Employers Study Applicants' Personalities? Of Course They Do.

After reading this article, I was not surprised at all. Perhaps this is because I have just gone through a lot of interviews and group interviews and have always seen the importance of working well with others.

Many of the employers with whom I interviewed required me to take a personality assessment prior to my interview and asked me questions based on my various answers to the survey. Another employer invited me to a group interview in which we were instructed to sit in a waiting room with associates from the company when we arrived. We later learned that the company judged part of our performance based on how well we interacted with their current associates.

Making sure that a potential employee will work well with the current ones and will have enough zeal and passion to perform his/her job well is crucial in today's competitive job market. Thus, the findings of this article were not surprising to me, but rather, they were expected.

Dual Coding Theory

Employing the use of dual coding theory is perhaps one of the best methods to use in advertising. Dual coding theory uses visuals to trigger the memory of a brand or product. One of the most famous uses of dual coding theory has been used for over fifty years. The Coca-Cola Company has used their contour bottle design extremely widely to represent the entire brand.

According to marketers, this design is the most widely recognized brand in the world. According to accountants, this design is worth over a billion dollars. The benefits of dual coding theory is seen in Coca-Cola as well as in many other brands such as Hardee's. Dual coding theory is certainly helpful to the remembrance of a specific brand or product.

Group Work

My group for the project has been extremely easy with which to work. We have had a few minor miscommunications, but overall, everything has run smoothly.

This experience for me has reinforced the importance of everyone doing a part of the work in a group. When one person falls behind, the entire group can be at a loss. A sense of unity is a great aspect to have when working in a group. For example, in my proposal group, one person found that his part would be much more difficult than we all had expected. Since our team promoted unity, we all divided up the work again and helped him along with his portion.

Another Free Post With Internships on my Mind

About a month has passed since my last free post, and I've still got internships on my mind. Only this time all of the interviews are over, and I am waiting.

I took part in about six interviews for internships this coming Summer, and each of them had varying results. Two employers told me that they probably weren't even going to hire juniors but rather just wanted to see good candidates to keep in their books for next year. Two other employers told me that seniors had precedence over juniors and that my interview performance was great, but my internship prospect is solely contingent on seniors taking internships. One employer offered me a job and is currently looking for openings within the company, and I turned one employer down because I did not want to work for a company with a reputation that is less than par.

My favorite employers so far have been Dixon Hughes, Milliken, and Cherry, Bekaert, and Holland. I believe that I would enjoy working for any of these three companies in my internship. Milliken has already offered me a job once they find an open place for me that meets what I want, and the other two have invited me back for office visits but have not yet contacted me with a solid yes or no. Thus, this week I am left with the prospect of having three great internship offers, which could pan out to be only one. This week will not only be nerve-wracking due to two tests and a proposal due this week but also due to waiting for responses on these two interviews.

I certainly hope that I can attain a solid internship this Summer that hopefully leads me into a job in which I am content. Maybe by the next time I've got a free post, I'll know and can blog about which internship I chose and why I chose it.

Interview Reflection

At this point in my life, being able to perform well in an interview is crucial. Since I had already had six interviews with accounting firms in the two weeks before I had my interview with Ms. Rogers, I went into the interview feeling quite prepared. Still, this interview taught me that even though I had been through many interviews directly before this one, remembering all of the aspects of an interview can be quite difficult even for very prepared people.

Before the interview, I was required to write a cover letter, which I had never done before this semester. Writing the cover letter showed me how to exemplify professionalism and be diplomatic. This interviewing process reassured me that being about fifteen minutes early is beneficial, even if the interviewer is not yet ready for the interviewee. While in the interview, I was also reassured that making a list of practice questions is quite helpful also because a few of the questions I practiced were actually asked in the interview.

Overall, this mock interview experience provided me with feedback and information on what I need to work on in order to become more effective in the interviewing process. While I already knew most of what I experienced from either prior knowledge or interviewing experience, some aspects were completely new to me.

Most Memorable Presentation

The presentation that I remember the most from all of the ones I saw was Mike's presentation about climbing. I've always been interested in activities in the outdoors such as hiking, spelunking, and mountain biking, but I've never heard much about climbing.

Mike's PowerPoint was extremely well-organized. His slides were parallel, and with his speech, they made sense. Mike did not just read the slides out to the class, but rather he expounded upon what he wrote in his bullet points.

Mike's interpersonal communication skills also made his presentation memorable. He was poised and kept speaking smoothly throughout his presentation. Mike even got his audience involved in his presentation, which essentially forced many people to pay attention to what he had to say. Needless to say, Mike's presentation overall was enjoyable, and being that I was interested in what he was saying and how he was saying it, I took more away from his presentation than any of the others in class.

Internships Already?

Coming into college, I had no idea that I would be searching for a summer internship almost a year in advance, but a few weeks after I returned to Clemson, I had to start looking and interviewing. Internships are on my mind because for the last few weeks, interviews, meet-and-greets, and office visits have consumed my life outside of class and homework.

The skills that I'm learning in English 304 have been very pertinent and helpful so far. Thus far, I have had six interviews, each with a social the night before them, as well as one office visit. I think that I should be able to get an internship in Accounting that I want due to my strong resume and my social skills.

The ideal internship for me would be in Greenville, South Carolina, close to where I live. The reason that I would like an internship there is because I could live at home or in Clemson or even both during the summer months. I would also like an internship that pays well, solely because I believe that I should be able to get one of these internships.

My interviews, socials, and visits have all been rather successful, and I think that I should be able to get the kind of internship for which I am looking. Being this close to the real world is a little overwhelming at times, hearing recruiters talking about hiring for full-time positions after completing internships, but I think that I will be able to handle myself.