Friday, November 16, 2007

Employers Study Applicant's Personalities

It is a very hard decision to make when determining if you are going to hire someone or not. There is a lot of stress put on employers because they do not want to hire the wrong person, but sometimes there is a great need for workers that it is hard to say no. Also, how do you know if the person is going to fit into the company?

After reading this article, I could not help but think about a boy that lived across the street from me growing up. He was incredibly intelligent, but had no people skills. Throughout high school, he never really got along with anybody and could not work with others at all. Our senior year, he was voted "most likely to succeed" because he was so smart. The only thing that I could think about was the fact that yes he was smart, but he could not work well with others. This is a major factor when it comes to working in the real world. Even though he was so intelligent, he did not have to people skills to bring that intelligence to the table in a working setting.

Therefore, I think that it is very important for employers to hire a wide variety of people. There is a place for everyone, but maybe not at their company. Because there is such a shortage of workers, it may be hard to turn people down, but sometimes it might be the right thing to do in order to keep company morale high. It is very critical to have a combination of personalities that will be able to work well together.

Friday, November 9, 2007

Dual Coding Theory

Learning about the Dual Coding Theory this past week has been very interesting. I have never taken and sort of marketing class, and therefore was unfamiliar with this theory. Even though it completely makes sense, I had never thought about the fact that putting words and text in an ad, would give the audience a deeper association.

After looking at some ads around Clemson, I realized that almost everything that I saw contained pictures to capture the reader's attention and then text to deliver the important information. A lot of the pictures were intended to evoke emotion in the audience. This is a very good tactic because if the reader has something to tie the information to, it will stick for a longer amount of time. Also delivering text in creative ways will help distinguish some ads from others.

One aspect of the dual coding theory that was very intriguing to me was the fact that if you have an experience to relate the information to, it will make a more lasting impression. Normally, when I read advertisements, I read them really fast and then never think about them again. Some things that would stick in my head would not necessarily stick in other peoples heads. This opens another aspect of advertising. It is very important to research your intended audience and see what they would most likely have in common. This way, you audience would have a greater chance in retaining the memory and therefore remembering your advertisement.