Blog postings and substantive replies

Blog Posts - Original Posts & Substantive Replies

Tip:

1. Each week, you MUST blog about your experience of the interview process. (This is MANDATORY).
2. The blog posts will help prepare you to write the Final Paper
3. There are no grades for each blog post.
4. They MUST be 250 words with substantive information / content AND substantive replies to at least two (2) of your peers (75 words for each person).

Completeness

• Posts that are less than 250 words are NOT considered "complete", and will forfeit credit for the week's post - and lose 10 points off your Grade for the Final Paper.
• Contributors who do not respond substantively to at least two peers - will forfeit credit for the week's post - and lose 10 points off your Grade for the Final Paper.
• Substantive replies are NOT required for the last (Week 5) blog post.

BLOG POSTS DUE: Wednesdays by 11:59 pm

• You are required to reply substantively (75 words per person) to blog posts of your peers and colleagues - and continue the discussion thread / conversation as appropriate. Feel free to share your thoughts and advice.

REPLIES DUE: Fridays by 11:59 pm

• Be aware of:
  • Timeliness
  • Connection / Alignment to Week's Theme
  • Focus on what you Learned
  • A SMART Goal for What You Are Going To Do Differently
  • Writing / Presentation Quality

Blog Posts - Themes

Week 2: Three (3) CAR Stories from Your Work Experience (Aligned to the desired Job Description / Ad)

1. CAR Story 1
2. CAR Story 2
3. CAR Story 3

Week 3: Identify and Research Employers of Interest

Tip: This blog post requires that you actually do research - and you can do this at the Library, on the company website, news releases, LinkedIN, etc. Also, this is where networking and information interviews are very helpful - as they help you to connect the dots with hard to find, but important information.

Questions to Ask / Find the Information You Need

• What is the Job / Role? What are you going to do?
• What is the Organization? What do they do? What industry are they in?
• What is their Business?
  • Who are their customers, markets, competitors
  • Are they making money? Losing money?
  • Are they in a regulated industry (i.e., energy, utilities, transportation);
  • Are they unionized?
  • What Problems / Challenges are they facing ("Pain)
• Who is the Hiring Manager / Decision-Maker; Team Members - what are their backgrounds - what do they do, where have they worked before?
• What is the culture of the organization like (you get this from networking / information interview)
  • Do people like to work there? Why/Why not? What is the average length of time that people stay in the organization?

Week 4: Information & Mock Interviews

Tip: The blog posting for this week involves sharing the information you learned regarding setting up, conducting, assessing / evaluating Information Interviews and Mock Interviews - and what you will do differently as a result of what you observed or learned.

Week 5: Course Learnings & Takeaways

1. What did I learn? How has this affected my understanding of the job search / interviewing process - from the perspective of employee and employer (hiring manager).
2. What will I do differently? How Will I Handle Challenging Situations? How will I demonstrate this learning (i.e., experiment, put it into practice?)
3. What are the Top 3 Actions that I will take to learn more / achieve my goals? Make them SMART (Specific, Measurable, Actionable, Realistic and Time-based).