Week 4 EOC: Interview Responses

In an Interview it is possible that you could be challenged with situations or scenarios the employer may give to test your problem solving skills, and ability to think quickly. In this same regard questions that catch you off guard can also be thrown into the interview. But what about questions that are not appropriate or illegal? Many applicants find themselves to be nervous or have already memorized responses to certain questions they know employers will ask. However, it is important to understand what type of questions are inappropriate and the proper way to answer them without giving the employer a bad first impression. If the interviewer decided to ask about personal life interest, a person is well within their rights not to answer. This behavior could be frowned upon and let’s face it, you are there because you want the job. A way to respond without offending the employer could be to make the question light hearted or break up the tension with a clever yet humorous remark. For instance, if they were to ask you if you were in a committed relationship with children in the home, your response could be “is that required?”. This would not only lighten the mood but it would give the employer a chance to explain the reason for asking such a bold personal question, there could be a marketing team that struggles with reaching that market, and if you were one of those people maybe you could be placed in that department to help offer ideas from a personal perspective. Now the question makes more sense if the employer is asking just to be nosey, you could also reply “I have excellent time management skills, and my personal life will never interfere with my work responsibilities. Another great example is drug testing, often many jobs require them, and you must be able to pass. With this being common knowledge we forget that there is still a right and wrong way to answer this question, honesty is not always the best policy in this situation. You may think expressing how you tried drugs as a child but now as an adult you do not, however the employer could have strong feelings towards this and even though “it was a long time ago” they could still choose not to hire you based on that testimony. The proper way to answer, “do you now or have you ever done illegal drugs?” is “If you’re wondering will I be able to pass a drug test, I can assure you, you will be pleased with the results.” This gives the employer a positive outlook on you as an individual, the confidence from a strong answer like that will be sure to have you ahead of other candidates. You will also notice; the question was never answered so there was no lying involved. These are just a few examples but can be modified to really fit into any uncomfortable or inappropriate question that may come up during the interview. 

WEEK 3 EOC; THE CHARMING MAN

 The Charming man had many prejudices throughout the film. Racism was a mainly shown during the film, the Danish against the Muslim immigrants. This is common in American society, as we see racism between many races such as Caucasian and African American, and it tends to be directed both ways. Another prejudice shown in the film was social class, the main character was a peasant girl who was from the country, different from her co-star Lars who was from a higher class from the suburbs. In America people tend to look down on individuals from smaller towns and cities, assuming they are less educated and poor.             

In the film a Muslim man was turned down for a job simply due to his ethnicity, even though he was more than qualified. We have seen many people of the Muslim background get dirty looks or chosen for TSA screenings at the airport, all because of their ethnicity. The film depicted woman only as receptionist, and teachers, while the men were cast as engineers, or bartenders. The same issues arise in American jobs, there are women turned down for mechanic jobs, or have to work hard to gain the respect of their male co-workers in certain jobs. Men have also been overlooked in Teacher positions, especially in early learning programs.

At one point we saw Lars bringing flowers to the woman he loved, and while doing so the other men sort of pointed and laughed, as if he were being unmanly by bringing a woman flowers. In today's society men tend to get ridiculed if they are frequent gym goers or, love to participate in or watch sport, Women also get looks of distaste from other women if they enjoy men's sports, or are very active and muscular in stature. The movie had many parallels to American culture and its struggle with indifference.

Week 2 EOC: Sweet Charity

Sweet Charity Interview

Charity’s interview had a few high and low points, starting out with what went right in the interview; She walked in and immediately introduced herself. She had a pleasant demeanor and although she didn’t look like everyone else in the office she had the right idea to cover up and dress like a young Lady. When the employer asked questions, Charity spoke clearly and answered with assurance. She was the only one to actually go out and attempt to make her dreams happen. While the other girls settled for the dream in the moment and the realization that they would never be or do anything more than what they were doing currently. As the interview went on the questions got more in depth to what Charity could do, this is where it began to go bad. When asked about her skill Charity sold herself short, by claiming that she had no skill at all and had never made it past grade school level education. She didn’t explain to the employer how her current position is 100% customer service, and making sure the customers are happy and taken care of is her main priority. She could have told how well she does her job without exactly describing what it is she does. In the very end, she finally realized she had not chance at getting place at a job, and her biggest mistake was that she began to beg the employer. Begging him to find her anything lowered her overall value and put the nail in the coffin for that interview and in any decision, being made on her future employment options. She should have stood up for herself, whether she got the job or not she would have been able to leave there with her dignity intact. 

Week 1 EOC: Best and Worst jobs

Best and Worst jobs,

       It's always easy to talk about our negative job experiences and all the positions we've held that were less than desirable. However I have a few jobs that I enjoyed, back in 2012 I moved to Nevada and started working for the City of Henderson as a Preschool Teacher. Sounds stressful, but being around children at that age is refreshing and somewhat unspoiled. The honesty behind their actions, the pureness of their energy was amazing. Those kids had no filter and my co-workers and I spent most of the day laughing, I got to see them grow from not knowing their ABC's to being able to completely write their full name, address and parents phone number's. everyday was a fun time with those little people and the smiles and stories I got from them, I will never forget.  Now moving to one of my worst jobs was a position I held with Carmax, I was the DMV Title Administrator. This job was by far the absolute worst job I've ever had in my life, and the work itself wasn't to blame, it was in large part due to the company and the way they allowed superiors to treat employees. To explain the conditions, well I'd end up with a novel, a small example for one of the things my supervisor would do for "fun" is, if you had a vacation day scheduled next Thursday, they would make you work Thursday through Wednesday, until your vacation day came. Not because of shift coverage, simply because they could. Many small petty things like that, if someone needed to leave and pick their child from school, or last minute family issue, they wouldn't be allowed to leave EVEN when were fully staffed and it was slow. It was just a horrible environment. Other than those two, my jobs have been pretty moderate, I enjoyed them but they wouldn't make Forbes top places to work. I did love working at this sports bar in Oklahoma where i tended bar, that position was a lot of fun and never a dull moment. Retail is one of my most non enjoyable memories, shocking considering my degree, but again it goes back to management, not the workload. I was a Manager in training at an Express, however my superior treated me as if I were her personal assistant, she never taught me the functions of the store, so when the district manager would visit and ask me questions I looked incompetent. I just remember hating having to go into work everyday. All of these jobs gave me great experiences and I've taken away something from each position I held.

Week 1 EOC: My voice

My Voice:

I am a Funding Specialist with CPS Finance INC. I currently maintain portfolio of 50+ Auto loan accounts ensuring compliance, efficiency, and accuracy of company and government standards. Highly skilled in project and research management as well as analyzing and making business decisions by controlling corporate risk, and minimizing costs. Strong emphasis on improving efficiency, productivity and organizational consistency. Reviews credit requests, business credit scores, business reports and consumer bureaus. Evaluate collateral adequacy, industry risk, purpose and viability of business. I work to obtains and analyzes pertinent financial and credit data to assist in determining the risk of the loan.
I determine appropriate structure and pricing considering borrower type, industry, collateral, risk while documenting any deviations from the prescribed structure.  I Assess strengths and weaknesses of loan requests. Outside of my professional work, I attend The Art Institute of Las Vegas. I am working to obtain my Bachelors in Retail Management Marketing & Merchandising. Before I joined my current company, I worked at Carmax, where I held the position of DMV Administrator from January 2013 to July 2014, while there I ensured that associates are diligently working and keeping up with the daily task as well as ensure that all transactions run smoothly. Handle paperwork and details of the transaction, through attention to detail, and organization. Some of my other responsibilities included processing documents associated with customer vehicle purchases, assisting customers with questions on tag and title information and processing title transfers, completing DMV paperwork. Assisting the purchasing team with in-store auctions, handling accounts payable functions, tendering cash transactions, and preparing bank deposits. Mentor and supervise new associates to be cross trained in office. Schedule writing and writing file reviews for associates.  During my time with Carmax I received a few awards; I was awarded President's Club level membership since 2011 for continuous high customer service survey scores. I have also received rewards for achieving one of the stores fastest Appraisal times. While delivering exceptional customer service. Some of my skills include, strong commitment to customer service, good communications and attention to detail. When I first moved to Nevada I worked for the city of Henderson as a Preschool Teacher, from January 2011 to December 2013. While there I taught children daily lessons, and crafts. Tidy and set up classroom every morning before class and after. Organize paper work and file registration forms and packets, i.e. shot records, medical history etc. I held a position with Commerce Bank when I lived in Tulsa, OK. I was a Tell at the bank from July 2008 to January 2011. My job description and duties required me to process transactions, deposits, withdrawals, transfers, and check cashing. I Assisted customers in managing their accounts and answering any questions they inquire about their personal or business account. Process 20 to 25 customer transactions each hour. Monitor supply levels, conduct inventories, and maintain inventory records. Balance cash drawer at the beginning and end of each business day. Maintain correct cash limits in drawer. This is me in my professional life, great customer service and the ability to learn and multitask in high volume  situations.