A lot of the members of the Tau Chapter Sigma Alpha to help build Professional Skills. We do a variety of skill building activities. They include Interview Workshops, Professional Dress Workshops, Etiquette Dinners with our Brother Fraternity, and participating in Conferences.

 

Our chapter is very lucky to be on a campus that provides a range of job-seeking skills. One of them is going through Interviews. We spoke with Paula Beecher, from the CAFLS Career Center, and she prepared a presentation regarding the interview process. She came to one of our scheduled meetings and explained to us what was good and bad. We learned a lot of important information. Don't show up to interviews too early!

 

 

Dressing Professionally is another important part of both job-seeking and the career world in general. We invite a representative from Belk or Dillards in Anderson to come speak to the sisters about the Do's and Don'ts regarding clothing. A few sisters get to dress up while we learn why their clothes work or don't work. The presentations are very useful not only to get us prepared for the future but to also let us know what needs to be worn at our Professional Dress events.

 

This past fall, the Clemson Chapters of both Sigma Alpha and Alpha Gamma Rho got together. We ate dinner while another one of the fantastic CAFLS Career Center ladies came to speak to us. She taught us how to conduct ourselves in dinner interviews or meetings. It was a lot of fun and we hope to repeat the experience next fall. We can all use a refresher course!

 

There is a large range of conferences available to improve professional skills. We sent five of our sisters to Memphis in order to attend the Joint Leadership Conference hosted by Sigma Alpha and Alpha Gamma Rho. They learned how to run meetings and deal with the various personality types within a group and brought the information back to the chapter. Another useful conference is the Clemson Women's Leadership Conference. They celebrated their Second Annual Conference this Spring and the girls of Sigma Alpha were there in force. We learned how to deal with conflict, handle money, and even how to laugh at ourselves. It was an exciting and informative event that we hope to be a part of every year.

Our chapter has been discussing ways to improve our Professional Development events. The ideas include Self Defense Lessons, Resume Building Events, Resume Workshops, and even Senior Seminar Practice. Since our Advisor is one of the teachers in charge of a Senior Seminar class and since public speaking is the number one worst fear, the idea of practicing the presentations is a very popular one. What's a better way to practice than to have a bunch of your sisters there to ask the most ridiculously silly questions?