Communication Breakdown!

Since I began working at Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream Shop in Downtown Clemson, I have started to realize that communication is one of the key factors of efficient business operations.  Without proper and open lines of communication, a company can find itself in dire emergency.

A relevant case arose at "the creamery" when our ice cream distributor (whom shall remain unnamed) switched the delivery schedule from once a week to once every two weeks.....without notifying anyone.  

Normally this is no problem, but it was First Friday at Clemson.  Now we have a problem.

Let's put some numbers up on the board.  On a well-prepared home game weekend we should offer a maximum 36 flavors.  We had 6.  We should have 40 bins as backup inventory.  We had 6. 

After numerous calls the week prior to the game, no ice cream was delivered.  

What we came to realize is that the secretary at the distributor quit; and as it turned out the "fill-in" was not so "filled-in" on what the job entailed (i.e. reporting a scheduling change to your customers).  The lines of communication had been severed, and what was left was a disaster of a week in sales for likely most of the southeastern dessert shops.  

Tragic.

My Thoughts Before the Interview

Since I have yet to meet with Professor Rogers due to her illness, I am unable to write a reflection.  Hooray! No blog assignment due this week for me!  

Well, sort of. 

I have been in such a good habit of writing a blog post Sunday night of each week that I feel I should continue. So I will write about some of the thoughts and feelings I have before conducting the mock interview. Here are a few:

• I am fairly confident in my ability to speak professionally with a possible future employer.
• However, I must remember to keep eye contact and be attentive at all times, and keep my posture upright.
• I should mention things pertaining to successes in my life, and try to relate it to adding value to the firm for which I am applying.
• Towards the end of the meeting, I should insist on continued correspondence and demonstrate my interest in a second interview.

I feel that things will run relatively smoothly, but I must always be mindful of the possibility that a question could stump me.  If so, I should remain relaxed, think about my response, and present my thoughts clearly.  

P.S.  I will likely update this post with a reflection after the mock interview.

And here it is...

The interview with Ms. Rogers went relatively well, with the exception of one part.  I felt comfortable speaking with her; this might be attributed to the fact that I have a class with her.  

Despite this, I acted as if it were real, and knew she would conduct it as such.  I answered her questions as I had learned to do in class.  This involved being collected and prepared to be put on the spot.  

Although I practiced answering certain important matters, one question that stumped me was "What is your biggest weakness?"  It was difficult to respond to this, because it is imperative that one stress his or her strengths in an interview, not his or her weaknesses.

I stalled.

And stalled.

And made jokes.

And they were not funny.

Basically, I choked.

I was not prepared to answer a question about my shortcomings, as I had been too invested in expounding on my successes.  Other than this hiccup, I felt satisfied with my performance in the mock interview.  I now know that it pays to be equipped to address cases of failure as well as triumph.

Well Done Fellow Classmates!

The presentations this past week were quite interesting, and by having an open topic, we were truly able to learn a variety of things.  Three that I enjoyed were those by Frankie, Garrett, and Shawn.  

What played well for Frankie was the nature of his topic and the fact that he was first to present. A controversial topic such as the use of marijuana immediately catches the attention of an audience of our age and impressionable manner. It was also intriguing to hear some names for marijuana from other countries (i.e. Africa: daga).

Garrett was well-prepared and had an effective idea to keep people compelled to pay attention. That, coupled with the toys he passed around, allowed for a comfortable atmosphere to relay his message. I thought it was great that he mentioned upcoming events and how easily one could become involved. Again, the audience was also well considered. 

Shawn also picked a great topic for the class audience.  Revealing incongruities in the officiating of ACC basketball teams was a very captivating and weighty issue to take into consideration. The information seemed documented and well-backed, which sparked emotion from the listeners.  

To whittle my favorites down to three is not an easy task, as all of them kept me entertained. As aforementioned, each of these speakers chose a pertinent subject for the audience at hand. This is one of the most important aspects of speech preparation to bear in mind, and contributed to their success.