Author: Brett Herb

This term has been really great for me and has given me quite a bit knowledge on the subject of employee recruitment and selection. I learned things such as the perspectives from the organization, types of tests and assessments, the legalities of discrimination and so much more. However, the main takeaway that I got as being the most important thing learned from this class is that of being an advocate for myself within the hiring/negotiation process. I learned that there are some small things that I can do that will give me a huge advantage over other candidates. One of those things is to always read the job description and customize my resume so that It reflects this, so long as the information is true and accurate. Another thing I can do to advocate for myself is to not be a passive applicant. What I mean by the is that I create my own culture and brand so that i stick out from the norm. Knowing my rights about what questions can and cannot be legally asked is also another huge way that I can further myself ahead in the hiring process. In addition to the job description, using salary information to my advantage can be extremely helpful. Researching the salary ahead of time or using other industries as a benchmark can allow me to negotiate for either a higher salary, or at least better benefits than if I had not negotiated. Lastly, learning to negotiate might be the best way of all that I can advocate for myself and get ahead. Knowledge truly is power, and the more I have, the more power that I possess. Learning how to practice negotiating will allow my mind to be at ease when It is time for the real thing to happen. Overall, as I mentioned earlier this class, along with HRM, has taught me some really crucial things to keep in my mind for when I enter the real world after college. I have all the necessary skills and knowledge to do so, otherwise I wouldn’t be here right now, so now all I need to do is apply them!

1. What am I good at?

I consider myself to be a fairly good writer and have used this skillset to further advance me through my education. I am also good at being present for others when they need it. I am pretty good at playing guitar and being musically creative in my process. Lastly, I consider myself to be a good student who knows how to correctly prioritize their time.

2. What do I value?

Somethings that I value are core values such as trust, honesty, integrity and hard work. Other things I value is a cold beer on a hot day. I also value friendship and being there for others in times of need. Lastly I value life itself.

3. How did I get here?

I would not have gotten here without the proper guidance of my parents and my family. They have helped and supported me all the way and are the ones who I can credit my success too. Lastly, I also have an internal drive that has allowed to me to push myself in life.

4. Where am I going?

I hope that I am going on to bigger and better things. While there is no sure way to tell, I do know that I am graduating OSU this year and that is a huge milestone in anyones life. From here, I will have less guidance from my parents, but am still confident in my ability to successfully navigate myself through life and avoid any unnecessary obstacles.

Overall I think I scored pretty well on the IPIP Test, and I chose to take the shorter one due to time. For “Extraversion” I scored a 50 which is not too bad given that I presumed myself to be an introvert. Friendly people genuinely like other people and openly demonstrate positive feelings toward others. They make friends quickly and it is easy for them to form close, intimate relationships. My level of friendliness is perceived as average. For “Agreeableness” I scored 38 and had high levels of trust, meaning a person with high trust assumes that most people are fair, honest, and have good intentions. In the category of “Conscientious” I scored a 43 and noticed that I scored very high in self efficacy. I think that the benefits to this are high and conscientious individuals avoid trouble and achieve high levels of success through purposeful planning and persistence. For “Neuroticism” I was glad that my score was relatively low and only a 39.  Immoderate individuals feel strong cravings and urges that they have have difficulty resisting which correlates to my high score for this subcategory. My “Openness to Experience” score was the lowest by far and shocked me when It said I only scored a 2. I consider myself to be outgoing in most situations, so this surprised me.

As a potential employer looking at these results, I would say that there are many strengths and weaknesses to make a decision off of. Starting with the strengths, Brett would appear to be a great coworker to other employees in an office setting. His scores tell us that he is relatively easy to approach, friendly and willing to help others. This would be the type of characteristic we would want, and would hope that Brett would work well with others. Next, Brett appears that he would be most likely to cooperate in a given situation. Brett, based off his scores should be perfectly willing to compromise or to deny their own needs in order to get along with others. Lastly, Brett appears to have scored fairly high in orderliness and self discipline, which is an extremely important characteristic to have when we have deadlines and projects. Now I would like to look at some of his weaknesses. I would say that Brett’s biggest weakness is his tendency for impulsive behavior. Impulsive behavior, even when not seriously destructive, diminishes a person’s effectiveness in significant ways. Impulsivity also sidetracks people during projects that require organized sequences of steps or stages. My main concern with Brett is that his accomplishments would therefore be small, scattered, and inconsistent.

1. In this situation, I think that I would defiantly hire Jaime over Avery. The main reason being that as the boss, I value my employees who show up on time and produce consistently. Jaime clearly has very high typical performance, which without much detail on the company, is going to be useful to me regardless. Avery would defiantly be a stronger maximal performer, but in this case I would still hire Jaime. Jaimes performance is going to be primarily driven by personality, meaning that he will also get along with other employees.
2. One job where I can see Avery outperforming Jaime, and acting as a better employee is in any innovation company. Whether It be Nike or Apple, I think they will greatly benefit from having an employee that when pushed to the limits will excel. They will want Avery because when they do get him to be motivated, he will push out very high performance, which can ultimately lead to the company’s competitive advantage. Because these jobs are more focused on individual results and creativity, rather than a contribution effort, Avery will feel pressure to perform at a higher standard.
3. The job where I can see Jaime performing at really well, would be in a factory. He is the type of employee that you could rely on to be there day in and day out, on time, and always ready to contribute. It is these type of jobs where a consistent performer will thrive, because their boss will ask them to complete a task, they will, and so on and so on. Having typical performance in a work place like this will allow the company to meet goals more easily. Lastly, having someone that you know is reliable takes a lot of stress of managers back, because they won’t have to worry if the employee will show up that day or if they will get a report in by the deadline.

My brand that I want to highlight for employers to see is someone who is hardworking and willing to contribute to group efforts. I want them to know that I am a people person, and as such I am more successful working with others and bouncing off each other ideas. Being collaborative is an important trait in business, because I know that I will be working face to face with many people. On top of contributing, I want my employers to know that I am also very good at coordinating and managing people. I usually assume the leadership position, and as a result employers will take notice. Lastly, I like to see things through. This means that I am determined, and I can’t stand when things aren’t finished. This can be seen as both a strength and a weakness. As for my freak factor, I consider myself to be very good at guitar and being musically gifted, which then fuels my creativity in the workplace. If I was to present myself in a novel, I would seen as a character that can be depended on by others in the world, and who others maybe aspire to be. I hope that when others look at me, I can not only be seen as friendly, but also someone who can bring order at the same time. As learned in strategy, fear and friendship need to be in balance. I am not saying that I want others to be scared of me, but I want them to respect me, and then they will know that I respect the. To show employers my initiative in a creative situation, since I am musical, maybe I could create a jingle or song for a bunch of companies and send them out, which would prove that I can add value to their company, without them even asking. Other ideas would be just simply walking up to various business and asking. Most people are lazy, and when It comes to jobs, they aren’t as lazy, but they defiantly don’t do the most they can. Even if the employer turned me down, I would still thank them and possibly try to network, as they may be of an asset in the future. Taking the initiate to go and talk to these companies face to face takes a lot of nerves at fear of rejection, and hopefully employers will recognize that.

The last job that I had was last summer, when I worked as leasing agent for an apartment complex. I had previous experience already, due to my family business and other jobs at various complexes. When I was originally applying for the job, I can say that the job description did indeed excite me. I had enjoyed working with the many different people who walked through the door each day, and was hoping that the environment would prove to be the same at this new place. The new apartment was called Hawks Ridge, and I had done some previous research on them just by reading comments online. Most of them shared how helpful the staff was and how nice and friendly they were. This fueled my excitement for the position more. As far as the actual description, I wasn’t too worried, because It was all tasks that I was previously knowledgable of. The experience matched the description and previous experiences I had while working in the office, and I couldn’t of been more happy. For the most part, everything was actually very similar, because this apartment complex was run by the same management company up in Portland. This was helpful because I was already familiar with corporate names who you would have to email frequently, as well as how maintenance and renting was handled.

If I was to come across a current event news article that said one of my favorite companies has been found to be a part of ethnic discrimination, my views would most certainly change, however It might not stop me from using their product or services though. It would really depend on how severe the discrimination was and if It was the result of one person, or It appeared more as a hidden company wide culture that suddenly emerged. For example, in 1994, Denny’s restaurants settled for 54.4 million for allegedly discriminating against black diners at its then 1,400 locations across the United States. Black customers said that they were singled out at Denny’s by being asked to prepay for meals or charged a cover before dining. This type of discrimination was most likely performed by a few waitresses and as a result, not the views shared by Denny’s employees around the country or Denny’s as a whole. As I mentioned earlier, this would most likely change my views, but I would still probably eat at Denny’s, due to the fact that the discrimination was only held out by a few employees. I want to make It clear, that I wouldn’t support the actions obviously, but I would still most likely support Denny’s by being a customer. Now If I were to apply for a job at Denny’s I would most certainly bring up the incident and ask what measures are being taken so that It doesn’t happen again. I would also really be interested in learning how they would describe their company culture, and seeing if It matches with the current views that I hold. I would be curious in also learning what steps they have to prevent discrimination from happening again in the future, and if Denny’s presented a solid case, then I would most likely consider taking the job. .

1. There are a few reasons that come to mind for why a company would choose to allocate its resources towards activities such as marketing or production vs. recruitment. One of the first reasons I can think of, is that companies are ignorant in the fact that they don’t see staffing as a key input to organizational success. They see production and the selling of products as more important. In a way they are using tunnel vision. Making money for the shareholders is indeed one of the core functions, but without the right staff, this cannot happen. Another reason that companies allocate resources to other parts is due to a budget. Some companies may be stuck within a budget, and would rather spend It on tasks that are more important in their eyes. Unfortunately they are probably not aware of the large costs associated with poor recruitment. Lastly to tie It all together, these companies are just not thinking long term. They are focused on making money now, and as a result allocate resources to everything except staffing and employee retention.
2. Some strengths that show up from not prioritizing recruitment would be things such as a better focus on how to cut production costs by adjusting the supply chain. Another way is by spending the money on marketing to more customer segments, which as a result would again make more money. Weaknesses would obviously be the cost argument mentioned in lecture. Organizations are going to lose more money doing things a second time if the first choice wasn’t adequate. In addition this could lead to dissatisfaction spreading throughout the company, which would most certainly be a negative aspect.

1. I think that all candidates who find themselves in the interview room share some of the same feelings during the process. Of course one might be feeling extremely nervous or anxious depending on the type of person they are, as well as how prepared they were before entering. In some extreme cases, the person may result to panicking and thus perform poorly. When one is prepared though, they might feel strong and confident in their experience or answers, but again this can all change, perhaps when you see some of your other competition. I think for most candidates, they receive an almost rush of excitement, because the job could mean new possibilities. New connections, new task, and new pay grades are all things that would excite any future employee. Lastly, a candidate may also feel a sense of desperation. Do to whatever reason they have for needing the job, they will usually try and say the “right” things to interviewers and as a result sound fake and rehearsed. They will usually make promises, lie, or say anything in hopes of being hired.
2. For me, the most important experience that really shaped my impression of the company that I was applying for really boiled down to the impressions I got. I obviously didn’t want to work at a company with people I couldn’t get along with. I was fortunate enough to have a really good interviewer that actually cared for my career path whether or not It was even with this company. He approached It as a friend, but also maintained professionability during the process. This ultimately led to an increased desire for me to want to work at the company.