Applicants' Personalities

I thought that this was an interesting article because I did not know that some companies out there hire employees that gel with the company surroundings. I always felt that companies hired the best qualified people and that was all that was needed. The "weeding out" that these companies do remind me a lot of college and how most majors do this to make sure they have the very best students. I have never had to really interview or go through the process of "weeding out" for a job. It does comfort me however that there are companies that do not focus strictly on your resume like grades and such. It helps people who are great workers and have people-friendly personality compete with the people who are more academically sound. I have heard from several people including my dad that, the job will teach you a vast majority of what you need to know for it. The academics and resume just get the proverbial "foot in the door." I hope that when it is my time to interview for a job after college, that I can stay strong even if I do not get the first job I interview for. If I do get a job and initially I do not like it, I hope that I can keep my head up and show a great attitude because another job that I am better suited for and like will eventually come around.

Dual Coding Theory

On Monday, we talked about dual coding theory and how it affects what people think and feel about certain things. Marketing by companies is a great why to display dual coding theory in your advertisement. A product is more likely to sell when it is accompanied by something that is appealing to the consumer. The Peyton Manning commercials involve dual coding theory and I think that they work on the viewer. There is one commercial that he does for a cellular phone company in hopes of selling the product. Peyton dresses up like some random guy and plays up his celebrity. Commercials like this work because they grab the viewers attention and convince them "that if Manning uses this product I should to." Viewers deep down know that Manning probably does not use the product, but since he is promoting the product they should buy it. This image stays in the viewers head, and causing them to keep thinking about the product. This is a very effective tool that is used in advertisements everyday. Any type of commercial that has great music, colors, or anything that sort of takes away from the product but also causes the viewer the think about the product, is a great use of dual coding theory.

Group Work

The experience I have had with my group has been one that I have enjoyed. We have had some miscommunication about when we were going to meet. These can avoided by posting when meetings are in enough time that everyone can go to them. Meetings decided at the last minute are very hard to have all the group members attended. Coming up with ideas was something that was very successful for me. For the web site, ideas were constantly flowing in our group. I thought the cohesiveness of my group was the best part about it. We all got along great together so it was easy to work together. I think that for Phase 2 we need to probably have more meetings. We need to focus harder on doing the work faster. Overall, I have enjoyed the time working with my group.

Interview Reflection

My interview Monday was the first interview that I have ever done. I was very nervous going into the interview because I did not know what to expect. I noticed once I was beginning the interview, that I needed to just be myself. I also noticed that it is better to answer everything truthful than to get caught in a false statement. In the interview it is better to stay calm and to talk about yourself and not be afraid of the questions that are going to be asked. When a person is nervous, he or she tends to forget how to answer specific questions. Also a nervous person stalls a lot because he or she is so nervous, nothing is coming to mind to satisfy a question.

If I were to be able to take the interview again there are a few things I would change. The slight nervousness that I experienced when I first began the interview, is something that I would not experience if I had the interview again. Once the first interview is done with people tend to feel better about each interview that is done afterwards. I also would have printed off my resume and cover letter a day before the interview. Printing the papers off a few minutes before the interview only made me become nervous. However, I did enjoy the interview and I believe that it was a good experience for me in the future. I will feel confident when interviewing for my future job.

Clemson Football

Clemson football reasserted itself as a premier football team with a big win Saturday. Clemson beat Central Michigan University 70 - 14 in what the most lopsided victory of the season. The win I believe helped boost up confidence for a team that lost two straight conference games. The 70 points score by Clemson was the most scored at Memorial Stadium since 84 points were scored in a win over Wake Forest in 1981. Clemson also passed for 300 yards and rushed for 300 yards for the first time in its history. Overall I think the Clemson win will fuel the team into finishing the season strong. I was however really disappointed that Clemson scored that many points on CMU, but it did seem that even the third string could not be stopped. It was a good win for Clemson and hopefully they will have a few more wins this year.

Presentation Reflections

I enjoyed the powerpoint presentations last Wednesday and Friday. I remember the presentations that contained many pictures because something visual is easier to recall. The ones that stick out the most to me were ones about family travels. I thought my classmates did an excellent job mixing images with certain points presented in the presentation. I remember that each presenter seemed like he or she loved the trip and loved that it could be shared. Overall, I thought that all of the presentations were very good. I feel like I learned new information with each presentation.

Clemson Football

Since this is a free blog topic, I decided to write about the state of Clemson football. Clemson lost its second straight football game Saturday, this time to Virginia Tech. Clemson continues to struggle on offense and special teams. Virginia Tech jumped to an early lead thanks to an interception returned for a touchdown and a punt return for a touchdown. Clemson had to play from behind a majority of the game, which ruined any chance of establishing a running game. Play calling has been a big problem for me this year. It seems to me that we are playing not to lose instead of playing to win. The play calls are very conservative and it seems that we are not prepared to play. The defense played very good this weekend like they have every game with the exception of the Furman and U-L Monroe games. I think some things need to change in order for the team to once again become a contender in the ACC. The football team has overcome adversity before the Coach Bowden's tenure and I believe that they can and will overcome it again.

How to Answer Any Interview Question?

I was surprised by what I read in this article by Perri Capell of CareerJournal.com. He writes that you as an interviewee can convey any message you want regardless of the question asked by a potential employer. I did not realize this, and I have always been nervous as to what questions will be asked to me when attending an interview. The interviewee must prepare a couple key messages to explain after initially answering the question of the interviewer. The messages must be bridged with the original question asked, otherwise the interviewee looks as if he or she is trying start a interview topic. This is was something that I did not consider important, I always believed that the interviewee answered a question and then sat patiently waiting for another one. I consider this to be groundbreaking in terms of helping me prepare for an interview. The better I am prepared for it, the greater the chance I do not panic and look professional. I agree with all the points made, especially about studying hard for the interview, be knowledgeable of anecdotes, and be positive about negative things. The last one is important because people tend to focus more on what they do negatively and not on the positive. By being positive about the negative, you are telling your future employer of mistakes but are explaining the good that has resulted from them and how you have prevailed.

My Life Ten Years From Now

It is weird to think about what I plan on doing in ten years. I can barely think of what I'm going to be doing tomorrow minus class. I do however believe that in ten years I will be a practicing CPA in a nicely populated area. I would like to married with two kids with a house in Edisto. I would like to commute to work everyday in downtown Charleston. I would like to have my own accounting firm started up with good hours so I would be able to spend time with my wife and kids. My family would be the most important thing in my life like it is now. My mother, father, and brother are the most important people to me and I realize how much they care about me. My father works all the time to provide my family with what we need, but he also makes time to spend with us everyday. I would like to be like my father in ten years. I think that if I cared about my family as much as he does my mother, brother, and me, then I believe that everything would be alright. Hopefully in ten years, I'll be able to take my family on exotic, educational trips to Italy, France, and other European countries. I enjoy history and I would like to be financially secure enough to be able to afford trips like that. Money is not the biggest thing in the world to me. I believe that it is faith and family and if you have both you will be the happiest and most content you could ever be. I would like to say to finish this blog up that I would like for all of this to be here in ten years but ultimately it is up to God. With my faith in God, He has a plan for me so ten years down the road will be determined ten years down the road.