Month: February 2026

When I first accepted a supervisory role at my last organization I was infatuated with the idea of being in this role – especially at such a young age, over a decade younger than my counterparts. However, due to my age and inexperience within such a role, I was offered a salary that had seemed reasonable at the time, but I later found out was below the market value. Even more defeating, it was lower than the wage that individuals I was supervising with no experience within their role were making. This felt entirely unfair to myself and my perception of the distributive fairness (Oregon State University – Lecture 1, n.d.). 

The realization that I was being paid less for a significantly larger workload and extended workweeks as I was working a minimum of 55-60 hours a week was incredibly defeating. Intrinsically, this compensation discrepancy affected my connection to the company as well as with my own perception of my value to the company (Oregon State University – Lecture 1, n.d.). Through repeated underpayment and disconnection through my extrinsic and intrinsic perception of compensation, I eventually left the role. 

Compensation motivated my behavior as there were clear inequalities as displayed through the Equality Theory (Oregon State University – Lecture 1, n.d.). I felt that my input and the outputs I was receiving were not equal or fair as displayed through the inputs of those on my team both in similar roles and those of the staff that I was supervising compared to the outputs that they were receiving. I wanted to feel valued for the effort and strengths that I bring to the organization and the compensation that I was receiving did not reflect that. 

Oregon State University. (n.d.). Lecture 1: Introduction to Compensation. Oregon State University MGMT 453. 

Throughout my life – both educationally and professionally – I have taken dozens of courses and trainings. Some I have felt may not have held much value but were required and some were not required but I felt held so much value for myself and set me up for success. While each training and course was designed, developed, and implemented differently they all served a purpose in my development (Oregon State University – W6 Lecture 1 – Training, n.d.). 

One course that I felt was not beneficial to my development but was a required course as part of my baccalaureate core requirements in literature and the arts, MUS107 – Introduction to music and its literature. While I can understand the desire to create a well-rounded experience through education, I did not feel that this course was beneficial for me due to its lack of relation to my own personal interests and the importance of its correlation with my future career selection and opportunities (Oregon State University – W6 Lecture 1 – Training, n.d.). Additionally, this course is one that I had to take during the very start of COVID and distance learning at Western Oregon University so the design and the implementation of the course were difficult to adjust and learn as the professor and the students were figuring out the platform and design as the course progressed throughout the term (Oregon State University – W6 Lecture 1 – Training, n.d.).

One training that I have completed within my professional field has been a “course” at Epic Systems Corporation, or Epic for short. As a requirement to obtain access to the Epic system and module, you have to be company sponsored to attend courses at the Epic campus. The training is strategically designed to build upon each section of material to eventually allow the builder to be able to have the basic necessary skills to complete their job. After the course is finished, there is a required project as well as exam that the builder must pass before being able to obtain access to the Epic system. I felt that this training was strategically well designed, developed, and implemented (Oregon State University – W6 Lecture 1 – Training, n.d.). The Epic team also consistently evaluates the material based of off scores and passing rates of the builders in the courses (Oregon State University – W6 Lecture 1 – Training, n.d.). There are many components that go into the development of courses and training and the value that individuals experience from them. 

Oregon State University. (n.d.) W6 Lecture 1 – Training.

Being interviewed is a standard component in the hiring process. I’ve participated in interviews on both sides of the table, as the interviewee and the interviewer. In both instances, I felt that the most effective interviews were when the questions asked were centered around the job and the answers were assessed against specified criteria. Unfortunately, not all of my experiences were the most effective. I’ve often left interviews feeling unsure about the job expectations or what the day-to-day operations look like even when those are questions that I asked at the end of the interview. Another issue is that I felt that at the end of the interview I’ve been left wondering what’s next and the interviewers have kept it vague such as “we will follow up with you when we have made a decision” instead of providing a definitive date for follow up or a good contact to reach out to for any unanswered questions. 

There are a few ways that I would advise the previous employers on how to improve the effectiveness of their interviews. First, they should ensure that they have a solid understanding of the job roles and what is listed within the job description while ensuring that the job description utilizes gender neutral adjectives (Knight, 2017; Oregon State University, n.d.). Second, I would encourage them to standardize their interviews, not only through their questions, but also by assessing the answers against clearly defined criteria (Knight, 2017; Oregon State University, n.d.). Third, I would encourage them to ensure that there is a well-defined follow up process in place to ensure continued communication with the applicants after the interview has been completed to continue to keep applicable applicants engaged in the process.  

Knight, R. (2018). 7 Practical Ways to Reduce Bias in Your Hiring Processes. Society for Human Resources Management.

Oregon State University. (n.d.). W5 Lecture 4 – Increasing Interview Effectiveness. Human Resource Management – MGMT 453.