Reflection on "Employers Study Applicants' Personalities"

I believe the article "Employers Study Applicants' Personalities" by Ellen Simon presented some good ideas. I believe that teaching someone a skill is just as important as their personality. A person has to be able to do the job, but also be able to work well with coworkers. With skill and a good personality, the job will most likely be done well and of good quality because of the positive atmosphere. In my opinion, the interview process that Rackspace uses would be very effective. They have interviewers go through an all day interview. After approximately 10 hours, a company will know a great deal about a person. I also believe companies that include coworkers in interviews would be effective. Coworkers are going to want a person they feel is intelligent, hard-working, and personable.

Dual Coding Theory

I was watching TV and saw a Levi jeans commercial. A boy is pulling up his jeans and the ground level of the building comes up with them. He finds himself on the street looking at a girl that is also wearing Levi jeans. It is obvious that they are attracted to each other. The dual coding theory is used in this commercial because it uses pictures and words to appeal to young men and women. It portrays that if you wear Levi jeans, you are attractive.

I also saw a Geico commercial that portrayed the dual coding theory. It was using celebrities to promote Geico insurance. Because of the words celebrities used and visual images of celebrities promoting the insurance, the dual coding theory was used. This commercial is trying to appeal to men and women using celebrities because many people want to be like celebrities.

Group Work

I have learned that group work can be easy at times and hard at times for college students. My group has done very well with communicating. We communicate a lot through email which avoids many miscommunications because the information is in writing to refer back to. There has been once or twice that an email has been unclear and I have had to ask for an explanation. Also, my group is not good with setting exact deadlines. We usually say to get the work done as soon as possible and email it to the person it should go to. Sometimes this halts progress because everyone's schedules are different, and certain times are better for some than others. This could be avoided in the future and phase 2 by setting a specific time for everyone to have their work completed. Frequent group meetings to discuss the project in detail has been very successful for my group, and email has also worked well. I like that everyone in my group does their share of the work. I think my group has been a good group to work with.

Interview

This interview experience was the first I have ever had. From my interview, the biggest thing I learned is what types of questions to expect an interviewer to ask. After my interview I made some notes on the questions I was asked so I can be prepared for my real interview in the future. This was an all-around great learning experience for me because I really did not know what to expect, except for the pointers Mrs. Rogers gave in class. I do not believe there is any way I could have made my interview on Monday very much better because I did not really know how to prepare myself. In the future, I will know what types of questions to prepare for and practice. From this experience, I also learned that it is best to prepare a cover letter to present with your resume and send a follow-up thank you letter to the interviewer. If I had not learned that in this class, I would have not have known to do that. I feel this interview provided me with a better understanding of what the whole interview process involves.

CPR Class

I am going to talk about my ED 322 class, CPR class. I have been amazed at how much there is to remember about CPR. It is definitely not as easy as it looks. Learning CPR is different for an infant, child, and adult. There are AED machines you have to learn about and the procedures are different for infants, children, and adults. You have to be mindful of heart problems and respiratory problems. There are different procedures for a choking infant, child, and adult. There are different procedures if the victim is unconscious or conscious. I have taken all of the written tests and done well so far, but we are about to have an individual skills test. Now that I have started studying, it is really hard to remember the minor differences in the procedures. It is frustrating that there are so many different things to learn, but I know that it is very important. In a real situation, I know that it will be very important for me to know all of the details because it could make the difference in saving someone’s life. Wish me luck on my test!

Presentations

I believe everyone did a great job on their presentations. Everyone seemed prepared with their information and PowerPoints. I also enjoyed the variety of topics that were chosen. Many people chose great topics for a college audience. It made the presentations very interesting! I believe the PowerPoints were all really good. I liked the pictures in the PowerPoints the most. It brought the presentations to life because the class was able to see some of the things that were being discussed. One presentation that I will remember is Derek's presentation on great places to eat around Clemson. Some of the places he mentioned, I would definitely like to try. I also like that he told on what nights certain restaurants had different activities. I also enjoyed Savannah's presentation on crabs. It was exciting to see how much fun a pet crab can be!

Traveling

I love to travel, so I am going to talk about some parts of a trip I took during the summer of 2001. I took a three week trip to Europe with the People to People Student Ambassador Program. I traveled to France, Austria, Switzerland, Germany, and Italy. The most memorable part of my trip was my homestay in Austria. I stayed with a family for 5 days. The family consisted of a mother, father, and 3 daughters. The oldest daughter was my age, 14, and her name was Elka. The other two were just a few years younger. The family spoke German and was not very fluent in English. Elka was learning English in school so we could communicate a fair amount, but she had a small computerized translator for her family and the words she did not know how to translate. One day I was able to go to school with her and see the kinds of things they were learning and the teaching techniques of the teachers. On the day I went, she had a math class, English class, sewing class, and soccer practice. One night I went to see a school play with her. The other days I was there she did not have school. One of those days we went to the mall, and the other we spent with her friends. I really enjoyed my stay with this family, I was sad to leave. After I returned home I wrote a letter to Elka using the address she gave me, but never received one in return so I have not been able to keep in touch. I was scared at first to stay with a family all by myself, but this experience was very enjoyable and what I remember the most about the trip.

My favorite country out of them all was Italy. If I ever get the opportunity to travel to Europe again, I will definitely return to Italy. My two favorite cities were Venice and Rome. They were both very beautiful and the food was great! I did alot of shopping, got to ride in a gondola, and see many great sites. We also got to see many famous attractions in the other countries that I enjoyed. I was really excited to travel to France because I had always wanted to see the Eiffel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, and the Louvre. I had heard about these places in school, and saw them alot on television. To actually get to see them was awesome! I would highly recommend this program to other students because I really learned alot and had a wonderful time!