Evaluation

 Evaluation

CV-

When creating my CV I used a new website called Canva.Com. This website made it much easier to create my cv as it had set templates that I could use just changing the different text and pictures on them. I had a previous CV and was able to just move the information across to a much more stylish format. It's definitely improved my skills in creating documents about myself and gave me something I can come back to and update easily. 

I had trouble at the beginning as my spellchecking software didn't work on the site and I type really fast so there may be a few spelling mistakes but they can be fixed when the document is downloaded. I would also like the image to be re-taken to look more professional maybe with a camera and definitely a headshot by another person. The picture I am currently using is a selfie-and looks okay but would benefit from a professional look as it is a professional document. 

When finishing University and this year at college I can add those grades and general keep updating it throughout my career, even adding more pages or changing up the design completely. 

Telephone Skills-

Practising my telephone skills was a simple challenge for me, working in a restaurant I am used to taking phone calls all the time and am very comfortable talking to strangers on the phone. Alongside this, because I am always talking to customers you have to be polite and I was able to do this with significant ease. 

I wouldn't say this process taught me much and perhaps I should have created a different fake scenario and taken me out of my comfort zone more however I'm not sure this would have been effective. 

Listening back I came across as polite and inviting using phrases such as "that's not a problem at all" to keep the caller happy and on side. I changed my tone to a light and polite one enabling me to communicate in a friendly manner and provided good information while asking questions to find out exactly what the customer wanted. In the future keeping up with phone calls if I leave my job is important to not lose confidence and be able to maintain being able to answer the phone.

Mock Interview-

The mock interview was set up to demonstrate our understanding of the S.T.A.R technique and help us be more confident in interviews. It perhaps didn't reach the desired effect as the interviewer was one of our peers. My interview was based on Sports Journalism. Before the interview, we had to think up five different questions that a potential interviewer might ask us for our chosen career, in my case sports journalism. 

For the five questions, we also had to think up five answers using the star method. In my questions, I thought of the situation and went through the method but mainly I just had pointers for the four-letters of STAR and effectively made the rest up as I went along. 

In the interview I tend to speak clearly despite having a mask on, not pausing or mumbling at any time. I managed to answer all the questions very well using the star technique and feel like they answered both the question and displayed me using STAR. Another key part of interview is eye contact and in this case the majority was good however some parts I was looking down, this could show a potential uninterest to be there and no desire to be there so must be changed in the future. The strongest answer I gave was to the third question, linking my work experience to the star method was excellent. 

From this interview, I received good feedback saying how I was consistent throughout and the addition of personal touches made the interview more compelling. And how I drove home the fact that journalism was a passion for me. This is something key as the interviewer will be interested in the subject also so showing how much I care helps greatly. Foxy also gave me excellent feedback saying my interview was great and I followed the star technique very well. His only advice was to make sure to get involved with the BT Sport work at king's Lynn town FC. Something which I will be acting upon. 

Comparison of my mock interview to an excellent STAR example.

In the example shown you can see a perfect demonstration of the star method. When answering the question James goes into detail for each letter of STAR. Clearly highlighting each situation, task, action and the result. He does this with empathy and calmness. Allowing room for follow up questions from the interviewers by taking short pauses in between statements. 

In my own interview although I feel I work through the STAR method well, in reality my voice isn't as calming as James. Maybe this was due to wearing a mask and being nervous however the calmer you sound the more confident you sound. He also gives much more extended answers than I did. Going into more detail and analysing each segment of star thoroughly. So in my own interview I want to be perhaps extending my answers slightly further and definitely allowing room for follow up question from the interviewer. 

Sounding calm and acting confident is also key, in my interview I thought this also went well however there is always room for improvement and James here showed that. This one is slightly under the radar however James's use of vocabulary shows a good understanding of the English language and puts him forward as an intelligent individual just through his use of language. Lastly, eye contact. In my interview for some parts I am looking down. I want to be looking at that interviewer and establishing a connection through eye contact.

Personal Statement-

Writing my own personal statement was a very difficult task. This unit 11 progression blog did help me as it was a hub of information about myself. This gave me a base to build on but I found seemingly simple things such as how to open and how to close challenging. 

I created a first draft of my personal statement in late October and have to admit I wasn't best pleased with it. I've sent it off to multiple people for advice. I feel I need to understand exactly what qualities a uni look for in one of these statements and what kind of things make you stand out from the crowd. 

In the future when writing my personal statement I am going to look at more examples, I tried to limit myself doing this due to limiting just copying and basing it on the same format as them. It needed to be completely my own work and come from me.

Asking people for advice before writing and during would be a lot more useful than asking after writing. Also checking with friends who I know have gone to university what matters in a statement.

Changes from draft one to final draft. My personal statement has changed dramatically from first to final draft. There were multiple drafts however I chose not to include them as they were over the character count. Perhaps the most essential changes I made were basic corrections to make the overall piece flow better. For example sentence structure and wording. I repeated certain words too much, such as multiple and industry and started sentences poorly. Using words such as "It", "and". The correction of these basic errors took place after printing the statement out and going through with a marker pen. Highlighting different parts I wanted to change. These simple changes helped me achieve a better flow to the writing. 

Other changes I made were slightly more complex. The removing of over the top adjectives was first on my list. Adjectives such as "undying" and "agitated". I also added some more information about why I love sport, and edited the description of where I work from restaurant to hospitality sector. The reasoning behind this was it is still a skill and should be noted however I went into too much detail and description for something that doesn't directly link to the course I am going to be studying. Adding more detail about sport was important after reviewing feedback I received from attending a virtual open day at Brighton University. One of the key criteria was "demonstrate a passion for the subject area" so I followed this by adding more detail. The removal of over zealous adjectives was done because they were just too much, and needed to be toned down. 

In the final draft, I also added more experience that I had. Some work experience but mostly just production experience I had gained from my time at college, the handling of cameras and different equipment etc. 

Formal Letter-

For my personal letter instead of making up a job title, I went straight onto a real life job website and searched for journalism. I found an application for a journalism job in Newcastle and that's where I drafted my letter to. 

I used the professional format we were told about structuring it with the date and information in the top right corner and using the correct terms when addressing people. I'm happy with how this letter went, when writing I tried to describe my qualities in line with what they were looking for on the application. This went rather well, as I was able to incorporate my qualities usefully. 

This has taught me letter writing qualities and how to stand out from a crowd. After reviewing the letter it could be improved with some feedback. Unfortunately, it did feel as though I repeated myself quite a bit which is something to avoid in the future. Potentially I mentioned about myself to much and not about the job itself.

Solving a difficult problem in my unit 9 project.

Photoshop skills. I lacked the photoshop skills necessary to emulate what I wanted to do in my project. The issue was not being able to cut out the model for my front cover of the magazine and when doing so even with the feather tool and attempting many tutorials it didn't look professional or up to a certain standard I wanted. 

So I had to work around this by watching youtube tutorials and getting help online. When this still didn't help I had to change some of the basis of my project to work around the issue.

My front cover had to be changed drastically as instead of cutting the model out and having them on a plain background I then had to incorporate the background they were in when the picture was taken. This meant a great deal of editing still had to take place, highlighting the model against the background and dimming out the background. 

Overall this improved my project as it made it look professional and industry standard, although admittedly I could have researched online better I made the best of what I had and ended with a good result.