Week 5 EOC: Social Networks and Job Hunting

It’s not surprising that social media has worked its way into the job searching business. While I still believe that job boards like Monster and Indeed will still have their importance, social media provides a more familiar and comfortable environment to both recruiters and those seeking new employment.  In an article by ‘The Wall Street Journal’, Mr. Staney, a talent acquisition Web strategy manager, stated, “Candidates have been 50% more likely to apply to positions they found through Facebook than through other means. "[Job boards] just blast it out. This is much more efficient and targeted.” With popularity increasing with using social media to find employees, job seekers can use this to their advantage by talking up a potential employer’s product on their social media account. If you continually post comments or photos about how much you love a certain company, they are more willing to check you out and determine if you have potential value as an employee. There are many benefits that can be reaped by taking advantage of social medial. Companies are no longer looking for the “cool kids”, instead they are looking for people who live a certain lifestyle pertaining to their product. Recruiters are now looking for people who will represent their product well and that can also influence others to try their product as well. “We used to assume the best reps would be the cool kids in any given group. But we learned that most kids are not cool. If marketers want consumers to feel a connection to their ambassadors and to feel that an ambassador is accessible, they have to look beyond the cool customers” (Marketing: An Introduction pg143). Although LinkedIn still has its place, I believe that Facebook will catchup in no time and will be tough competition to many successful job boards and LinkedIn type websites. 

Week 1 EOC: Great Customer Service

I joined Amazon Prime a couple years ago and since then I have used it to buy books needed for school, presents for family and friends, and for my own hobbies and I’ve never had a bad experience. What I love about Amazon is that they know that “The key to building lasting customer relationships is to create superior customer value and satisfaction.” – ‘Marketing an Introduction pg. 13’. I didn’t have a noteworthy experience until a couple weeks ago. My Wife and I have a 1 year old son who is now running around house we were in need of a baby gate so we shopped Amazon to find a good quality gate at a reasonable price. We found one that we liked and we placed an order for one gate. Two days later we got our gate but a couple hours later we received a duplicate package. Very confused and little concerned, we check our Amazon account and bank account to verify that we had only ordered one. After confirming that we did only order one gate, we contacted Amazon through an online chat to discuss matter. We explained that we only ordered one baby gate but had received two and we wanted to make sure that we would not be charged later for the second gate. After the customer service representative looked into our account she confirmed that it was an error and that we would not be charged for the second gate and that we could keep the second gate free of charge for being loyal customers. I also mentioned that the second gate came to us damaged and unusable. She simply said, “That’s no problem! Go ahead and send it back to us and we will send you a new one in two business days.” It’s not the variety of products or prices that bring me back to Amazon, it’s knowing that they value me as a customer and they are willing to go the extra mile to ensure my satisfaction. 

Week 1 EOC: My Voice

Working with sound has unlimited possibilities. I can work with anything from music to sound effects and anything in between. That’s why I chose to work in sound. I want to work on projects that give people an exciting experience, whether it’s a soundtrack you can’t get out of your head or creating a sound or vocal effect that other people will want to recreate for themselves. Music/sound has always been a major part of my life and always will be. I’m always interested in new music as well as cool sounds and sound effects that you hear on TV in the movies.  I hope to one day see my name in the rolling credits at the end of major motion picture, even if it is along with a hundred other people working in the audio department. As a sound engineer I’ll always have work and I’ll always be excited for the next job.