Job Search, Application and Interview Process

The last three modules about job searching, applications, and the interview process were quite helpful in finding a job that you truly enjoy. I loved learning about all the websites dedicated to pairing the correct employee with the correct employer. Many of the links in these modules were helpful to show job skills necessary for certain careers and how to change careers in a bad economy. Many thing that we as job searchers don't think about were covered like knowing a response to interview questions before they are even asked or finding out company history before putting in an application, not only to be informed, but to well match yourself for the job. These resources can help the unemployed by giving them a leg up on the competition and making them stand out to competitors. I learned a lot about resume building and the importance of a cover letter. Through this class I think I'm better suited to join the workforce and make an outstanding candidate for employment just by acquiring necessary skills, such as these.
Brandee Turney

PowerPoint Project

The PowerPoint project was mostly fun. I really enjoyed pretending I was actually making a business savvy presentation. Making the presentation seem effortless was more work than expected. I thought because the examples looked effortless that it would be easy, but there was much more science to it. The slides on PowerPoint worked wonderfully. What didn't work was uploading the project to Voicethread. That was a pain. Not only was voice editing a hassle, but part of Microsoft PowerPoint were incompatible. I had to change the graph I made and edit the presentation and re upload it. I am definitely not a fan of Voicethread. I learned that next time I will just use voice recording on PowerPoint. I will also use that in my professional career because all you have to do is start recording and it sync's your voice with each slide, tells you how long your recording is and times your slides in tune with it. In Voicethread there were long delay between the slides. I feel that professionally using PowerPoint would be much more refined than the alternative.
Brandee Turney

The Journey So Far....

It is amazing to say that we are 11 weeks in and not much more to go!!  It's been a crazy journey!!  I had no idea I would have such a hard time managing my time, but it sure has been an experience!  This class has taught me how to become a better leader.  I benefited the most from earlier on in the course when we learned about social media and all the different kinds.  I am still getting emails from twitter!  There is so much to learn and I'm going in the right direction.  Also I learned a lot of writing letters or persuasion and also of bad news letters.  It is never easy to do these but I learned some great tips on the right way of going about telling people bad news in a positive way.  For the most part, everything has been beneficial in helping me better my communication.  I am very happy with this class!

Silverleaf Media Exchange

I currently work for Silverleaf Resorts, Inc. The business is vacation time share sales. I currently work in the Reservations Department. My job includes answering phone calls and entering vacation reservations into each individual owner's account. When speaking with owners of vacation rental weeks, often you run across misunderstanding. The owners that we speak to often do not where to begin.Social media such as a Corporate blog may help those that are computer literate to thoroughly understand what guidelines to follow. The owners of said vacation weeks purchase after attending a seminar which is lengthy to say the least. By the time they purchase the deed(much like buying real estate) they are tired and ready to leave. What the purchasers of the accounts purchase after one day of learning, our department learns over a period of three weeks. It is a very hard subject to understand in just one day. A corporate blog would help them, after all the excitement has worn off, to understand how to best utilize their vacation package and what options they have. A blogging site would also help those who have questions to quickly access the answers they are looking for and reference similar questions, as well. This would greatly increase customer satisfaction and offer instant feedback from those who have great ideas. Many of our owners have excellent ideas that would make vacationing expedient and simplified(and who doesn't like simplicity?). When we receive customer feedback it takes a while to climb the corporate ladder, but a blog for Silverleaf would make recommendations instant and allow for the corporate office to build off of ideas. We recently make the change to making reservations and viewing your package details online. It has not only taken a burden of calling in off of customers, but has also benefited the company financially. I've loved the changes to corporate outreach lately and if it keeps up the company can grow, exceedingly.
Brandee Turney-Bus 140

Yodel Anecdotal

This is the name of Yahoo's Corporate Blogging site. Yahoo has been an esteemed social media and communications provider for years. Many have Yahoo e-mail and frequently visit yahoo's website for the latest news updates. This corporations has a valued report and continues to move forward, nonetheless. Yahoo's corporate blog entails the individuals that have founded yahoo and continue to make progress daily. Their corporate blog has details of their newest goal for internet social media, video. Even though they are top rated as a search engine, email, and news site, they now strive to be a top-dog in the internet video streaming business. They mention the new project of creating yahoo original TV-quality web shows. They hope to influence a predominantly female audience with these new episodes soon to be aired. Yahoo also strives to include concerts and an array of other new videos to reach their audience quickly and efficiently. This blog is written well and speaks to the younger generation(which happens to be their target audience). Yodel includes internet lingo, but includes a sense of corporate professionalism that is to be admired. In this blog they openly speak of their competition and are glad about it. They mention that there may be other large titles currently dominating the video business, but, with enthusiasm, want to jump in. In her final statements on Yodel, Erin McPherson (VP of Yahoo) makes note of the fact that they will fail, but that is the beauty of the challenge. And in failing, they can fix their mistakes and move forward to a stronger understanding and a better targeted video structure. Overall the corporate blog of Yahoo is well written and speaks of being less than perfect as anyone could expect. They admit that they can  have shortcomings, now and again, but continue to grow and hope to impress in the coming years. I think this blog is an improvement over a stiff "business formal" attitude and could agree that it would be a great example of the benefits of blogging in corporate media.
Brandee Turney-Bus 140

Corporate Blog:Twitter

Within the last 5 years Twitter has become the "it" thing to do.  I personally don't do twitter as I don't have time to follow people but it is a wonderful concept.  It is crucial for Twitter to have a blog page because they need a place where everyone can follow along with all of their new updates.  They seem to be constantly breaking new ground and you definitely want people to know that.  After reading through some of this blog every new thing that Twitter is doing is posted in the blog.  Also it allows anyone to post to their blogs.  Also something I learned is that you don't even have to have a twitter account to follow people which I think would be pretty nifty.  The blog is definitely set up for their audience.  It is very user friendly and it is the easiest and quickest way to get information.  There is a new blog about three times a month about whats going on with the company and also with some statistics.  Twitter can actually calculate how many people said what about a certain subject.  Twitter having their own blog was a winning choice and they should continue to update this regularly.
Brittany Frazier-Bus 140

More ways to advertise Verizon!

Everywhere you look around there are advertisements for Verizon Wireless promoting new services.  I am employed by Russell Cellular which a premium retailer for Verizon Wireless so I know all the promotions and how they are advertised.  We are not a corporate store but are capable of doing just about everything that they can.  One thing about is that we are not corporate Verizon Wireless so promotions that are going on and pricing is not the same in our store.  Because of this, we have to advertise Russell Cellular to all our customers.  We are constantly trying new things to promote our store and one thing we have not done is a blog.  I think having a blog would be a wonderful thing to do!  By promoting good customer service and directing our customer to our blog page then we could get more business.  That's what this line of work is about!  We always have sales going on so this would be a great place to advertise that.  Everyone will always need a phone!  I am located in a smaller town so everyone around comes down to our store but there is always room for expansion.  At times we have weekend sales, free accessories, and new phones.  Right now we are having a drawing to win a Motorola Xoom!  This company is amazing and with the right advertisement our company can grow.  There are certain products that we like to advertise include Home Phone Connect and our High-Speed Internet.  By creating a blog we could show the customers how much money they can save by switching to Verizon. Also on this blog we could explain all the plans and phones so customers can ask questions that they are having with their bill or phones.  A lot of people can't make it into the store so by adding in this option would really benefit them. Also Russell Cellular likes to help out the community so by posting what we are doing would be great.  When the tornado hit in Joplin our company donated $15,000 which is a lot for a small business. There are only 150 stores but we are expanding.  We are constantly looking for new locations so by blogging about what locations Verizon is needed would help us pick the best locations.  There are so many benefits to creating a blog especially in a sales environment and it is much needed.
Brittany Frazier-Bus 140