Month: May 2025

This activity was a great reminder of the ways that I can do better at managing my stress. This is my last term before graduation, which has added a another layer of stress to what I feel in a normal term. Combined with the company I work for going through some restructuring, leading to an additional level of stress within my workplace and more responsibility. And finally some family issues and family health problems, it has felt a bit overwhelming.

My score for the life stress inventory was 230, which is above normal. I feel that at work that I am very good at masking my feelings of stress or unhappiness. Especially with the employees I manage, I have a close work friend and my manager that I confide in regarding work stress. My biggest struggle is trying to not let my stress impact my personal life, as I tend to not show my frustration or stress till I am at home with my partner. Which I am trying to learn how to better manage.

My biggest difficulty currently is the lack of personal time I have to unwind/relax. I am hoping with graduation around the corner this will open up more free time to better manage my stress. Currently, I ride horses, read, knit and cook/bake to unwind but I rarely have much time for these activities. My goal for this summer is to take better care of my mental and physical health after I have not made it a priority this last year trying to finish school and move up with the company I work for.

Compensation is a primary motivator for most people, from pay, benefits, bonuses to other forms of compensation it is generally a huge motivator for employees. While there are many career fields that are fulfilling, which can be a main draw for people in those industries, the majority of employees are motivated by compensation.  

I have been motivated by compensation when taking promotions, these promotions being more responsibility but also more compensation. This is a big motivator for me to move up within the company I work for, while I enjoy my job, it is not particularly fulfilling to me. Prior to getting my last promotion what came with a pay increase, I knew that a few other employees were interested in the position. While my work ethic and experience made me a primary candidate, the possibility of better compensation was a motivator to work hard to ensure that I would get this promotion.  

I have also seen how compensation can decrease motivation; the company I work for has recently undergone some restructuring. This has led to the reformatting of positions, one of my coworker’s position was recategorized which cause individuals in that position to lose some of their compensation in the form of PTO and other benefits. This has been a huge demotivator for them as she is still doing many of the same tasks but unfortunately is not receiving the same compensation. This has led her to not feel as fulfilled in her position and not as valued by the company as she had been before.  

One of my favorite classes that I have taken over the course of my time at OSU was a project management class I took in the fall term. One aspect that contributed to the effectiveness of the class was the professor himself; he was very involved in the class. This is difficult in online classes due to distance, time zones and other priorities of students. Due to his willingness to meet and assist in course material and mentor student groups through the term long project. In addition, I feel that this course connected many topics that are covered in business courses and combine them to show how projects are executed in the workplace from the planning stage to completion.  

Through my work I have completed many courses, a few weeks ago we had a training course involving new equipment we will be using. This training was not particularly helpful to employees; we were left with more questions and unclear answers. Upon comparing notes with a coworker about the training, we discovered that we were told different things in each training. This led us to wonder which process what correct and which one of us had the correct information. In addition, the training was poorly structured, and the instructor alternated between topics making the training hard to follow and inconsistent from group to group.  

Overall, I feel that the instructor plays a key role in the success of a class or training.  An instructor that is engaging and with a well-structured course will improve the student takeaways.  

As a supervisor, I get to conduct interviews fairly frequently.  The company I work for has base questions the interviewer must ask and then we can add additional questions as needed. These questions range from general knowledge questions relating to the position to behavioral questions. Most of the positions I interview for are entry-level positions, so generally I am interviewing candidates in their twenties or candidates looking for a part time retirement job. As an interviewer I find the behavioral question most helpful especially regarding candidates looking for one of their first jobs. I find the process that my company uses to be effective as a framework for interviewing candidates. 

The only issue I find is that regardless of the framework a company uses, if the interviewer has not been trained well in employee selection it can make the process difficult. I wish that my company gave more training to supervisors on how to hire effectively. I feel that through classes that I have taken at OSU I have a good understanding of how to be more selective in hiring. Companies do themselves a disservice if their supervisors have little training in hiring as this will increase turnover, due to incorrect hiring decisions. The only training that my company provides to its supervisors is a one hour “Employee Selection” training.  This unfortunately is ineffective if the supervisor is less experienced in this area themselves. I have also noticed that different supervisors have vastly different traits that they prefer in a candidate, even if on paper the candidates are similar. In summary, a framework for interviews is important but it does little to improve hiring decisions if proper training is not given to supervisors.