Week 8 Blog

Our group project consists of informing people how to create effective and successful cover letters and resumes. This topic is something very prevalent to both college graduates and all job hunters alike. Because of its relevance, this information is highly sought after and so should be both easy to access and understand.

I feel like the two largest questions people have about cover letters and resumes are what to include and what to exclude. I feel like these two questions should be presented in the introduction to let the audience know exactly what the main issues covered in the presentation will be. I think it is also very important to note that these pieces of writing are personal and that there are no right and wrong ways to go about writing them, but that there are definitely some important tips to make your writings more effective to the employer.

Examples of sample cover letters and resumes should be shown during the presentation. These samples should include both mistakes and great examples of amazing cover letters and resumes. It is important to show things that are not necessary to include, and make note of good examples within the samples as well.

Our presentation will also include our brochures that have been made for the career service center. The brochures will include great tips to writing cover letters and resumes, links to sites online that help with these processes, and also some other information regarding the topic. Cover letters and resumes can be a daunting process, but with the right help, they are a simple task to let others know your intentions, skills, and desire for employment within a company. They are your chance to shine and be a beacon of light among other employees seeking the job.

Blog week 7

Social networking is a current trend that enable the user to reach mass amounts of people very quickly and effectively. There are so many social networking websites available on the world wide web making it an easy tool to find and create. If you need to promote your business, promote yourself as an artist or employee, or even get others to see your point of view on a situation, websites like facebook, myspace, and twitter can allow you to reach these goals.

For students in the job market, social networking tools can be very useful as before mentioned; but, they can also be very harmful. Many of these sites are monitored by companies looking to hire employees. Unflattering pictures, unacceptable language, and personal views should be kept off of your personal social networking page. These situations can inhibit an employer from hiring a new person in the job market.

I interviewed a fellow graduate in the job market about his views on social networking sites. He talked about many benefits:

"When I was traveling through Europe, I had to use social networking sites like facebook as my primary form of communication. Also, I kept my friends updated by posting pictures, and sharing anecdotes with my friends about my travels. I have also been able to maintain friendships from my past through use of these same sites. Also, I am very aware that many employers screen applicants facebook pages. In a strange way I view it as a chance to promote myself by sharing my life, and my former experiences in the work place with my potential employers."

Social networking sites can be extremely beneficial when dealing with every aspect of life. From friends, family, to future job opportunities, you can be your own advocate.

Week 6 Blog

As of now in this class, we are currently working on a group project. I have never been a fan of group projects, and being that this is an online class, group projects are even harder to coordinate and complete. In a regular classroom setting, you must attend at a particular time. This makes group work far more accessible because it is being done in a classroom at a set time that all people are agreeing to be present. In an online class situation, people are taking an online class because they do not want to be constricted to a class time and structure. Because of this, having group work becomes very difficult since everyone is on different schedules and do not have the comfort of semi-knowing each other from a classroom setting. With this said, I feel this project is not taking complete fruition as I would like it to. I am not a leader by nature, as I do not want to step on anyone's toes, or cross a boundary and tell people what to do. So by my nature alone, I have kind of set back and let others decide project decisions, conference times, etc.

Our proposal is to teach students how to make a cover letter and resume that will be effective for their job search and qualifications. This is a very important part of the employment process, especially for those seeking jobs online, which is where a vast majority of jobs can be found today. Having a quality cover letter that introduces yourself and your intentions with the company are a great way to get the employer to want to look further into your resume. As far as work progress, our group has created the proposal to submit to the teacher. Our proposal outlines exactly what we are intending to do and our schedule for all of the work we want to accomplish. We have yet to have our group skype conference, nor do I know when this conference is supposed to take place. Hopefully I will hear soon.

My main concerns with this project are communication, which is an integral part of this process.