Most Important Thing I’ve Learned

I believe one of the most important things I learned in this class was on the topic of discrimination. While I knew there were several measures in place to protect against discrimination in the workplace, I was not knowledgeable on exactly what all these were and how many there were. That being said, it is evident to me that there is still room for improvement in the current workforce, as we are still hearing about discriminatory mishaps that should be protected by these regulations and measures. Additionally, there are arguably even more things that should be protected, such as sexual orientation, that are not currently protected in current regulations.

This topic was particularly interesting to me because it helps pave the way for me to be able to make a difference in the workplace I end up in. While everybody has subconscious biases, I believe I have a duty (whether I am working in HR or not) to contribute to an inclusive workspace. It was also interesting to learn about the different types of discrimination, especially adverse impact, which is done unintentionally. Not all forms of discrimination are blatant and intentional, but these events can still cause harm to people, thus they still need to be monitored.

Lastly, I felt as though it was important to learn about defenses against discrimination, as well as how to report it. Discrimination is something that I may witness in my life, thus I am glad I am more knowledgeable about the legal process of reporting it. On the other side of things, I am also glad I understand how a firm can defend itself against accusations of discriminatory practices, as being wrongfully accused can be harmful to those within the organization as well. Overall, I believe discrimination in the workplace is something everyone should be educated about, as you never know when you may be facing it yourself or observing it happening to someone else.

Self-Reflection

What am I good at?

Some of my strengths include my determination, work ethic, and my ability to consider alternate perspectives. Throughout my years in school, I have developed a very strong work ethic, almost always putting my best foot forward and working hard to do the best I can at tasks. Additionally, I have a very open mind, allowing me to view alternate perspectives on different issues and situations, which allows me to have a more holistic view on my surroundings rather than a narrow view.

What do I value?

In a job, I value having fulfilling work. While money is important, I would much rather be working in a job that I am passionate about and can have fun doing it. I want my work to impact others positively.

How did I get here?

Ultimately, I got where I am today with a strong sense of work ethic and adventure. With my work ethic being developed very early on in life, I have had the dedication to work hard throughout my academic years and put myself in a great spot moving forward. Additionally, I have learned to love the process of achieving my goals, often reflecting on ways that I can learn and grow.

Where am I going?

If I keep up my hard work, I believe I am on the right path to finding a fulfilling career. I want my career search to be driven by my passions, which at the moment include sports and impacting others positively. While I know my journey will not be easy, I am confident that I can do nearly anything I set my mind to, especially after making it this far.

IPIP Results and Reactions

Here are what my results say about my five dimensions of personality:

Extraversion: I scored a 67 on the scale of extroversion, meaning that I am “neither a subdued loner nor a jovial chatterbox”. I feel as though this is decently accurate, as I do love being around the right people and crave social interaction, but often times get nervous or try to avoid certain social situations.

Agreeableness: I scored an 84 on the scale of agreeableness, meaning that tend to have a great interest for those around me’s needs and well-being. I consider myself a very empathetic person, thus I believe this is accurate. I often find myself worrying about those I care about and letting their emotions affect myself.

Conscientiousness: I scored a 51 on the scale of conscientiousness, meaning that I am “reasonably reliable, organized, and self-controlled”. I found it interesting that I got higher scores in the “achievement-striving” and “cautiousness” categories of this dimension. While I consider myself motivated to be reliable and other aspects of conscientiousness, I acknowledge that I am not always perfect.

Neuroticism: I scored a 73 on neuroticism, which I found surprising. Looking at the breakdown of the categories, it because more clear why I scored so high. I tend to be a very cautious, worrisome, anxious person. While I am able to control it, I do sometimes get irritated easily with everyday tasks (such as road rage). The description says that according to my results, I probably am a sensitive and emotional person, which I also would consider to be true.

Openness to experience: I scored a 43 on openness to experience, which is considered average. According to the description, I like to try new things and be adventurous, but also like to have some routine and structure in my life.

If a potential employer was looking at these results, I am confident they could derive several strengths and weaknesses in my personality. First, I believe my high score in agreeableness could be an attractive trait, as it shows I am pleasant to be around and cooperative, always striving for social harmony and being a help in any way that I can. Additionally, my score with conscientiousness is high enough to show that I can be reliable and dependable, as well as organized (however I acknowledge this score could definietly be higher and more attractive). Next, a potential strength that an employer may see in my extroversion score could be that I am able to do well in both group and individual environments. In a job, I am sure I will have moments where I need to complete individual work, but then turn right around and be able to work effectively with a team.

As far as weaknesses go, my higher score on the neuroticism scale could highlight a few potential weaknesses. First, being an anxious person could be seen as a disadvantage as I may have several roadblocks holding me back from my full potential due to nervousness. Additionally, my high score in the vulnerability aspect shows that I don’t always work very well under pressure and get stressed easily, which may be seen as a disadvantage for certain types of jobs.

Typical vs. Maximal Performance

If I was in. the shoes of this business owner, I would choose to hire Avery. This is due to the fact that you cannot teach talent. Although Avery can be a slacker, I believe it would be easier to motivate them to reach that high-performance ceiling more often through motivation and support from within the company. In Jaime’s case, I think it would be much more difficult to increase their level of performance, as the case states that even when “pushed to her limit”, her level of performance is much lower than Avery’s. This means that the firm can try to push them harder, but there may not be any more to get out of her.

A type of job where it would be ideal to hire Avery over Jaime would be one that requires frequently changing levels of work and needed output. Avery would be suitable for this job, as due to the fact they are somewhat “lazy” at times, they would not necessarily need to work at their full potential constantly. However, they are still a valuable employee since they have the potential to truly be the best at what they do when they need to be. Jaime, on the other hand, would be a better fit for a less technical job where they can still be successful, even with lower potential.

Ideally, a job candidate would have high potential and high consistency, but as we have learned, generating a flow of these “A players” is much easier said than done. Sometimes compromises need to be made, and the “right fit” for the position may depend on the position itself.

Presenting Myself in a Situation Wanted Ad

As a soon-to-be graduate, I have found myself often evaluating what I think I have to offer to potential job opportunities. My dream job would be to work in a marketing-related job for a major sports/outdoors organization, such as the Portland Trail Blazers or Columbia. Some of my strengths that could serve me well in creating a good first impression includes my eagerness to learn, my attention to detail, and written communication. Some of my weaknesses include public speaking, occasionally getting caught up on small details, and my tendency to take on too much responsibility. While I still have several certifications that I want to obtain in the near future, one thing that I think makes me unique is that I am very flexible and am okay with not having a strict schedule. I love to be on my toes, which is another reason why I believe working in the sports industry will be a good fit.

If I was to present myself in a situation wanted ad, the first thing I would focus on is trying my best to express my enthusiasm for the line of work I am advertising for. While my qualifications are important, I also want viewers of the ad to be aware of my excitement and willingness to learn new things to fill in any gaps in my qualifications. Next, I would be sure to list my skills clearly, including both technical and soft skills that seem to be essential in being successful in whatever role I am looking to be hired for. In order to ensure my ad matches with expectations for the role I am interested in, I would be sure to perform research on the job and general industry to get a better idea of what is sought after and write my ad in a way that highlights those specific competencies. By highlighting why I want the job, as well as why I am qualified in a concise statement, it would be my hope that I could spark interest in potential employers.

Job Descriptions

The last (and current) job that I have is a Marketing and Fan Engagement intern position for OSU Athletics. My motivation for applying for this position was mostly due to my passion for athletics and eagerness to gain experience in the field before I graduated. That being said, I was already very interested in the position after being told about it verbally by a friend, thus the job description itself did not affect my decision to apply very much. What the job description did do, however, was give me a clearer idea as to what I would be able to experience within the job.

I applied for this position in January 2019, only a few months before the pandemic hit. I was informed that I got the position that March while in lockdown. Unfortunately, due to the lack of fans at events (and sporting events occurring in general), my experience with this job was close to nothing compared to what the job description said. Many of the task statements were related to attending sporting events with fans, and due to COVID regulations, I was not actually able to attend any events at all. Instead, my boss redid the position to still allow the internship to happen at all, focusing on helping us build our marketing portfolios and prepare us for the workforce by teaching us how to build an effective marketing plan and gain skills such as Photoshop and Illustrator. These are things that I may not have been able to learn and experience if the pandemic had not affected the scope of the job.Perhaps the only similarity was that I still got to attend office hours weekly and provide general office assistance as needed.

Overall, I never could have predicted what my experience has been with this job. Some of the competencies listed still applied and were expected, but as far as actual tasks, my experience was completely different that what I had initially applied for.

Experiences with Discrimination

If I came across a piece of media reporting that one of my favorite companies or brands was being faced with a lawsuit accusing them of widespread discrimination against individuals that I may associate with, I cannot say it would not change how I felt about the company overall. There has been increasing pressure on organizations to have social responsibility and contribute positively to society in one way or another, and consumers are becoming decreasingly tolerant of any slip-ups. If I was faced with this information, I would most definitely view the company differently and face an internal pressure to stop supporting them. However, depending on the company, this may be easier said than done.

From personal experience, I have sometimes found it difficult to completely boycott organizations that have been accused of taking actions that go against my personal values. However, when it comes to discrimination (especially discrimination that is widespread rather than an isolated incident), I have a low tolerance. If the company is one that I can easily dispose of without disrupting too much of my current lifestyle, I would almost definitely choose to discontinue supporting it immediately. However, if the company is one that is engrained in my everyday life (such as the convenience of Amazon), it may take me more time to phase the company out of my lifestyle. Regardless, I would make it my goal to get a better understanding of the situation and ultimately remove my support.

From an employment perspective, I would definitely avoid applying for an organization that discriminates against a group/belief system I associate with, let alone discriminate against any member. Company culture is extremely important to me, and widespread discrimination against any group is an indicator of a toxic environment that I do not want to be a part of.

The Case for Recruitment and Selection

I personally agree that staffing is perhaps the most important function of a company. However, I do understand why several people do not view it this way. All organizations have a limited budget, meaning they have to prioritize which functions get more money allocated towards them than others. As mentioned in the lecture, hiring new employees costs a substantial amount of money. This takes away from the budget that can be allocated towards other important business functions such as marketing or product design. An argument for doing this could be that if the organization does not have a strong product/service or a strong ability to reach consumers, it does not matter who the company employees are, as their efforts would be pointless if no consumers want to purchase the product (or are even aware that the product and its benefits exist). This perspective focuses on the idea that the product itself is more important than those who work to make the product successful. If a product is not good, even the most perfect employees may not be able to make it successful.

I believe there are more weaknesses than strengths to not prioritizing recruitment and selection. One potential strength in an organization’s decision to not prioritize recruitment and selection is that it opens up a large amount of the budget that can be put towards other important business functions. However, as the lecture mentioned, strengthening other areas of the organization may be pointless if the right personnel are not there to maintain it. Another weakness is that due to the fact that a good workforce can be a strong competitive advantage, competitors who do focus on staffing may gain the competitive advantage and thus become more successful in the long run. By prioritizing staffing, an organization has a better chance of receiving the best applicants and snagging them before their competitors can. If they do not do this, they may not have the best pool of applicants to pull from when they do decide they need to hire new people.

Job Application Experiences

The last job I applied for was a Marketing and Fan Engagement Intern position for Oregon State Athletics. As someone who hopes to work in the sports industry after graduation, this job was the perfect opportunity to jumpstart my path to my dream career and meet people who may be able to help me along the way. The job description was fairly basic, asking for simple skills such as being able to work in a fast-paced environment and great organization skills. However, because the description was decently broad, I did not have much information on the actual tasks I would be completing. From our readings this week, we learned that this could be an issue when figuring out which prospects to hire, as not having a solid understanding of what is being asked of them may cause prospects to not perform well if eventually hired. Since I was excited and eager to do nearly anything in the realm of sports, this did not majorly affect how I viewed the applicant process and job overall. I ended up being hired for this job, and to my disappointment, many aspects of the internship were changed due to COVID-19 (there is no use for fan engagement if there are no fans at sporting events). Overall, my application process was fairly smooth. My interview went well and gave me a sense of the type of people I may be working with, which made me even more eager to be hired. Although the broad job description somewhat left me in the dark prior to my interview as to exactly what I would be doing, it also made it evident to me that the job would be a great space for learning essential skills that I may not already have. As someone who did not have much marketing experience outside of group projects, that was very attractive to me. Combined with the friendliness of the personnel I met with during my applicant process, this job was very attractive to me, and I believe this eagerness set me up for the success I have had thus far in the role.