Week 15 Post

Tell me about a mistake you made and how you handled it?

I currently work as a Sales Associate at Dillard’s. There was a time when I had a customer come in to make a payment on his store credit card, he was making his payment in check form and while processing his payment, I made the mistake of telling the system that he was making a payment in cash. I explained to the customer the mistake I had made, apologized and told him that I would have to reprocess his payment, he was very upset and claimed that I was wasting his time. I tried calming him down and apologized for the inconvenience, I proceeded to voiding the previous transaction and continued to reprocessing his payment. I finished the transaction, apologized once again and wished him a good rest of his day.

With this response the interviewee seemed to be committed to giving every customer a good customer service experience and seems to think that accepting a mistake was made, learning from it and being able to address the issue on her own is significant.

Give an example of how you worked in a team.

In high school, being in the ACE Program and working with design professionals weekly for a semester, we had to work in groups to create floorplans, elevations, budgets, etc. for our personalized design projects. Dividing the work into parts and assigning a different part to each team member we were able to finish the project in a timely and professional manner. At the end of the semester, each group presented their design project to all the other groups and the design professionals that mentored us throughout the project. Thanks to our organization, team efforts, and the help of our mentor; our team placed first and each team member won a scholarship.

The interviewee seems committed to continuing to work in teams and learning from each experience and seems to think that organization of a team is significant.

What do you do if you disagree with someone at work?

When I had my first disagreement with a coworker, I informed my manager, sat down with both that person and my manager, explained the situation and got it settled instead of causing a dramatic scene in public where customers would be able to see.

The interviewee seems committed to handling disputes with coworkers effectively and seems to think that having a friendly and hostile-free work environment helps everyone work better and with more confidence.

Have you been in a situation where you didn’t have enough work to do?

Yes, I have. I currently work in the lingerie at Dillard’s and there are not very many customers who go shopping in that particular department regularly, when I go in to work and there are not very many customers around, I have to resize and organize merchandize and product that is on the floor. Since I work 16-25 hours a week, and there are not very many customers, I spend a lot of time resizing and organizing, when I come in for my next shift, there is nothing left to do but stand around and try to look busy.

The interviewee seems committed to keeping a clean and organized workplace day to day and seems to think that keeping a clean and organized workplace is critical to giving those customers who do come shopping in the lingerie department a good customer service experience.

Tell me about a time your schedule was interrupted. How did you handle it?

I go to school 3 days a week, Tuesday-Thursday, I am not available to go in to work on those days, there was a time when my manager scheduled me to go in on a Tuesday, I obviously could not skip school to go to work, I called my manager, explained the situation and she switched my work shift to a day when I was available to come in.

The interviewee seems to be committed to being organized not only in her personal life but her professional life as well and seems to think that informing her managers of scheduling issues and conflicts ahead of time is significant.

In Conclusion…

I am prepared for any questions that my interviewer may ask at the time of a mock or true job interview. I will answer each question with honesty and confidence because I believe that there is no reason for anyone to lie at a job interview in order to make themselves look better to an employer.

(Word Count: 755)

Week 11 Blog

Weekly Overview

This week in class we had each team present their proposals for their individual institutes and centers. We have now been assigned an Employment Project where we will individually create our own job search and description as well as our own professional documents; like a resume, cover letter and thank you letter.

I am aware that the during the next class period we will have a guest speaker come in and talk to us about the ASU Career Center and Sun Devil Career Link. I am hoping this will provide me with the best information possible for me to be able to create a professional resume, cover letter, and thank you letter.

Having a well written resume, cover and thank you letters can make a big difference when it comes to a manager deciding between you and someone else. The formatting, design, information and skills all go into play while a manager is making their final decision in the hiring process.

Recently

I have created a resume, cover letter and thank you letter in the past, my sophomore year in college to be exact, and I have been updating my resume every year ever since, but I do know that I need to keep practicing my techniques for writing an appropriate cover and thank you letter for any job I intend to apply to.

Throughout the years, I have changed the styles I use for my resume and I have updated the information on it to meet the skills I currently have and that I have been earning through my previous job positions, internships, and community service. Looking through the literacies list, I have noticed that I meet many of them pretty decently and I know that there are others I still need to work on extensively. I plan on putting those into practice as the Employment Project progresses.

The literacies I believe I have successfully practiced are; memos, page designs, presentations, and written communication. Memos are important because they help when it comes to summarizing the work you have done and with keeping track of what you still have left to do. I have become pretty good at page designs because I have been practicing with them for many years, whether it is with an essay, blog, resume, or a computer design project. Having a good page design impacts how your reader takes in and interprets the information you want to get across to them. I have been doing presentations since I can remember, and all the practice has made me successful in knowing the do’s and don’t’s of presenting. Written communication I believe is one of the most important because you will not always be face to face with the person who you want to get information to. It is good to know how to successfully communicate through paper as well or better than if you communicate face to face.

The literacies I would really like to work on are: email writing, job-application letters, proposals and reference pages. I would like to improve my email writing skills because the way we write emails to someone can define the way we would speak to that person face to face. Being professional in emails is important because I feel that people will not take you seriously otherwise. Job application letters are another literacy I would like to improve on because I know the basic details about them but not how to actually write one properly. I feel I am very bad at writing proposals. Proposals are a good way to get your ideas to others in a professional way. Reference pages can be helpful when applying for jobs because your references can say a lot about your skills and work ethic in previous positions, they can break or make your future in a job application.

References

Chapter 15 in Markel is the biggest reference in for the Employment Project because it says a lot about how to write job-application materials.

Figure 15.1 on page 400 shows a flow chart with information on how to begin the process for preparing job-application materials. I know that this section will be very helpful when it comes to creating my personal documents that relate to the employment project.

Figure 15.2 on pages 407 and 408 show examples of unattractive and attractive resumes. In other words, they show an example of a well formatted and designed resume versus a poorly formatted and designed resume. This will help when it comes to giving me an idea on what my resume should or should not look like.

Figure 15.4 on page 416 shows an example of a reference page, I know that this example will be very handy when I am creating my personal reference page since I do need some help creating an effective reference page. This will give me a good idea on where to start.

Looking Forward

I look forward to working on this individual employment project because it will be a good experience and good preparation for the professional and real world. Having well prepared job application materials can get you the right jobs at the right companies and work places.

I really look forward to polishing the documents I already have created in the past on my own to be able to get my dream job in the future.

(Word Count: 889)

Week 10 Blog

Weekly Overview
This week in class we had to come together as a group to determine what else we needed to still complete for the Proposal presentation and recommendation report for the Center of Games and Impact. We looked over the information we already had completed and what else we needed to complete throughout the weekend.

Unfortunately, our group suffered the loss of a team member, which was our team leader, leaving us disoriented and trying to find our way to get our minds back in the project and the recommendation report. Since our team leader dropped the class, we now have to pick up the slack and add a greater work load on each team member.

Recently
I have recently created a skeleton Google document of what we would like the recommendation report to look like. I did this in order for all team members to have easy access to the document and fill in the spaces to the document as we come across the appropriate information.

It has been a bit difficult to gather all the information we need for the recommendation report because we cannot seem to find very much secondary research on the Center for Games and Impact. Although the due date for the recommendation report has arrived, we are honestly not even close to having the full project completed.

The schedules of all team member conflict with each other and we have not had any time to meet since our last class period to put our proposal presentation together for the next class period. Keeping the whole group updated and focused has become difficult due to the loss of our team leader.

Thankfully, we have gotten an extension on our recommendation report due date and I am still attempting to get a successful meeting time in place with the rest of the group in order to complete the oral presentation with the information we have found so far on the Center for Games and Impact.

References
To create the skeleton Google document for the recommendation report I used the example report on Chapter 19 in the Markel book. Pages 532 to 558 give an example on how to appropriately format a recommendation report. Using the advice and guidelines stated in the pages before the example, I was able to successfully create a skeleton that will be an advantage and of good use for the entire group and the preparation for the report.

In class we discussed the components of the report and what kind of information was going to be needed to fill each section appropriately. Asking advice from other groups and bouncing ideas off each other helped our group come to a decision on what parts of the report were going to be completed by what member of the group. We decided that it would be best if we would each fill the part of the report that we worked on for the research and previous information. For example, the person who conducted the primary research would fill out the section of the report that contained the primary research.

Chapter 17 was also a great help when it came to understanding the process of writing informational reports. Pages 468-469 shows Figure 17.1 in which it describes this process step by step. These steps were to analyze your audience, analyze your purpose, research the subject and compile your information, choose an appropriate format, draft the report and revise, edit, and proofread the report. These were helpful when it came to deciding how to best put our report together.

Looking Forward
I am looking forward to coming together with the rest of my team members to put our oral presentation together on time for the next class period. I am honestly hoping I can really count on my team members to follow through with their parts of the assignment and remaining research left to complete. I have done my best to create a skeleton of the oral presentation and recommendation report on Google documents that will be beneficial to all team members.

I am also looking forward to how our final presentation and recommendation report will turn out. I know that with the dedication and extra work of each team member we will be able to complete a successful project for the Center of Games and Impact.

Lastly, I am looking forward to seeing what each team has created and come up with for their oral presentations and recommendations for their chosen institutions. It will be very interesting to see what each group recommends for those institutions.

(Word Count: 761)

Week 8/ Week 9 Post

Weekly Overview
The week before spring break, we had to meet with our group in class and discuss how far we have gotten in each of the team member's parts. Whether it was interviews, observations, or other data that was critical to our proposal for the Center of Games and Impact. Our group had some of the interviews done as well as a questionnaire and some secondary research. I have personally been looking for more secondary research, but have not had very much luck finding some. I am aware that finding the right kind and credible sources takes a lot of time and dedication.

Central Idea of our Proposal
Our team's proposal is to be able to bring the thought and wonders of how the Center for Games and Impact helps children learn and develop in ways never seen before. For example, autistic children can learn certain things through a game more effectively than if they were to have a teacher trying to teach them in a regular classroom. Children could be more attentive this way as well because they will be playing a game and learning at the same time without them even recognizing it. We all know that the biggest part of the development of children happens in the first few years of their lives. This is why we need to teach them as much as we possibly can in those first few years of their lives. The easiest way for us to do this would be by teaching them in a way they will enjoy.

The Center for Games and Impact should promote and advertise their abilities to the public through social media and other sources in order to bring more people into the center to observe how it all works and the kinds of things they do. With social media I do not believe there would be any costs because if they create a page dedicated only to the Center for Games and Impact, they can post any information related to the center and it can be shared throughout to bring people to it. More people being aware of what the Center for Games and Impact is about will improve the center drastically in several ways.

References
In order to improve our proposal and its purpose I took a few pointers from chapter 8 in the Markel book. The pointers I found most effective and easiest to implement into our proposal were the different types of constraints. Pages 185-187 explain several constraints and how to properly abide by them. I believe using constraints is very important because we do not want to have any false information in our proposal or any other part of the assignment. Having the correct information is critical when addressing an organization.

Another pointer I found helpful in chapter 8 of the Markel book was to Present yourself Effectively. Page 194 shows a table in which points out how to create a professional persona. When presenting a proposal or any other type of presentation to a group of professionals, we should know how to be professional ourselves because we do not want to look nervous, unprepared, or confused about our topic. Being prepared on how to present the information you want to get across to professionals is the best way to make them see that you are taking the topic and assignment serious.

In Chapter 16, page 441 shows an outline on how to write a proposal, I thought this outline would really be helpful when it comes to putting our whole proposal together. Some of the parts of the outline, we already have filled out and identified what goes into them. I believe that if we follow this outline, we will be able to create a very effective and well formatted proposal for the Center of Games and Impact. I believe the most difficult part of creating our proposal paper will be to decide on the appropriate type of proposal.

Looking Forward
I am looking forward to continuing our research and completing this proposal to the best of our ability with the contribution of all team members and the hard work we have all done so far.

For now, I will continue to look for more secondary resources and contact my team members to find out how far they have gotten on their assigned parts for the proposal. We have created a Google document where we have a skeleton of what we want our proposal to look like, we will each fill out the assigned parts and slowly but steadily begin to create a rough draft for the final proposal.

(Word count: 769)