Week 15 Reflection

Alright so since the recession of 2008 till now the economy hasn't improved that much. I am just going to come out and say it the current state of this country sucks. As a young undergrad its hard enough to find a job and statistics show that even current college graduates can't even find a job in this economy, only a small percentage do. In my opinion the internet is the best option when it comes to a job search and as well as who you know. Currently  a friend of a friend helped me get an internship which I will be starting in May. I find that networking especially has helped me while I been in college whether it was finding a job, internship, organizations or making friends. In order to be successful in a job search you have to be resourceful and actually know where to look or who to contact. I graduated from high school less than 3 years ago and I never thought a college experience would actually get me so many opportunities. Also in my opinion the internet has majorly changed the process of looking for a job because it provides convenience and resources that you can't find anywhere else. 
Cheers!
Alissa Kartavtseva Week 15

NOITCELFER | REFLECTION

I'd like to take this opportunity to reflect on the past three weeks. First, it's been a whirlwind completing items for this class and that class and working on everything at once. After I've taken the time to work hard on something I like to take a moment to set back and reflect to see if I've done the best that I could have done. The past few weeks I've reviewed the job search, application, and interview process; note: all of which should be considered equally important. The job search is very important because if you don't find the right job chances are you won't get it and if you do you won't be happy in that position. The application! Its a very important step, because if the document is created to the very best of your ability most likely you won't be noticed by the prospective employer. I'm sorry if I were reviewing an application with omitted information or spelling and grammar errors it would go in ...file 13. If for some chance the perspective employer does allow to interview for the position it is imperative that you send a thank you letter to them thanking them for interviewing for such a prestigious position. Finding a job isn't easy in any environment, let alone a recession. However, the ability to find a job during a recession is dependent upon the steadfast determination of the job seeker. If you really want a job work your ass off and you will have a chance to get that job, don't do your very best and you'll be on unemployment - it's that simple.

Over the past few weeks I've learned that I do enjoy taking college courses, who'da thunk it? With that said, I've learned that I want to get a good education, so that I can do what I really want to do. It's important that I finish the education while having an ultimate goal in mind of where I wan to be in 5...10 years.

Derrick's big tip: The Internet is most important in searching jobs, filling out applications and completing college courses. The Internet makes your life easier, so utilize it to the best of your ability and you will succeed with determination!

Derrick Collins - Week 15

Learning... Learning....Learning -- never stops!

One would think that a presentation would be expected when taking a business communication course, huh? Well, this one came at me from left field. It has been years since I've created a MS Power Point presentation and honestly... I forgot how fun it could be! I decided to create a blog related to my current profession. I knew first thing that I wanted to create a presentation in my career field, but I was bit undecided on what I wanted the presentation to be about. It took some thought. After doing quite a bit of research, I decided to do my presentation on expanding my organizations social media platform. It's something that I would never have thought about before this course. Joining Twitter has changed how I get information. My presentation went very well, I think? I hope! The voice thread was a bit awkward for me at first and I talk for a living. I'd like to say up front that there is a slide with quite a bit of words, you should note that as specified - it is required to be read at every meeting our organization has. Is it great for a Power Point, not really. Could the information have been left out of the Power Point and read prior to the presentation, yes. However, the information contained within the slide is very important to the topic at hand - vision, mission and core values are very important when working on a social media project. It's easy to post something without considering the other individual, always consider the other person, it's important. I hope to present this to my supervisor in the near future and if all goes well, this could change several items at my organization,

Derrick Collins - Week 13

Week 13

Alrighty, for me doing a lot of research on this project really gave me a lot of insight on how to construct this project and I ended up using several sources. I think that PowerPoint should not be overloaded with too much text and a bunch of numbers with nothing to back them up with. I think that is a common mistake that people make when constructing PowerPoint presentations and a common mistake is information overload. Next time when I do a PowerPoint presentation I think I would do a more detailed outline. Also the saying "Less is more" applies here because I didn't feel the need to create a flashy presentation because I think that takes the attention about what the presentation is about. The whole point of a PowerPoint presentation is to inform the audience and not to entertain them. Some people might disagree but that is my stance on it. I also think that putting together a PowerPoint presentation is also similar to writing research papers, you have to put a lot of information and thought into what you're trying to say. In the future I will definitely not be reading all the information of the slides like I have done in the past, not cram so much information onto slides and try to interact with the audience. I also think that when constructing a PowerPoint you have put yourself in the place of the audience and try seeing things from that angle. Cheers

Alissa Kartavtseva
Week 13

What I've leaned - Business Communications

In June 2012, I made a decision to take business communications and it was a great decision. I've taken several communication courses over the years which have all seemed to be kind of cookie cutter courses. This course has been very interesting in that it allows you (forces) you to expand your thoughts in how you are expected or wish to communicate with other individuals or organizations. It is imperative that everyone in society always be willing to change or improve how they communicate. Over the past several years social media has dramatically increased awareness in the United States as well as other developed nations. As an assignment of this course, I was required to create a Twitter page. At first, I was not that excited about creating it as I really wasn't aware of how the page worked. Honestly, creating the Twitter page has changed how I get my information. I am now following the BBC and CNN for most of my news. Nowadays, so many of the television anchors and others seem to think its okay to give their opinion of any situation. I prefer to read my news and make my own decision. The ability to receive the notifications as they are happening is awesome. I can't say there is anything that didn't affect how I communicate that I've learned throughout this course. I've even recently spoke with some people for which I am employed requesting they expand their thoughts in how our organization utilized social media for notifications. It is imperative that any business stay on task with this type of media, things are changing/updating so quickly now that some companies even have a person or group of people just to update their media outlets.

I enjoyed this course very much and look forward to the remainder of the course.

Derrick Collins - Week 11

What I learned??!!

A lot actually! Hello again and here we are at week 11! We are almost done with this semester and finals are a little over a month away. When I started this class back in August I thought oh here we go another communications class and the farther it got into the semester the more I began to realize how critical and valuable this class actually is.  In this class I learned everything from proper tone of communication, social media networking, writing and organizing business messages and how to properly apply it in real life. That is just the few things I can take away from this class.  I also learned the different ways to interact, being able to relate to others and as well as understanding other people's point of view. I remember talking about these specific points back in the beginning of the semester that I do have trouble being able to relate to other people however now I can say that has somewhat improved. I think in the future what I learned  I can apply to interviews and in the workplace. In my opinion so far everything we covered in this class has been useful, I haven't come across anything that I would just disregard. Overall I think this turned out to be an interesting and useful online class and I learned more than I expected to. Since we have a little over a month left in the semester I look forward to seeing what else we are going to cover. The semester is almost done so lets make the best of it! Cheers

Alissa Kartavtseva Week 11

7.4 Assignment

I have the privilege of being on vacation this week, from work, not school, and with that comes the opportunity to spread my culinary wings again. With that said, I'd like to note I nearly cut the end of my finger off this week, yes, I'm being a little dramatic, but none the less typing is difficult.

I'm not certain why I was surprised to find out that a business communication course would include social media assignments, because I'm well aware that this is most likely the cheapest and quickest way to address the masses. I post daily on Facebook, so I was well aware of how to utilize the assets Facebook gives to the user. On the contrary, I have never even logged into Twitter prior to this week. First, some of the posts on Twitter are difficult to understand. It seems that the people tweeting tag others a lot, this makes the tagging and hash-tagging become almost overwhelming. Its almost like reading code!

In my position with the state, we are required to communicate formally through email. This is mainly because email is one of the quickest secure options for notifying personnel. What I find noteworthy, is that there is a significant difference in the style of writing that is required depending upon the medium. If you are blogging, its almost like you are writing to a specific person, while emailing you must consider that you are writing to a lot of people who will be reading at the same time. Although, blogging and emailing both quickly adept the reader, they are significantly different in tone.

I think the most valuable lesson I've learned in these lessons is that you mustn't choose your medium lightly, because the tone and choice of that medium are very important in grabbing the readers attention.

Derrick C (week 7.4)

7.4 Assignment

Here we go again! Alright so in the past weeks we have been covering Completing Business Messages and Messages for Electronic Media. Regarding the topic of Completing Business Messages, I have learned that its very important to revise and proofread everything. It also important to pay attention to the type of language and tone that is used. I also learned that writing is constant revision needed in order to improve readability. As well as taking length and clarity into consideration, because if the message is to long or short the needed feedback isn't going to be received. Clarity in the writing process is very important because its important to be able to get your message across the way you intend. Thanks to the internet there are tons of ways to communicate electronic messages such as email, text messaging, social networks and etc. My opinion has somewhat changed about social media. From my personal experience I always only used email, Facebook and text messaging  I never used twitter or payed attention to it because I thought it was completely useless. I am still not a big fan of twitter but I can see the benefits that it can bring. I also never tried blogging before this class, I am still getting used to it but I like the overall idea of it. I think that with blogging it gives more room to express your opinions and there is no limit on how many words you post as opposed to twitter. I think with twitter in particular you're limited but its still a very useful tool. I read both of the articles on how a Philadelphia company uses twitter to drive business and the article in Time Magazine how twitter and Facebook are a faster way to reach customer service as opposed to regular email. In this new day and age I can't image surviving without social networks because communicating via email and phone seems so last century. I think its sensational the power that social media holds with the ability to reach and influence so many people, that its scary. So if you agree or disagree respond below!
Alissa Kartavtseva Week 7.4

Current Employment Situation

I'm currently at that point in life where you must take stake and decide if you are on the right career path or not, in case you're wondering that's 28 for me! When I took my current position about five years ago, I thought shift work wouldn't be that big of a deal; However, when you see your friends and family, who are nine to fivers, having fun on the weekends, you can't help but think - what the heck am I doing with my life? I work for a state agency, so I can't really say what I do or what division I work in, but let's just say I help people, vague enough? Sometimes when you work in the business  that you work in there is a sense of under-appreciation and this five year slump doesn't seem to help me. I've read before that at five years many employees find themselves in a dilemma - should I stay or should I go? I recently went through a very emotional situation at work that had me thinking about my job and if it was something that I could do for another twenty-five years. While I'm not that type of person that is reliant on God to make all decisions, I can't help but think that everyone is meant to be in a particular place at a particular time. While my employer has made great strides in technology, social technology is not their strong suit. We do have a Facebook page, but that's about it. There has been discussion about starting a twitter feed or blog, but aren't we bothered enough by government in April? I know I am! Another big decision when a blog or page is held by a state agency is the consideration for laws. There are many laws that have to be taken into consideration when writing on an official page, there have to people staff members to approve the verbiage. Is it really worth the political fallout of one risky sentence to get a little publicity?

Derrick Collins - Week 6 

Cisco - A Corporate Blog Review

Who knew corporations had blogs? I sure didn't! When tasked with reviewing a corporate blog - I was kind of, well, concerned. That is until I came across the Cisco blog, http://blogs.cisco.com/.

As expected the blogging team at Cisco is lead by a marketing manager. First off, my favorite thing about this blog is the layout. I hate how so many sites have the links across the top of their webpage to get you to the nuts and bolts of their site. Any self-respecting internet savvy individual has googled, yes that's a verb, the particular portion of the site they wish to visit. So as far as aesthetics go, Cisco has won me over. Of course, those pesky links must go somewhere so they are neatly displayed in columns at the bottom of the page, for those of you with OCD (yes that's me), you'll love it!

I'm a rather tech-savvy individual and I can't help but love what Cisco is doing for internet based technology. Many corporations rely on Cisco to provide updated equipment. In the featured post, "The Three Dimensions of Learning," the author points out how the company utilizes Neil Fleming's model for learning. This day and age technology is utilized in all forms, why not learning? He points out that trainers of technology must be aware that students are visual, auditory and kinesthetic learners.

From a business standpoint the layout of this site is genius, by outlining the most popular blogs posts they will ensure visibility. I hope you check out this interesting site, because you'll surely learn something!

Derrick Collins - Week 6.3

Current Employment Situation

I want start of by saying that there is nothing fun about being a broke college student especially since I won't be graduating with a B.S. till 2014. Having to rely on credit cards and borrowing money from my parents is typical for me. Currently I am in the long process of transferring jobs its within the same company just a different store. Currently no income hence living of credit cards and borrowing money from my parents continues on a weekly basis. A few things I want to say are I am transferring from Old Navy to Gap so having to call back and forth about every other day is work in itself. Especially since I have better things to do  oh I don't know maybe trying to juggle classes, homework and all the student organizations I am currently in. Aside from all that I don't want to trash anybody however I have every reason and option to do so... Now on to to the positive, say I decided to just stay at Old Navy and if I decided to portray them in a positive way, I could praise the employees and post positive reviews of their merchandise. However  the way others might perceive the blog depends if you state if you're actually a employee or just a consumer. Since were on the topic of blogging as an active acknowledged employee there will most likely be mixed reviews. Depending on who reads the blog and if its portrayed in  a positive light, sales would most likely increase. Blogging as an employee for a company in my opinion is effective and is a great way to improve a company's reputation and relations with the public. It can also give a negative or positive perception depending on which ever  way a reader chooses to perceive that particular company. Either way when blogging, posts should be based on facts and honest formed opinions not on false information and lies or there is no point of blogging at all.. Just my opinion, so post yours!

Alissa Kartavtseva Week 6.3

Southwest Corporate Blog Review

First and initial blog post! Yay now on to the main subject... Corporate blogs! The blog I picked to review is
"http://www.blogsouthwest.com/". I find this particular corporate blog to be somewhat lively from the typical stuffy corporate blogs that I come across. It has everything from videos, pod-casts and isn't  in any particular order. The entire blog consists of 30 frequent bloggers and the overall main theme of the blog seems to be "Nuts About Southwest", which is located in the upper left hand corner. From what I can see the contributors post topics that relate to Southwest Airlines, random videos, music, charities and etc. Its refreshing and inspiring to see a corporation such as Southwest to embrace such a tactic. Its  very productive marketing as well, to reach a more broad audience and to show the public that they aren't just a bunch suits with no creativity. I think that the blog shows that Southwest is trying to make an effort to be more relatable and open aside from just proving to be a clever marketing strategy. So if you have the time check it out and see it for yourself the link is posted above. Go ahead and form your own opinion.


Alissa Kartavtseva Week 6.3