Team Projects from "Spanish & Entrepreneurship" Help During Job Interviews


I just heard from Kelly Lusson, one of the many terrific students in my Spanish & Entrepreneurship (SPAN 332) course in the spring of 2008. She tells me that she's living and working in Tulsa, OK now and that she is "working as a director of sales and catering for Hilton here. The Latin American population is very high in Tulsa and English/Spanish fluency is highly sought after."

SPAN 332 continues with SPAN 232's community-based learning but the content of the course is about social entrepreneurship. Last semester I added a team project for the first time, and each team had to implement an actual community-based project. Kelly's team raised funds to buy books in Spanish for the Latino students in Booker T. Washington Elementary School.

Kelly says that taking an entrepreneurship, doing community-based learning and working on a "real" team project are not just good learning experiences, they help when you look for a job.

Here are Kelly's words:

"The things we did in your class seem to fit the bill for the type of questions interviewers ask. For example: 'Give me an example of when you worked with a group on a project. What type of problems did you face? How did you overcome them?' I could honestly and easily answer all of these questions after working in our 332 group. Another question: 'Give me an example of when you had to think critically and change your plans in order to obtain success on a project.' It's good material."

I know that working in a team can be daunting and difficult for many students, yet I was convinced that it was worth it.

Kelly's job interview experiences prove it.

Ann

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