Experience+Business+Casually

 ITEC 490 HW04-Experience Business Casually  I feel the most valuable information I gathered from Radford University's Experience Business Casually Event was concerning interview preparation. Ms. Aaron Harris and I had an enlightening conversation regarding the perspective from which one cultivates question to pose potential employers. I have used personal resources and web forums to catalog fifteen broad questions for the interview process. I sought insight from the business community for better question development. Ms. Harris shared her experience in harvesting information about a firm and then forming questions based on the interconnectivity of herself and the culture of the company. An example is Modea's choice of open area office design and the impact it has on the non-traditional company culture. Ms. Harris suggested framing a question in terms of, "Why choose this type of office design and what the measurable impacts are?" This paradigm is reasonable as Ms. Harris represents Pointe West Management as a property manager. In our conversation, we discussed the monthly business-networking tool, Up on the Roof, the last Thursday of each month, atop the Kent Street Square parking Lot. She suggested that it is an excellent opportunity for networking and socialization. The next booth visit was with Ms. Marcia Elliot of CCS-Inc. Ms. Elliot was assigned the topic of Interview Prep/ What Should You Know. She asked how I would prepare for an interview and I used the example of my preparation for a third interview with VTLS, Inc. I did so by reading as much as I could online and by downloading and listening to the presentations by Vinod Chachra, CEO of VTLS, Inc. I also research there proprietary library system software and examine why they chose Linux Fedora as the OS for their repository. Ms. Elliot commended my effort and we turn the topic to how I could enhance my odds at a job offer, by deepening my knowledge of the firm and constructing more personal questions for the employer. She suggested examining specifics, like dress code (CCS-Inc.) or lack thereof (Rackspace) and asking about the value of dress code choice in the company. She also suggested questions that asked the employer to specify what qualities would separate the top candidates from the potential applicants for a particular position. The most interesting suggestion from Ms. Elliot was using YouTube to notice visual cues that one might miss in strictly reading text as preparation. I also, spoke with Ms. Dede Stone from Shelor Motor Mile. She centered on sales and recruiting. I tried to expand the conversation into growth opportunities in management and financial positions. This led to discussion of Shelor's line of insurance and other business ventures. I spent some time with Ms. Kathy Patterson, a human resources manager from Lowes. She was sharing experience on professional appearance and conduct in the interview setting. Ms. Rae Leigh Levesque of GEICO offer me excellent constructive criticism on my prepared resume She suggested an increase font size for my name, moving my educational experience to the top of the resume, and eliminating the Objective section if the resume was prepared for mass consumption like a job fair. We also discussed IT opportunities at GEICO and she suggested that most of those jobs were in Chevy Chase, MY and described her experience of life near Arlington, VA. In summation, I feel Experience Business Casually provided me an opportunity to interact with representatives from local businesses willing to endure the cold to share experience with the next generation of business professionals. I am grateful and I intend to utilize the insight I gained into interview preparation. I appreciate the different perspective that the representatives shared with me. I feel a bit more confident going into my next few rounds of interviews, armed with knowledge and a fresh outlook.