CTP Skill Center

Today, on Friday in Employment Services, we were informed what we needed to prepare for mock interviews next week with Mechanics Bank. We did some company research on the Mechanics Bank website, as well as Glassdoor, LinkedIn, Wikipedia, or any other news outlets. It was interesting to note that there was a big merger last year, so I wonder what that means for company culture.

In Documents Lab hour, I linked my Sunshine Express Cover Letter from Wednesday to my CTP Job Log. It was a long letter, and it wasn’t perfect, but this was the first chance to write a cover letter in my PRO class.

Finally, we did a few rounds of mock interview practice, fielding questions from the Q&A Interview bank. Even though some of my answers sound finished, I’m struggling with improvising and sounding polished at the same time. Over the previous two months, however, my ability to answer tough questions has gotten considerably better.

Monday is Labor Day, so I hope nobody shows up to work until Tuesday.

Today was my first experience with Employment Services. Unlike CTT, it requires flexing muscles I’m not as comfortable with as I’m not the most outgoing person. But in real personal and professional conversations you don’t really have to be. And even though my fellow students have more experience, it was really inspiring to see their strengths and struggles. I can’t help but to instantly root for all of them. And the environment was certainly welcoming, which is important. Of course I know I’m going to make a lot of mistakes and I’m still dreading the mock interviews next week, but I’m ready to jump in anyway. You can’t make an omelet without a view word salads. I hope everyone has a fun long weekend.

As for this week the orientation went by fast but I feel like I’m ready to hit the ground running after recharging this weekend. And I’m excited for what the next three months hold. Even the difficult stuff. Especially the difficult stuff.

Today was an awesome Fri-yay. I really appreciate Carrie aiding in interview prep and having easing answers for questions I or the shift squad brought forth. I appreciate the acceptance on my linkedin profile photo and more info on the appearance of information posted on LinkedIn (I almost randomly just wrote Netflix to describe Linkedin lol). I will probably check in with staff about my LinkedIn about section as well as the new profile photo I will use to replace. It’s my third month but I feel like I may be a bit behind in full readiness to leave class so quickly! We will see 😀

Today I practiced doing company research. I also worked on my cover letter master template and my interview question answers. In particular, I got some very helpful advice on how I can answer a very difficult question (“What did you like least about your last job?”). I was really stuck on that one, but I feel like I have a decent answer now.

September 4, 2026: Today, I worked on my Accommodations Request Template and answered a few practice interview questions. It was a miracle I managed to stay awake despite not getting much sleep the night before!

August 31 – September 4, 2026: This week was a pretty chill week, especially since it was mostly cloudy and a bit rainy. I worked on some Google Sheets assignments, presented my weekly tech article, and did some interview preparation.

9 4 2026

Today we did some preparation work on how to get ready for our mock interviews next week with Mechanics Banks by answering questions as a group, and then we worked on our different assignments, like LinkedIn profiles or questions and answers for interview questions. Then we did some more mock interview questions as a group, answered them, and got feedback on how to make our answers stronger if we were having trouble answering them.

This week was of course another blast! I have very much fun with all of the projects and learned so much for my own personal well-being. I think this was thE most difficult Accountability project for me because it asked me legit questions referring to my personal boundaries at work… not just SHPT related questions but the ability to really draw out my boundaries in reference to personal space, personal privacy, personal time, and conversational topics. It really just had me step back for a moment and understand boundaries and flexible boundaries. I also had a blast-per uush… per yewge… [how would y’all spell the short version of per usual…lol] – making spreadsheets. I’m not sure why I get so addicted to it but it is really just fun for me, almost like an Amazing Race challenge. My bosses (Marc and Mike) are also totally awesome humans that always make class interesting and knowledgeable!

This week we officially wrapped up August, started September, and worked on a number of different projects at CTP. On Monday, I believe we did some email scenarios that had major formatting issues. It was good practice learning to pick up Grammarly alerts and trying to resolve each spelling, formatting, or grammar error for a business letter context.

We worked on two Google Sheets assignments this week, which was also good practice doing data entry and setting up the tables with formulas. The first one we did was a phony Girl Scout Cookie order, which had a couple scenarios where orders changed and so did the related data that displayed with formulas. The second one we did was a UCSF Nurse Wage Table. It sure would be nice to have some of that 2017 monthly salary for a Step 11 Nurse, Clinical 4. One day.

The other important development this week was working on a sample cover letter for the position I found at Cal State – East Bay. It’s interesting to finally get the chance to follow correct structure and try to plug in real world examples of details from my work history or the job application. I hope we get more practice either here or in SJS.

Finally, we had two assignments due today, the Accountability Assignment and the Monthly Evaluation. It was difficult to manage the deadline because I had been preparing to meet my instructor for Salesforce Admin Academy. I hope the training is worthwhile and amounts to more job prospects going forward.

Starting out, I got to meet my seniors in the CTT program, who all seem like very cool people to work with. I then listened to their presentations on the tech articles they chose for the week. The first one, about how Amazon is destroying rare books, really was a downer for all of us. It’s important to know but at the same time we have to pace ourselves. It’s balance we’ll have to work at. Hopefully we all can find ways to destress today and over the long Labor Day weekend.

Following the presentations, I then went off to a separate breakout room again and looked for my own article for next week. Finally, I’ll be upgraded from passive observer to an active participant. Then I worked more on the lab.

Today I presented my article on Amazon scanning and destroying books for AI training. It’s important to be aware of it, but it’s also kinda depressing, so I’ll pick a more positive topic for next week’s article. After the article presentations, I joined the combined session with PRO, and I was actually able to complete the UCSF Nurse Wages spreadsheet just before the end of class! ☺️ Unfortunately, I was unable to complete my Skillsoft requirement and send the email on time due to technical issues, as well as an unexpectedly complicated and difficult week in my personal life. I will complete that this evening.