BlOG POST 3
At the beginning of the year, I started to get involved in groups and clubs that will help me network and gain experience in the Graphic design environment, during which I had my first major accomplishment in my career. I became a member of the One Club in January 2015, where I was a participant in their annual Boot Camp. This was a four day creative workshop teamed over eighty participants into teams of 5 to create a hands on experience of the creative process as upcoming Graphic Designers. The winning team received paid internships at the Y&R Advertising and Marketing Agency. This was a major accomplishment because it refined my design skills, enabled me to meet  and network with a lot of pros in the graphic design community, as well as getting tips and advice, getting an insight of the work ethic on site as a graphic designer and development on areas I was weak in.
I do believe that my response has potential to measure up in an interview as a graphic designer. However, I know that I need more accomplishments such as this,  to build my performance profile. My accomplishment at the One Club is the “stepping-stone” to many more that I will acquire throughout the year. The “SMARTe” analysis is a way to  clarify an accomplishment using fact-finding questions. I have used it to explain my major accomplishment.
S: The task was to transform the My Coke Rewards program from an “old fashioned” loyalty website to not just rewards purchases to a modern-day one that rewards and celebrates peoples’ passions wherever they are in their digital lives as a team. We needed to create the loyalty mechanics and develop a visual treatment that delivers relevance and meaning for individuals across a broad audience and aligns with the diversity of brands in Coca-Cola’s portfolio.
M:Â From this experience, I have gained knowledge of working in an Ad Agency. It helped my achiever personae in gaining new skills of working with a team, meeting deadlines and multi-tasking. I was able to perform well with other designers in a fast pace environment and complete each task.
A: My specific role was a researcher and the designer for the final presentation. I was responsible to research and have clear understanding of the current Coke Rewards Program; how it worked, the steps to achieve points, if they had an existing app, website etc and how we could apply it to the challenge.  Also, I had to research things that Coke had done in terms of Ad Campaigns for the program, carefully read and understand their Graphic Manual so our designs  were coherent with it. This was done within a minimum of four/five hours on the first day of the workshop. After this was done, we were able to eliminate ideas which were brainstormed by other team members and develop them as a team. In our final stage, I had to design a powerpoint presentation which involved gathering each aspect of the project and organizing them in a clearly understood way that emphasized our concept.
R: Our solution to the My Coke Rewards was to create a strategic framework for their loyalty program by changing into a network called Hello meaning Happiness Experienced through Life Love and Optimism. Hello is a network community of a happy lifestyle. It’s where people come together and share their happiness, celebrate their passions and have fun with friends, family and even new people through daily challenges. Through this we incorporated the Reward Program in a different way where it was not about just a point loyalty system but about the consumers passion and by being themselves they will be rewarded for it. The deliverables used were an App, website banners and guerrilla advertising. The end achievement was being able to place 3rd when judged by a panel of Art directors and Coca Cola Representatives. The tangible awards were a certificate and a graphic design book from Pratt University. However, the result was being able to network, get advice and gain experience in my field.
T:Â This took place at Y&R Advertising and Marketing Agency. It was a four day workshop where we had to attend from 9-6 each day. Usually my team stayed a full 12 hour shift from 9a.m to 9p.m to get the work executed to meet the guidelines of the creative brief.
e:Â The environment was very professional. Y&R is a very well established and well-known graphic design agency in midtown Manhattan with over 100 designers employed. The environment was very friendly and relaxing. It was not like a corporate office with dozens of little cubicles, but instead the layout was more of a secondary home for the designers, with lounges, kitchens, booths with walls made of white board and conference rooms. It made it more comfortable to solve problems and think of ideas. However, the pace was very fast, the employees were always working on a project, as were we. There were designers who mentored each team throughout each day, gave us advice and an insight of working as a junior designer.
BLOG POST 2
An achiever personae is a character of a professional individual who posses traits of having high success in their performance. It is considered to be people who make an impact, meet objectives, deliver high-quality work, expands and has consistent results. One, who works well with multi-functional teams, has technical impact and upward progression such as a promotion. The achiever personae shows a pattern of qualities of their achievements which usually involves, being consistent and highly reliable at given tasks, being motivated to do the work required by not only stating it but is able to be recognized in their background by taking on big projects or being chosen to do so. An achiever also shows qualities of being exceptional at, at least one or two critical areas that displays great leadership, analytic, or strategic skills. It shows a pattern of constant improvement in his or her previous jobs.
Personally, I know I have an achiever personae but there are some qualities that are stronger than others. I am always motivated in every task handed to me and it shows in my work. At work or school, I am not only motivated to finish a project but take on bigger ones when I have finished and not leave until they are completed. Being in college, working part-time as a visual merchandizer and doing freelance work developed my time-management and multitasking skills. I often strategize by making a daily plan that will fit in all my projects in order for them to be a success. In addition, I do freelance work to take on more challenging projects to build my portfolio. Although there are no promotional achievements in my achiever pattern, I have been recognized by the President of the Company and given special projects and responsibilities at work. In relation with my professional career, I have placed 3rd at The One Club Boot camp and Graphic Design Competitions with over 80 participants.
However, I do need to work on strengthening some qualities such as teamwork. I have done this by engaging myself in groups such as The One Club and AIGA at the beginning of the year, to meet and work in groups to build my teamwork skills. This has also worked as a way for me to network, and build my portfolio and achiever pattern. In order to solidify my achiever personae I must first strengthen all qualities so that the achiever pattern stands out to a recruiter or hiring manager to prove that I am an achiever.
BLOG POST 1
Performance based hiring is using performance as the fundamental driver in selecting and assessing candidates for a job; it is a business process for hiring top talent. According to Alder, candidates, recruiters and hiring managers emphasize the wrong things, such as skills, academics, experiences etc., when meeting and evaluating people. However, this does not predict top job performance, but instead filters out the good people. Whereas, performance based hiring is, having hiring managers, recruiters and candidates emphasize on performance instead and focus on what it takes to be successful at the job and how their performance fits the position that’s needed to be filled. This process ensures a recruiter or hiring manager to find the Top talent who is actually capable to do the job and candidates to have a great career with a job they actually want.
Constructing my professional identity in a performance based manner will be helpful to my career in many ways which I believe will result in me getting a job that I truly want and deserve based on my performance. Firstly, I would try to present myself as a professional in the best light for the job I want. Instead of traditionally displaying my skills and duties first, I will have a performance profile, which will not only be a portfolio of my work but also my thought process and prior performances in school or freelance work that shows how my performance will relate to the role I am applying for. Â Although, the compensation will be a factor, I will not make it most important. Thinking of a significant career move that will offer me growth in the long hall will be my main factor.
Apart of constructing myself in a performance based manner involves making a good first impression by controlling my nervousness when being interviewed. As an individual, I often get nervous speaking with new people and having an easy flowing conversation. Practicing and preparing will help me manage my weaknesses and be able to answer questions logically, which will eliminate some nervousness. Having knowledge about the company also plays a vital part, this will help to have valuable questions to ask in an interview and demonstrate that I am a candidate that knows what I am looking for. This is also a way I can gather my thoughts when becoming nervous or anxious during the interview process.
Being in such a competitive career as Graphic Design, it is important that I understand the level of performance required for the “on-the-job success” that I want to gain and prove that I am motivated and the top-talent needed to do the job.
