Month: April 2020

My brand as an employee would be an employee that puts 100% of effort into my job, is dependable, and is willing to learn. As a first impression, I think I come across as polished and professional. The first foot I try to put forward when approaching a job is my professionalism. My strengths are communication, and self-starter attitude. A weakness I have as an employee would be delegating. I sometimes have a hard time releasing parts of my project to others because I like to be in control of what happens which can lead to me becoming overwhelmed and not getting outsider’s ideas.  

As I approach graduation I am seeking full time positions in the Portland or Central Oregon areas. Since times are tough right now and unemployment is high it is important for me to know how to market myself to future employees so that my strengths can be identified as a candidate. I look at jobs as a way to learn and improve upon my skills so I try to gain the most out of each job as possible. I believe you get as much as you put into something so putting in effort and taking advantage of all opportunities that come my way. As a person I don’t really do things ‘half-way’. I thrive in an environment that gives me the freedom to be creative and innovative so that I can make my mark on the company. Another strength is I have a lot of experience for my age because I have been working since I was 14 years old which has provided me with a lot of professional experience to draw from. I currently work as a career ambassador for the college of business which has taught me a lot about being professional which has allowed me to be able to communicate with professionals on a daily basis and learn a lot about business culture and business etiquette. This is a unique characteristic of mine because most often people gain this experience once they have already been in the job market for a while. 

The last job I had was over the summer as an events & marketing intern at a news channel in Central Oregon. From the job description the job made it sound like I was going to be helping a lot with the making of the news, going out on the field with reporters, attending local events that the news was covering, and generally a lot of in the field work with the reporters and news anchors. I got this impression from the job description because all of the above activities were directly in the job description. Based on the job description I was very interested in the position because I have had other internships where I got a lot of hands on experience and I valued that a lot. Unfortunately, the job description was not accurate to the types of tasks that I was actually expected to do. The tasks I was expected to do were very unclear to everyone including my supervisor. This made my internship difficult because I often didn’t have enough projects to work on even when I asked for some and I would often do random assignments that were not related to marketing or events.

 There were some similarities in the job description and what I ended up doing on a daily basis. From the job description I knew there would be a fair amount of social media marketing. Social media marketing became the entirety of my job and I essentially just copied the daily script from the news and pasted it into a Facebook post and uploaded the video each day. I did not find this experience very informative or valuable. I wish that the job description had been more accurate so that I knew what I was getting myself into before I started because by the end of the internship I felt like I wasted a lot of time and I was sad that I didn’t have the experience that was outlined in the job description. 

If I were to find out that one of my favorite businesses was engaging in widespread discrimination acts against individuals based on ethnicity, race, culture, or belief system, I would change my opinion of the company as a whole. I full believe in giving everyone a fair chance and that every person should be treated with respect regardless of culture, ethnicity, or belief system. I think all people are valuable and should be treated as such. If I found out a company that I was previously supporting was engaging in these acts I would no longer support them. For example, recently Victoria’s Secret said they would not consider a transgender person to be a Victoria’s Secret Angel. This upset me because someone who identifies as a female should be treated as such and have the same opportunities as the other females auditioning. After this dispute I ceased supporting Victoria’s Secret because they were not a company that welcomed all. I know a lot of companies that make major strides to be a welcoming and positive experience and offer opportunities to people that are less fortunate than others. These are the kinds of businesses I try and support, not ones that treat their employees unfairly by discriminating against them.

I would also not want to work for a company that had allegations of discrimination. I would not want to work for a company that did not value all people and did not treat all people with respect because the company’s values would not align with my own. I think it is important to work for a company that you feel comfortable with and that aligns with your own personal values.

Recruitment and selection are important aspects to every organization, but a lot of the time it will get overlooked by marketing or product design. In the short run it makes more sense to invest in your actual product or service, the organization may be thinking of ways to improve, redesign or, create something new. It makes sense to dedicate a lot of time to your core product or service because in the end that’s what is bringing in the revenue and profits for the organization. Additionally, it is easy to spend money on marketing because that is the way that customers will find out about your product or service which will drive revenue. When organizations decide to spend more of their resources towards marketing or product design they are focusing on the bottom line of making money but not looking at the bigger picture which can cause some shortcomings in the future. Some reasons why companies should devote resources to recruitment and selection is because the wrong person can cost. If you don’t hire the right person it can cost the company a lot of money in hiring expenses and potential legal fees, and a lot of time can be lost. Additionally, hiring a bad employee can prevent the organization from hiring a great employee. A strength to prioritizing recruitment and selection is finding great employees. Great employees are rare and if you have a good one they can provide a positive atmosphere that aligns with the organization’s culture, expertise, and new ideas. 

Applying for a job and the hiring process can be stressful both from the side of the candidate and from the side of the hiring manager. I remember the most recent time I applied for a job, I submitted an online application and then waited. I found as an applicant most of the time you are waiting for a response. After about 2 weeks after I submitted my application I was contacted to have an over the phone interview. The interview consisted of ten questions and not much conversation outside of the questions which was intimidating. After I passed the first phone interview I was then invited for a skype panel interview. I personally do not like virtual interviews because I think that it creates a barrier between the interviewer and the interviewee and the whole process seems more uncomfortable and awkward. After this interview one month later I was offered the job, and I turned it down. The hiring process did not engage me in the business, I wasn’t able to determine company culture easily over the phone, and I felt like I was not important enough to have a full in person interview. As an applicant I felt undesired. I waited over a month after my interviews before I found out results which made me feel insecure that I got rejected. This process got me thinking about what it would actually be like to work for the company and I realized I no longer had the desire to work for that company. This taught me that recruitment plays a key role in people’s desire to work for particular companies.

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