Tuesday, April 11, 2017

Week 2 EOC: Sweet Charity Interview

Sweet Charity is a movie that deals with a character that endeavors to leave her current job as a taxi dancer and work in an office setting. In one scene she goes before employment agency, during this scene she is interview about her skills and education. There were a few things that she did right and a few things wrong. The first thing she did right was the way she dressed, when she shows up for the interview she is dressed more conservative than normal. However, her style of clothing is in contrast to the rest of the workers. She could have looked at the dress code or just at the way people there dressed. “One researcher estimates that in 85% of the cases, interviewers had made up their minds before the interview even began, based on first impressions the interviewers gleaned from candidates’ applications and personal appearance.” Page 209. During her interview she responds to the questions with a no too quickly. Instead she should have said was willing to learn those skills. “Interviewers who don’t have an accurate picture of what the job entails and what sort of candidate is best for it usually make their decisions based on incorrect impressions or stereotypes of what a good applicant is. They then erroneously match interviewees with their incorrect stereotypes.” page 209. During the termination of the interview when she is being told that she won’t get the job and he thinks this a joke instead of causing a scene she allows herself to leave with a sense of grace. While this was a good choice a better choice she should have taken was to ask about locations to attain the skills needed for the jobs she was being interviewed about; or she could have asked about jobs that would allow her to attain those skills. “In rejecting a candidate, one perennial question is, should you provide an explanation or not? In one study, rejected candidates who received an explanation felt that the rejection process was fairer. Unfortunately, doing so may not be practical. Most employers say little, to avoid pushback and legal problems.” Page 214.

Dessler, Gary. Human Resource Management, 15th Edition. Pearson Learning Solutions, 2016. [The Art Institutes].

Tuesday, April 4, 2017

Week 1 EOC: Best and Worst Job

The best job I ever had was at Raising Canes. While the pay was not the greatest, but for a first job was fair, it was great working environment. The manager staff was fantastic. They made you feel like an important person and valued you as a human being. On top of this they were also able to make working fun and productive. In addition, they recognized peoples’ birthdays by bring them a cake for individuals that worked on their birthdays. The worst job I ever had was a Vector Marketing which is a subsidiary for Cutco. While the job was fun, direct sales person for knives and other household goods, the managing staff was very harsh on you. If you had high sales, they would give you recognition; but if you had low sales you demeaned in front of the entire work office. The pressure to be in office in order to make appointments was high, demand for a minimum of 10 appointments to be set up with in 2 hours on a Wednesday evening every week in office were you were cheered or booed depending on your numbers was a sure fire way to make people feel unappreciated. The language that was used in that office was also demeaning. In total recognition I feel that for both of these companies the management team in charge will either make or break how people perceive jobs as being great or bad places to work at.

Week 1 EOC: My voice

In the English world there is an old adage along the lines of, “If you can’t stand the heat of the kitchen; Get out!” While in the culinary industry the heat of a professional kitchen is higher than a home one; there are so many other factors that influence the industry and how well you do in it. As a culinary professional I can say that this industry is a very hard one to work in. While a viewer from the outside my say that the work done in this industry is relatively easy, it is not. This industry is rough and merciless. As I continue to adapt and climb the ladder of my industry, I develop more skills that allow me to be successful as well as attain meaningful knowledge. I continually seek out jobs that will challenge me in ways that I have never been; my dreams and aspirations in my field have been extensive. I do not wish to be a simple line cook or executive chef; my end goal is to work as the executive chef for the White House. How I reach my goal is through a 12 year plan I have set up.