Week 4

This week in class we have started our portfolios. Which will hold all of my research that I conduct this year. It isn't how I want it to look yet, but I have it setup in the correct order for now. It's crazy how nit picky I am about the way everything looks. I want the whole thing to look perfect. Which is a good thing, but very frustrating.
Also this week we have finished up our research assessments. It is becoming eaiser to research my topic. The more I google, the more I find. I found a couple of days ago a book online that has given me tons of research. I took a whole chapter from the book and used it as one of my articles. It has been extremely helpful in conducting research and looking more into my topic. It helps that it is a book too, because it seems more reliable than a magazine is.
Next week, we start phone calls to start scheduleling interviews which is going to be hard. I have one person I can hopefully land an interview with, so we will see. I can't wait to start interviewing, I will feel like I'm learning more about the real life situations. It will be an exciting experience.

Week 3

We are getting farther and farther into the school year which means we are getting deeper into our research as well as our many assignments. Research is important and there is a lot to do before we start interviewing. It's been hard to research my topic. I have struggled with finding research articles. It is not easy finding research about event coordinating because it is not a very common job. Though I have been able to find a few articles that have been able to help me in my research. I found an article on wedding planning and it gave me the specifics of the job. Which was very helpful because I want to specialize in weddings.
Also we have started on our resumes and it is somewhat difficult to a certain extent because I don't have much experience in this field. It's hard to come up with a resume with no experience and no job experience because I have never had a job. Besides being a nanny. Professional resumes are much harder than any other resume I have had to do. I have many things to include on the resume such as my many extra circular activities and community service. Hopefully I will be able to create a good resume that will look professional.

Week 2

In ISM, we are getting more into depth of all of our topics. I just created a contact list of people that I could potentially talk to about special event coordinating. It is much harder to find event coordinators in the Dallas area than it is to find a doctor. I have to say, I picked an extremely somewhat difficult topic. Although, I have done an extreme amount of research about my topic. We did a "career/industry forecast" and it was just gathering information about our chosen topic. That helped a lot as far as learning more about event planning.
Also this week, we created a list of questions to ask the people that we interview. I'm so interested in speaking with these people because I want to know more about the career and what I can do to get my foot in the door somewhere or with someone. That's what is really exciting about what we have been doing is that hopefully I will get my foot in the door in a good business and it can help me with my future. That is what is good about this class. You need a good place to start with your career and I really think ISM is doing that for me. It is preparing me for my career and my future.

Week 1

I just finished my first 2 weeks of ISM. I have already learned so much about the professional world.
We talked about how to dress professional and it will definitely be a wardrobe change for me. It's important to dress appropriate to know you are serious and professional.
 Currently we are researching background information on our topics. It gets me very excited to start working with a mentor. There is already so much I have learned. Things about my topic that I would have never even believed. For instance I had no idea that a special events coordinator could plan concerts. Though my desire is to specialize in weddings, maybe I will expand my specialties.
Along with research and discussing the professional world. I came up with my mission statement and my quote for the year.
My mission statement is: In ISM, I would like to achieve an understanding of the event planning industry, obtain experience working in the field, and discover the different opportunities the industry has to offer.
My quote is by Vincent Van Gogh, "Your profession is not what brings home your paycheck. Your profession is what you were put on the earth to do with such passion and such intensity that it becomes spiritual in calling." I choose that as my quote because being a special events coordinator isn't necessarily a career that will make me wealthy. But, it is something I know I will enjoy doing and I want to have a career doing something I love. Hopefully ISM will help me prove that this is something I really want to do as a career.