4 Revisions
Reflection and growth are messy. It’s ok, especially in the fall, to just get your thoughts down and not worry too much about the “correct” or “perfect” answer. We intentionally ask similar questions a few times throughout the year to give you a chance to revisit your prior thoughts and learning to go a bit deeper. This gives you the opportunity to refine your responses as you learn more about yourself, the workplace, and your internship topic. Be open to the feedback shared by the ambassadors and your peers. Having different perspectives on your work can help you revise.
Ambassadors will be giving feedback each month as you complete the prompts. Review this feedback to make edits and changes, or as a basis to dig deeper and reflect further on your experiences. They will ask questions to help you think and share more!
Aim for these main components:
- Tell us the basics.
- Why does this matter or what did you learn from it.
- How does this connect to your future or how will you apply your learning after this.
Tips and Tricks
- Tell us a story/give specific examples. You will stand out to not only ePortfolio readers but future graduate school interviewers or employers when you are able to expand upon an experience unique to your internship and how you used that experience to grow yourself professionally. Tons of employers/interviewers hear about how applicants use communication in the workplace with no evidence to back it up. They expect you to “tell us about a specific time you…”.
- This is practice for future interviews! The ePortfolio prompts are specifically designed to get you used to connecting experiences to your goals and your future development. The ability to make connections between your past and future in interviews and portfolios is a strong marker of an employee who is capable of holding themselves accountable in self-growth. Employers don’t just want to know that you simply have skills – how are you going to apply these skills in the workplace to benefit the team/organization?
- Not everything will go well on the first try. Failure and mistakes happen or the experience might not be what you expected. That’s ok! Some of the best reflections and lessons have come from learning from these mistakes and challenging situations. What did you learn from it? What will you do differently next time?
