Poor Communication

I have held a few jobs in my lifetime, and although I have had a job since my freshman year in high school, I have had very few miscommunications in the work place. One of my jobs was as a neighborhood lawn mower, so miscommunication never occurred since I was the only one in my business. I always tried to make sure that the customer knew when I was going to mow/when they needed to pay. Only on a couple occasions was a person gone when I mowed their lawn, so I would have to prove to them that I had done it while they were away. Otherwise, no miscommunication occurred.

While at my job at Firehouse Subs, the only miscommunication that occurred was with customer orders. Although we were told to make a specific sandwich, sometimes the cashier would ring up the wrong sub and we would have to make an entirely new sub for the person. This miscommunication was very costly to the restaurant, especially during peak operating hours (mostly lunch time on weekdays). We would have to put that sandwich ahead of every one else's, causing a back up on tickets, and sometimes, causing people to leave because the line was long. The customer might receive a negative image about Firehouse Subs, but we would try to fix it with bringing the correct sandwich out quickly, and sometimes we would offer something for free to make up for the mistake. This miscommunication could have been prevented by the cashier taking his/her time to make sure the order was correct. By repeating the customers order, the customer could make sure that it was all correct before any mistakes were made, saving the customer time and hassle, and saving us from having to make extra subs.

Although this happened, it did not happen as often as someone would think, especially during the hectic times. I believe communication in Firehouse Subs was handled very well, and everyone within the business made sure everything was communicated properly and clearly. If anything was ever misunderstood, someone would clarify the situation and make sure the person would have the correct knowledge for future use.

I have been fortunate enough to not have to deal too much with miscommunication. I do believe, however, that if I was involved in miscommunication I would be able to deal with the problem very well, based on my experience with my lawn mowing business and Firehouse Subs. I know what it takes to solve the problems, and what customers expect, since I am also a customer and have been in their shoes.

Online Portfolios??

Out of the final few presentations we had last week, I really liked Jeremy's the best. All of the presentations were good, but I really liked Jeremy's topic. I have been considering a tattoo for a while now, but I'm not sure as to what to get. His tips definitely helped out a lot. I never even thought about keeping my career intentions in mind when getting a tattoo, so that tip was definitely helpful. I also like how he said to make sure the tattoo has a meaning behind it. This is what has been holding me back. I'm not sure what to get, or if my parents will approve first. My brother got one a couple of years ago or so now, so that definitely had a little influence on me wanting to get one. I'll have to figure out something that I want and then use Jeremy's tips before I get it.

As for the online portfolios, the only thing that I think would be similar is the LRO (Learning Record Online) that I did in English 103 freshman year. I don't think it was a true online portfolio since I was just posting everything on to Blackboard, but I'm guessing it is somewhat similar, with posting everything that I have worked on this semester in one place. Although that was fairly recent, I would need to be refreshed on how to do everything, but I don't think it would be too difficult. When I did the LRO, it wasn't a bad experience, since I wrote everything for class and then just posted it on to Blackboard. I guess I will just need to be told what to do and how to do it. I don't think it will be too difficult to figure out; I will just need to make sure that I understand everything and I will need to make sure that I post everything correctly. I am looking forward to it.

A Few of My Favorite Things (Presentations)

Up to this point, I have seen a lot of good presentations in our class. A lot of them stuck out to me, and really appealed to me by providing humor or talking about something I thought was really funny. I'm not trying to take anything away from the other presentations, but the ones that were funny really stuck out to me a lot more. The others were interesting and informative, but just not as good as the ones that made me laugh.
One of my favorite ones was about how to survive in a large family. I thought that Kelly did a great job of talking about how the normal rules don't apply in large families. She made the presentation very funny which helped everyone pay attention and stay interested. I thought the driving tips were hilarious, especially how no seat is safe, no matter what.
Another one of my favorites was the top five worst pick up lines. I always get a kick out of the really corny pick up lines that I hear. It's fun to also make up some. When my friends and I make them up, we know how corny they really are and how they would never work. We know that girls are not going to go for terrible pick up lines, but it is still fun to make them up and produce a laugh.
The final presentation that I thought was pretty funny was the Bud Light Real Men of Genius commercials. Every time I heard these commercials on the radio I always laughed. I used to download and find the latest commercials, but I have lost them. I really enjoy all of those commercials; they were effective and made you think of Bud Light as soon as you heard the drums at the beginning. All of those commercials were funny in the presentation, and I could not stop laughing.
All of the presentations that we saw were very good and effective. All were very informative and interesting, and I enjoyed them all. I just preferred the hilarious ones more because that's the kind of person that I am, as everyone could see from the presentation that I gave on the funny commercials of the Super Bowl. The presentations were all very professional and kept everyone interested, proving that all of the presenters were effective.

What's Under the Covers?

After reading about cover letters on that site, I believe some of what they say is true, but some is not. I think the fact that they state the cover letters are the second thing read, after the resume, is not true. Everything that I have heard involves the cover letter being read first, and then if that is good enough, they will move on to the resume. Basically, you have to impress them with your writing to have them look at your resume. I also think that the cover letter should talk about the company, but should also talk about how the applicant fits in to the company. Just talking about the company won't set you apart from other applicants. The people that are reading the cover letters already know about the company, so they want to see what you say that sticks out from others.
I think the format is very similar to what I have been taught, so I agree with that section. I think the adding of the P.S. section is a little silly and unprofessional. I think that if you are trying to market yourself to the company, you should do so within the main points of the cover letter. Show them why you are good for this company and why you stick out from the others. I also do agree that you need to personalize each cover letter, and not send out mass cover letters. If you don't personalize the cover letters for each company, then the company will just throw your cover letter out.
I think the most helpful sections of the site was the format section, the sample cover letter, and the checklist. That way, anyone can compare their cover letter to their sample, and then check off to make sure they have the correct format and check to make sure everything is included in the cover letter that they should include.
Although most of this information is useful, I have heard most of it (except for the stuff I didn't agree with earlier). I have written a few cover letters for various internship applications. I think that this information is helpful, but some of the information is not correct. I would suggest someone going to an actual professional person, or someone at the Michelin Career Center. They have a great background in writing resumes and cover letters and can help you out tremendously. You can't trust everything on the Internet!

Healthy Campus

After hearing our client talk about what she wants to see happen, I think it should be somewhat easy to accomplish. Mostly, we just need to get the projects name out there and inform the student population about it. As of now, I don't really have too many ideas about for the project. This past week has been absolutely hectic for me: 4 tests in 3 days and a paper due on another day. And this coming week I have another test, so it has never let down.

From the free-write that we had on Wednesday, you noticed that I am not really for this whole healthy-campus initiative. I feel like we should be trying to implement other things that are more important to the success of the campus, especially with the economic situation we find our university in. I don't think that Clemson University should be worrying so much about the healthiness of our student population. I think that should be up to someone's own views. I am all for people being healthy and making good choices about what/what not to eat, but I don't think it's the role a university should take.

I think our group is getting along very well and will be able to come up with some good ideas. The only thing I see as a potential problem is that we have a lot of members (7 total), and being able to get a time when everyone can get together will be a little bit of a challenge. Otherwise, I see this going fairly well.

As of now, I do not have any questions regarding our project.

Interview Schminterview

I believe that the article lists a lot of the main interview mistakes. The only one that I could see that they did not list was how to dress for the interview. Obviously, you want to dress for the job that you want, and if an interviewer sees you dressed differently, it might not matter what you say during the actual interview. The image that you put off greatly affects how well you are perceived by the interviewer/company. I feel like these mistakes are common sense, and can be easily prepared for.
I have only been in three interviews, but only one that was formal (over the phone). The other two interviews were just formalities to finish my job introduction. One of my interviews was at my first true job at Firehouse Subs. The owner was asking me about my school life and school accomplishments when I turned in my application for hire. Another of my interviews was at a realty company, where my brother had set me up with a job. I went in to talk to the manager so she could put a name with a face and just go over some of the basics. The phone interview was much more formal, and was for a possible summer internship with a minor league baseball team. I had never had a phone interview so I had to practice for some basic questions, and my mom called me a couple times and asked me some interview questions. I think this practice, and me researching about the team and its values, helped me tremendously. I was a little nervous at first, but as I got to know how the interviewer was going to act towards my answers, I was able to calm my nerves and answer the questions better. I made sure that I was in a private place with no distractions so I could answer the questions to the best of my ability.
All I could suggest for a job interviewee to be best prepared is to just practice on basic interview questions (can find most online), be sure you want to work with the company and share the same values as the company, do some research on the company and the job, dress appropriately, and just be positive and have faith in yourself. As long as you bring your best, there is nothing else you can ask of yourself.

Freestylin'

As you have probably realized, soccer is probably my favorite sport to watch and play. I have played soccer since I was about six, and have grown to love it since then. I have played rec, travel, varsity, and now intramural and club at Clemson.
My freshman year in high school I tried out for the varsity soccer team. The year before they had won the state title, so I thought it would be a great deal of work just to make the team. Unfortunately, I did not make the final cut, and I was destined to play on the junior varsity team. But, some players had gotten hurt before the season had truly started, and I was lucky enough to be pulled up to the varsity team. I had to prove to everyone that I was deserving of this spot, and worked very hard. In a tournament that my high school hosted, we played for the title against a 4A team (Northwestern), and we were only a 2A team. We should not have been able to beat them, but we were able to pull it out in penalty kicks (which, I had a part in by making one). Northwestern turned out to be the 4A state champions that year, so that win at the beginning of the season was huge. Throughout the season, I started to play a bigger and bigger role, and soon we were on our way to compete for the 2A state championship against Bishop England, a private school down in Charleston. They were a pretty good team, and we led them at half 2-0, but that lead was soon gone after they scored two quick goals in the second half. Then, they scored a third to go up 3-2. I had just finally come in to the game about the time they scored the third goal, but luckily, we were able to score a game-tying goal and force overtime. After another thirty minutes of playing, we had to go to penalty kicks to decide the game. After our first two guys made theirs, and their first guy made his, but the second guy's was saved, it was my turn. As a freshman, in a huge game, I made my PK to put us up 3-1. They made their third kick, and our guy made our fourth. So it was 4-2, and if our goalie saved their fourth kick, we would win. The team got ready to charge our keeper, and as we were all holding each other, we watched the goalie save the fourth kick, so we won the state title!! That was one of the best experiences I have ever had.
Now, I am playing on the club soccer team here at Clemson for my second year, and have been a part of a lot of successes already. The first tournament I played in we won, which was really awesome. Then, we won a tournament down at the University of Florida. The trip back was long, but it was oh so gratifying. I have also been playing intramural soccer since I got to Clemson in the fall of 2006. My freshman year, we had a really good team, and when the playoffs started, we were ranked #1 out of all the teams playing soccer. The really neat thing was that most of our team were made up of free agents, and people I had never met until our first game. We really came together well and were a pretty good team. Unfortunately, we lost in the quarterfinals to a pretty good team that had a lot of foreign players who were very skilled, so it was not too bad of a loss. Last year, we had a lot of the same players back, and after losing our first game, we won the rest of them by 1 goal, every game. We made it to the final game, which, fittingly, we won 1-0. It was such an awesome experience and win, and hopefully we can repeat that performance this year.
Well, I think that's about it for all the exciting soccer in my life...so far.