My First Resume

The first time I tried to write a resume I had no idea what I was doing. This was straight out of high school too so it didn’t help that I actually hadn’t done much at that point. I never had a job, I volunteered maybe once or twice, and I wasn’t part of any major clubs. I felt like there was no point in creating a resume since I wouldn’t really have anything in it. It wasn’t until it became an assignment in one of my classes that I actually got to doing it. My teacher gave us an outline, so that helped a lot. I also went in during my free time to ask him for help on what I should do. In the end, my resume wasn’t that great. I exaggerated a lot about the things I put on there, like my volunteer work and such. When I finally had an opportunity to get a job, I gave them my resume. I got the job. But it definitely was not because of my resume. I got it through my connections with my family members. It was okay though, since they said the only reason they needed it was to put it on file.

To be honest I hated that job. I worked at a home health office, which was good because it was something that relates to the job I eventually want to have. But the fact that my boss knew my family and actually became closer to them as I was working there meant she knew everything about my home life and my family knew everything about my work life. There was also the fact that my boss used to follow me around all the time and kept following me until I did something wrong (or thought I did something wrong). I remember a time where she told me I was doing something wrong and taught me how to do it “correctly” only to have my other boss tell me that I was doing it right before and to forget everything she taught me.

Anyways, my first resume wasn’t all that great. I wouldn’t say it helped me get my first job either. The greatest challenge was probably just the fact that I didn’t know how to make one without a lot of experience or extracurricular work. The assignment we got in class will give me a chance to improve it though. Hopefully it will be better than my first.

Research Paper

I honestly didn’t know what I wanted to write about when we first heard about this research paper. I thought of nurses as my first choice. It had all the characteristics of a discourse communities and that I had access to many of them through my family. But then I realized that it was too boring for me and that I didn’t even want to write about it. After that I was still stumped. I couldn’t think of anything that I would even be remotely interested in. Every time I thought of something, I’d realize that I didn’t even have anyone to interview or that it was something to common or easy to write about. Then when we were in class one day and everyone was talking about their ideas I thought of it. K-pop fans. I mean, I was surrounded by a lot of people who loved k-pop, and I never really understood them and how they worked, so why not?

I’m specifically going to be looking at fans who follow a group called BTS. This group interests me because of how dedicated and up to date they are all the time. My friend, Jules, who you might seen during class, is a big fan. A couple of her family members are too. I don’t know much about the group itself, except for a coupe songs and their names because Jules used to constantly quiz me on them. I do know however, that whenever a new video or song comes out, her and her family member will wake up literally at the crack of dawn just so they can see it as soon as possible. They’re obviously dedicated. They also have group chats that have conversations about BTS ninety percent of the time. I’ve even looked at their phones and other electronics and they’re always a different picture of one of their favorite members in the background or on the actual case. And that’s just the k-pop fans I know in real life. I’ve heard of BTS k-pop fans all over social media and they get really intense. You probably don’t want to say anything bad about their favorite groups and members because they’ll come for you and cripple you emotionally. At least try to. Anyways, all of the people are always waiting and updated on whatever BTS does. A lot of them will also pay a lot of money to see them live and meet them in person for a couple minutes.

This group communicates a lot through social media, like twitter or Tumblr. Like and fandom, in order to become a member of this group all you really have to do is listen to BTS music or watch their videos and such and participate on some form of social media. I’m not sure what types of costs a member of this community give but I do know that it takes a lot of time and money. I walk into my friends’ rooms and its covered in BTS stickers, calendars, posters, etc. And like I said before, they’ll wake up and stay up at any time as well as spend hours watching music videos, dance practices, and interviews. They also have their own language of some sorts. Sometimes I’ll listen and I’ll have no idea who or what their talking about

I don’t know exactly where I’m headed with this paper quite yet, but I do know who I will be interviewing and what types of questions I’ll be asking. I already have 3 people in mind. I would ask them what made them so interested in the group, what caught their eye, how they keep up to date with them and how they share things, whether or not they talk to fans online or just in person, etc. I’m also keeping in mind some follow up questions I might have, depending on their answers. I also thought that I would observe how they would act if I randomly chose 2 music videos and made them watch it together. I could observe the types of things they say, how excited they get, and how they would share the experience together.

I’m a little worried about the length of this paper. I feel like I’ll procrastinate too much or that my paper wont even make sense and that I’m probably just writing a bunch of nonsense. But at least I know ill enjoy what I’m writing about.

Blog #8

I have never been a "service worker". I’ve never been a waitress, I’ve never had to work in a place that needed good customer service, and I definitely have never worked in a fast food chain. And that’s okay, because its not something I’ve ever really wanted to do. I've only ever had one job, and its completely different because I was put in an office surrounded by people who would teach me the knowledge needed to become a physical therapist. Peter Drucker's assertion that "interactive service workers lack the necessary education to be 'knowledge workers’ sounds a lot like something my mom would say, just in more technical terms. I’m a college student so I obviously make impulsive decisions and buy things (mostly food) I think I need, when in reality I really don’t. So I thought maybe I should go and get a job somewhere. The extra money definitely would help, and I could maybe even start helping with some bills back at home. I barely even started the conversation when my mom replied with “NO I DON’T WANT YOU WORKING AT MCDONALDS”.

Honestly I was feeling so attacked at that moment, I was just trying to make a little extra money you know? You’d think she would let me get a job that way she would have a reason to not have to give me money every week, but her loss I guess. But yeah, this way of thinking is pretty prominent in my family. If you didn’t get an official “knowledge” service job, then you weren’t successful and you weren’t going to be successful. I have always thought though that the best way to get experience and references is to get a job, even if it requires working at places like McDonalds. Besides, isn’t it jobs like these that also teach people discipline and give people motivation to strive to get better jobs and maybe improve their education. But of course, my mom thinks that if I get a “service worker” job, then I’ll end up staying there forever.

 I don’t really agree with people who consider service work to be "'mindless,' involving routine and repetitive tasks that require little education".  Yeah, these jobs may not seem as hard as being the CEO of some large company, but it doesn’t mean that they’re easy. People argue that these jobs don't require identification of problems, ability to solve those problems, or other complex abilities, but I think that’s wrong. Service workers deal with problems all the time whether it be with customers or with things like inventory. I’m pretty sure if a rich privileged person who has only worked at an office type of setting will have difficulty adapting if they were made to work at a diner. Different types of jobs require different types of skills. I don’t think that just because a person works at a service job it defines that person’s ability, even if they have worked that job a majority of their life. Just because someone works at a fast food chain or at a retail store does not mean they aren’t capable of performing well as “knowledge workers”. It all depends on a persons’ opportunities and resources. If people aren’t given the opportunity to have and education, then of course they’ll work a service job because no one will hire them otherwise. Or if a person cannot afford an education, they’ll probably work a service job. Having either a “service” or “knowledge” job does not determine how capable a person is.

But like Professor Flewelling describes, I’m pretty terrified about graduating and still working at fast food chains or retail stores. I’ve met a lot of people who have graduated and still haven’t really gotten a job that involved things that they have studied. It sucks too, because a lot of people these days say that it isn’t enough to have a bachelor’s degree anymore. A lot of my family members have scared me and told me that I should at least strive to have a masters degree because that’s something important if you want to guarantee a job offer these days. I know I said that it doesn’t matter if you’ve worked at places like those, but there’s a reason why I’m willing to go to school for so long. I want to make sure I work in a place where I actually enjoy what I’m doing and where I can use what I learned in school. It also doesn’t hurt that I would be making more money.

But yeah, that’s what I think. Thanks for reading!