Week Five: Resource Reflection
Readings:
Birds of a Feather: Homophily in Social Networks (McPherson, Smith-Lovin & Cook)
Quote: “Homophily limits people’s social worlds in a way that has powerful implications for the information they receive, the attitudes they form, and the interactions they experience.“
Reflection: I feel as if we see this a lot in the news at the moment. Groups of individuals increasingly radicalizing as they find homes for their opinions in the shared online spaces where others think the same as them. There’s a strength in ‘finding your people’, but there’s also an enormous danger in not being able to ‘see both sides’. Our country is deeply divided, and accelerating in its division in 2025, where partisan politics and weaponized falsehoods are everywhere, not just in America. But for as bleak as it all might feel, I do believe that optimism and doing better as individuals is something we can all do. And through the dimensions of kindness, empathy, and helping each other up, we might be able to transcend our differences in ways which supersede political division. But it starts with the individual. What am I doing about it. Am I leaving a conversation better than I found it? What else can I do to help?
Spirituality, Religion, and Career Development: Current Status and Future Directions (Duffy)
Quote: “According to Adams and Csiernik’s (2002) extended definition, “workplace spirituality involves positively sharing, valuing, caring, respecting, acknowledging, and connecting the talents and energies of people in meaningful goal-directed behavior that enables them to belong, be creative, be personally fulfilled, and take ownership in their combined destiny”.“
Reflection: I have been on a journey back to faith as a practicing catholic during my time at Penn, where through the academic study of religion, I found my own sense of faith rejuvenated. Since becoming a student at Penn I have begun to attend church each week, and found that the restorative nature of the weekly ritual has had beneficial outcomes on my wellbeing. It’s more than just the pause before a busy week starts, it’s more than time spent in the pew listening to the homilies and performing the rituals of communion. It’s the sense that my academic work and spiritual life are interwoven. And when this has happened, I’ve felt more at peace within myself, more thoughtful and slower at work, and have generally just become quieter in life. Perhaps it’s that it’s fostered a richer inner life, or perhaps it’s helped me come to a better understanding between work, school and home lives. But I feel what Adams and Csiernik are describing, and it’s been my lived experience over the past four years.
Videos:
Refresh your resume in 30 minutes (Dewan)
Quote: “Use the template provided“
Reflection: Where was this course thirty years ago?! My last three jobs have come through personal referrals, so I’ve not had to use my resume for a long time, but this was a wonderful refresher, especially around the algorithmic filters of applicant tracking systems. I’ve always had problems getting my resume to fit into two pages, but the template provided was a great fit for what I needed to do, and forced a brevity which was focused on impact which had previously been lacking in my prior resumes. I’m hopeful not to need my resume too much in the coming years of course, but knowing this advice is out there is incredibly helpful, and I feel as if I have a much more efficient grasp of how to handle resume crafting going forward. Also, the ‘6 second rule’ is absolutely true. I often have to screen resumes as a hiring manager, and if it doesn’t immediately grab my interest, I have already moved on.
Optimizing your LinkedIn profile for recruiters (O'Donnell)
Quote: “Make your About section a tight three sentences.“
Reflection: I have mixed feeling about this, as I’ve gotten advice in the past advocating for building this out as much as possible and making it rich with content. However, in considering the short attention span of those screening pages like this, of course it makes a lot of sense to say more with a lot less. I used what I’d written on LinkedIn to distill everything into a three sentence structure for use in my resume, which I think just about works, even if it naturally feels as if much is being left out. I just passed my twenty year anniversary on LinkedIn, and also the 14k follower milestone. So while I feel I have a solid presence on the platform (it’s the main social account I use), and I’ve been part of the LinkedIn Creator Accelerator Program (which gives a ton of great advice for how to use their platform), I still feel as if I’m underusing it as a vehicle for career development. The course here is helping me understand that treating it less like a place of distribution, and more as a place of connection, will likely serve me better, even if it will demand more time of me to get there.
