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Week 5

Typical vs. Maximum Performance

In considering the scenario, I would personally choose to hire Jaime. This is an essential role in the company and I value consistency a lot. There might not be huge fluctuations and spikes in performance, but I know that on a day-to-day basis, Jaime can get the job done and be effective. It’s something I wouldn’t have to worry about, as compared to hiring Avery, who would need a lot more support and accountability to get things done. I think having the individual potential to go big is important, but not as much as the known reliability; it is the safer option to go with Jaime.

A type of job that would favor hiring Avery would be a recruiter or salesperson. This is because these positions are highly dependent on maximizing performance and landing a big fish every now and then. While it would be important to have someone who did a solid job all the time, these roles place more of an emphasis on rising to the occasion when necessary. Because Avery has a higher ceiling and performs better than anyone when he is at his best, he can get the best talent and land the large sales.

A type of job that would favor hiring Jaime would be a receptionist or paper pusher. This is more of a repetitive position where the daily tasks don’t vary greatly. This plays to Jaime’s strength of consistency. He’s a solider and will always get the job done, but won’t necessarily be pushed outside his limitations. He won’t need to come in clutch because he won’t be put into that situation to begin with. More mundane positions like these with routine tasks favor that consistency over high ceiling.

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Week 4

Critiquing a Recruitment Ad

My personal brand reflects my enthusiasm and efficiency. I love to get things done and I work hard to ensure the best quality and attitude while doing so. I aim to come off as passionate about my goals and process, because I really do get excited about the journey to success and the continual learning that comes with picking up new skills and working with others. I am dedicated and I am hungry. While I can sometimes tend to find myself overloading on projects or just saying yes to everything, I am working on prioritizing better and ensuring I can be 100% committed to the work that I can accomplish. I stand out with my humor and my smile and being able to integrate quickly into a team or workplace.

If I were to ever present myself in a novel and creative situation wanted ad visible to prospective organizations, I would want it to be funny. Not only does that grab attention easily, but it accomplishes an important goal of mine – to make others laugh. I could see myself communicating my strengths best through the form of a video. This would stand out from other ads because it shows how dedicated I am to improving my brand and spreading my situation to potential employers.

I’m picturing this video right now as very Michael Scott-esque, but maybe that’s because I am currently in the middle of watching the Office for the first time. I would want it obviously to be more professional, respectful, and informative, so maybe I would really just emulate some of the humor or “flair” he has. Regardless, I am confident a video where I could not only talk about my strengths and why someone should hire me, but show and demonstrate my capabilities would be a major success. This would be unique and drive hiring managers to pick up their phones immediately. It would also be very easy to spread and this increased visibility would only further help my status as someone searching for a job.

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Week 3

Job Descriptions

When I applied for my current job working at the Graduate Business Programs office, the job description played a pretty big role in influencing my decision to apply. I wanted to find something close by and this was on campus, even the same building and college as my major. Looking through the different requirements, I found that my experiences didn’t exactly match all of the requirements. However, this was an entry-level position for a part-time job at Oregon State and it sounded like a really interesting opportunity to pursue. I wanted to apply partly because the job description did a good job at describing what I’d be doing, but I’d also be able to gain those skills that I lacked so that I would be more experienced in the future.

The biggest differences between my then current experience and the job description were mainly clerical or office-related tasks. This was going to be a desk job and I had only worked food service up until that point. Another difference was that the position would require me to work heavily in applications and programs like Salesforce, Outlook, and several cloud-based platforms that I had limited experience with. On the other hand, I had the core skills down – things like organization, communication, and professionalism. Making sure to highlight the positive customer service angle, I found similarities with how the work was conducted as the job required me to frequently interact with “customers” – this being prospective students, current students, and faculty members. My experience may have been different and not entirely aligned, but the guiding principles behind it helped qualify me for the position.

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Week 2

Experiences with Discrimination

If a favorite company of mine was found to be discriminating against a certain group of people, my views on that company would change. I don’t know if I would go to the extent of “cancelling” them or not purchasing their products/use their services, but I would consider it if the population discriminated against was one I identified closely with. Honestly, I would mostly feel betrayed. Take any one of the top retail brands that we all have in our closets. I’ve got Nike shoes and Adidas shorts (never mix and match), H&M shirts, Levi’s jeans, the list goes on. I love what I wear and I make a concentrated effort to buy clothes or any other product for that matter that I enjoy and are of quality.

If any one of these large brands in this example were to do such a thing as discriminate against individuals of my race or culture, I would definitely question my priorities. There are tons of alternate providers for shoes and jeans and most other basic products. I don’t think I’d want to support a company that did not support me or people like me.

In terms of this affecting possible future employment, I wouldn’t want to work for the company either. Right now, I’m excited about the products I use and the companies behind them. I don’t think I could put an issue like discrimination aside to work for a company like that because I know the culture would negatively affect me and I would be opening myself up to being discriminated against personally.

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Week 1

The Case for Recruitment & Selection

Organizations may decide to allocate more resources toward marketing or product design rather than employee recruitment and selection because of the increasing emphasis on the product and brand over people or individuals. While cynical, many corporations do in fact see employees as easily replaceable and just a cog in their business plan. A good example is the US economy, wherein a large portion of the workforce could see their jobs replaced in the next 5-10 years.

Automation and technology aside, many companies often care more about selling and creating products using a consumer-based view. Apple and Nike can always hire more people because of the brand they’ve built up; everyone wants to work there. They don’t need to focus too much on recruiting the best, because a natural rise to the top will occur for them looking at results and output. Good products need to be communicated to market faster and better because more people will buy than will be hired.

By prioritizing other aspects of business, a company would benefit from better R&D and market share, continual building of their brand, or any number of factors they choose to focus on. There’ll always be bodies to work for them and they can expand and profit more elsewhere.

However, a potential weakness in not prioritizing recruitment and selection is that they do get those bad employees. Dissatisfaction is contagious and it may adversely affect productivity and disrupt other processes.

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Week 1

Job Application Experiences

I had first heard of Kroger’s summer internship through a friend of mine who had gone through the program herself and had nothing but positive things to say about it. I searched for the position online and ended up applying through LinkedIn. I made sure to tailor my resume and write a solid cover letter that showed how interested I was as well as my qualifications for the job. I wasn’t particularly anxious during the wait that followed; I had applied to many other positions for the summer. I was however excited to setup a phone interview and then an in-person interview afterwards.

I made sure to go over what I was going to cover on my resume and prepared myself by practicing answering questions with my roommates. It really helped to have gone through a couple of classes that focused solely on the interview process. When the day came, I made sure I was dressed professionally and prepared to WOW my interviewer. We ended up getting along really well, and I asked a lot of questions at the end. From these questions and the atmosphere of the interview, I was able to get a feel for the company culture and the importance of teamwork they stressed in the office. My interviewer was super excited for me and the other applicants, as she truly believed in the company, its core values, and how fun the summer would be for us.

This, along with the technical breakdowns of what I’d be doing and how the summer was structured, painted a pretty good picture of an amazing opportunity. When I received the official offer, I was excited to accept it. Everyone I had interacted with was so genuine and passionate about their careers and teams, and I could tell this was going to be a good place to work. The professionalism exemplified by the individuals I got to talk to made me feel like this was a good fit and I truly did feel informed before I had even started.