PERSONAL PATH PROJECT

PERSONAL PATH PROJECT
The objective of this project is to provide insight into your future career or continued education choices based on consideration of identity, culture and diversity; it is designed to assist you in making more educated decisions in your future. The project will require application of terms and concepts used this quarter. Your responses to the following questions will be the basis of your Personal Path Presentation.
Part one: Identify and investigate a school or company and interview arepresentative [60]
Establish direct contact with a human representative of your chosen organization to request and schedule an interview. This interview must be conducted on the phone or in person.This interview is purposed to get responses to the questions below. Combine and supplementyour human’s responses with information gained from one or more of the following websites.
• Career
Use Glassdoor to gain insight into the employee experience. If you know what you want to do, but don’t know exactly where you would like to do it, try Seattle Business Magazine’s “100 best companies to work for in Washington in 2018”.
• School
Use Niche, a website that ranks US Collegesbased on rigorous analysis of academic, admissions, financial, and student life data from the U.S. Department of Education along with millions of reviews from students and alumni. US News & World Report’s 2018 Best College Rankingslist focuses on student outcomes and evaluates schools on hundreds of data points such as graduation and freshman retention rates.

Human contact:Name and information ___________________________________________________________. [5]
1. Discuss your interaction with your human contact.
a. Was their tone welcoming?
b. How willing were they to talk about their organization?
c. What did they tell you about the organization?

2. List and analyze the organization’s mission statement. Cite specific components of the mission statement to support your responses to the questions below.
a. How does the mission statementrevealthe communication style supported by the organization? (High-low context communication style).
b. Does the statement indicate an individualistic or collectivistic mentality?
c. What does the organization seem to care about? What values are represented in the statement?

3. How does power distance influence communication in this organization? Does management/authority make a point of listening to, respecting and collaborating with employees/students? Explain how you determined this.

4. Is there a culture of cooperation (“we”) or competition (“I”) among employees/students?

5. What is the retention rate for employees/students (percentage of a school’s first-time, first-year undergraduate students who continue at that school the next year or average length of employment at company)?

6. Are the employees/students of this organization personally singled out for their accomplishments (for example: “employee of the month” or celebration of students’ achievements)? If yes, how? If not, does this matter to you?

7. Do employees/students have fun? Is creativity encouraged? Explain how you determined this.
PART TWO: CULTURE & DIVERSITY (35)
Respond to the following questions based on your previous work and/or school experience.
1. As an employee/student do you prefer a working/learning environment with an individualistic or collectivistic culture? Note that you may respond to this question with a non-binary, “a little of both” approach. Explain your response.
2. What kind of experiences have you had working/learning with others whose backgrounds differ from your own? Provide a specific example. What did you learn from your experience?
3. What have you done to further your knowledge about diversity and culture? How have you demonstrated what you have learned? This question provides an opportunity to discuss your experience with Conversation Partner Program.

PART THREE: SELF (35)
1. Which characteristics of interpersonal communication competence do you possess? (pgs. 20-24 of your textbook) How do you demonstrate them? This is an opportunity to use your experience in the InternationalCommunication Partner Program as a concrete example.
2. What attributes, characteristics, and behaviors are you showing the world to reveal your talents?
3. What prevents, or holds you back, from connecting with others or showcasing your talents? You must refer to Debilitative Thinking (the 7 fallacies) in your response.

PART FOUR: ELEVATOR PITCH (15)
Elevator pitches are succinct statements designed to describe yourself in a way that is informative and memorable. At some point in your life you may find yourself in front of a human who is in a position to help you achieve your scholastic or career goals. Having a pre-articulated description of who you are, where you’ve been and where you would like to go in terms of future goals will put you in a better position to take advantage of the interaction.
Once this project is complete please construct and include with your final submission a personal elevator pitch that addresses who you are, where you’ve been, and where you would like to go. This pitch should be deliverable in 30-60 seconds, or approximately75-150 words.