Check out Sophie Carrison, one of our March featured student employees. Sophie works for the ePortfolio Studio and is majoring in biology, with a minor in health psychology.
Meet Sophie
What tips do you have for other students who are searching for a part-time position?
"I think my biggest tip would be to reach out to your professors and ask if they have any opportunities or if they know of any openings. Both the jobs I've gotten on campus were with help from my professors! I especially recommend this if you are looking for a research/lab position; they can definitely help out!"
What tips would you provide to other students on how to get the most out of their work experience?
"Ask lots of questions! You can never know everything, but anyone that you work for or with will probably be an expert in that area. You can learn so much from these people, not just about the things you do at work, but also about things outside the workplace! I learned so much from my lab supervisor, Dr. Lata Balakrishnan, and I'm currently learning tons from Amy Powell at the ePortfolio Studio! In my opinion, you can learn so much more from these experiences than inside the classroom. "
What advice would you give someone who is trying to gain experience for their future career?
"It can be really difficult putting yourself out there and trying to get shadowing experiences or internships, so I really encourage you to find a mentor or look to your professors or supervisors for advice. I just recently got a shadowing position with the help of my physical therapy mentor! So definitely don't be afraid to reach out for help!"
Description of the video:
[MUSIC PLAYING] DILLON POLLEY: Yeah, so I'm Dillon Polley. I'm double majored in Informatics and MAS, which is Media Arts and Science for Web Development. My position is the ePortfolio consultant here at the ePortfolio studio, and my standing is a senior.
SOPHIE CARRISON: Hi, I'm Sophie Carrison. I'm a bio major with a health psych-- oh, my God, Health Psychology minor, and I don't remember the other questions. Oh, I'm an ePortfolio studio consultant.
DILLON POLLEY: So it's weird because I technically didn't apply to this position. I've been working here since freshman year, and I'm just moved from role to role as needed. But whenever Amy came to me saying if I'd rather switch from the IEL to ePortfolio, I'm really big on portfolio practices.
Because like the best way to get a job is to have a really good portfolio with your projects, your programming languages, and just in general. And a lot of project-based majors do the same. So I just thought it'd be good at translate this work into my own professional.
SPEAKER 1: Mm-hmm.
SOPHIE CARRISON: My professional writing Professor Debbie Oesch-Minor, we did e-portfolios in her class. And so she emailed me with the job position and said, hey, I think you'd be great at this. Maybe you should apply. And I was like, well, I already have a job. I applied last minute, and I interviewed, and I got it. So it was really great. That's a good one.
I think being able, like I said before, working with students directly is really important. And so, after graduation, I want to go into a physical therapy program. And so that's a lot of hands-on experience with other physical therapy students, as well as being a physical therapist. I have to work directly with people all the time, every day. So I think that aspect definitely has prepared me.
DILLON POLLEY: I think it's cool to help students, watch them go from freshman year through senior year. I haven't been able to yet since we just started up, but it's cool to see that we're developing a program that helps students along the journey for college.
SPEAKER 1: Mm-hmm, and how has this helped you prepare for your future?
DILLON POLLEY: I think in my field, there's a lot of logistical stuff, and people talk like bullet points. So they just like very orderly, and having to work with people in a consultant role has helped me be a better communicator, which is something that's like one of my really big weak points.
So it's just like, although it's not directly related to programming and stuff, it's nice in helping me develop skills that I'll use later. So I'm directly working with students and faculty all the time. So I'd say that I'm learning names and faces and new people all the time.
SOPHIE CARRISON: Well, I get to see a lot of students from a lot of different majors and backgrounds. So I think just the community aspect of helping people figure out how to reflect on experiences that can be so different from life is really, really cool to see.
SPEAKER 1: Mm-hmm.
SOPHIE CARRISON: So weird talking about my fun facts. [LAUGHING] But I think my fun fact is I played soccer for eight years before college. It's not really fun, but it's just a fact. [LAUGHING]
DILLON POLLEY: Fun fact about me is that I have a twin, and he goes to Purdue. So nobody knows me at his school, and nobody knows him, but then, we're like we have a twin, and then they meet my twin, and they're like, whoa. It's another you. So I think it's cool.
[MUSIC PLAYING]
Meet Academic and Career Development
University College is the academic home and advising resource for most first-year students at IU Indianapolis. We also work with students beyond the first year as they prepare for admission to a degree-granting program. Academic and Career Development offers you a team of student success advisors and career consultants to help you explore your interests, choose a major, and create a plan to achieve your academic and personal goals. Once you transition to your degree-granting school, you could work with advisors, career professionals, and even faculty to prepare for a successful career.