201202968/임정연 Lim Jung-Yun/ Do I have what it takes? / Thurs56

Do I have what it takes?

Four years ago, I was a troubled high school senior trying to figure out what the next four years of my life would be like. Now, with a year left till graduation, I am yet again faced with a life changing period in front of me. The future plans and decisions that I make this year in order to become a professional interpreter will determine at least the next ten years of my life. This means I have to come up with a pretty great plan preparing for my future. To do so, I would have to take an objective look at myself and think if I have what it takes.

In terms of enthusiasm and passion, I certainly feel that I would make the cut in being a translator. To be honest, even mere two years ago, I never even thought of being a translator. When I was a sophomore, I was forced by school policy to choose a double major. Unlike most of my friends, I did not want to major in economics or business administration mainly because I found those subjects as interesting as a pile of broccoli. I was interested in other languages but not enough to take 54 credits worth of lessons trying to learn it. So, as a last desperate resort, I chose English Interpretation and Translation. To my surprise, I found myself enjoying my lessons greatly. And not only did I find my classes interesting; my skills as an EIT student weren't too shabby as well. A positive circle of academic growth where my enthusiasm boosted my skills and my skills began to improve because of my eagerness was created. Before my sophomore year was over, I seriously began to think of pursuing a career in the field and overtime it has grown into a burning passion and want within me.

 However, it pains me to realize that in terms of actual skill, I am but an amateur with average skills. I have nearly a year till I take the entrance exam for EIT graduate school, the first major step into becoming a professional translator and interpreter, which is a generous amount of time. Regardless, I must not procrastinate and focus on improving my competence and ability. There are hundreds of people in the country who are just as passionate as I am and the only way I can surpass them is by skill not pure eagerness. I have talked with professors, alumni and peers regarding the field I want to pursue. Some say encouraging words while others leave me with a sinking feeling in my heart, but what they all say in common is that regardless of one's gender, age, or situation, ultimately nothing triumphs impeccable skills. While this is pretty much universal advice in any career field, it does force me to look at myself in a harsh but objective perspective and push me to work harder in my skills.

Now, I am but a wannabe, but in a few years I hope to become the skillful translator I am striving hard to be now. It is hard to admit that I have a long way to go to even be qualified to pursue the career I wish to have but that only motivates me harder to not slack off. I just hope the me-in-a-year-and-a-half will be looking back at 2015 me with fondness and affection instead of bitter regret.

 

201102805 Lee Hanwook/ Qualifications for my dream job(final draft)/ Thur56

 

A prepared, prospective journalist

 

I always have dreamed of being a journalist. Although it is very competitive and hard job, it is also highly rewarding job. Journalism is the backbone of the society and is essential to the true democracy. There are many kinds of journalism like print journalism, broadcasting, online journalism, and so on. Whatever it is, all kinds of journalists need common traits. Among them, I have three special qualifications as a journalist. I have affection for writing, interest in the world, and a passion for absorbing new things.

 

First of all, I have always enjoyed writing. Journalism is all about writing and if I hated to write, this would not be the right career for me. But I have loved writing stories since I was a child. In an elementary school, I wrote some novels and showed them to my close friends. It is not only for the childhood. I have been a writer and storyteller through my entire life. Though I should enhance my writing skills, just an interest in writing can be sufficient strength for the journalist.

 

Secondly, I try to look all around the world carefully. Everyday experience of the world can be a source of news contents. So, good journalists observe the world with interest. I always try to find a story in my life by thinking that interesting events will come up at any moment, at any place. I always carry a pen and a note, and write the interesting things not to forget about it. It could be the best habit for a journalist.

 

Lastly, I easily absorb new things. In this fast-paced world, it is very important for a journalist to keep up with current situations and trends. In addition to reading newspapers or magazines every day, I grasp new trends through surfing the internet. Also I try to learn diverse perspectives by meeting new people and communicating with them. Not only classes and professors, but also various kinds of people are invaluable sources of learning.

 

In conclusion, a journalist needs to learn new things and change them to one's own words. And I think I can have fun while doing that job. Of course, I cannot say that I am the perfect person for a journalist. But as I choose to pursue this way, I will try to develop my talent and keep my passion to bear the hard challenges.

 

201101481 Park Jean/ Am I the Right Person?(Second Draft)/Thur56

Am I the Right Person?      When I registered for the spring semester this year, I had concerns about my dream, to be exact, what kind of job I should look for in the near future. My dream job has changed several times through my life but I have to stop wandering and make a life decision. Of course the most significant part is how much I can be grateful and be fond of working in that area. There are other factors, however, to be thought such as personalities, major, working experiences and I have concluded that considering all the factors synthetically, a broadcast producer is my dream job. It's still doubtful if I'm qualified to say that I fit perfectly with the work of producing, though I believe my passion and interest suits enough to be one.      First of all, since I was a very young girl, I have always dreamed of performing on a stage and have my name credited. If I think back now, it meant that I hoped to be noticed and remembered from other people that I've never met before. That uncompleted dream has now turned into making creative contents so that I can bequeath my work and name in next generations. I have thought that the most adequate job to achieve my dream is to be a producer directing and filming a program. Making programs is all about creating new interesting contents, thus it matches with my wishes and I feel like I would have a great ardor towards fields of producing.      I also thought that my major is one of the strongest points that presents I have a qualification to be a producer. I majored in Media Communication department, specifically the journalism area. Although major is not considered as the most important thing to apply for a certain job but it's definitely helpful if you know some academic knowledge regarding to that field. From the past four years of learning, I believe that I understood the basic theories and procedures of how mass communication works in the fields of media. Therefore, working as a producer will be an opportunity for me to actually develop all of my academic knowledge and practice in reality.      But one small problem is that the most important qualifications of a producer are being responsible and have a powerful leadership and I have lack of those abilities. A producer is in the position where it needs a leadership and responsibility to direct and navigate the whole program team. In addition, producer's work load is known to be massive and it's just unimaginable to follow daily routines with regularity. All these facts considered, I cannot guarantee that I can handle all those works proficiently with huge responsibilities behind my back. I guess the fear from not knowing and experiencing the field is the biggest obstacle for me to be a producer.      In conclusion, my dream job at this moment is a broadcast producer, both producing and directing a program. I can feel myself is ready to devote my life in the broadcast field and my long time dream and major shows that I'm qualified. However, my internal desire is not enough to be a competent producer. In order to be the best in the field, I should raise my confidence and abilities needed in producer working conditions. Although producer recruiting is very rare and prefer experienced people, I'll give it a try to achieve my goal. If I put my time and efforts on work that I can enjoy then success will follow automatically.

201200340 Do Young Kim/Area 52/Thurs 1-3 pm

I always gazed into the night sky asking myself "What do I want to do for a living?". Being lost, I started to count the stars in the night sky, and then I started to wonder, how many stars are out there? How can I come up with a way to count them all and label them? Is this even possible? These questions have led me to conclude that I wanted to discover and explore new possibilities beyond Earth. I want to solve mysteries and wonders of the universe and expand our world beyond Earth. Furthermore, I want to lead the way in astronomy. I want to build and operate the Area 52 which essentially takes on a similar but a more expanded role in space research as the current Area 51. 

My dream job is a bit peculiar in the sense that I do not simply desire to be an astronaut or an astronomer. I want to not only discover and explore the universe as an astronaut or an astronomer hired by NASA or other space agencies but I desire to run a massive scale astronomy facility of my own and handle the toughest questions and tasks about space that we have today. I simply want to run an astronomy facility of my own that just makes the biggest discoveries and researches the most intriguing things in space.

The next big question is whether I have the qualifications and skills to get this job that my heart desires. The simple answer is no. On the surface, I have no space related education nor the experience to start my career in the field of aerospace science. I'm also quite old and already at the end of my college career as well and this means that my window of opportunity is even narrower. I also have no training nor the connections to expedite my process to build and operate a massive space research facility. However, my desire, passion, and curiosity are the elements that suggest that I could indeed have this dream job of mine. I desire to solve these mysteries and wonders of the universe and this desire is deeper than any other interest that I have ever shown to any subject in my life. I also have the passion that burns brighter than the sun towards discovery of world beyond Earth and I have the curiosity within me that is as infinite as space itself which makes me want to explore and search for answers that everyone else has failed to find. These three elements within me makes me certainly qualified for the job based purely on character. 

There is a dilemma here. I am qualified for my dream job as a person but I am not qualified for my dream job as an expert. And father time is not on my side either as I am in my mid 20's. Some say I am still young but I don't think I am young enough to simply pursue my dream job which is completely irrelevant to my current education and skill set. Realistically speaking with given circumstances, my dream job will just stay merely as my dream job. 

It's a shame that my dream job will most likely not be realized due to the fact that I'm too much of a coward to take a blind leap of faith as my window of opportunity is so small. It could sound as a pathetic excuse to some but it is not so pathetic when I'm the one facing the dilemma of pursuing my dream versus survival in reality. However, I remain hopeful because my three elements of desire, passion, and curiosity will live on and as long as these live on within me, my window of opportunity will stay open no matter how small. I will go back to gazing at the stars in the night sky and count the stars as I remain forever hopeful on turning my dream in to reality someday.

201102687 Lee, Jun Ki / Man for the Job (Final Draft) / Thur 1-3pm

In your case, do you think 'what you want to' do and 'what you are good at doing' are same? Or are they different?  For me, I can say that I am lucky to find them perfectly matching. The job I am trying for, diplomat, requires 3 characteristic broad-mindedness, sociability, and talking skills. These 3 skills are main abilities to do the job of diplomacy, and surely they are something I am very confident at.                     Firstly, broad-mindedness is a vital key to be a diplomat. Diplomats should be able to accept any culture that are existing without any prejudice. They have to interact with other nations without any personal feelings and stereotypes. For diplomat, I think any culture should be considered 'different', not good or bad. I myself can confidently say that I have the broad-mindedness. Broad-mindedness is nothing difficult, but people usually have trouble when faced with difference in relationship or interaction. However, I never say that I can or cannot 'understand' some culture. When I 'try to understand', it already means that I am trying to judge them by my own standards. I just take them as how they are. I accept things as just how they are. If you think like this, there is no good or bad among differences. This is one thing I gained from overseas experience, and when someone steps up to you overcoming all the differences, it is a good start to a long relationship. I believe it would be basically same among nations. Simply, in a relationship, you should not reject anyone or any nations in diplomats' case.                     Secondly, sociability is very important ability for a diplomat. Diplomat is professional at dealing with people from various backgrounds. For them they need to be able to associate with every citizen of world. Getting close with other people is a base for the field of diplomacy. Sociability is another characteristic that I have. I personally love meeting new people, and when I meet new people, it does not end by meeting them once or twice. I try to build personal tie with others once I met them. I basically try to be friend with them. The best part is that I enjoy this process. For example, I would start the class alone, but when the course ends, I always end up making 2 or 3 friends inside the class. If it is about meeting and knowing other people, I am the man for the job. Diplomats are representatives of a nation. When they get along well with others, it gives an impression that their nation would also be friendly. Now, you did not rejected anybody, it is time to start a relationship                     Lastly, diplomat is should be a specialist in talking skills. Their main job is to talk the ways so that many nations could collaborate together. Negotiation and talking skill is the above all necessity for a diplomat. Your job is to persuade other to work along with you or your nation. I have always had interest and skill in persuading people. I have enrolled in debating clubs ever since high school, and I have attended in many debate or speech events. I have always enjoying participating in a talk-based contests or events. I know how to talk through people. I can object to something without disturbing others, and I can send a crystal clear message in a more plausible way. To me persuading a person is an exciting task. This means that now you made the relationship, make them yours.                     In conclusion, to be a diplomat, sociability, broad-mindedness, and conversational skills are needed, and I have always thought that I have those abilities. .All of the international diplomacy skills are just larger version of interpersonal relation skills. Basically all the skills that diplomats need is about making a relationship with others and making them stand on your side Diplomat will not be an easy job, but its importance is growing as a result of globalization. After all, one thing I can be certain about is that I will be able to 'enjoy' being a diplomat.

Oh Ga-yeong/ Classification essay (final draft) / Thursday 1-3 p.m.

3 things needed for my future career      A dream job, for me, it's entering public enterprises. Public enterprises mean the companies which are operated by the government or the local government for the public welfare. In other words, public enterprises aim at public interests. Year by year, the number of people who want to enter public enterprises is increasing. It's because public corporations not only provide high wages but also benefits package for their employees. For these reasons, I also want to be employed in these companies and I think that I'm qualified for this job. I believe that I am suitable for these companies because they highly appreciate applicants' language skills, because they don't want their applicants to have unique personality, and because they want honest and earnest people.      Firstly, public enterprises want their applicants to have various language skills. Scores of TOEIC or TOEFL are basically required. In addition, scores of other language proficiency tests like JLPT and HSK are considered. In case of me, I have learned English for about 10 years like most Korean students so even though I cannot speak English fluently, I can read and write something in English anyhow. I can also speak Japanese because I have learned it for three years when I was in high school. To get additional points when I submit the application, I plan to take JLPT(Japanese Language Proficiency Test) soon. Furthermore, I can also speak French because my current major in the university is French. Because I can speak four languages(Korean, English, Japanese, French), I think that employers in public corporations will be content with my career.      Secondly, public enterprises don't want people who have unique personality in contrast to private enterprises. In case of many private enterprises, they want innovative person so applicants need to have unique personality, unique experience. However, public enterprises want people who are submissive and simple-minded. So I believe that employers in public companies will prefer my personality than the employers in private companies. It's because I have banal personality and have lived an ordinary life. My personality which can be shown negatively to private companies will be highly appreciated when I apply for the public corporations.      Lastly, public enterprises want their applicants to be honest and earnest. Public companies operate for public interests. So their business has to be clean and transparent. Then, for sure, members of the companies have to be also honest and clean. From when I was young, my life motto was to live right and honestly. I cannot lie and deceive others. Also, my sole strength is earnestness. I have never been late for class and I always have done my homework by its deadline. My earnestness and honesty will be advantages for entering public companies.      In one or two years, I want to be hired in a public enterprise which is a dream job for me. I think that it is not impossible job for me because of three reasons. First, they demand language skills and I can speak four language even though I cannot speak fluently. Secondly, they want people who don't have unique personality and I have lived an ordinary life. Thirdly, they want people who are honest and earnest and I don't have to be worried about that. For sure, I cannot be sure that I will be chosen by employers in public enterprises but anyway, I will put my best efforts to enter a public enterprise that I want.

21001256 SeoHee Park/ Abilities for my potential career(final draft)/Thursday 56

Abilities for my potential career (final draft)

My dream is to work at the embassy. I always wanted to work there but I still don't know in which country. I hope to work at the Spain embassy or another embassy related with the Spanish language. I hope to work at the administration area. The qualifications for this area aren't complicated in compare to the requirements of a diplomat. Therefore, I am qualified for this job. The embassy requires a person graduated of a 4 year course college with foreign language courses, a person who can speak Spanish and knows about the culture of the embassy's country and someone who can live in other country for a long time.

First of all, is essential to graduate in a 4 year course college with foreign language courses. Now, I am studying at Hankuk University of Foreign Studies which is a 4 year course college, my major is Spanish and my second major is ETI. I can say that almost all of my courses are in foreign language. As we know, our college is in the top ten universities of South Korea and is the number one on foreign language studies. These qualify the basic requirement to work at the embassy in the administration area or also in the management area. Even though, I am not graduated yet so I have to work hard to get good grades before graduate because the embassy will prefer a person with better grades.

Is necessary to speak Spanish in a high level, also have cultural knowledge of the embassy's country. For example, the Chilean or Colombian embassies in South Korea, the employers speak each other in Spanish even they are Koreans. This is because there are also Chilean or Colombian people working together so it makes necessary to be fluent at the language. And obviously, to be fluent with any language the cultural knowledge is essential. In my case, I've been living in Mexico City for fifteen years so it made me able to acquire enough knowledge of Latin American culture. Also I've learned about Spanish culture on my Spanish major. And I would not have any difficulties on working in Spanish. So I think that this could be my biggest ability in comparison of the other requirements.

A person who works at the embassy needs to be able to work abroad for a long time. This sounds very simple but actually this is difficult, because we have to start our life again in a new country. Also we don't know when we're going to come back to our country if we work as a permanent employee. If I got hired I would fly everywhere specially to Spain, and I wouldn't mind about the residence time. I have experience living in other countries for a long time so I love learning about other cultures and staying in different countries. Also we have to be healthy and legally clean. I am sure by now that I am healthy and I still don't have any problems legally, so I could be able to work abroad for a several time.

To conclude, I mentioned about the requirements to work at the embassy and I explained how qualified I am for those requirements as giving an explication of how's my college, the level of my Spanish also my cultural knowledge, and my position about living abroad. It is very hard to define myself if I am qualified or not, but I tried to be positive. So I hope that the other college students could find their best abilities and be confident about what they have.