The document provides an overview of the first tutorial for COMM 202 Career Fundamentals. It includes introductions from the TA, Tessa Yin, who shares details about her background, personality assessments, interests and failures. She outlines the course expectations, including attendance, assignments, and participation policies. Students are asked to submit a draft skills matrix with positive and failure stories in the upcoming weeks. Tessa encourages students to sign up for one-on-one meetings and contact her with any other questions.

1. COMM 202
Career Fundamentals
T01 | T06 | T13
with Tessa Yin

2. Let’s get some admin stuff out of the way
www.tinyurl.com/202tinder
We need your emails to send you reminders!
Please go to this link and fill out the information
(60 seconds!)
Please bring your name cards to tutorial, this is how
I will be tracking your attendance and participation!

3. Our agenda for today…
1. Attendance
2. Getting to know your TA
3. Course expectations
4. Putting together a Skills Matrix

4. Who Am I?

5. Extracurricular
involvements
Professional work
experience

6. Year 1 Year 2 Year 3 Year 4 NOW
Skool Life
Werk Life
Career Peer Advisor @
UBC Centre for Student
Involvement & Careers
COMM 483 Leadership &
General Management
Brand
Management
Mentorship
Program

7. Personality type
Interests
Failures

8. Personality assessments
ENFJ
Myers Briggs StrengthsQuest
Extroverted, Intuitive, Feeling, Judging
• “You wish to know where my true loyalties lie? Not
with any king or queen, but with the people.” – Varys,
Game of Thrones S7E2
• I trust my gut and intuition
• I like to help others achieve great things
• An interesting assessment for your life, and breaks
down what your personality looks like in friendships,
workplace, etc.
INDIVIDUALIZATION
INPUT
ARRANGER
LEARNER
RESTORATIVE
• I value individuals – each person has something unique
to offer and I think it’s important to highlight that
• I am curious about many things (I get bored easily)
• I love solving problems and coming up with a solution

9. My interests
Comedy/Improv
Travelling!
Exchange
Art (Modern art,
Surrealism,
Impressionism)
Music
Sustainability
The Foundation
Foundation
SoulCycle
ClassPass
British Quiz
Shows
Human Rights
Issues
Fashion (Avant Garde,
Contemporary)
Game of Thrones
30 Rock

10. My failures
“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths.”
In first year, I wasn’t sure if
UBC/Sauder was for me and I
came very close to quitting…
Was too focused on minute
details during a case
competition that hindered my
performance because I failed to
see the bigger picture and we
didn’t make Top 3…

11. My failures
“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths.”
In first year, I wasn’t sure if
UBC/Sauder was for me and I
came very close to quitting…
Was too focused on minute
details during a case
competition that hindered my
performance because I failed to
see the bigger picture and we
didn’t make Top 3…
I pushed myself to try different
things that would challenge me, and
during this process I became
resilient and strayed away from the
“status quo”. I did things that truly
meant something.
Failure isn’t a bad thing, and I
learned a lot about my own work
habits in a team setting. I managed
to land an internship in Toronto
where I was recognized as a top
intern from the summer cohort

12. Course Expectations

13. Treat this course
like a safe place
to practice
I know
nothin’

14. It’s all about professionalism
Contributing and sparking in-class discussions
+ Using proper in-class/email etiquette
+ Being punctual and prepared for each class
+ Not using technology during class (unless needed)
+ NOT plagiarizing
What this looks like in class:
= 5% OF YOUR
COURSE MARK
I want to go
to there!

15. … but that doesn’t meant you can’t be yourself
In fact, you should!
It makes you more relatable and likeable
It helps you build trust and form relationships
You’ll be happier and most satisfied in your
professional pursuit
A girl is no
one…
Jk, a girl is
Arya Stark

16. Are you here to fit a
certain kind of
mould?
Or are you here to be
the best version of
yourself?

17. Weekly tutorial assignments
For most tutorials, you will have to prepare one assignment, such
as…
• BCC coaching appointment
• LinkedIn Profile
• Job Posting Research
• Cover Letter draft
• Interview Stream
Each assignment is worth ~2% for a total of 10% in the course
Assignments will be collected in the first 5 minutes of class. All
assignments handed in late will receive a grade of zero!

18. shook/shooketh/shaken

19. Putting Together Your
Skills Matrix

20. What you will need to do*
30
For the Skills Matrix assignment, you will
need to produce two sets of deliverables:
1. 6 positive STAR stories
2. 2 failure stories
*Rubric can be found on the COMM 202 blog: Assignments > Skills Matrix > Marking Rubric (bottom of page)

21. Skills Matrix (positive STAR &
failure stories)
Week 6 – 8: Cover Letter
Week 6 – 8: Resume
Week 10 – 12: InterviewThe Skills Matrix will
help you to clearly
articulate your
experiences and
strengths to
employers during the
application and
interview process.
It will act as the
foundation for the rest
of your professional
toolkit.
Why is the Skills Matrix important?
Professional
toolkit

22. What are STAR stories?
A positive STAR story is a
structured example of a time
when you exhibited a
personal strength or skill.

23. Step 1: Translating your skills into strengths
Individualization
Input
Arranger
Learner
Restorative
Strengths Quest themes Skills
• Empathy, perceptiveness, thoughtfulness
• Inquisitive, data-focused, informative
• Organized, flexible, open-minded
• Process-driven, collaborative, initiative
• Problem solving, critical thinking

24. Step 2: Communicating your skills with
“STAR” statements
Situation
• Context
• Who?
• What?
• When?
• Where?
Task
• The objective,
issue or obstacle
you had to over
come.
• Why is this story
significant?
Action
• The “how”
• What did you
consider/ do to
overcome the
situation
• What skills were
applied
• Your vs. team
actions
Result
• What was the
result of your
actions/decisions
?
• How are they
relevant to the
skill/job?
• Needs to be
employer centric
Link
• The Lesson
• How will I use
this in the
future?
Skill demonstrated: Initiative
Fill out the 5 areas for each of your skills

25. Step 2: Communicating your skills with
“STAR” statements
Situation
•Canadian Tire summer
internship
•Brand Marketing
department, specifically
Innovation
•Tested for Life in
Canada consumer
program (Tested, for
short)
Task
•Tested program was a
convoluted process that
involved 27 steps with
several internal and
external stakeholders, I
saw an opportunity to
help speed up the
process
•Never been done
before, my manager
was on the fence about
implementing a project
management tool
Action
•I asked my manager to
give me the green light
on initiating this project
•Evaluated the current
process, lag time
between different
communication
channels from various
stakeholders
•Shortlisted potential
project management
tools by creating a
criteria that was
suitable for my team
•Reached out to Trello
Sales Team and they
walked me through
several demos
•I presented this solution
to my senior manager
Result
•Trello was implemented
in my team, and I
helped other team
members
•The Tested team is
now using Trello as an
interim tool solution as
they build a tool from
scratch
•Other marketing teams
began using Trello as
well
Link
•Be observant in the
work place, especially
as a newcomer
•Looking for fresh
solutions can propel
team productivity
Skill demonstrated: Initiative

26. What is a failure story?
A failure story is an example of a time
when something went wrong and the
lessons you learned and steps you took to
correct the issue.
These types of questions are very likely to
come up in interviews – and ones that you
definitely need to prepare ahead of time for!
“Strength does not come from winning. Your struggles develop your strengths.”

27. How to create a failure story?
Situation
• Context
• Who?
• What?
• When?
• Where?
Misstep
• What did I
do wrong?
• How am I
accountable
for the
mistakes
made?
Failure
• What
happened
as a result
of my
actions?
Lesson
• What did I
learn
through this
failure?
Action Steps
• How did I
overcome
OR what will
I do now?

28. Situation
• Entered the
National
Consulting
Case
Competition
with a team 3
others
• This was the
first case
competition for
most of us
Misstep
• Before
presenting, I
started to
psych myself
out and loss
confidence in
myself,
became very
nervous.
• During the
presentation, I
forgot what I
was going to
say
Failure
• As a result,
our
presentation
did not have a
cohesive story
line and we
did not make it
into the finals
Lesson
• I learned two
things: 1)
believe in
yourself is
extremely
important, and
2) we are all
human and it’s
OK to mess
up
Action Steps
• I was resilient
and didn’t let
this
experience
deter me from
entering into
other case
competitions
• I practiced
with other
smaller-scaled
competitions
and re-entered
the following
year
How to create a failure story?

29. What a good failure story
demonstrates…
Resilience Authenticity
Ability to
learn

30. Action items for next week!
1. One on one signups (optional) with me for
next week: www.tinyurl.com/202dates
1. Skills Matrix drafts due in tutorial on the
week of October 2nd at the start of class:
2 positive and 1 failure stories
T01 (October 2nd); T06 (October 3rd); T13
(October 5th)
1. Final Skills Matrix due October 13th on
Turnitin: 6 positive and 2 failure stories

31. How to get in touch with me
Email:
comm202.5@sauder.ubc.ca
One on ones: sign ups available
here for timeslots next week
(www.tinyurl.com/202dates)
Tutorials: feel free to approach
me before or after
Office hours: available
throughout the term as
assignments come up (keep
posted!)
Call me
maybe?

32. Questions?!
Thanks for a great first tutorial!