Consulting.....

There are many fields I/O Psych majors have an opportunity to get into. There is Academia, Corporate, Consulting, HRM, Research, etc. The different fields then have specialized subsets. During orientation, many of the faculty members made a comment saying "MOST grad students come in thinking they are more "I" or more "O" or thinking they want to do Academia or Corporate or Consulting." but as they grow within the program and learn more about themselves and interest these preferences change around a bit. They also suggest that as a graduate student you are in training, so take this opportunity to learn as much as you can, gain as much experience with the field your going into as much as you can, make mistakes and grow from them, because once your done with school and out in the "real world" its a different ball game!

Again, that statement says MOST when it comes to career choices. I'm pretty sure I'm an exception to that statement. I knew going into to grad school that I am definitely "I" and that I wanted to do Corporate or HRM (my research ideas are still everywhere, but thats neither here nor there). This still holds true for me and I also see changing preferences in my colleagues so that statement holds true for other people as well. I was recently given the opportunity to explore the consulting world in an academic/learning setting. The I/O organization, RIOPA, made an announcement to first year students about a Consulting Challenge that we all should get involved in, especially if we'd like to get a field of the consulting world.

So, not knowing much about consulting or if I still didn't want to be in that area, I decided to give it a shot. Our client, National Goliath Bank (I'm pretty sure its a made up company) sent my group a Request for Proposal (RFP) outlining any issues there company was facing. The main things we pulled out of the project were adverse impact issues (resulting from test measure) and the use of an unstructured interviews. While working on this section and thinking of ways to improve these things, we received more information that revealed issues with their performance appraisal system. We spent a few weeks gathering information, deciding on which routes to take to solve the problems presented to us and then had an opportunity to present our results to the company. I've never been through something so mind draining and complicated that wasn't for a grade!

If consulting is ambiguous as this project and as draining as this project, rest assure I am definitely not leaning toward consulting! Now granted, it was definitely a learning experience. I had the opportunity to receive a problem, consult with colleagues about a solution, present solutions to the company, here a rebuttal from the company, address their issues and concerns and overall learn more about the consulting world and know I DO NOT WANT TO BE IN IT!

Graduate school is full of learning opportunities, in and outside of the classroom. It takes an eager student who wants to gain more than classroom knowledge to seek out these opportunities. I write this blog to say, if a learning experience is introduced to you in graduate school, no matter how time consuming and complicated it can be, take the opportunity! You will learn more about yourself and address any thoughts or reservations you may feel about the opportunity and future goals. It can't hurt!! Overall, I really enjoyed the opportunity and I can't wait for more to arise!



"CLASP Consulting - holding companies together since 1996" - My company logo and mission

Grad school so far

So it has been roughly a month into the semester and so much has been going on. I'll start with my academics, tips I've learned so far and then the fun!!!

Academics

I have ADVANCED Research Methods on Monday, Intermediate Statistics on Tuesday and Personnel Psychology on Thursday. I'm sure your wondering why I capitalized Advanced and nothing else. Well let me start by saying this class or better yet the prof and individuals in the class is a joke. I probably shouldn't be speaking my mind like this but I really feel as though my teacher has no idea what he is teaching, I'm in a class of SOME Clincial Psych students and MOST I/O students and my professor has the nerve to call us "Clinicians" you idiot!, oh and the clinical psych students in the class clearly should not be in grad school! Again, that probably isn't right and I could make this whole post dedicated to my professor but i'd rather not get started. Just know that is only the beginning of a long semester! I pray my brain cells aren't dwindling from this class because I have much more to focus on!

Next, we have intermediate stats. Which is pretty good! My prof is my research advisor so that is a bit intimidating. The class is cross listed for undergraduates and graduates and I hope they can hang in there! I remember being in a graduate stats class as an undergraduate and how intimidating it could be! Anywho, I have had one test so far and I think I did horrible considering I was a stats minor but my colleagues seem to think otherwise. But hey it was the first test so now I know how he test, I should do better next time.

Lastly, personnel!!! By far the most interesting class ever! I'm probably being a bit bias because I consider myself an "I" person and this class is all about the "I" side of I/O Psych. So far we have learned about Job Analysis and conducted a Job Analysis!!! Which was tough at first because it requires a lot of time but the end result is sooo worth it! Just to be able to apply what we learn in this class is so amazing!!! We are starting selection this week, which will be the longest and hardest section of the class and the most interesting because I would love to go into selection of course :). The last section will be Job Performance which should be interesting. So lets see, lets see.... Oh I had my first test! I did pretty well, so I'm pleased!

Tips 

1. If your taking a class that you feel you won't learn much in and there is another professor teaching that course, I suggest switching out!!! If I had the time, I would have! 
2. Definitely study in groups! This way you can bounce your ideas and notes off of each other and if you have any questions then you have someone there to answer them or help you figure them out. i think some students are learning this the hard way.
3. If applicable: If you have a lot of reading to do in a short amount of time, divide the readings up amongst a few people and take detailed notes of whichever readings you have. Doing this will give you less to read and as long as you meet your group and discuss in detail the what you read, you should be ok. 
4. Start projects ahead of time, you never know how long a project will take until you start! 

Fun!!

So my schaumburg cohort and my chicago cohort decided it would be a fantastic idea to go out for dinner and drinks/wind down after each test or terribly draining class. Me being the social person I am, jumped on the occasion. I must say I have had the best times with my cohort hanging out after class. Just talking about the most random things over dinner and sharing good laughs definitely helps reduce the stress of graduate school.

Schaumburg is pretty freaking nice! There is a huge mall and various shopping centers across the street from the school and restaurants everywhere, which is awesome for study breaks! There is also movie theatre about 10 mins away. Some students from my cohort went to see the Help after a long stats class and out to dinner after a test. Oh I can't forget to mention this AMAZING place called westwood tavern,  my friend Alex discovered. Its like a high class sports bar! Big screen TVs everywhere, draft fountains at the tables, couches, fireplaces and awesome drink specials!!!!! 

I had the opportunity to explore downtown and the neighborhoods surrounding downtown, as well as try new food and new atmospheres with an amazing group of people. I'm pretty sure I've found my "click". My click is comprised of a diverse group. The main click is 1 black girl (me), 1 white girl (Chandra) 1 indian girl (Mini) and 2 white guys (Nic & Brendan), and whoever else decides to tag along that night. 

ThEsIs ReSeArCh!!!!

Timeline:

This blog will be updated regularly, as it will serve as a time line for my thesis project. 

I'm in the process of figuring out a thesis topic. Let me start by saying what a hard process this is!! Ok so first I had at least come up with an area to look into, so I spoke to my advisor and we settled on some aspect of faking and personality.

Week 1:

• Meet with advisor to discuss a topic
• Begin preliminary research
• I sent my advisor about 12 article abstracts to review for the first week. 
• Looked through 3
• Start extrapolating research ideas based on methodologies used in studies, limitations and future research suggested in articles. 

Week 2:

• Reviewed the other articles
• Finding connections between articles
• Found a topic that just might work
• Of course, my advisor advised me to keep looking and don't settle on the first topic we came up with, so i continued this process of reviewing articles.
• Found more connections, so I will review these connections and research topics with my advisor next week in hopes of settling on a topic!

Week 3:

• review literature
• discuss potential proposal topics
• plan to dwindle down ideas to 2 to 3 solid proposal topics

Week 4

• decide on 2 to 3 proposal topics
• by far the hardest thing I ever had to do!!
• operationally define variables, decide on methodology
• produce a one page "gray paper" executive summary

Tips along the way:

1. This is just a thesis!!! It is not a dissertation so you don't have to develop a new model or discover something completely new.
1. the best way to find an idea is to review past research focusing on their methods and discussion looking for limitations/future research or different ways to analyze the same study.
2. Start early!! The masters program is only 2 years. The earlier you start speaking to a professor, locking in an advisor and just researching an idea will be a huge help no matter when you decide to actually write your thesis. 

Grad School Orientation

WELCOME TO ROOSEVELT!!!! 

Roosevelt scheduled 2 orientations. One for the Chicago campus, Tuesday, Aug 23 and Schaumburg Campus, Thursday, Aug 25. The eager student that I am, I chose to go to both!

So first the Tuesday orientation experience. To start off it was very unorganized. I'm not sure if stuff was purposely done at the last minute or what, but it was definitely very unorganized! I walked in and signed in and what do you know. They didn't even put my program on the list of breakout sessions! What??? So I had to take it upon my self and find out what the situation was. Well, of course a fault of their own, they made us a session. Which was good because 10 or so other students showed up for the I/O program and at least 15 clinical psych students, with no where to go!

NOW FOR THE FUN STUFF! 

After we all got settled into our respective locations, I really enjoyed orientation. The faculty members here are super amazing! They tell us to call them by their first names not Dr. so and so but plain on Mike or Adriane or Jackie. Their reasoning is, is that this is an apprenticeship, sure your taking classes but really most of the stuff we will learn and do is through each other and the experiences we take on. They also say that besides we are just like them only they are older so they know only a bit more that comes with age. So none of that fancy smancy stuff here. Thats not even the beginning!!!

So, they are just really laid back professors who clearly have our best interest at heart. Though this is a M.A. program they all suggest and promote research! Which of course is a plus for me, because I don't mind research at all. Also, unlike other graduate schools, we are allowed to research what we want with who we want, we can share each others ideas, we can share faculty mentors, we can switch faculty mentors, they honestly just want us to get the most out of everything. This even includes the requirements for the Graduate Research Assistantship (GRA).

Ok so on to that exciting news, Mike the head of the program announced that they had made all their final selections for GRA's the night before and things would be finalized tonight. Now, the GRA is a very competitive position to have. You have to had at least a 3.5 and demonstrated interest in research. I have done a significant amount of research so I figured I'd give it a shot when I applied. Well up until that night, I hadn't heard anything so I assumed I wasn't selected. I mean there are only a few positions open each year so I wasn't surprised.

EVEN MORE EXCITING STUFF!! 

Well what do you know, the day of the Schaumburg orientation, I got a phone call from Adrian while in line to get my CTA bus/rail pass. First, it was a Georgia number so I was a little confused when I answered. Glad I did though, he informed me that he selected me for the GRA but because he wasn't at the last meeting, no one got a chance to call and let me know. He said it is only  a part time position, but If I am interested, he'd love to have me. I was THRILLED dang near jumping for joy in line. I could barely keep still. I've been wanting to work with Adrian since my Junior year and I met some of his Auburn students at a SIOP conference.

So, I went to the orientation, spoke to Adrian a bit and I think we decided on letting me do my thesis instead of work on his projects! Which is huge, considering the GRA scholarship normally requires you to work on faculty work with them since they are paying you. But to work on my thesis instead is amazing!!! I will sit down with him this Tuesday to discuss this news and flush out all the details!!! I am super excited though!!!

To celebrate, my parentals and I went out to Joe's Crab Shack! My favorite seafood restaurant of course! I had a blast that night. I am so ready to start school!!! Look a there, I'm already thinking in Green like a LAKER!!! I love my program and so happy I chose to go here!! Whooo hoooo!!!!

Ok, enough excitement for one day. Much more to come
Charnetta

The Move Up

Ok so where do i start with this hectic day!!!! So I packed the Penske truck up the night before we left and that morning the plan was to pick up the penske car tow hitch thingy and put my car on it... Then ON THE ROAD we go!!

Well as you expected, that didn't go according to plan. I went to pick up my car from the parking deck to put on the tow and what do you know. My car is MIA!!!! Now I'm frantic! So, with some calling around I found out KSU Police towed it 2 nights before. I'm like really? Really? So apparently, because I didn't have updated tags the car was considered abandoned. I didn't have updated tags because I wasn't driving it and was having it towed to IL to have fixed. But of course, KSU police didn't know this... So, I called the tow truck company and it was $260 to have the car taken out! Now I've been pinching for pennies this whole move, how in the heck can I afford $260 more dollars?? Any ideas? Because I sure had none! Well I called my trusting supervisors and explained the whole thing to them in tears and they were forgiving enough to give me the money. THANK GOD!!!!!

So....after running around and spending 2 hours for the idiots at the tow company to fix my front end they tore up and putting the car on the tow, we were finally on the road. I'd give it 4pm. Which of course everyone knows is a late start for 12 hour road trip.

Well the road trip it self went great. We ran into one little problem ( I parked the truck to close to the pump once and couldn't get out, it took us 45 mins and a guy who felt sorry for us to get the truck moving again safely) but other than that it was a fun road trip up!!!

UNTIL WE HIT ILLINOIS!!!! Right as we were entering the state some idiot 18 wheeler driver guy managed to total my poor baby! I didn't take pictures of the horror but he basically hit my car from behind which made the car fish tail from side to side and damage a little of the penske truck, but we came out with no bumps and bruises. At least that was until we got home and noticed all my bedroom set had been damaged in the process. Well through a long process of claims and rescheduling my interview for my internship by the way, we managed to get the car situated and make a safe recovery.

The good thing out of this whole fiasco is I got a brand new car!!! 2011 Mitsubishi Outlander Sport! First driver baby!!! Financing is a bit crazy, but I plan to pay it off before I graduate grad school. Hope u like my sweet new ride!

  
  

Til Next Time,
Charnetta

My Internship Experience at Engauge Nov '09-May '10

Many individuals have yet to identify their desired specialty or discover the educational and employment opportunities associated with their field of study. As a sophomore approaching my junior year of college, I began to wonder what applied experiences I could gain that would have an effect on not just my collegiate career, but my future career as an Industrial Organizational (IO) psychologist. I was offered many business, management and even counseling internships. These types of internships are theoretically related to my career, but did not consist of my specific interests. I did not feel that these internships could fundamentally prepare me. I found Engauge, an internship dedicated to behavioral research, through the career services center at Kennesaw State University. I never expected to find an internship that so closely intervened with what I wanted to become as an Industrial Organizational psychologist. The experiences I’ve gained here from survey development, social media analysis, to competitive analysis has had implacable implications on my interested subfields in IO psychology such as survey development, assessments and performance appraisals.

The behavioral research department at Engauge has given me the opportunity to develop my knowledge of survey building into skills with an independent task of developing one based on a client’s goals. The first step in understanding what companies want and how I can create surveys to meet the needs of a company is truly one of the most useful experiences I have gained here at Engauge. I was also given the opportunity listen to and review findings of some user experience testing. A significant part of what I want to do with psychology involves developing surveys and assessments based on client goals. The IO subfield of assessment centers are used to give detailed, structured evaluations. In assessment centers, individuals participate in surveys, situational exercises and simulations. Through several revisions of a survey and sit-ins on user experience testing findings, I can say I have had some experience in understanding what all goes into this subfield of assessment centers and the ways they help a client progress to meet their consumer needs.

The analysis portion of my internship, I’d have to say was extremely fun. I’ve had the most memorable experiences with social media and competitive analysis.  This experience directly relates to the subfield of performance appraisals in IO psychology. Performance appraisals focus on evaluation of the present job to assess and identify employees’ strengths and weaknesses. We were able to give competitive analysis, which is similar to performance appraisals, to our clients by providing them with feedback on what they are or are not doing effectively and what their competitors are doing as well. Providing this type of feedback gives the companies I work for an advantage over their competitors and ultimately benefit their consumers.

At the end of the day at Engauge, when I reflect on the experiences I’ve gained here, I can say the environment at Engauge is very welcoming and the people are extremely helpful. From the first day I walked in the door, I felt the passion that these individuals have to meet the goals of their clients. This internship was applied and I was able to apply every aspect to a specific field of Industrial Organizational Psychology that I am interested in.  I am fortunate to have gained as much knowledge and experience as I have interning here at Engauge. Having the opportunity to sit in on a findings meeting and see the different ways I contributed to a client’s happiness is purely exhilarating. Granted there were times when there were stressful deadlines that had to be met, but even those didn’t seem too bad when you have a team of dedicated individuals working for the same clients and willing to help in any way possible. It would be of my utmost pleasure to recommend an internship with Engauge to my peers.

Preparing for Illinois!!

I am officially a KSU Alumni!!! Whoop, Whoop!! Graduation was soooo much fun. It still hasn't hit me that I am done but I am! I am already being tugged and pulled by friends and family to see me before I leave. Man it feels good to be loved. :)

Whats next?

MOVING AND WORKING! Duh!

I am beginning to pack to move out of my apartment.... It is definitely a slow process. I had about a week off and barely packed up my desk. sad. I need to really get on the ball. Maybe I'll pick one day closer to moving day to just pack everything away! That sounds like a better idea.

Wait, there is more!!!!

So I've been on a job hunt for about a month now.... Granted It wasn't the best idea since I can't technically start working until August and most positions are immediate openings. But I figured I'd give it a try.

........What do you know? I found a position on campus working in the Graduate Admissions office. Not the best paying job, but hey its a job where I can gain experience. So I can dig it! I applied May 31. Got an interview scheduled for today. Did the interview, and BAM! Hired. Ok. Ok. It wasn't that easy, that interview was a tough cookie. But I managed, and now I am a new student assistant.

I tell you, student assistant jobs on campus are amazing and convienent. I definitely recommend getting a student assistant job anytime. So anywho, I start as soon as I get to IL in August, which is exciting.

I think that is it for today,
Talk to you soon!

End of the Year

I really need to start blogging everyday! I will soon hopefully!! So where should I start. I visited Roosevelt University this past weekend!! Can you say amazing!!

I toured both campuses and hung out with some graduate students. The Chicago campus is pretty awesome. It used to be a hotel many years ago, thus it still has a hotel feel. It is straight up and down with a hotel lobby as the main campus lobby. Then the offices and classes rooms are still the size of a normal hotel room. They look very much like a hotel rooms with the old furnace near the window. The school has a more homey feeling. The Schaumburg campus however, is much like a campus. It is small, kind of like a high school size. It is very open and beautiful and the staff are very friendly. There is a nice workout/gym area which I believe I will enjoy!!!

All in all, both campus are pleasing. I believe I will plan to attend more of the Chicago campus classes and live in Chicago to be closer to more of the graduate students and it will probably be an easier commute than to drive from Schaumburg.

What else is new?

I am completely done with all of my finals and I will be graduating May 11, 2011!!! Whooo hooo!! I am planning a "back to the basics" graduation party with a space walk, hula hops, side walk chalk, etc. It is going to be awesome! It will at my apartment complex so we will be grilling and swimming as well! So excited.

After Graduation?

I am planning on moving to Illinois in August. So until then I will be working at my old job saving money and conducting focus groups and surveys... fun fun.

That is it for now.
Talk to you later!!

Introduction & Background Information

I am currently a senior at Kennesaw State University majoring in Psychology and minoring in Applied Statistics. I will be graduating May 10, 2011 with a Bachelor's degree!!! I am currently working on graduate school applications! I have been accepted to one school, which is near my Mom in Illinois so she is super excited. But I am waiting to hear back from some other schools and to apply to other schools as well, before I make any life changing decisions!

Below is a general timeline of my Graduate Admissions Process:

Spring 2011

Last Semester!!! Bring on the Grad School Apps!!! So just in case you do not know. Most PhD program deadlines are in the fall somewhere around Dec 1-Jan 1. Luckily, Master's programs are Feb-May. So if you are really feeling up for it, why not apply to both if you think you may be a in a sticky situation. I ultimately just applied to Masters programs. I found some amazing programs and I applied to 3 that were February deadlines. Within 2 weeks after applying, one school Roosevelt University accepted me!!! Whooo hoooo!!!! I was so happy. So because I had a "safety school" I reduced the number of schools I had left to apply to from 4 to 2. The two I was really looking forward to going to. The deadline's for these programs are March 1st and March 15th. So I am preparing to apply to those schools now. 

Fall 2010

I studied all summer to take the GRE. I studied mainly math because I knew my quantitative score had to be much higher than the verbal. I took the GRE back in August and the GRE scores I received reflected my studying. So I originally aimed PhD programs but after reviewing my GRE scores I felt the best route for me to take would be the Master's programs. So not too discouraged, I began narrowing down some Master's programs. A good place to start again was either SIOP website or the APA Guide to Graduate Study in Psychology. That book was like my graduate school reference bible thing. :) I found several programs that had "bridges" to PhDs, that had PhD programs at the school or near by. So I choose some of those programs and also programs that had master's only. Fall was also a good time to seek out my professors I wanted for recommendation letters and put together a reference binder for them. 

Spring 2010

By Spring, I had about 20 schools on my list. I placed these schools in 3 tiers: Schools I know I can get into, Schools that I can probably get into, and Schools that were out of my reach but why not apply anyway. SIOP was having their Annual conference here in GA, and I knew this would have been the perfect opportunity to meet students and faculty at the schools I was looking to attend. So I registered as a student affiliate of SIOP and registered for the conference.

About a month before the conference, I found all the schools that I wanted to go to that were presenting and emailed the faculty introducing myself and expressing interest in meeting them in person and listening to their presentations. A week before the conference I made a schedule of the presentations I wanted to go to and the professors and students I wanted to meet. Also to prepare for the conference, I made simple student cards with my name, contact info and major, as well as several copies of my updated curriculum vitae to hand out to professors.

While at the conference, I spoke to several professors and graduate students in the programs I wanted to attend. Interesting to note, most of the students at the conference were all graduate students and they told me it was rare to find an undergraduate who was not presenting at the conference. So I got Kudos for attending and speaking to them. One thing I didn't find out until mid way through the conference is though some of the professors names are on the presentations (especially posters) does not mean they will actually be presenting. So I met several graduate students, which again was very beneficial because I was able to ask them about the program and the professors in them.

Immediately after the conference, I emailed those professors I spoke to or didn't get a chance to speak to as well as the students I spoke to to thank them for their time and to ask any follow up questions. These questions ranged from research interest to school preparation and program interest.

Fall 2009

I began searching for graduate programs in Industrial Organizational Psychology. I started by going to the Society for Industrial Organizational Psychology (SIOP) website to see what tips they had to offer me. I also spoke to a professor at my school who is an I/O Psychologist. My professor advised me to apply to different schools in different locations. He explained to me that this would be ideal because I am a traditional, african american female student from the South and I would bring diversity to a program. Doing so I choose about 3 or 4 schools from various regions, including the South. I choose these schools based on what I wanted out of a graduate program. I wanted a school that had an emphasis on research and offered rewarding internships!