Cultural Event 5: A Good Day to Die Hard

     Several weeks ago, I attended a viewing of the popular movie, "A Good Day to Die Hard".  Although it was not my first choice of movies to attend, nothing else interested me much and I was in the mood for a good action movie.  I have not seen all of the "Die Hard" movies, but I have seen bits and pieces of some and I was sure I was in for a exciting, action-packed movie with great special effects and a cheesy story line.  Plus, I am a Bruce Willis fan and he is the star of the movies.

A Good Day to Die Hard

     Overall, the movie was filled with mostly action and a small amount of dialogue.  The movie is mainly set in Russia and at the empty Chernobyl plant.  The main character, John McClane has to team up with his son, who he has never really known, to save the world from the disastrous plot unfolding at Chernobyl.  As suspected, the movie was action-packed, but it was also heartwarming.  It was nice to see McClane work with and develop a relationship with the son he never knew.  By the end of the movie, the pair reconciled their differences and worked well together.  And, of course, in the end, the protagonists and heros won and saved the day.  Before I saw the movie, I did not give the story line enough credit.  Even though the movie mainly focused on the action, it was able to reveal a lot about the father-son relationship through action and other clues, instead of just dialogue.  It was easy to feel for the protagonists and cheer them on to their victory.

Capstone Cultural Event 2: Guys and Dolls

The "Guys and Dolls" set

     Last weekend I had the opportunity to attend the musical "Guys and Dolls" at Penn Trafford High School in Pennsylvania.  While I was visiting with my family, two of my younger cousins asked me to attend a play that they had worked incredibly hard to put together.  They were members of the "tech team" and contributed to the behind the scenes aspect of the play, from set design, lighting, customer design, and all of the other miscellaneous things it takes to create a play.  I always enjoy watching musicals and I could not resist seeing the handiwork of my younger cousins, so it was with an eager and proud heart that I attended the play.  Because it was a high school play, I assumed it would be conservative and safe.  I had never heard of "Guys and Dolls" before, but I was basing my assumption off of all of the plays I watched at my own high school.  (However college is an entirely different story and the plays tend to be racy and provocative!)  Once students reach a college age, they are considered adults and can understand the more provocative type of play, whereas high schoolers are still teenagers.  Although this musical was not extremely provocative or over the top, it did not exactly follow my expectations of a high school play.

     The play was set in New York, filled with gamblers.  One of the main characters, Nathan, tries to win money to save his floating crap game by betting Sky that he cannot get Sarah, a church goer who works at the local mission, to travel to Havanna, Cuba with him.  After several tricks and a hint of luck, Sky convinces Sarah to go to Cuba with him.  While there, Sarah becomes very friendly with Sky and even acts jealous when he dances with another woman.  Feeling guilty, he reveals the bet to Sarah and takes her back to New York.  Once back in New York, Sarah's mission is about to shut down from lack of support.  So, Sky follows the gamblers and individually bets them all that if he wins, they have to go to the mission to repent their sins.  In the end, the mission is saved and two of the other main characters marry at the mission, now run by Sarah and Sky.

     Although the musical is somewhat cliche, I enjoyed watching it.  I felt myself routing for Sarah and her mission and the ending was happy and satisfying, yet predictable.  Ending any other way may have left me feeling unsatisfied.  The play was very enjoyable and I enjoyed being exposed to it.  The crew did a great job of bringing everything together.  Had I never went to visit my family this past weekend, I would have never heard about this musical.   

Capstone Cultural Event 4: Shepherd University Career Fair

     A few weeks ago, I had the opportunity to attend the Shepherd University's Career Fair.  Since I am currently working part-time as a recruiter, an opportunity that should turn into a full-time position after I graduate this May, I was not too excited to attend the fair.  In fact, I was required to attend per my Business Communications class.  I have never attended a career fair before and did not know what to expect.  However, after reading over the list of employer attendees, several agencies intrigued me, such as the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.  When I look into my future, I always see myself working for one of these government agencies.  At the very least, I felt that I could do some networking at the career fair and obtain important information about the agencies and their job opportunities.

Career Fair

     When I arrived at the career fair, I was somewhat overwhelmed.  The area was filled with students and employers.  To be honest, I did not even know where to start.  I picked the closest aisle to walk down and begin glancing at all of the boards the employers displayed to understand more about each company.  As I walked through the first aisle, I tried to keep a smile on my face as I passed every single employer.  Because I was unsure of the proper way to approach an employer from which I wanted more information, I just kept walking.  Finally, I saw a display for a counseling center.  No other students were around and I was able to walk up to the poster board and begin a discussion with the woman representing the company.  She pleasantly gave me some more information about the company, but she seemed more nervous and confused than I did.  This experience gave me the confidence I needed to start talking to other employers; after all, they came to look for potential employees!  After walking around the entire fair, I was able to talk to the FBI and gain some excellent information about the kinds of positions for which I should be applying.  I was also able to connect with a HR manager from American Public University Systems.

Shepherd University

     Overall, I am glad that I was able to attend the Career Fair this year.  The Shepherd University Career Development Center spends a lot of time, money, and effort to put those types of beneficial events together for the students.  Hopefully more students will take advantage of these types of opportunities in the future.  Although I did not walk out of the Career Fair with my dream job, I was able to network with influential and important business people.  Furthermore, I gained experience communicating and interacting with HR professionals, hiring managers, and other company representatives.  I gained more confidence speaking with business people and obtained a look into the real, professional world.

Capstone Cultural Event 3: Eugene B. Smith Art Gallery

Bodie Lighthouse

     As one of my cultural events for my Communications Capstone class, I decided to visit an art gallery in Winchester, called the Eugene B. Smith Gallery.  When I walked into the gallery, many paintings were displayed on the wall.  The paintings consisted of mostly scenic pictures and flowers in all different seasons.  They were truly beautiful, watercolored pieces.  The artist, Eugene Smith, came out to greet me when I arrived.  He showed me around the gallery and confessed that he had hand painted all of the pieces.  Along with pictures all of sizes, he also had postcards for sale.  As I was speaking with the artist, I discovered that he actually graduated from Shepherd University with a degree in Business Administration.  His artistic talent helps to keep his business thrive, but the skills and tools he learned in school assist the success of his business, too.  After finding something in common with the artist, I was able to better connect with him.  The rest of our conversation was effortless.  Once I was finally able to finish looking around the gallery, one particular painting stood out to me.  This painting was of a lighthouse that I have actually seen before!  When I was younger, I lived in North Carolina.  Each summer my family would explore new lighthouses at the Outer Banks.  He had painted one of the lighthouses I used to visit with my family.  Bodie Lighthouse is located on Pea Island in Rodanthe, North Carolina.  Eugene revealed that he visits the lighthouse often.

The Eugene B. Smith Gallery

     My experience at the art gallery was unique.  I am not very artistically inclined, so I am always fascinated by artists.  However,  I am normally attracted to bright and flashy colors.  Being inspired and seeing such beauty in the watercolors was a new experience for me.  The watercolors were refreshing and subtle, yet able to keep my attention.  I even hope to return one day to the gallery to buy some pieces!  It was also pleasant to know that he also attended Shepherd and was doing so well for himself.

Capstone Cultural Event 1: Historic Winchester/Civil War Museum

Old Town Winchester

     Since the weather was so beautiful this past weekend, I took advantage of it by taking a trip to historic Winchester to visit the Civil War Museum.  When I first arrived in Winchester, I was somewhat concerned because the city was under much construction.  Fortunately, though, all of the shops, restaurants, and attractions were accessible and open.  Although there are many different attractions in historic Winchester, I really enjoy visiting all types of museums and the Civil War has always been an interesting topic to me.  When I discovered the Civil War Museum, I decided to explore it.  When I first arrived, several high school aged boys were working there.  They asked if I would like to hear some background information about the museum and I was eager to listen.  The boy revealed that during the Civil War, the museum was used as a hospital and a jail for the soldiers.  Because the area was constantly changing sides, the prisoners never stayed for long.  Each time the city changed sides, the current prisoners would be released.  Although the building is quite old, it is the same building used during the Civil War, with some renovations.  The doctors and nurses were always cleaning up blood from the wounded so there were no stains.

Defendant and Judge

     After the war was over, the hospital/jail changed into a courthouse.  It was used as a courthouse for many years.  Recently, a new courthouse was built and the building was turned into a civil war museum.  The bottom floor of the courthouse included a small gift shop and a room set up as the court would have been in the late 1800 and early 1900.  The judge and jury would directly face the defendant.  However, since the judge was higher, he could not see the jury.  The upstairs of the museum included many artifacts from the civil war, actual graffiti written on the walls from the jail times, and an old, working bell that I even rang!  Overall, the museum served as a major learning experience for me.  Living in West Virginia, when I think of the civil war, I generally think of Harper's Ferry, Gettysburg, or Antietam.  Honestly, I never realized the significance Winchester played in the war.  It is interesting to know that the city was constantly changing sides and played such a major part in the war.  Overall, I really enjoyed visiting the museum.  I feel lucky to live in an area rich with history.  It is up to me, though, to explore that history to learn more.  I would recommend anyone, young or old, to discover this museum.  It would even be a great place for area middle school or high school history classes to visit.

Ringing the Bell

Final Capstone Preparations

Force Recruiting and Consulting Logo

     After working on my Capstone project for several weeks, I have finished my deliverables for the project and need to spend time revising this social media plan.  In addition, I will spend the rest of the semester actually following the plan.  Developing a board design and the information displayed on the board is another task I need to complete within the next several weeks.  My initial idea for the board is a simple white background with the logo I created on the background.  The last piece of my Capstone deliverables that I completed this past week was an executive summary.  Basically, the executive summary is the paper that will be at the beginning of my social media plan.  It is a brief summary of my plan, addressing all of the different parts.  This step is necessary so someone can easily understand the point of the social media plan and decide to read through the entire plan if needed.  Since this summary does not include any new information, it was rather simple to write.  I basically pulled a few key sentences from each individual piece.  However, I need my director to read over it so I can ensure it is understandable and well-written.  After the plan is revised, I will develop a table of contents and construct one document with page numbers and each piece of the plan.  I am excited to see my plan come together in one document!
     So, after working hard and spending much time on my Capstone project, tomorrow I will be presenting my project to the Communication Department professors for evaluation.  I am looking forward to receiving feedback and useful advice to make my project the best that it can possibly be.  I am confident in my project, but understand that I can always make it better.  Not only will a better project reflect best on the Communications Department, but a better project will be more likely to impress my boss at Force Recruiting and Consulting.  In addition, this project is something that I can keep for personal records and show potential future employers actual work I have completed.  Overall, I am very satisfied with my Capstone project choice and am excited to share all of my hard work with the department professors!  

Capstone Capstone and More Capstone!

     As I am completing my social media plan for Force Recruiting and Consulting, I am at the point where I am developing a calendar to follow for posting.  Although I have spent much time researching other organizations' social media uses and have developed different strategies, and tactics to achieve specific objectives, my Capstone director suggested that I develop a content calendar.  This calendar will give me a general idea of the type of content I will share each day.  This consistency will allow viewers to consciously or unconsciously realize the pattern I am following and it will give them expectations.  For instance, I want Monday to be a day for inspiration and Thursday to be a day for interviews.  Although inspiration may not always directly give my audience job finding advice, it can give someone encouragement and interesting information.  A story about fifty incredibly successful people who failed at first is a great example of the type of inspirational messages I want to share on Monday.  I will share stories on Thursday that involve different interview techniques, tips, advice, or anything else involving interviews.  Also, I decided to blog every first and third Wednesday of each month.  Although my content sharing calendar is mostly complete, I will spend the next couple of days creating a two month blog schedule.  My blog schedule is more difficult to complete because it is much more specific.  While I create this schedule, I need to focus on being creative and brainstorming potentially interesting and useful blog topics.  However, once I create this schedule, blogging for the next two months will be much easier!

     In addition to creating my schedules, I have been following my social media plan and implementing it.  Fortunately, I am gaining more and more followers on Twitter!  However, my Facebook likes have been at a standstill for several days now.  I have some great opportunities in the future to share the Facebook and Twitter pages with clients, though.  I am excited about these opportunities and am confident that they will yield results.  Overall, I am satisfied with the progress I have made this far.  Although it has been a lot of work and I have spent much time and energy into this project, it is a great experience to see my hard work pay off.  It is also exciting for me because even after I complete my Capstone project, I will be able to use my completed project to continue with Force Recruiting and Consulting's social media.  With the help of my director, I am even able to actually impress my boss! 

Capstone Advancements

Force's Website

     This past week has been a monumental one for my capstone project.  I have finally finished my social media plan for Force Recruiting and Consulting and have been implementing it.  In addition to completing my social media plan, I have successfully published Force's website and written the first blog post!  As part of my social media plan, I will be publishing the first post this upcoming week and sharing it on all forms of our social media, including Facebook and Twitter.  From this point forward, I plan on blogging every other week for Force Recruiting and Consulting.  Even though I want to blog more frequently, every other week is the most realistic approach to blogging.  If my blogging is successful, which I have no doubt that it will not be, I am hoping to blog once a week within the next several months.  Then, I hope to eventually blog two to three times a week.  So far, the Facebook and Twitter pages have been rather successful at obtaining a following.  However, I need to focus my attention on more interaction with our followers.  Following my social media plan will assist me in obtaining this interaction.
     Developing the social media plan was not an easy task, and it even seemed overwhelming for me, at times.  However, actually implementing the plan is incredibly exciting!  I have been patiently waiting this entire semester to actually implement my plan.  Although I did not always want to do the hard work of developing the plan, I have always understood the importance of it.  The research and written plan are essential portions of any social media plan.  I gained some incredibly important insights into successful social media for small businesses.  In addition, I have gained a lot of great knowledge about social media in general.  With the popularity of social media, this vital knowledge may even give me an edge in my job search some day.  Luckily, many of my initial ideas and thoughts I had about social media seem to coincide with the research I have conducted.  Overall, though, actually seeing my plan in action makes me proud.  I am excited to see the successfulness of my plan over the next several months and will be willing to make any necessary changes to improve it.

Capstone Progress!

Example of a SWOT analysis

     After working on my capstone project for several weeks, I am excited about the progress I have made.  In fact, I have almost completely put my social media plan together.  This next week I am focusing on fixing it up and making it as perfect as I can.  Since I have completed all of the separate parts of the media plan, including a company overview, competitor analysis, audience personas, SWOT analysis, key messages, communication analysis, and objectives, strategies, and tactics, I need to compile a consistent document.  Out of the entire social media plan, I enjoyed developing the SWOT analysis the most.  It allowed me to think about Force Recruiting and Consulting in a new and productive way.  I was able to analyze the many internal strengths and weaknesses and the external opportunities and threats of the company.  In fact, I believe that the SWOT analysis is one of the most important aspects of my social media plan.  It allows me to focus on specific aspects, either negative or positive and internal or external, of my company and strategize around them.  I decided to highlight the opportunities and weaknesses of Force Recruiting and Consulting in my social media plan.  Force has many external opportunities to explore, but also has some key weaknesses that has the potential to hinder the company.  Focusing the social media plan around the opportunities and weaknesses benefit Force the most.
     In addition to the SWOT analysis, developing the key messages and objectives was a new and rewarding experience.  With some help from my advisor, I was able to develop Force's key messages by deciding the company's most important parts.  These messages display the ideas in which Force stands.  The objectives were somewhat harder to develop than the key messages.  The objectives are the different things that I want to accomplish through social media.  Then, the strategies are more specific and the tactics are the ways in which I will accomplish my objectives.  Since I have already developed my social media plan, I am focusing on putting it together and doing more research to figure out the content for my social media.  I am really excited to finally start developing content and watching the results!

Capstone Progress

     As I am continuing to work on my capstone project, I am realizing just how much work and time I have to dedicate to it!  Thus far, I have completed some initial research that will really drive my social media plan to success.  I recently completed a social media competitor audit, an overview of my company, and  audience personas.  For the social media competitor audit, I spent a great deal of time reviewing and analyzing other recruiting firm's social media.  After careful consideration, I noticed several trends that seemed to be helping this field's social media, but I also noticed certain aspects that seemed to be detrimental.  For instance, the most successful company's on social media, like Aerotek, are developing their own content to share, sharing other's content, posting job openings, and interacting with others.  On the other hand, one company lacked in their branding by using different employees as their profile pictures instead of a logo.  I learned quickly that consistency is important for branding.  In addition to the social media competitor audit, the company overview consisted of a brief synopsis of the company and a brief history.  Finally, the audience personas consisted of information about the types of individuals who would be considered the audience of our social media sites.  For example, individuals with mid level specific technical skills interested in changing jobs would be considered as part of our audience.
     After compiling all of this information, I am close to developing my social media plan and then eventually implementing it.  Although I initially felt that this would be the most boring and monotonous part of my project, I am really starting to understand its importance and have learned so much.  Even though I am not quite at the point to develop my plan, I already have several ideas.  However, I need to do more research and find some more expert ideas in successfully using social media for a business.  I am currently working on developing an analysis of our current social media and goals for our social media.  Once I finish this aspect of my project, I will be able to create specific strategies and tactics to utilize those strategies.  So, I am extremely close to being able to start implementing my plan and see results, which is incredibly exciting!  Overall, I have a lot more work to do; however, I am well on my way to successfully completing my project.

Capstone Research, Writing, and Progressions

Content Rules

     As I am patiently waiting for my copy of "Content Rules" to come so I can really focus on the social media plan I will propose to my boss, I am working on creating a social media field analysis, a company overview, and an audience persona.  The social media field analysis will contain the information that I found from researching and examining other recruiting agencies utilizing social media.  The company overview will contain information about Force Recruiting and Consulting, including the mission and vision of the company, the background and history of the company, and a description of the company's services.  Finally the audience persona will include information about the individuals who will be the subject of the company's online presence.  For my company, our audience is generally middle to senior level professionals with technical skills who are interested in changing jobs.
     In addition to developing these crucial pieces of information for my project, I am also working on the company's website and blog.  Ultimately, I want to be able to share blog updates on the website and on all of the social media sites, too.  I have developed the majority of the content and am now focusing on the layout and structure of the website.  I even plan on publishing the website next week!  Also, over the next month I plan on publishing two blog posts.  I am very excited about writing blogs and using different resources to assist me in writing appropriate content.  Overall, I am looking forward to really delving into different resources to assist me in developing my social media plan.  However, I must begin my plan with the necessary elements to complete the social media plan.

Capstone Progressions

     As I delve deeper and deeper into my Capstone Project, I am actually becoming rather excited to start putting things together.  After establishing a basic idea for my project, I asked Dr. Matt Kushin to be my mentor because he has the experience with social media that I need.  After meeting two separate times, we determined a much more specific project.  This project will include most of the original ideas that I had, but is a bit more clear and defined.  Dr. Kushin and I decided that my first step for the social media campaign in which I will be developing should be to spend several weeks doing research to understand the concepts behind successful social media, specifically for a small recruiting firm.  By doing this research and creating a well thought out and established plan, I will be better prepared to launch a successful social media campaign for my company.  After I have completed my research and created a plan, I can start implementing it.  Dr. Kushin and I initially broke my project into two sections.  For the first month, I will be completing my research and developing my plan.  Then, during the second month,  I will actually be utilizing my plan and creating the content and using social media.
     Another issue that Dr. Kushin and I came to a conclusion on dealt with my project being somewhat too broad.  Although my job requires me to maintain a website, LinkedIn page, Facebook page, and Twitter page, we decided that the research I conduct should focus on figuring out which form of the social media will be the most beneficial to the company.  Thus, when I actually put the plan into action, I can focus on one source of social media and use the other two forms as just two more outlets for similar content.  Also, we determined that maintaining a blog on the website may be useful.  Since I am not an expert in the field of recruiting, I can work closely with my boss to develop a by-monthly (at least to start) blog that can give our audience helpful tips about finding a job, such as refreshing their resumes or having a successful interview.  Along with some other ideas, like creating a logo, mission statement, letterhead, business cards, and other miscellaneous things, I have completely finalized my project.  To wrap all this up, in the past week I determined my specific project and my deliverables I will be able to present.

Example of following thousands of people on Twitter

     Finally, after organizing all of my ideas, I began some brief research of other companies uses of social media.  Thus far I have found that there are many recruiting firms that appear to be doing very successful on social media.  One trend I noticed is that recruiting firms use Twitter by following thousands of people.  In return, though, they have thousands of followers.  Because I am not completely sold on this idea, I need to do more research to find out it's effectiveness.  Another trend I found is posting short blog posts or articles about human resources.  I need to remember to always give my audience something important to read or they may not read it.  Lastly, I noticed that these types of companies are updating once, twice, or maybe even three times a day with open positions.  This is a place that I would like my company's social media to get to one day.  Overall, I need to do much more in-depth research to discover the proper strategies to use for successful social media.

Initial Thoughts on My Capstone Project

After three and a half years at Shepherd University in the Mass Communications department, the time has finally come for me to start my Capstone project.  The Capstone project is something that all communication students must take in order to graduate from the university.  This project allows students to showcase the specific skills, interests, and expertise that the department has taught or developed over the course of their education.  Although there are some restrictions and qualifications, students choose an advisor/mentor to assist them in developing a project.  Over the course of my college career at Shepherd, I have considered doing several different projects.  I have many different interests, including public relations and video production, so picking one specific project was somewhat of a challenge for me.  However, since the time has finally come for me to pick a specialized project, I have a pretty clear idea of what I want to do.

Social Media

     To begin, I recently was hired at a local recruiting and consulting firm for government agencies.  I am very interested in this type of work and am continuing to learn about the ins and outs of recruiting.  In addition, though, I am also in charge of their marketing, including social media, branding, and public relations.  I will be in charge of developing and maintain the company's Facebook and Twitter pages, branding the company by making logos and a website, and just helping to get the company on the map so others in the community are aware of this small business.  Even though I have learned a lot about those things throughout school, I do lack the kind of experience I wish I had.  Fortunately, I did intern at a public relations and marketing firm last semester so I have some ideas about the direction to go in.  However, I would like more help with developing the marketing for this small business.  Thus, I have decided that I would like to incorporate this into my Capstone project.  Not only will I be able to do a better job at my current position, I will gain crucial knowledge and experience from my mentor that I can use in the future.  Also, this will give me a portfolio that may give me a competitive advantage over others in the future.  Overall, I am very excited about working with a mentor that will help me develop and showcase my skills and teach me new things.