Meet Karen Tan, POW's President for the Fall 2021 semester. She is in her senior year and is studying Business Administration with a concentration in Management. When asked what accomplishment she is most proud of she responded with "pushing myself out of my comfort zones". While this year brought a lot of changes both academically and personally, she has seen a lot of growth in herself, "joining POW and acting as president is one of the activities I would have never seen myself in in the past year". When asked how her accomplishment made her feel she said positive and looking forward to the future. Post graduation, Karen hopes to be financially stable so that she may travel and do things without having to worry too much. While her goals during school were to have a good college experience and to create long-lasting friendships, she believes that "a goal cannot be too small or too big, you can have major goals that come years later or you can have small [goals] that come in the next couple of minutes". Regardless of a goal, make it something that you set yourself out to achieve and it shouldn't matter what the goal is. 
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Meet Katrina Salas, POW's treasurer for the Fall 2021 semester. She is in her senior year and is studying Business Administration with an emphasis in Finance. She is most excited about securing a post-grad job offer as all of her hard work has paid off and "I come from a low socioeconomic background, so securing a job offer that will allow me to make a major contribution financially to my household has made me really happy". Having accomplished a pos-grad job offer, she's learned that you get what you put in, she participated in multiple club leadership positions, and was a full-time student. "Each position I took was meaningful in that it allowed me to pad my resume and enhance necessary skills that allowed me to succeed in my next position". After college, Katrina wants to help her mom buy a house and while her goal during college was to secure a post-grad job offer, her main motivation was to become the main financial supporter for her mom, and she hopes to further achieve this goal by moving up the career hierarchy. Katrina believes that "there is no small or big goal, goals are relative to the individual and the expectations they have for themselves. 
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Meet Sarai Aguayo, POW's Chief of Operations for the Fall 2021 semester. She is in her senior year and is studying Business-Marketing with a minor in Visual Communications. Sarai is most proud of how much her confidence and self awareness has boosted over the years. "I used  to be super shy and was always really hard on myself". She also believes that a goal can never be too small or too big. Celebrate all of your accomplishments no matter what, anything is worth celebrating, and you should be proud of yourself. 
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Meet Jasmine Tran, POW's head of Marketing for the Fall 2021 semester. She is in her senior year and is studying Business Marketing. One of her accomplishments that she is most proud of is how much she's grown as a person in the past two years. "In my earlier college years, I was unmotivated to continue school or work because I felt intimidated and overwhelmed". After being told what she could and couldn't accomplish, it resulted in a lot of self-doubt, and "I'm proud that I was able to trust my own instincts and find a major that I love while exploring new options for my career". Throughout her journey in accomplishing her goal, she learned that slow progress is still progress because consistency and drive will get you far. Post college, she hopes to be completely financially independent from her parents and "be able to live independently and have a full-time career". During college her goal was to exhaust as many opportunities as she could to gain new experiences and skills to further her career however, while her goals may still be the same today, she believes that there is no limit to having goals, and that everyone has their own individual journey. Jasmine believes that you should "celebrate the little and big victories in your career because they shape you into who you are overall". 
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It is apparent that goals are defined by who we are. There is no such thing as a small or big goal, as long as you believe that something is worth achieving, then it is worth celebrating for and being proud of. We should constantly celebrate all of the victories in life and continue to set both long-term and short-term goals for ourselves. While the road to achieving the goal may not have been smooth sailing, the journey is what makes accomplishing that goal so much more worthwhile. One wise man said "life is a destination, not a journey"-Ralph Waldo Emerson. As many of us begin to embark on our new journeys, even if we are unsure of where we're going, celebrate both the little and big wins, and remember that perseverance, courage, and determination will get you to where you wish to be. 
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By Felicity Chisom Jika

​The saying goes, “It doesn’t matter what you know, but who you know.” The more you go out in the real world to build your career, the more you realize how true it is. In a study of about 3,000 people, done by Lou Adler, CEO of Performance-based Hiring Learning Systems and author of The Essential Guide for Hiring, Adler found that 85% of people got the job through their network. Networking is an essential part of building your career, but it is not as difficult as it may seem. We are human; we socialize to observe the people we are around and networking has the same concept. But if you are still worried, here are three tips to help you get started:

1.  Go with Someone for Support

If you are going to your first networking event, it helps to go with someone. Maybe your fellow POW member, since we are here to support each other. Having someone with you could help boost your confidence and makes it easier to walk up to someone new when you are introducing yourself for the first time. They can also help you keep a conversation going smoothly.

2.  Prepare for the Event

People can easily talk about themselves so you can use this as a conversation starter. You can also do some research ahead of time. Before going to any networking event, just like preparing for an interview, you can look up the individual, panel, or any organizations that will be attending. You should be able to find information about where they work and pre-plan questions you can ask them during the event. You can also look up who is running the event. This will help you make conversation run smoother. Pro tip: make sure that the questions you ask are thoughtful and not easily found on Google. Look at their LinkedIn page, to learn more about them, through that you could form more informative questions.

3.  Have an Elevator Pitch

It is good to have a elevator pitch prepared. This is the introduction about you that you want others to know. If you do not have one, it is easy to make. Start with where you are now, where you have been in prior experience (if possible), and where you plan to take your career. You can think of your pitch as a way of telling your life story. The pitch should not take longer than one minute. Another way your pitch can be used is when an interviewer asks you to tell them about yourself. The more you practice your pitch, the easier it will become and it will become second nature to you.
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Most people get their job through a recommendation from someone in their network, so make your network strong!  If you would like to start networking, please feel free to check out our event page  or contact us at team@powsfsu.org for more networking opportunities! We want help you make networking a part of your DNA!

Graduating from college comes with a mix of emotions. It can be frightening, motivating, intimidating, or all three. If you are like me, the time leading up to graduation filled me with anxiety about my next steps in life. Luckily, POW helped me grow personally, professionally and provided experiences to make me feel proud about my education. Here are the lessons I learned along the way to help you feel confident about your college journey and graduation.

This guide includes the best tips, templates, and resources for you to create your own stellar resume. If you still need help, come to our resume workshop ​Wednesday, March 8, 2017 from 5:00pm to 7:00pm. We will be located in room 244 at the J. Paul Leonard Library at SFSU. The following week we will be hosting a workshop where you can apply to jobs with your updated resume. POW wants you to succeed and get your dream job!