Assignments

LP3 Assignment: Mock Interview

Visit the Quintessential Careers Blog website for a helpful tutorial that offers tips on the informational interviewing process.

For this assignment you will conduct a mock interview with a professional. The mock interview is often overlooked in the interview process. One of the best ways to improve your interview skills is practice. You can go to many interviews to get this practice, and you can also set up your own mock interview. Mock interviews are beneficial for several reasons. They allow you to increase your confidence as well as requiring preparation, execution, and follow-up. Mock interviews provide you with the perfect setting to convey your skills in a controlled setting.

Schedule a mock interview with someone who will ask you interview questions and provide you with helpful feedback. It is recommended to use someone who does this as part of his or her job or someone in HR. By selecting someone in the hiring capacity to conduct the mock interview, the feedback you receive should be constructive and helpful.

Use the Interview Checklist (Chapter 7, Figure 7.3) for the mock interview. Have the interviewer (not you) fill out the checklist. It is helpful if they give you specific comments, not just checkmarks or points. Consider video taping the mock interview so you can go back and see exactly where and how you want to improve.

Submit the completed Interview Checklist and any notes given to you by your interviewer to your instructor via the dropbox “LP3 Assignment: Mock Interview.” This assignment is worth 50 points and will be graded according to the scoring guide below.

Read the “Midas” case study in Chapter 2 of your text and respond to the guided response below in a three- to four-page paper in accordance with APA guidelines as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center.. In this paper you must:

Discuss the anticipated impacts (both positive and negative) upon operating efficiencies, and recommend solutions to minimize the negative impacts.
Discuss whether or not operating practices should be changed to accommodate the tune-ups. Be sure to explain your reasoning.
Examine the reasons why input should be gathered from the shop owners.
Discuss the type of input that should be gathered.
Describe the processes and steps needed to launch this new program
Your paper should be in paragraph form (avoid the use of bullet points) and supported with the concepts outlined in your text and additional scholarly sources

Submit your three- to four-page paper (not including the title and reference pages). Your paper must be formatted according to APA style as outlined in the Ashford Writing Center and must cite at least three scholarly sources in addition to the textbook.

A typical Midas shop and the service center at a dealership such as Genoa Ford provide the same service, but are they really competitors? Each has adopted different strategies and tailored their operations to fit those strategies.

Midas is in the automotive repair business. Its strategy is to provide a narrow range of services at low cost. National advertising is used to develop wide geographical coverage. The company is not a full service repair shop, but concentrates on muffler repair, brakes, and shock absorbers. It is successful because it quickly delivers quality services at low cost. How are operations important to Midas?

Limited service requires a limited inventory that allows convenient storage close to where materials are needed to perform operations.
Multiple shops and limited service permit careful engineering of the necessary hand tools and work procedures. These special tools and work procedures make shop employees more efficient. Midas can apply the same tools and methods to a large number of shops, ensuring that initial engineering costs are easily covered.
Because employees have few variations in service, they learn how to perform these jobs more quickly.
Workers’ skill levels and knowledge requirements focus on a limited area of service so they quickly become experts in a particular area.
As part of a Ford dealership, Genoa Ford’s Service Center provides a full line of automotive repairs. In contrast to Midas, this service operation competes without advertising or national appeal. It also has a different operating strategy. In order to maintain the dealership, Genoa Ford must be able to satisfy a wide variety of customer needs. It offers transmission work, body work, engine repairs, and other tasks in addition to working on brakes, shocks, and mufflers as Midas does. Genoa Ford designs its operations to match its objectives.

The facility is adaptable to changing needs. For example, on one day, a single repair stall may be used to wash a new car, repair a door lock, fix an air conditioning leak, or tune an engine.
Genoa Ford has more tools than a specialist like Midas does because Genoa Ford offers a greater variety of jobs.
There is some job specialization among workers. All employees will not be able to do everything, but employees still need a wide range of skills because Genoa Ford does not have enough of one particular job to allow personnel to specialize. Cross-training is necessary.
The workers’ skill levels and pay rates are higher than workers at Midas.
A significant inventory of many different parts is maintained. These parts are physically separated from the repair stalls and controlled by specialists in parts.
As a result of its strategy, Genoa Ford has higher costs and charges higher prices than Midas does for comparable work. When a car needs routine exhaust system work, it can be taken to a national chain such as Midas. Generalists, such as Genoa Ford, can complete more difficult jobs and repair work that is paid for by Ford as part of its new car warrantee program. 

 

The Project Paper focuses on a suggested topic related to art, architecture, history, music, or literature. The project will reflect your views and interpretation of the topic. This project is designed to help you stretch your mind and your abilities to be the creative, innovative, and critical thinker you already are!  

Choose one (1) of the topics from the list of topic choices below. Read the topic carefully. Write a three to four (3-4) page paper (750-1,000 words) that responds to each of the items described in the topic. 

For the topic you choose:

1. Support your ideas with specific, illustrative examples. If there are questions or points associated with your chosen topic, be sure to answer all of the listed questions and address all of the items in that topic. If your topic asks you to do several things related to the topic, be sure to do each of the things listed.
2. While some of the topics tend to lend themselves toward particular writing genres, you are not restricted to the specific format suggested for the individual topic. For example, you may do an “interview,” a “proposal,” a “letter,” a “short story,” a “blog,” an “essay,” an “article,” or any other written genre for almost any of the topics. The project is intended to be fun as well as informative, so feel free to be creative with the delivery of your information. 
3. Use at least three (3) good quality academic sources, with one (1) source being the class text.
   Note: Wikipedia and other similar Websites do not qualify as academic resources. You are highly encouraged to use the Resource Center tab at the top of your Blackboard page. 

Note:  Your instructor may require you to submit your topic choice for approval before the end of Week 5. 

Topic choices (pick 1): 

• Office Art Memo. Memorandum. Your boss, who knows you have been taking a humanities class since he pays for your tuition reimbursement, has tasked you with managing the art budget for your company, expecting you to choose various pieces of art for the new corporate offices.  (Note: Replicas of the works are acceptable since they are more cost-efficient and you are working on a budget.)  Include the following: 
  1. Identify three (3) examples of 19th century Impressionist painting or sculpture and three (3) Post-Impressionist works. Explain how the six (6) pieces of art fall into these two (2) styles. 
  2. In a memo, describe the appearance of your six (6) choices to your CEO so he or she will know what the art looks like and where it would be placed in the corporate offices. 
  3. Explain why each piece is considered to be historically significant. 
  4. Explain how each piece “fits” your company’s overall (or desired) corporate image. Keep in mind that a piece of art is supposed to “say” something about the owner, so describe what would these pieces of art say about your company. 

• New Composition. Speech. Your uncle’s birthday is in two (2) months, and everyone knows that he loves almost all kinds of music. As a birthday gift for him, you want to have a special piece of music composed in his honor which will be played at a family birthday celebration. Write a speech that you will make to the composer’s agent. Include the following:  
  1. Narrow your choices down to three (3) composers you’ve studied in this course. Choose one (1) of the composers and explain why you want him to write the “birthday present” music. 
  2. Explain why the other two (2) composers were ultimately not selected. 
  3. Specifically identify the musical elements in the composer’s style that you would like to be included in the new music written for your uncle. 
  4. Describe what sort of emotion is generated by listening to the works of your selected composer; in other words, what do you want your uncle to “feel” as he hears the music, and why is this composer so perfect for this composition?

• Harlem Renaissance Poets. Essay & Poem. Choose two (2) poems by different authors from the Harlem Renaissance. Write an essay that: 
  1. Describes each author’s role and importance within the Harlem Renaissance. 
  2. Identify the elements in each of their poems in which you see evidence of the “double-consciousness” being expressed by each author. 
  3. Fully describe at least two (2) primary themes you see in the poetry written during this time period, referring to specific lines in each of the poems. 
  4. Write your own poem that expresses these identified themes of the Harlem Renaissance.  

• Women’s Roles Then & Now.Script. Script a conversation between two (2) notable women from the 18th and / or 19th century on the roles women should play in society. Within the dialogue, include: 
  1. Biographical information for each woman. 
  2. The historical status for women in general during the time period in which each woman lived.
  3. What opinions each of the women might have on the role the women should play in society during their lifetimes. 
  4. What each of the women might think about women’s current roles.

• Other topic choice recommended and approved by the professor and supported by the grading rubric.

The Project Paper will be graded on:

• The level to which the instructions were followed.

• The extent to which all four (4) parts in the topic were addressed.

• The adequacy of information, examples, and details which support the general claim or main  idea.

• The clarity and relevance of the explanations and descriptions.

• Adherence to standard rules of grammar, punctuation, and mechanics.

• The inclusion of three (3) required references (two [2] additional sources besides your textbook) documented using APA style.

Your assignment must follow these formatting requirements:

• Be typed, double spaced, using Times New Roman font (size 12), with one-inch margins on all sides; references must follow APA Style format. Check with your professor for any additional instructions specific to the selected topic. (Note: Students can find APA style materials located in the course shell for reference.)

• Include a cover page containing the tile of the assignment, the student’s name, the professor’s name, the course title, and the date. The cover page and the reference page are not included in the required page length. 

The specific course learning outcomes associated with this assignment are:

• Explain how key social, cultural, and artistic contributions contribute to historical changes.

• Explain the importance of situating a society’s cultural and artistic expressions within a historical context. 

• Examine the influences of intellectual, religious, political, and socio-economic forces on social, cultural, and artistic expressions. 

• Identify major historical developments in world cultures from the Renaissance to the contemporary period.

• Use technology and information resources to research issues in the study of world cultures.

• Write clearly and concisely about world cultures using proper writing mechanics.

Select one of the following approaches to understanding or implementing organizational change.  Summarize this approach and provide an example of how this information could be useful to an organization.  Review several of your peers’ posts.  Discuss any similar or opposing perspectives you have, with at least two of your peers.  Take care to be professional and polite even if your beliefs or viewpoints differ.

Dunphy and Stace’s Four Levels of Change
Balogun and Hailey’s Change Model
Proactive vs. Reactive Changes
Strategic Change versus Tactical Change
Tichy’s 3 Types of Change
Open-systems Framework
Balanced Scorecard
The Stakeholder Approach

Your initial post should be at least 200 words in length.  Support your claims with examples from required material(s) and/or other scholarly resources, and properly cite any references.

 

Resources: Ch. 4–6 of Contemporary Nutrition, WileyPLUS^®, iProfile

Enter your food intake for 3 full days. Save this information.

Analyze  your food intake by answering the following in complete sentences. Please change either the color of your text or your font for your answers. Please leave the questions present in your final assignment. You may type on this page. Please include a title page for your project.

 

·         Recorded intake of protein, carbohydrates, and lipids (each bullet point worth 1 point)

Points Possible: 5

Points Earned:

                         

o    Which foods in your recorded daily intake provide protein? Which provide carbohydrate? Which provide lipids?

o    Review how your recorded protein, carbohydrate, and lipid intake compares with the recommendations of the DRI.

o    If your recorded protein-carbohydrate-fat intake was too high or too low, which foods might you add or remove to achieve your goal and keep other nutrients in balance?

 

o    Is the protein in each of the foods you ate complete or incomplete, thus combining to become complementary? Why is this important?

o    How much of your daily-recommended protein, carbohydrate, and lipid intake did you achieve? Were you surprised by the number? If your macronutrient intake is insufficient, what might you do to bring it into the recommended range? Provide specific recommendations.

 

 

·         Macronutrient intake ranges

Points Possible: 4

Points Earned:

 

o     What are the effects of too much or too little of a macronutrient?

·         Fiber intake ranges (each bullet point worth 1 point)

Points Possible: 4

Points Earned:

 

o    Does your fiber total meet 100% of the recommendation for you as calculated at the iProfile website?

o    Does your diet meet the minimum number of servings of foods from each fiber-containing group? If not, which of the fiber-containing groups—fruits and vegetables—fell short of the recommended intake?

 

o    Which specific foods provide the most fiber in your days’ meals? Which provide the least? Identify trends in your food choices that might affect your fiber intakes.

·         Dietary modifications (each bullet point worth 1 point)

Points Possible: 4

Points Earned:

 

 

o    What changes might you make among your vegetables, fruits, meat and meat alternatives, or grain choices to increase the fiber in your diet?

o    Do your meals include fiber-rich bean dishes, such as chili, beans in a salad, or split-pea soup?

o    If you drink fruit juice instead of eating whole fruit, what might happen to the fiber content and calorie content in your diet?

o    How might insufficient or excessive amounts of proteins, carbohydrates, fats, or fiber contribute to health or illness? Provide examples.