidential campaign.

And the rest is history.

How I wound up on my path was really haphazard.

And I'm lucky that it turned out the way it did.

This lesson is designed so that your journey will be more intentional.

It will be more structured and introspective.

To help you figure out how you can build in service to grow your networks.

And maybe even find a way to build your interests into part of your career.

In this lesson, the goal is for you to understand the role service can play in

growing your networks, and how it can steer you towards a fulfilling career.

You'll do an exercise where you'll visualize how your service and

professional experiences connect to your optimal work environment and

professional opportunities.

And you'll apply the service model in an introspective exercise,

evaluating your interests and values.

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