Grant Kim '20 | FinTech
Major | Accounting
Minor | Entrepreneurship and Engineering
Hometown | New York, NY
Today we spent the day at the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center discovering our professional strengths and assets. I was initially unsure of what to expect but as the day progressed it developed into a fantastic personal learning experience.
Prior to beginning the day, each LSV student was required to complete the CliftonStrengths assessment to identify our five strongest professional strengths. My top five were Individualization, Strategic, Ideation, Maximizer, and Relator. I was really excited to talk to my peers about my strengths and what they thought about their own. We first started the conversation by talking about instances in which we exhibited our strengths and how they affected our choices. There was an interesting point where we discussed to what extent our strengths are attributed to personal motivation or extrinsic factors. However, our next activity challenged us by asking what assets we derived from our strengths, and how we could convey that to employers.
This was a personally challenging task for me because I've always had trouble articulating how my various passions add value to myself and focusing on who I am outside of my resume. To give some background, I'm an accounting major with minors in entrepreneurship and engineering. I'm also part of an a cappella group, hip hop dance group, and an event planning group. I've always had trouble tying together and explaining how my aggregate knowledge from these groups impacts how I view problems and look at situations from various perspectives. I was extremely inspired by the story of Ann Lewnes, Executive VP and CMO of Adobe, who I discovered went to the same high school as me! It was eye-opening to hear that she had similar interests to me growing up and was able to build a wildly successful career pulling from different experiences in her past instead of setting on one concrete route.
Our conversation with Ann helped me realize that I can leverage things that may seem trivial into talking points that can help prove my value and personality to employers. I'm able to talk about how being in an a cappella group attracts people from all different backgrounds and experiences who work toward a common goal; something that I strive to look for in every organization I'm a part of. Ultimately, I ended the day being more optimistic and confident about my abilities and learning how to present my best, authentic self.