Author: Sierra Bechdoldt

I participated in class discussion May 26th.

However, I still wanted to do this exercise because I think it’s a great one. In fact, last night I even asked my fiance these four questions because I wanted us to reflect on how we got to this point in our lives. I wanted us to reflect if we are excited or worried about the trajectory of our life/marriage that is rapidly coming. It was a great premarriage exercise for us too, and it was nice to see we are on the same page of enthusiasm of where we are heading.

1. What am I good at?

I consider my greatest strength is to be thoughtful and kind. I try my best to be a good person to those around me and lift others up. I also think I am intelligent. It feels weird to admit it, because I don’t want to be cocky, but it’s probably one of the most common ways I hear people describe me. I also think I am humble. Seems like an oxymoron to admit it, but without my humility, I could see myself becoming self-absorbed. Lastly, I am curious. My curiosity drives me to be creative and always keep growing.

2. What do I value?

The top thing I value in my life is my faith. As a Christian, a lot of my behaviors and ways of understanding the world are shaped by my faith. It’s also why I strive for humility and kindness. After that, I value my time. While I’m not always good at saying no, I recognize my time is my greatest resource. I also value freedom. I think others deserve the freedom to make their choices (so long as it doesn’t excessively harm/infringe others) and I value my freedom to make my choices.

3. How did I get here?

I am in Oregon because this is where I was raised. I am a Christian because it was how I coped with trauma as a child. In the coping I found meaning. I went to OSU because I wanted to use my mother’s staff discount- but not go to PSU where she works and live with her. I also had a really good tour. I chose management because I love helping people and it’s the more interpersonal major in the COB. I am about to get married because I fell in love in high school and I always said if we can make it long-distance through college, we can make it through anything. My career is still baking, but they are literally making a job for me because of a loose network connection that landed me the internship and they were impressed with my work ethic.

4. Where am I going?

I am about to enter the next chapter of my life. I feel like the phase of discovering of who I am from childhood to young adulthood is closing, and I am beginning the application of all that I have learned. I am getting married, starting life on my own without the bubble of college, starting my career, and ending my years of full-time education. I am moving back to my hometown Clatskanie and living in our first apartment after marriage. I am choosing a life that won’t be societally recognized as prestige (no corporate ladders or executive suite titles) since I am returning to a small town. Nevertheless, I am choosing to go back home because I want to help the community flourish, where before most everyone my age who goes to college says “good riddance” and only return years later to retire. I want to make a difference there, and I am excited to do so despite the lack of prestige. Overall, it’s a lot of change, but I am excited for this opportunity to realign my priorities and start fresh.

I participated in class discussion

Topic 1: The Wonderlic Test (and others). I shared how I took the Wonderlic test. I also made comments about how the test does a good job on predicting ability but ignores effort. I proposed that perhaps managers over value measuring ability than effort. However, you need both to have performance.

Topic 2: The Personality Test. I mentioned how I think have personality tests are worth it because of how much research has been done on the big 5 personality areas. I also thought the discussion on faking personality tests was interesting.

I participated in class discussion this day.

TOPIC: Maximal VS Typical Performance. In Wednesday’s class we discussed if we would rather hire someone with high maximal potential but low typical performance, or someone of the opposite skill set. I made a remark about how many of us prefer a solid, typical performer BUT we often promote the latter. I still find this to be fascinating because we often want someone steady yet reward the ones who have the amazing projects. It makes me wonder that even though we say we value consistency more, our actions don’t back this up. I made some other comments too, but that is the idea that stuck in my mind from Wednesday.

I participated in class discussion this week.

Topic 1: Stange Job descriptions. While originally this was presented about strange jobs we have seen, it transitioned into a conversation about scams, protecting ourselves from scam ads, and how jobs can unintentionally look deceiving. I added a comment about a funny I-5 ad I have seen that is a play on Uncle Sam. I also added other comments on how I am frustrated with the gig economy taking advantage of people, especially those of low income.

Topic 2: Networking: I mentioned how they say “It’s not what you know, it’s who you know” but really it matters “it’s who knows you.” I say this because for us to benefit from our networks, people have to be able to recall us. If we know them, this is just one side of the street. It has to go both ways.

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.