MGMT 448 Employee Selection Blog

The title is a nod to the strange titles we discussed in class 🙂

I participated in the class discussion this week.

Discussion 1: Job Descriptions. We talked about what we look for in a job description and our experiences with them. I commented about how I look for consistency between what people have said about the job and the description itself. As someone who has gotten almost all my jobs through relationships, most of the experience I have with descriptions is me just browsing for fun. Therefore, I value what people say about the job above what the description actually says more, so long as they are credible (at least for hiring).

Discussion 2: Silly titles. I mentioned how silly job titles can make you not look credible to your subordinates or partners. I also mentioned yogurt extreme call their employees “swirl masters,” which when I saw that yesterday I thought “poor them.”

I participated in the class lecture this week.

DISCUSSION 1: Reaction to Discrimination Accusation in Business. For this discussion, I added that if they broke a non-grey part of the law, then they should’ve known better and I would hold them accountable. However, if the law is grey or it’s someone who went AWOL that they didn’t know about, then I could be more forgiving. Additionally, I agreed a lot with the class’s concerns of authenticity for I look for sincerity in businesses’ reactions to discrimination. Lastly, I added the comments that people under 40 and not judging based on physical appearance should be protected classes (and I agree political opinion should be too but I would think the first amendment protects this).

DISCUSSION 2: Bias. I asked a lot of questions for this discussion. I wanted to know more about if bias compounds and becoming systematic. It seems the research seems to suggest that it does. Additionally, I proposed focusing on qualifications more would help reduce bias, and it appears it does not. However, the proposed solution of probation periods may. Overall, I learned that discrimination is no longer blatant and inflicted as we traditionally think of it like the 1950s (for most), but now it tends to be subtle and elusive in nature, breeding underneath until it becomes inflicted enough to recognize. Great discussion, I learned a lot!

I participated in the blogs in class. 🙂

For the first discussion (interview experience), I commented on other student experiences in interviews and shared my story of how a weak connection landed me a job.

For the second discussion (generation experiences), I shared my experience with the older generation being very receptive to having me. They told me that they want to pass the torch and their legacy. I also shared my high school experience in the chat on how turnover was really high.

I spoke to Jay about the second blog post (which we didn’t cover) and he said just send in the link for this week and it’s good to go! Please let me know if I did any of this wrong and I will be happy to make adjustments.