To Spring 2009 students

This class should be an enjoyable one. It is easy to be successful. You should always be paying attention not only for the class but many of the things you will learn, you will most likely need to use in your future. For example, you will all have to write resumes at some point as well as cover letters. This class is an extremely useful one. The assignments are not difficult but still warrant a good effort for you to prepare yourself for the business world.

The client project will most likely be the biggest challenge that you face in this class. Teamwork and good communication are the two most important factors in being successful with the project. You will need to work well with your team and know how to work together to come up with a collective project that displays the best from all of you. Communication with your client will also be important. The project is designed for their needs, therefore you should constantly email, call, etc. to get important details and get a good idea of what they want. If you can accomplish those two things, you should be set.

Blogs will be very simple. That basically just requires that you put in a decent effort and get in your assignment on time. It's very simple to create and there is not much more advice that I can give. The portfolios are another thing that you can use again in your future business life. You can create a simple website or organize your collective works on blackboard. For those of you graduating in 2010 or later, you will need to know that to graduate anyway. To make the most of the class you really just need to put in a good effort, show up to class, and pay attention. None of this should come boring to you because you will most likely use most or all of it in your future. Good luck

Client Project Reflection

My team members brought some great ideas to the table. Everytime I work with a group, I get better at working with a team. This project was unlike anything I have ever done before and has helped me hone my art skills a little more. The best thing about this project is that it was new and gave me a new way to express my creativity in a visual, artistic way. The biggest challenge was trying to format our brochure and make it look as professional as possible but still make it look visually appealing to kids as well as parents. One thing I have learned is how to visually arrange a project such as this to look professional.

Dual-Coding

In this ad, the first element I notice is the text above the door frame that says "Practice Like Champions." This sends out a very obvious message that you are looking from inside a locker room and this is a motivational message to the athletes to keep up their work ethic so they can reach their long-term goals. This obviously plays to Nike because they sell sporting equipment and this is something you need to "practice like a champion."

The next thing I noticed was the second set of text that says, "We Believe." It's obvious this a motivating message from fans to get athletes fired up before the game. However, I feel as though it doesn't quite a fit with the theme that the audience already has in its mind which is
"hard work leads to being a good athlete." While these two messages are very good ones they don't work together all that well in the same ad. It presents two separate messages that do not fit well when you're advertising for only one purpose. They also distract from one another.

At first glance, this does seem like an effective ad, but when you take a few seconds to analyze it, it does not flow very well. Overall, this ad is not as effective as it could be.

Miscommunication

When I was 16, i worked at Subway. It was not a fun job. We were also the only Subway in the area that had a drive-thru. the only problem was that our drive-thru system only included the speaker and headset. We had no formal drive-thru computer system. All we could do is either take their order and write it down and have them wait 10 minutes on 3 subs or make their order as they say it meaning they gave us one ingredient every 20 seconds. As you can imagine this was not efficient and Subway really doesn't need a drive-thru. We make our sandwiches in front of the customer and it takes a while so it's much easier for every one involved if customers just came inside. The miscommunication happened several times while using the drive-thru system. We sometimes misinterpreted whatever they were saying and gave them the wrong sandwich or wrong toppings. Sometimes people did not realize it and drove off only to drive back 20 minutes later with many complaints. This was due to our poor speaker. We may have lost customers from unhappy people who got the wrong order. This could have been prevented by investing in a better speaker system. Also by getting rid of the system all together. This is the best solution since the whole point of Subway's service is for people to come inside and watch their sandwich being made so they never get a wrong order. And because everything is fresh, it takes a little while to get a sandwich made and there is usually two people helping out to keep the line moving faster. So this was a bad decision by our subway manager to put in a drive thru system.

My Mock Interview

I thought that my mock interview went very well. I'm very comfortable talking about myself and I've had a lot of practice with interviewing with all of the part time jobs that i've had. Granted none of those jobs were anything very serious that will determine my career but the actual interview process isn't that much difference and has provided with me with some great interview experience. I've also been on the other side of the table as well. I'm on the board of CLEMSONLiVE and we do member applications and interviews every semester and I get to be the actual interviewer and it helps to know as an interviewer what you're looking for as well and gives you a little more help when you're the interviewee. I really wasn't very nervous about what I had to say, I was more nervous about how I say it. I'm not the best speaker in the world and I do worry about how I am perceived when I try to put forth an idea or thought. However, other than taking a public speaking class (which i will take next semester) there isn't much I can do other than relax and take my time and my interviews usually work out pretty well.

The only question that threw me was if i had any questions for angela because normally I might have some but since (in real life) i knew she couldn't answer them, i hadn't thought of any before. One question that didnt actually throw me but I always find it a little difficult to answer is the question "what are some of your weaknesses?" i feel you have to have answer for that question because everyone has them. however, you have to answer in a way that your weakness is not a major problem and potentially something that won't matter in the long run. you basically have to find a weakness that makes you look good and that's not easy. I was very pleased with how my interview went and I wouldn't change anything about it. One thing I learned is how impressive it is to know some specific details about the company you're applying to and that is something I will definitely do in the future.

3 topics i liked.

I particularly enjoyed the hummus presentation. It was very unique and even though i don't like hummus, it was pretty informative. i might just have to keep that info around if someone ever asks me for a hummus recipe.

I also enjoyed the presentation on dark chocolate. i love dark chocolate a lot so that definitely struck my interest when i saw the topic. I always knew it was good for you but i didn't know any specifics so it makes me feel a little better when i'm eating way too much. it kinda made me want to leave class and go buy some.

I thought the presentation on Rick Reuben was pretty good as well. The topic was definitely unique and i thought it was cool that the light was shined on someone who does so much but rarely sees the spotlight. I definitely didn't know all of those fun facts about him. I also learned that he is very influential in the world of music and is responsible for many of the hits we all love.

free topic....tommy bowden

ok, its time for me to get this all out. this has been building up for me and most other clemson fans. tommy bowden needs to go. i would say the alabama game was the last straw but i think it was long before that. this is tommy bowden's best team that he's had during his entire tenure here and the best he can come up with is 34-10. we know its not the players. cullen harper had an awesome year last year, we know he's capable. same with davis and spiller. our o-line did not give one down where everybody was blocked for at least 3-4 seconds. i know they're young but it was ridiculous. and we had some struggles with the cupcake teams that should have never come up.

there is no reason for tommy bowden to still be here. he has coached here for 8 years and not even reached the acc championship game. there only 6 teams on our half. so just based on statistics it should have happened at least 1.33 times. we've had the players year after year and nobody to lead them to the orange bowl. i mean i could have dealt with a loss to alabama but that was more than a loss. 34-10. they didnt even look like they were trying. there was no fight. the sad thing is we had so many returners this year but i didnt recognize the clemson tiger football team. they were not out on that field. davis and kelly may have ruined their chances to be a high draft choice by not leaving early.

tommy bowden just cannot surpass mediocrity which, we all know, is not what clemson football is about. with other teams this is usually the point where people are like "if you think you know so much, why dont you get out there and coach" and then people shut up. and guess what? tommy bowden is at the point where i COULD probably coach. the playcalling is ridiculous. our playbook is full of beating a dead horse. direct snaps to davis and spiller, screen passes on 3rd and long. its idiotic. an acc championship is still possible but thats because all of the other acc teams suck and have had poor showings as well so far. not due to bowden's coaching ability. Everybody also says that Bowden is still here because of his recruiting. I'll admit he did a great job with that especially this year. But great recruiting does you no good if you can't develop them into a team at the college level which is what bowden lacks immensely.

the worst part of the alabama game is that we and the media all talked about what a great team we should have and we're favorited and we have a clean slate. and then it only took about an hour and a half (the point where we knew its probably over) to dirty that slate up. clemson fans went from excited to crushed so quickly and we all know the solution...

Cover Letter Advice

I agree with pretty much all of the advice given. It's good to show that you've put in effort in finding out about the company and actually care about the job that you are applying for. One thing I do disagree with is that I believe it's okay to mention one or two things about yourself. For example, if there is something you want the hiring manager to know, that simply can't be expressed in a resume, then it is okay to have it there as long as you keep it to a minimum. Cover letters must also be unique as well. On the other hand, the advice not to write too much about yourself was very helpful and is something I will keep in mind when i'm writing my cover letter.

Another piece of helpful advice was not to generalize your cover letter. Don't send the same on to several different companies and simply change the name of the receiver. Hiring managers want to see specifics about you and your goals for this company, should you be hired. All of these tutorials will be very helpful when I start my cover letter.

Interview Preparation

One interesting article I read was "how to answer the toughest questions." I had always struggled with answering the salary question when I interviewed for a part time job. This article was helpful in suggesting different ways to select a range for your answer. I still feel like it's not a fair question for interviewees because there's no way to tell what answer they are looking for. I also enjoyed the advice from the "silly question." I've never been asked this yet at a job interview so it was good to hear how to prepare myself if this question ever came up because had i not read that article, i wouldn't be sure of what to say when i hear that question.

Another interesting article I read was "turning the tables on a bad interviewer." It was interesting because i've had a few interviews turn out like this where I felt I was more qualified than the person interviewing me. I liked some of the interesting ways they show you to keep the interview going and getting the information out that you want out if the interview isn't asking the right questions. The "ask for a tour" idea is probably pretty good since you can get in some good conversation and questions you may not have thought to ask beforehand. Both of these articles will help immensely for my next interview.

Where i want to be in 10 years...

In ten years, I see myself hopefully practicing law at a fairly prestigious law firm. My career goals as of now are not set in stone because im not 100% sure i want to go to law school but it seems to be the best option for me as of now. I hope to practice some sort of civil law which, for the average person, means arguing cases that involve disputes between two people usually relating to money or property.

In ten years, I hope to be fairly rich. The law profession pays fairly well depending on where and what you practice. But as of right now an attorney at an entry level position at a private firm makes $72,000/ year on average. I dont picture a mansion but I would like to be rich enough to not have to worry about money. I do plan on donating some of that money to charity just because I think its extremely selfish for anybody on this planet to make that much money (which is way more than they need) and keep it all to themselves. I might give money back to clemson however if the current tuition rates keep going up like they are, they might not need it when kids are paying 50,000 a year for school. I would like to keep my residence in Charleston if possible. That is where I'm from and I love it there. However, if a job cannot be found there I will have to go whereever the jobs are. I dont really seek fame for being a lawyer like cochran or kenneth star. I've often wondered what it would be like to be famous. Its something that if it was temporary, i would like to try it. I think getting that kind of attention for a little while would be kinda cool. Everybody recognizing you and wanting pictures. However, that would get old fast and once you're famous, you can't really turn back and that's not something I would want for the rest of my life or for my kids.

In 10 years, I hope to have either been recently married or have already met the person i want to spend the rest of my life with. I dont understand the people that are already willingly getting married and having kids at my age. Dont you know you have the rest of your life for that? In 10 years I also plan to maybe have an infant or be in the process of trying for a couple children. I want no more than 3 (2 sounds better). I dont understand the people with 8 kids. That is the point in your life where "fun" starts packing its things and getting ready to leave. I would love to have kids but i still want a life of my own. I would liked to have traveled a little. Travel isnt as high on my agenda as some other people. I have no idea what my kids names will be but I plan to raise them just as my parents raised me because they were the best parents I could ask for. Just because i'm rich does not mean I will allow my kids to act like those brats from that sweet 16 mtv show. if my kids act like that, im calling dss to come take them away. I think that pretty much sums up where I'd like to be in ten years.

Web 2.0

When the initial line says that text is unilinear, it means that there is very little variety in its use. All you can do with text written on paper is put it on paper, use an eraser (if necessary) and hand deliver or mail it to someone. With digital text there are many more options of what to do with your text. It's very easy to change with the click of a mouse. You can write in many different fonts (whatever the occasion calls for). You can make a hyperlink which can direct your reader to even more wealths of information.

To enter the business workforce, most people need to be familiar with all of the current technologies. They need to know how to send and open e-mails and what are the best mediums to use such as an informal email or an online memo. People who are already in the workforce constantly have to keep up with the changes as new and improved technology is brought forth every day. When it says that we will have to rethink everything, I think they mean that whenever we use anything involving text in the future, technology will play a big role. There are many more different forms we can put it in. The way the context is shown will be much more flexible and is up to the writer themselves. Technology has had a lasting impact on the way we will forever communicate through writing.

About Me

Hey English Classmates + Angela,

I'm a junior psychology major. I am originally from Goose Creek (right outside of Charleston). I'm 20 yrs old and after Clemson, I plan to go to law school and hopefully become an attorney and practice some kind of tort law. I am the treasurer of CLEMSONLiVE and a desk assistant in the Holmes building. I'm currently living in the McCabe building. I love all kinds of sports and really enjoy comedy. I'm a pretty laid back person and I look forward to getting to know you.