DePaul University Business Operation Analyst Job Experience Paper
Write a 2-3 page paper that addresses the following:
1. What you learned and experienced at your job/internship. (Your experiential learning key takeaways.)
Areas to address could include marketable skills, relevant experiences, career exploration, networking, and areas of self-improvement (see below). Alternatively, you could choose to focus on what you learned this quarter through assignments like the Career Explorer Assessment and Interview Reflection, etc.
- One or more of the following areas could be explored:
- Marketable skills. What transferable skills did you learn this quarter that will impress a others in your field of interest? And/or what career development self-reflection did you do this quarter that you could use in future interactions with employers?
- Relevant experiences. Describe an experience that happened related to your work – good or bad – that gave you a new perspective. Why did it have an impact on you? This could be related to the resolution of a conflict, a moral or ethical choice, a project or deadline you failed to make, a diversity issue, or any other situation about which you felt strongly and which altered your way of thinking.
- Improvements. Experiential learning, is in fact, all about learning and discovery. Reflecting on your work experience, what improvements would you have made in your job performance that would have increased your contribution to the success of the organization and how will you carry that forward in the future?
2. A final assessment of the S.M.A.R.T. Learning Goals you developed at the start of the course.
In what ways has your understanding of yourself and/or your career goals changed as a result of this quarter? What were the S.M.A.R.T. goals you created for yourself at the beginning of the term and how do you assess your performance in achieving them? How did participating in this formal goal-setting activity impact your internship or work experience?
3. Thoughts on the industry you worked within. Do you want to work in this area in the future?
Either way, find and reflect on 1-3 future jobs or opportunities that would be of interest to you after you graduate and discuss the appeal/fit with your career aspirations.
4. Conclude with action steps you will take related to your career development in the coming months.
