The Notre Dame Way

The Notre Dame Way

"Take what you have learned here at Notre Dame and let it enable you to go forth and do good. Always be as generous as you can with your time, talent and all you have. In your family life, your professional life and your spiritual life, every day of your life, never forget that your charge as Notre Dame graduates is to be a force for good in the world."
- Fr. John Jenkins (Graduation Message, 2018)

Assessing Your Level of Competency

This is the time to really reflect on yourself and where you are at with this competency. Ask yourself the following questions to dive deep into your self-assessment:

• Have I supported other students at Notre Dame that needed assistance in some way?
• What service groups have I joined while at Notre Dame?
• Can I set aside time each week that I will focus on giving back to the community?
• How can I provide a supportive environment in my internship with other interns?
• What classes, events, lectures, activities have I engaged in to expand my world view?

Building Your Level of Competency

Here are some ideas to build your level of this competency:

• Support a peer or underclass student who is struggling to learn a challenging course concept.
• Serve as an orientation leader to welcome new students.
• Become involved with the Alumni group in your summer or post-Notre Dame location.
• Engage in ally training to support other ND students who feel marginalized. 
• Get involved in Mercy Works, a joint program of Campus Ministry and the Center for Social Concerns (CSC).
• Participate in a CSC Urban Plunge to gain broader understanding of community economic disparities.
• Research local social problems by enrolling in a Community Based Learning Class. 
• Provide support and assistance to a fellow intern in completing a project on time.
• Conduct your job search following the guidelines in the ethical job search policy (e.g. withdrawing from other applications after accepting an offer).
• Graduate students - participate in the Leadership Advancing Socially Engaged Research (LASER) program.

Communicate this Competency

There are many opportunities to communicate the Notre Dame Way to others; through your resume, cover letters, interviewing, 30-second professional introduction, networking, etc. Start with statements like the samples below to build upon:

Example:

Tutored a peer in foundational calculus principles in order to successfully pass econometrics.

Hosted a prospective student in the residence hall for a weekend visit to Notre Dame.

Developed and oversaw a coat donation program among Notre Dame students for a local charity to provide winter clothing to patrons.

Volunteered to visit with patients in a local hospital, providing companionship and attending to basic needs.

Researched public transportation options for community members and created a guide to enhance and promote access.

Reduced paper towel usage and waste in the residence hall by 75% through an awareness campaign.

Analyzed the application process as a human resources intern and provided data to show a skewed pattern of new hires that led the company to review its diversity hiring initiatives.

 

Career Ready Competency Tracking Tool

Download the Career Ready Competency Tracking Tool  one time from the main Career Competencies webpage, and utilize one document to track the development of all your competencies.