Author: Pablo Campos viveros

I have been interested in this recently since the company I am going to be working with has projects going on all over the world, they were a part of Burj Khalifa the tallest building in the world. The country I would choose would probably be The UK, more specifically the city of London. The city of London is very diverse, at least compared to the United States, which is why I like it, their culture seems to be a mix of all of them. Some of their cultural differences is the number of cigarettes consumed in this city/ country which is in turn why there are more cases of damaged lungs and it is much higher in males than females.

The power distance seems to be further with more jobs, mostly for it being a large city there is much more of a difference in positions than there would be in a small town in Oregon. This country does speak the same language which plays a large influence on why it wouldn’t be that hard to move and why it wouldn’t be too much of a culture shock. Individualism seems to be around the same as in the US, people look out for themselves first. Masculinity seems to be the same as well. It is a very old country that has always been butting heads with someone else but I do think the new generations have engulfed more of a feminine culture. The mix of uncertainty avoidance is large since as I said earlier there are a lot more cultures around the world, from Jamaicans to Indians there is a different sense of avoidance for each, it is hard to say which one rules.

I would take the job if I was offered a lot of money. Not only is the cost of living high in these places but I would also like to enjoy myself for the time there so if the company offered higher pay with the same responsibilities I would take the opportunity in a heartbeat. It would as well depend on if the company employees in this city were welcoming to people coming from the States, I would not want to be in an environment where I am not wanted.

Citations

Angel Hill. (2022, December 14). British work culture vs. American work culture. IFSA. https://ifsa-butler.org/student-stories/british-work-culture-vs-american-work-culture/#:~:text=Despite%20London%20being%20a%20fast,considerably%20more%20paid%20time%20off. 

Holmes- 183

Coping & Stress – 62

Personality – Type A – 49 points

I have taken tests like this for work and even some school class projects. I have come to realize that I try to cram in too many things at once, I tend to think about my next task before I’m done with the one in front of me and it often leads to worse results in my work. My stress levels are always high but I have also learned how to cope with them by always looking at the bigger picture and going on a walk with a friend and my dog.

I hope to be a little more urgent about accomplishing work in front of me instead of getting distracted. I start working in the fall which is a long time from now so I am going to try and relax as much as I can before I get put into a high-stress workplace dealing with many angry and stressed-out people.

My biggest health concern is heart disease, sometimes I tend to keep a lot of things in and I seem good on the outside but I’m tense and keeping things in. I go on walks but maybe something a little more active is needed, I’m gonna try and swim more often. A big perk about my job next year is that they give me a stipend of $600 for any gym membership or fitness investment per year, many people use that money for their ski pass which is probably what I will end up doing as well.

( fake name will be Jim )

Last year I was a mentor for a school program, and one of my mentees told me about a very interesting summer internship experience they had. They were working for a small to medium-sized general contractor in which they were promised an opportunity to learn valuable skills and get by the end be able to take on small change order projects needed on their sites. Jim was very excited and was telling everyone how he was finally going to get some real upper management skills, it was their whole summer plan.

On Jim’s first week they ran through an orientation which was normally pretty boring but once that was over Jim was expecting a very exciting summer. Jim got put into estimating, which is the backbone of the industry but not something he was interested in, he was told that it was only for the first week to learn the process. One week turned into 2 months, and the reason was that they were too busy to have Jim doing anything else, they were not making any time for Jim to join on the projects he was stuck in an office all summer. and last month his motivation was at an all-time low so he ended up leaving 4 weeks before the intended end week.

overall it was the lack of compensation that drove them away from this job and the industry as a whole, they ended up changing majors to general business and have stopped looking into construction jobs which is unfortunate.

This term I have been learning about Construction safety in one of my classes, you might think that safety is straight forward and once verbally communicated it’s all good, yet that could not be further from the truth. In reality, a construction site is a danger at all times, According to OSHA one out of 10 construction workers gets injured every year. This is why universities such as Oregon State have now been funding research on how to limit all known hazards from happening by designing and engineering products and job sites.
Training is a large majority of this, the thing about construction safety training is that it needs to be implemented early on before bad habits form, and needs to be enforced consistently to make sure no shortcuts are taken. An example is for instance the usage of ladders, there is consistent misusage of equipment on a construction site and the ladder is always one of them. Either using an A-frame as an extension ladder or placing the ladder in a bad location only for convenience. It is very important to keep training people, even those who have been around for a long time, if they are too confident on a ladder it can be very dangerous for them as well those around them.
Overall I have seen where good safety training prevents injury and where bad training can lead to more accidents, it is very important to follow the training and makes sure everyone knows it well because lives depend on it. As a future contractor, I will have an emphasis on saftey training.

Citation:

OSHA. (n.d.). OSHA Construction Safety Training. OSHA Education Center. https://www.oshaeducationcenter.com/osha-construction-safety-training/ 

In my experience, I have had the opportunity to talk to many companies typically Construction companies which are always actively looking for employees. The market for Construction Project Engineers is at a good level for us graduating I signed my job Offer about 6 months ago now with Turner Construction based in Portland! An interview is not only for the employer to get to know you but it is as well where you find out more about the company and the general job description you are applying for.

I have had many good and bad interviews yet the worst of them all was a construction company 2 years ago which did not let me speak my mind. It started like any other interview with introductions and a quick look into what their company is like, there were 7 of them dressed in business casual. I had just gotten out of a midterm and rushed to get to the interview, when I walked I said hello to everyone but only 2 of them responded kindly. In the next hour, I would be criticized for not wearing proper attire for an interview and many other things.

My best interview was with Turner, they were kind and genuinely wanted to know about my life story. It was a round-robin interview which gave me the chance to speak to 5 of their employees 1 on 1 for 20 minutes, it ended up not being enough time. there were some technical questions yet I never felt pressured to get it right, they just wanted to see my thought process and how well I can explain my actions. It was highly interactive and entertaining for both parties.

Overall I would recommend trying and getting to know each other as much as you can in 5 minutes haha, it’s very hard but it is doable if both the employer and candidates are open to talking with each other. It shouldn’t feel like a test but more of a laid-back assessment where skills can be shown. In the end, as the videos said it is important to be kind yet ask all the important questions needed. I would recommend to employers having a hard time getting the candidates they want to show off their company culture, many people look for that sort of thing and if it does not resonate with them that’s fine but it is still the best way for someone to know how your company runs the business.

In my experience with internships, there is always a set plan for the next 3 months between school, you start with some training, and then boom! You’re off on your own getting questions from everyone and expected to know all the jargon that comes with the job. Job descriptions in my past have never been too accurate, they are always in the ballpark of what is described but sometimes it’s an understatement and some other times it’s an overstatement, both of these have happened in my past.

Something which I took from this week’s learning materials is that the job description is always a give and take and that people want to feel rewarded but rewarding employees is not always the best financial decision for employers because it requires funds and resources. To some extent this may be the most important aspect of the career path for an individual and the employer, setting the standard for the job is what brings people in and what helps keep people engaged knowing that they are fulfilling purposeful and meaningful tasks every day.

Knowing this means that keeping these promises for a job description is very difficult and sometimes they change as years go by, people’s lives change and so does the market. As an employer, you may discover that a certain employee lacks the knowledge which they claimed to have and it’s necessary to let them go before you end up losing assets due to their lack of knowledge. It is important to keep these expectations in mind while hiring people as well throughout their careers in the company. If there is no job description, there is nothing to evaluate in the employee, a job description means everything to both the employer and employee.

Thank you for reading

–Pablo Campos Viveros

Kimpton Hotels & Restaurants
Kimpton has a large majority of their employees relatively new, with 52% of them at 2 years or under, this must be because of their good benefits. I’m assuming that they attract a good amount of new people. I would try to work here, it seems like it would be entertaining. Some key things I noticed were that Kimpton practices the following: Workforce planning, Employee Benefits and has a set goal in mind to be the best they can be.

Baird
The largest percentage of people comes from those who have been with the company for 2-5 years at 23%. In my best assumption, I can only imagine the amount of data insurance companies have on their clients so It is safe to say that they use data in insurance to motivate their employees to make more deals and actively display them. With data, they can benchmark, have reports of their own, and conduct research and what is working and their underlying factors.

Box, inc
It looks like 51% of their employees are generally new and the rest reside mostly in the 2-5 year mark at 39% which is much higher than others I have seen. Their culture life at work seems to resemble most new companies which try to follow a laid-back but intense workplace and it makes a lot of sense since they are a software company. Box HR is probably very intentional since it is an information company so it is also very lean towards its employees’ data. Box looks like a place to which a lot of young people are attracted too.

My Own goals as a manager
Some of the things I want to see in my management skills after seeing the successes of these companies would be: Being approachable, easy to talk with, making people feel welcome/ valuable parts of the team, and inspiring others to be passionate in their work. In my field of work, I believe I have a lot to offer in terms of motivating and encouraging workers to perform at their best, yet I would still want to be assertive whenever needed and be able to lay down a good foundation where teams have the resources needed.