3D

3D - Critical Questions

I have read through these questions in the module handbook, and believe answering some of these will really get my head ready for writing my critical reflection! 

Here goes...

Do some very specific ideas emerge about your networking and sources? Does your engagement to date seem appropriate? Limited etc?

I didn’t realise until writing in my journal how unseparated my social and professional lives are. I check facebook (don’t judge me!) probably about 5 times a day (due to it being on my iPhone!) and constantly on there, there are jobs from ‘Dance Cast’, ‘Casting Now’ and ‘Debbie O’Brien’ advertising opportunities. Although, on one hand this is great, and before starting this course didn’t phase me at all, thinking about it now makes me ask the question; in this generation do we ever take time out from our busy professional lives? 

There are so many ways to access these sources with iPhones, Blackberry’s, computers etc that even though it is brilliant that I will never miss an opportunity, is it good for me to be constantly thinking about my career? 

I think to improve my professional network I should tweet and follow people in our industry a lot more, to gain a rapport with them and this will make me stand out and this would improve my engagement with people. I think I have quite a big network, however if I compared it to someone who has been in the industry for over ten years, it is tiny! However, this will only get bigger with experience!

To what extent do concepts and theories assist you in thinking about your professional networking in different ways? And do these different ways of thinking have some purpose for you?

The theory of affiliation has really made me think about the way I use my professional network. I thought for a while about O’Connor and Rosenblood’s concept of everyone having a preferred level of interaction, and thought about how I interact with various groups of people.

I came to the conclusion that I need to make more of an effort with my professional network. When it comes to my ‘downtime’ I use that time to spend with friends who aren’t really part of my preferred career choice, and maybe subconsciously, this is to get away from the stress of auditions etc! When maybe, to relieve that stress, I should talk about my worries to the people who will understand it. According to Crisp and Turner, I have this network to ‘provide me with a network of support that will help me when I am in need’ . This is definitely a way forward for me, as sometimes I can feel like I don’t spend enough time with my college friends, especially when they like to see each other very frequently, and this is probably down to my own desire to seek out affiliation. I am going to make a bigger effort to keep in contact with these people, most likely on my most important sources - facebook, twitter etc. 

Are you left thinking differently prior to this part of the module? And if so, how?

I didn’t realise how big my network would be until drawing a mind map of all the people I am connected with! It gave me a confidence boost knowing that I have all these professionals in my life, who I am in someway connected with. Be it a small connection, or large, it is still in some way part of how I am as a professional. I really took a lot of time over thinking about ‘Tit for Tat’ and cooperation by Axelrod, and it made me feel like I am a valued member of other peoples network. It is important to know the boundaries of helping someone and I am glad that this theory was part of the reader as I believe it is an important one.