On October 20, 2022, I interviewed with Procter & Gamble for a paid internship.
I remember telling the interviewers about this club I started in 2021 with my friend. I remember telling them that we held bi-weekly discussions on various global issues.
“So, you guys just talk,” one of the interviewers asked. “No,” I said, “we have these discussions hoping to help create interconnectedness beyond university life."
I didn’t end up getting the internship. But looking back, I wouldn’t of hired myself: I was a terrible interviewer at the time; I lacked the necessary skills to properly communicate the importance of what the club I created was doing, and how it was impacting people, society and interconnectedness beyond university life.
Amaryllis Jones, one of the interviewers at the time, saw the importance of Global Educo and graciously gave me a chance to re-explain the value of the club. But I didn’t know how to—I was this Biology major who used their intuition and experience from listening to students, patients in hospitals, and customers at McDonald’s to co-create a vision and mission for what I imagined the world needed.
Amaryllis was so kind, but I didn’t have the necessary tools or ability at the time to communicate innovation, or this new-to-the-world idea. I wasn't able to show how the skills we were learning through Global Educo discussions were benefiting humanity.
Instead, as so often happens, I began to see in 2024 Institutions like Dartmouth College and Northwestern University launch programs like “the Dialogue Project” and “the Centre for Enlightened Disagreement,” each to do what Global Educo had been doing since 2021: facing difficult conversations about problems in the world, in a way that creates interconnectedness when talking about divisive matter.
The lesson here is the importance of communication--of practicing Peaceful Disagreement, Active Listening, Delivery, Curiosity & Open Mindedness, and Persuasion--each which were themes in Global Educo Association's recent workshop.
‘“Bigger Than Myself:” A Workshop for Practicing Interconnectedness in a Changing World’ sought to respond to the need for the skills I lacked when interviewing with Procter & Gamble, and a need of many professionals and students alike, in the world of today and tomorrow.
Because this is bigger than us.
#skillsoftomorrow.
TA Enablement & Recruitment Marketing @ Ingredion | Talent Acquisition, HR Transformation
1moSo excited for this next week!