Mock Interview

A.  Steve, my mother-in-law's brother interviewed me.  He is the owner of a roofing company and was pretending to be the office manager of a doctors office hiring for an office assistant.

B.  I am not too comfortable with Steve since we live in different states, and since he was out here visiting, I decided to have hi, interview me.  It was useful because it was a little intimidating, almost like interviewing for a real job.

C.  The most difficult question for me was what are 3 strong traits that I have.  For some reason, I always have a hard time answering that because I feel like I am gloating.

D.  For others that are preparing for an interview, I would advise them to have a mock interview and look up common questions used in interviews so that they can better prepare their minds about their past experiences and what things they want to say about themselves.

E.  Three things I learned is to not talk too fast, be a little bit more confident in my answers and to make good eye contact.

F.  Three things that can be improved for my next interview would be to research the company I am interviewing with, to think out traits about myself before hand so that there are no long pauses, and to not say "um"  as much.

Information Interview Report

I had the opportunity  to interview a friend of a friend that is a dental Hygienist.  Her name is Dyanna Killpack.  She gave me some great information about this career.  Here are the questions I asked her:

1)      Where did you do your hygiene program and how long did it take you to complete?

She went to SLC community college, and it took her two years to complete.  That is after her prerequisites which took her about two years to complete.

2)      How long did it take to find a job after graduation?

           Took about 4 months, she knew someone in the field that helped here

3)       What is the starting salary range in this area for hygienists?

About $30-$32 per hour

4)       What is a typical work day for you?

Her days are 8 hour days, she sees 8 patients a day with an hour lunch. 

5)       Why did you decide to pursuit this career?

It was the flexibility of the hours she could work  and the compensation. 

6)      How competitive is this field?

           She said it was very competitive.  She was on a two year waiting list just to get in to the program, and             if she had not had a connection with a dental office, she would probably still be looking for a  position.            There are so many other hygienists with experience that tower over you.

7)       Is this job stressful?

            Not really, the only thing is the time management.  Making sure you get your patients done on time so              others aren’t waiting.

8)      What do you like most/least about this job?

            The most would have to be the client interaction, and the different ones you see.  You aren’t going to              work on the same people day in and day out.  On the flip side, the thing I like least is the            repetitiveness of the job.  You are always doing the same procedures everyday.

I enjoyed the interview I had with Daynna.  She gave me some good insight on the reality of this career, and things that I may have not thought of before.  For instance, I might need to start networking a little bit within dental offices because unless you know someone, it may be hard to find a job after graduation.  She also reassured me of how good the pay is.  She only works 2-3 days a week, and makes very good money.  She also reassured me of the flexibility of the schedule.  She said that a lot of dental offices hire two hygienist if wanted, so you don’t have to work the full work week if you don’t want to.  All in all, she was very resourceful and gave me a good insight on the career of dental hygiene.  It might just be something I look into a little more thouroughly!

Elevator Speech

Hi, my name is Cecile Ewell, and I am a freshman in college.  I have dabbled in many work fields, but mostly in customer service.  I am a very strong willed, personable person with a will to get things done the right way the first time.  I am looking for a career that will push me to accomplish all that I know I can accomplish, and help me grow as an individual.

Resources

Finding out what jobs pay in Utah
http://jobs.utah.gov/jsp/wi/utamis/gotoOccuwage.do

Bureau of Labor and Statistics- everything you need to know about any job
www.bls.gov/home.htm

Tips on interviews and career planning
http://www.quintcareers.com

Information on setting SMART goals for your life and career planning
 http://www.mindtools.com/page6.html

Gives great advice on how to make your decisions for your career
http://career.berkeley.edu/Plan/MakeDecisions.stm

Interviewing advice and questions
http://career-advice.monster.com/job-interview/interview-questions/top-10-interview-questions-prep/article.aspx

Webquest Research

The three careers I have chosen to look into are dental hygienist, French High school teacher, and some type of therapist or counselor, preferably marriage.  After reading articles and researching these positions online, I have gained a better knowledge of the little details about these careers that I did not know before.

                I am very interested in Dental Hygiene because of the hours worked and the pay provided.  I have found out that most Hygienist only work 3-4 days weekly with a pay rate of anywhere from $25-$35 per hour.  I also found out that most hygienists are only required to have their Associate Degree.  A bachelors and masters are also provided if you are interested in furthering your education like if you wanted to teach or something like that.  Since I have already started my family, this doesn’t seem like it would take too long to finish.  I also read that in the next 8-10 years, employment in this field is expected to raise 36%, which is very high according to the article I read. 

                When I researched marriage therapist, I found a little less information.  I found out that I would need to get my masters in counseling to be a therapist.  They make anywhere from $18-$25 per hour which isn’t bad, I just think it should be a little more since you are dealing with pretty big issues of other peoples ‘.  And also if I am going to be doing that much school, I would maybe want to get paid a little more.  I looked for jobs to see if people where hiring in the area, and found out that with this type of counseling, I would be better off starting my own practice.  I didn’t find anyone that was hiring in this line of work anywhere near here.  Some of the pros of having my own practice though would be that I could make my own hours, choose my location, and answer to myself.  That is something I would like.

                I was born in France, so I am also considering being a French Teacher.  The things that are appealing to me about this career is that I work school hours so I could be home with my kids every afternoon and every weekend.  I also like working with kids, so I think I could handle this job.  I couldn’t find too much information on French Teachers either, but found that if you have a masters in teaching you could make anywhere from $44K-$70K per year.  I can’t really find anything bad about this career other than it would take a really long time for me to get my Masters, but it is doable.  The fact that I am already fluent in French would maybe make it a little more bearable too.  

I have really learned a lot from researching these three very different careers and now know a little bit more about myself and what I actually would want to do.  Out of the three, I would have to say that being a Dental Hygienist would probably be my #1 choice because I love the hours and pay for the little amount of school.  I would then choose to be a French Teacher because I love working with kids and the hours, even though more pay would be nice.  I wouldn’t mind being a counselor, but after the research I have done it would probably not be my first choice as a career. 

Resources:  http://jobs.utah.gov, www.bls.gov, craigslit, ksl, hotjobs, google search engine

SWOT Analysis

The major I have chosen to look into for now would be to get an AAS in Dental Hygiene. I went and talked to a counselor and this is what I found out.  There are prerequisites I need to take to even be qualified to enter into this two year program.  Since I am just barely starting school, I don’t have any yet, so I need to start from square one.  My semesters will go as followed:

Fall 2011: NUTR 1020

Spring 2011:  Math 1010, English 1010, PSY 1010

Summer 2011: Bio 1010, math 1050

Fall 2011: Chem 1110, ZOOL 2420, SOC 1010

Spring 2012: ZOOL 2320, MICRO 2060, COMM 1050

Fall 2012: DENT 1010, DENT 1020, DENT 1030

Spring 2012: DENT 2060, DENT 1040, DENT 1050, DENT 1060

Fall 2013: DENT 3010, DENT 2020, DENT 3030

Spring 2013: DENT 3040, DENT 3050, PHIL 2050

Strengths:

• ·         I like to work with people

• ·         The hours and work schedule are appealing to me

• ·         I am interested in learning about teeth and proper dental care

• ·         This will make it so I have a specific career and stability

• ·         I would be able to be there for my kids every night and every weekend

• ·         Once I get the degree, I have a sure job in the industry

Weaknesses:

• ·         I don’t like how few people are accepted into the program for how much work you need to put into getting good grades in those classes

• ·         The classes will keep me SUPER busy with a lot of homework

• ·         It will take me a little over 3 years to finish if everything works out

• ·         I don’t know how much I am committed to spending that much time and money into this degree

Opportunities: 

•   Once I have this degree, I will be ready to go into the dental workforce and find a job as a hygienist

• ·         I always see ads for dental hygienist wanted, so I will be able to apply for these jobs

• ·         I hope to know everything there is to know about good dental care and be exteremely comfortable in this subject

• ·        I know a lot of others that are successful hygienists

Threats:

• ·         It will be hard to try and balance my three kids and all the hard core classes I need to take.  Finding time to do homework and study will be challenging

• ·         I honestly don’t know if this is the career I want to have

• Am still exploring other majors that might fit my lifestyle better