Most Important Thing You’ve Learned

I think this is a tough question to answer because I feel like I am walking out of this class with more knowledge of the career that I am going into then any other class I have taken. I think the setting of how the year has been with all online classes has definitely impeded on my ability to learn but I have tried my best to stay engaged within these classes because they are interesting to me. I think the thing that is my biggest take away from this class would be our week 4 lectures on recruitment goals and strategy’s. I think this is something that is very interesting to me as I am going into recruitment after college and I think it is interesting to learn the different approaches and methods used in recruiting. I did not know there were so many forms of recruitment but when going through the slides and the lectures they are all ones that we see in our day to day lives. I think it is also interesting learning about the effectiveness of each type of recruitment and how they can be effective in different scenarios. I also thought it was interesting to see that you state the recruitment is a two way street because I think this is a very important case to be made because not only is a company recruiting for the right person but the person is wanting to be recruited to the right company for them. 

Thank you for this class, you have been one of my favorite professors throughout college because I really feel you are invested in the kids you teach and are willing to help them get the job they want and deserve. I feel this class are your other one I took gave me a lot of knowledge in the hiring process and made me a much better candite for when I applied to jobs.

Self-Reflection

1. What am I good at?

  • When it comes to my as a person I feel there are a few things that set me apart as an individual. I think that my care for the others around me and the understanding that everyone has there own battles you don’t know about helps me be compassionate and understanding while also helps me understand how I can truly help a person not just surface level. I think another skill I have is the ability to be organized not just on the surface level but I am someone who knows my schedule knows what is expected of me and also is clean and tidy, putting this together helps me be a very reliable worker that is different from other candidates.

2. What do I value?

  • When it comes to what I value and think is the most important to me I think there are two very distinct things. First is my relationships, both family and friends these are the people that keep me afloat when things get hard and they are with me through my highs and my lows. Second is my passion for experiencing new things, this could be traveling to a new country and experiencing a new culture or even going on a trip to see national parks or new states.

3. How did I get here?

  • This is not a simple question in anyway, shape or means. But I think there are some big points in my life that have lead me to where I am now. That being about to graduate Oregon State with a Business Management Degree and having a job for after college. I think these would include some major life events that have occurred over the last two years including being a care taker for a family member, and having the most difficult years of my life. My decision to change majors in Fall 2019, the fact that I have had three supportive brothers and two have gone to Oregon State that reassured me this is where I was meant to go, and lastly I think a big driving factor of who I am today is my parents and there divorce and my big family I have because of it.

4. Where am I going?

  • On my current trajectory I think that I will be working full time as a recruiter in a job I am very satisfied with but I will be lacking in the areas of my values that focus on my need for new experiences and learning new things. I think this because Portland has never been where I wanted to live, it has always been somewhere like Bend, or Boise. I am also never set on living in one place I would love to live in a few places before settling down, I think that my job could give me this opportunity but I will need to stick out a few years before this opportunity is presented and I am excited but nervous for this journey.

IPIP Results & Reactions

I decided to take the shorter version of this test. After taking the test and thinking about the question it was asking me I think this is a very interesting test. When it came to extraversion is that I am neither a total extrovert or an introvert but instead lie in the middle, I enjoy people but also enjoy being alone. On agreeableness I have a high level of agreeableness meaning I have a strong interest in other’s needs. Conscientiousness I score very high meaning I set goals and I don’t stop till I achieve them. Neuroticism I score high which means I can be sensitive and easily upset in even normal life scenarios, this surprised me the most as I am emotional but I feel more in high stress events. Lastly openness to experience, I scored low on this which means that people would likely describe me as down to earth and practical.

I think when it comes to what an employer might think about my test results is that they could vary and be both good and bad qualities. Some employers may look at my test results and worry about the quality of neuroticism, this is because employers to not want to deal with someone that gets stressed and upset easily over everyday life things. Then again they could see a big positive within me is that fact that I scored very high on the trait of conscientiousness this means that if I have a task I will complete it to the best of my ability and won’t have to be constantly reminded to perform tasks but instead will be an extremely reliable worker. I think another big one for employees would be looking at my extraversion I am talkative and outgoing but can be to myself and focused when I need, this will lead to relationships with employees but not someone that is to focused on talking then working. Lastly I think a big one that some employers could potential not look at but can be important is agreeableness, this is a good trait to have because you will care about others and the wellbeing of others and company as a whole. This will lead to important relationships that I would not jeprodize.

Typical vs. Maximal Performance

In this scenario if I was a business owner and needed to choose between either Jamie or Avery I would have to choose Jamie, this may not be everyone first decision but I would want a worker that could be consistent for me because this would be more important then someone that can preform under just certain situations better. Even though Jamie may not be great under pressure I know that she could get her everyday task done without constantly having to remind her or help her and in the long run that will save me more time and money then hiring someone like Avery who may preform good under pressure but lacks in the everyday area of work. I think a situation that a job may be better for Avery is something like a sales job, this is because it has more frequent high pressure situations that Avery may preform better in, this is better for him because he does not preform as well in regular day to day activities. A sales job like this would be better for Avery because he would be a much more valuable employee because he would have more opportunities to preform at his best. I think a job that would be better for Jamie would be something that doesn’t have a ton of high pressure situations, this could be something like a administrator that doesn’t have a ton of situations where they are feeling high pressure but instead has a pretty constant schedule and Jamie could focus on her day to day tasks that she excels at.

Critiquing a Recruitment Ad

What is my brand as a potential employee? As a 21 year old I feel like my brand has very much evovled in the last few years. I think this is because I have had some pretty large life events that have happened but also just the fact that I am in college and figure out who I am and finally not overthinking what everyone thinks of me. I would say my potential brand as a potential employee would be that I am reliable and I truly care about everyones wellbeing. I am dependable in a sense if you give me a project I will complete it to the best of my ability which means I will ask for help when I need it because I am not afraid to speak my mind if it is going to benefit myself or others.

If I were to be trying to communicate my brand in a novel or creative situation wanted ad I think it could be best told by talking about the times that have shaped who I am and the times that I have had tricky stuff I had to get through to become a better person. I would say that something that has really shaped me in the last couple years that really playing into me being a caring thoughtful and dependable person is I had someone in my life that battled cancer over the last year and I was there care takers and it was difficult and incredibly hard to watch but I really built up who I am and the morals I have and this is something that is an important event in my life that would be communicated somehow to an employer because it would give you a better idea of who I am and that I am not just saying my brand is something but not giving follow up to it. Another thing that I would want in a novel or creative situation ad is how I grew up because it has really shaped me into the person I am, I speak my mind because I have three brothers and I had to learn how to stand up for myself and this really translated into me always being myself and not letting people step on me.

Job Descriptions

My current job I hold, is the job I have chosen to talk about because it had a semi formal hiring process and I was able to find the actual job description that I have attached below. I am currently and have been for the last 3 terms an academic tutor for student athletes. I actually found out about this job through a few friends that had worked there for a few years before I had and I knew was something I would be interested in doing. After hearing from my friend that they were currently hiring I was able torch out to my now boss so I could learn more about the opportunity. After speaking with him he sent me the link to apply on the OSU job postings website and had me look over the description and qualifications. The description is not very long but it gave me a good idea of what would be expected from me. In a very broad manner it covers what I do but not in great detail. As you can see below I need to be available to work during the week, and need to be able to teach these student athletes a handful of classes that I have taken during my college career. I think the biggest difference is that there is actually two different jobs available under this listing and I have held both now, one being a tutor and another being a facilitator. In this job you are not expected to teach but instead run a study hall where you over see athletes do their homework.

https://jobs.oregonstate.edu/postings/98275

Experience with Discrimination

What happens when a company you support has a case of wide spread discrimination that directly effects a group you identify with?

This isn’t a black and white answer because it something that we see everyday in the news. There is always a new article about a company that has discriminated against people of color or a company that as far as they go back pay women less wages compared to their male counter parts. So how we we respond to these companies and places of business that have these issues going on is very important. This is because if the companies face no backlash or if it is forgotten about in a mere week then they think it is not a big enough deal that they need to focus their time and money on. I am not perfect I have definitely supported companies that I know don’t do the right things or make decisions to better there company. Through the last three years I have been trying to become a more conscious consumer and support companies that are striving to end wage gaps and make there company a better place for groups that get discriminated against but I am still not perfect and have a lot of room to grow. If a company that I currently supported came out in a big scandal about how they have had longstanding issues that they have not tried to address I would make a conscious decision to try to avoid supporting this company because I think it is important that these companies understand they need to start making a change or they will lose business and supporters.

Blog Post: The Case for Recruitment and Selection

  • Organization choose to allocate more resources toward marketing or product design rather than employee recruiting and selection because they think there will be more pay off for them if they put money into the product rather than the employees. Many firms believe this because the pay off of putting money into the employee recruitment and selection doesn’t have a quick pay off and it can be very expensive but in the long term it really gives the company a much bigger advantage. A company could also do this because they may not realize that this is a huge part of having a successful company and that if they were to invest the money in this area instead of marketing and design the company could see much less employee turnover.
  • There can be many strengths and weaknesses involved in the decision to not prioritize recruitment and selection. A strength could be that it is a very expensive to make a well auctions recruitment and selection part of the business and if they do not put the money towards this it can be used in other areas. A weakness is that the company will see much more turnover with employees and will actually end up loosing them money in the long run. Another weakness of not prioritizing this is that if you are not hiring the correct people for the job and the people that are actually invested in the job, they will not be working towards making the company better but instead just for money. This is a very important aspect because if all of your employees care about what your company does and is invested in its future they will be more efficient and push your company to excel.

Blog Post: Job Application Experiences

  • Over this past month I had the opportunity to work through the application process at a recruiting firm in Oregon. Through this process I talked to two people on the phone, worked with the HR director over email to then set up a zoom interview with the head director of the North West. This zoom interview was an hour and half and at the end he told me the reasons he really liked me for this job and also the concerns he had. The last step in the process was a half day with the company which during COVID times meant pretty much 6 short interviews with people from the Portland office. During the interview process I was in constant contact with their HR director and had to fill out paperwork and work with them over email to schedule interviews and work through the process.
  • When I think about how this job application process effected how I view this job I think that it had a big impact on me wanting the job more and also that the company cared to take many different times out of there day to meet with me to make sure I am the right person for the job. I think that through this job application process I realized that this is a company who really cares for their employees and wants only the people who will fit into their company to work there. Through this process I also got the opportunity to see how much the company cares about their employees and customers and that was a very important factor I looked for in a company.