Thanksgiving

This week has been a fascinating experience to watch the melding of different families, both my own and my wife's family.  We are lucky that both our families live in Arizona; each holiday we spend time with both our families.  However, as we have been playing games, eating food, and watching football; I have noticed a few distinct differences between our families. These differences manifest themselves in how we interact with our spouses family.  My family is much more dramatic, loud, and generally more obnoxious; whereas my wifes family is more civil. With her family  I tend to be the loud obnoxious one and with my family she is the only civil one.  The juxtaposition is fascinating and something that I will continue to observe.

It has been refreshing to observe all members of our families being themselves.  That comfort level is important to have healthy and lasting relationships.  When I have my own family with children and their future spouses, I want to create an open welcoming ambience.  I do not know how to create that ambience but I will find a way!

Also we had a funny experience with my brother and brother-in-law. Enjoy the video!!

My Presentation

This week I had the opportunity to present and it was on notes in a meeting setting.  A boring topic but I learned how to find the interesting facts and tidbits of it.  This presentation taught me many things.  I feel that in a business setting I can find ways to spice up boring topics and engage the audience.  I also learned that I need to take notes on paper as opposed to on a laptop.

I also learned that I enjoy presenting more than I thought.  In the past, I have routinely dreaded presentations but I learned that with practice and preparation I can succeed.  In the future, I will not avoid those opportunities and I might even search out jobs that require presentations.

How to Dress for Success

My Post Today is based on what I learned from Issac Hong during his presentation. His acronym helped me remember his points. The acronym was Dappr.  I realized that I need to always recognize the occasion and then plan my dress accordingly.  Often I have forget to dress for the event and I pick out an outfit that will not quite fit.  Another important tip was on the accessories, for men that typically means watches and rings.  Issac made the point that the situation dictates the use of accessories. If I was to give a presentation, a the light from a powerpoint could reflect off the watch face whereas in an interview or other professional setting a watch adds class.
I learned the importance of preparation from Issac, everything I wear, and how I do my hair. All of these tips will help me be more successful.

MTC Life

This is my third week writing about missionaries, it has been that time of year for my family.  On Wednesday, my brother-in-law went into the MTC. My wife's family drove to Utah on Monday so we spent a few days with them. The experience helped me appreciate the importance of relationships.

In a business setting, these relationships are called networking and the ability to manage them is vital to success in the work place.  With family, they are even more precious because they will always be there.  Being recently married, I am still in the process of building relationships with my wife's family and it is difficult with many of them living far away and two of them being out of the country.  But I know if I can find ways to improve myself.

Job Interview

This morning I participated in my online interview with Matthew Gorham.  We both are accounting majors applying for accounting jobs. Both of our interviews went well and I felt like it was a good experience preparing me for future interviews.

During the interview, I was able to successfully answer all his questions even though I did not have prepared answered to many of the questions.  He also said I had a great answer to the tell me about yourself question, which I find one of the trickiest answers.  I also felt calm and collected during the interview as opposed to nervous and scared.

However, I did not get an opportunity to use one of my prepared PAR stories which made me believe that I need to have more on hand.  I also would need to do more preparation for the company that I am interviewing. Other concerns I have include the difficulty of understanding through Skype, the call quality did not work at all times and the whole experience felt more impersonal.