Month: April 2020

The three words I want to have represent my brand are intelligent, hardworking, and leader. While there are many other traits I aspire to have and portray through my brand, I believe these three sum up who I am, professionally, very well. On a first impression with a potential employer, I want to come across as competent. I think we all want to be taken seriously by others, and a big part of this is demonstrated through active listening and communication. Communication is one of my strongest skills, which I think benefits my brand well. Additionally, I have taken on many leadership roles during my time at OSU, which has helped me communicate my leadership potential to others. Through my resume and an introduction, I am also able to communicate my work ethic to employers by speaking to the various classes, activities and work experiences I have taken part in.

I would market myself in a creative way by taking a photograph of my profile and then filling the inside with professional work experiences, projects, and accomplishments. I think that this idea would be both artistic and informative to my skills and abilities. I would include resume-type items on this graphic so that each item was direct, easy to read, and action-oriented. Where a resume lacks personality, this marketing ad would be creative and unique to who I am. By outlining my face, it would also show an image of me to potential employers. I have always loved photography and photo editing, so this project in itself would cater to a hobby of mine and something that differentiates me.

The post I am writing today is about the job I currently have at OSU. I am the Risk Management Assistant for OSU’s Risk Services. I have held this position since February of 2019 and I learned of it through the COB’s This Week in Business newsletter. For me, the job description was hugely important. The job description laid out major duties of the position, key functions, and requirements. I met all minimum qualifications for the position and nearly all preferred qualifications. After seeing this, and reading the job description, I believed I would be a great fit and was encouraged to apply. 

After holding the position for over a year, I would say the job description very closely matches up with what I actually do. I would say it is 85% accurate. The other percentage that deviates is likely because I have exceeded the “normal” time most students hold the position, so I have been challenged to take on additional tasks, which has been great for my learning. I have attached below the Position Summary from the original job posting, so you may get an idea of the work I am writing about.

Position Summary

This recruitment will be used to fill one part-time (a maximum of 20 hours per week) Risk Management Assistant position for the Enterprise Risk Services at Oregon State University (OSU).

The Risk Management Assistant will support the risk management function of Risk Services. This position will focus on the development and improvement of insurance and risk-related processes and programs, collection and tracking of certificates of insurance, supporting the insurance renewal process, implementation of databases/information systems, archiving of files, and promotion and delivery of risk related information to OSU staff.

In this scenario, yes, my view of my favorite company would change. I would be hesitant to apply for a company where I feared I would not be accepted or treated with respect. Company culture is a huge factor in the decision to work for an organization. Job satisfaction is, in part, dependent on an individual’s feeling of community and belonging to where they work. I want to work for a company in which I have things in common with coworkers and feel comfortable being myself. Yes, your work is a professional setting, but it is also a place where you will form relationships and spend a huge part of your life. I could not imagine wanting to join an organization where I felt I was part of a group being discriminated against.

A single, small-scale, lawsuit would likely not drastically alter my view of an organization, but a wide-spread claim might. If the claim seemed credible and legitimate, I would be unlikely to apply for a position. It’s also worth mentioning, however, that in the United States, we have a culture that highly supports and encourages lawsuits and pursuing financial compensation for perceived wrongdoings. Americans are hyper-sensitive in today’s world, and many claims brought about are bogus. In my personal life, I try to take the news with a grain of salt, because many news stories are factually misleading or just untrue. Like I said earlier though, it would be hard not to take allegations to heart if they related to a group you strongly identified with.

Many organizations may disagree with the opinion that employee recruitment and selection is the most important function of their business. Instead, an organization may place its greatest effort on product development, marketing, or accounting. For my counter-argument, I will assume that an organization prioritizes its product development, and why it might think just that. A company’s product or service is the reason a business exists; if you don’t have a product to sell or a service to provide, you don’t have a business. Your product will be the first thing that comes to mind when a person thinks about your company or hears your name; you want this to be good, great even! This would be the argument for putting your greatest efforts into product creation and development. Additionally, the market is competitive and moves fast, if you slow down creation, you will fall behind. This is why a great deal of time, money and company resources must be put into the product you deliver.

The only benefit to not prioritizing employee recruitment and selection is the opportunity cost of putting more money into other essential functions and areas of the business. If you spend less time and money in HR functions, this money now becomes available for other things that can be used for monetary gains and advancement; this is a strength. However, there is a huge risk that companies will face if they choose not to prioritize recruitment and selection practices. These risks include financial loss, high turnover rates, damage to company reputation, and even lawsuits. To successful companies, this risk is not worth the potential gain.

The last job I applied for was a Risk Management Assistant position with OSU’s Insurance and Risk Management Services. I applied for the position in January of 2019, was hired later that month, and I have been working in this role ever since. Overall, I had a really positive recruitment experience. Looking back, the initial application process felt very impersonal. Because it was a job posted at OSU, the process to apply went through an application portal that is used for all student jobs. This portal served its purpose, but it was not directly related to the department on campus I would be working for, and it did not help me form any kind of connection to the people or role. The portal was very straightforward and the questions asked of me when I applied were relevant to the job. Following this step, I was contacted shortly after the window to apply closed, and I was reached out to personally by an employee of the Risk department to schedule an interview. My email exchanges with this employee were very friendly and I was excited for my interview. Come my interview, I was pleasantly surprised by how well I meshed with the two individuals who interviewed me. I had expected a very formal and serious tone to the interview, however, the two individuals who I sat down with made me feel at ease. I was handed a sheet of 7 or 8 questions that they would ask me, which allowed me to view them all over briefly and also take a second look at the question while I spoke, if needed.

The most memorable part of this recruitment experience was the interview portion. The two employees who interviewed me came across as very warm and unthreatening, and this helped calm my nerves and gave me confidence. I got the impression that I would really like working with these people and in this particular environment. The interviewers were very honest and straightforward with me about the role and what they were looking for. I appreciated this, and it ended up being a truly great fit.