The company strives to make the employees feel valued and not just minions running around on the floor, at least they do at our store. Number four is a pretty impressive ranking of all the places there are to work in the US. Go Team Nordstrom!
Sunday, August 19, 2012
We're Number 4!
MSN Money recently put Nordstrom at number 4 on their list of the top ten companies to work for and with in the US. (The link will take you to the article). Nordstrom does the majority of their hiring from within, and knowing there is room for growth gives employees a good reason to stick around. My manager is by far the best manager I've ever worked for. He does little things like bringing bottles of water and a bucket of candy for the workers on the floor during inventory when we were there until around 11 p.m.
Monday, August 13, 2012
Halftime Web Editor
I sat down with the CEO and publisher of Halftime Magazine at DCI Finals Saturday in Indianapolis to further discuss the web editor position I interviewed for a couple weeks ago. We talked a little more about my marching experience, writing experience, the writing samples I sent her, and the magazine in general.
I got the job! I am Halftime Magazine's new Web Editor. I will be writing the DCI Feature story for the September issue (print and online). It's a pretty straight forward piece about the top two corps in World and Open Classes, so I will be writing a profile on each of the four corps and talking to some staff, members, and fans about their experiences relating to their corps.
Currently, the Web Exclusives section of Halftime doesn't really exist. The last time it was updated was last February. I am going to change that. So, if you have any brilliant ideas for stories or things you would like to see in the magazine or at least on the web site, let me know, and I'll see what I can do.
This is a part-time position, so I am working a job and a half and on staff for two other magazines now. Let the madness commence!
I got the job! I am Halftime Magazine's new Web Editor. I will be writing the DCI Feature story for the September issue (print and online). It's a pretty straight forward piece about the top two corps in World and Open Classes, so I will be writing a profile on each of the four corps and talking to some staff, members, and fans about their experiences relating to their corps.
Currently, the Web Exclusives section of Halftime doesn't really exist. The last time it was updated was last February. I am going to change that. So, if you have any brilliant ideas for stories or things you would like to see in the magazine or at least on the web site, let me know, and I'll see what I can do.
This is a part-time position, so I am working a job and a half and on staff for two other magazines now. Let the madness commence!
Monday, August 6, 2012
JPUR release
My research snapshot in Journal of Purdue Undergraduate Research has been published! It is released in print on Friday and apparently was released online two weeks ago (I was never informed). Click on the link to read it! There is a citation under the article! I can be cited!
The snapshot is the abstract for the research I conducted my senior year at Purdue. My advisor and I looked at essays written about Annie Leibovitz's photographs in her collection "Women" in terms of women, careers, and leadership.
My research was selected to be published by the JPUR advisory board last semester. I attended some workshops and a poster session where I presented my research. Then I submitted the final abstract to be included in the second volume of JPUR. I am pretty excited to see it in print as well.
My advisor will be interpreting my findings and publishing a paper of her own on our research later this year. I will be listed as a co-author in that paper, so I will be able to be cited in another academic source! There are so many awesome things you can do with writing, I am so excited to begin this journey.
The snapshot is the abstract for the research I conducted my senior year at Purdue. My advisor and I looked at essays written about Annie Leibovitz's photographs in her collection "Women" in terms of women, careers, and leadership.
My research was selected to be published by the JPUR advisory board last semester. I attended some workshops and a poster session where I presented my research. Then I submitted the final abstract to be included in the second volume of JPUR. I am pretty excited to see it in print as well.
My advisor will be interpreting my findings and publishing a paper of her own on our research later this year. I will be listed as a co-author in that paper, so I will be able to be cited in another academic source! There are so many awesome things you can do with writing, I am so excited to begin this journey.
I can check you out
I have to wonder whose brilliant idea it was to put the phrase "I can check you out" on the back of a shirt to be worn by mostly women in a men's department. Nordstrom has started a new mobile check out system where the sales people on the floor carry iPhones, and customers can come straight to us to pay for their purchases (รก l'Apple Store). So far, the system has been really cool and helps keep the lines down at the registers downstairs. I like working mobile; it makes the time go by faster, and I get to talk to people more.
While working mobile, we wear bright green shirts with "I can check you out" across the back. Announcements are made periodically telling people about the new system, and all they have to do is find a person in a green shirt to pay directly on the floor with a credit/debit card.
You can imagine the remarks that are made throughout the day. Most guys my age, if they say anything about it, make a quick stab, grin, and continue on. However, it seems that the older men like to take it a step further, presumably to watch me squirm. I find it odd. Though, for a dollar extra an hour for working mobile, I can definitely tolerate oddness.
I still haven't been trained on register, which is fine with me. I like it better upstairs. I was one of the first sales people to volunteer to be trained on mobile, (I thought way ahead and figured they'd let us wear jeans with the tee shirts we had to wear. Turns out this was a correct assumption.) so I am getting to work it almost everyday.
I get asked several times a day if we have to use our own phones or if Nordstrom gave everyone phones to keep. The store owns the phones, and I'm pretty sure if anyone attempted to walk out with one of the store's iPhones, they would be fired on the spot. I had to sign a contract yesterday that informed me that if I lost the key to the iPhone storage case, I would be terminated immediately. So yeah, I'm not going to lose that key...
While working mobile, we wear bright green shirts with "I can check you out" across the back. Announcements are made periodically telling people about the new system, and all they have to do is find a person in a green shirt to pay directly on the floor with a credit/debit card.
You can imagine the remarks that are made throughout the day. Most guys my age, if they say anything about it, make a quick stab, grin, and continue on. However, it seems that the older men like to take it a step further, presumably to watch me squirm. I find it odd. Though, for a dollar extra an hour for working mobile, I can definitely tolerate oddness.
I still haven't been trained on register, which is fine with me. I like it better upstairs. I was one of the first sales people to volunteer to be trained on mobile, (I thought way ahead and figured they'd let us wear jeans with the tee shirts we had to wear. Turns out this was a correct assumption.) so I am getting to work it almost everyday.
I get asked several times a day if we have to use our own phones or if Nordstrom gave everyone phones to keep. The store owns the phones, and I'm pretty sure if anyone attempted to walk out with one of the store's iPhones, they would be fired on the spot. I had to sign a contract yesterday that informed me that if I lost the key to the iPhone storage case, I would be terminated immediately. So yeah, I'm not going to lose that key...
Saturday, August 4, 2012
Weekend Waiting
I have come to form a love/hate relationship with the weekend. On one hand, I have today off, so not working on a Saturday is nice (especially since I'm sick). On the other hand, I know that I have two long days of waiting for emails ahead of me. I feel foolish as I check my email for the tenth time in a half hour, since no one is going to email me back about jobs or interviews during their weekends. You would think during this long, drawn-out job quest, I would have learned to have patience by now. Instead, I have attempted to employ the technique of distraction and just not thinking about it. (It hasn't worked too well so far.) Every email that shows up in my inbox sends my heart leaping, and then it's usually something from Purdue about tickets for a game/concert/event.
However, I have the fortune of getting three Saturdays off in a row, which is very exciting. Since I said I would work weekends, I pretty much volunteered away any free time I shared with the rest of the working world. Today, the extent of my productivity has been installing our air conditioning units in the apartment. It's pretty nice to have a day with nothing to do.
I am very excited to help work the Halftime Magazine booth at DCI Finals in Indianapolis next Saturday. For the first time this season, I will not be covering the shows I will be watching, so it will be a different experience than what I've had so far. It will be a little strange not scribbling notes furiously while not wanting to miss anything in the shows. I can't wait to see all of the changes that have been made since that last time I saw the corps. Good luck to all the members, especially age-outs, as they start their final week of the 2012 season.
However, I have the fortune of getting three Saturdays off in a row, which is very exciting. Since I said I would work weekends, I pretty much volunteered away any free time I shared with the rest of the working world. Today, the extent of my productivity has been installing our air conditioning units in the apartment. It's pretty nice to have a day with nothing to do.
I am very excited to help work the Halftime Magazine booth at DCI Finals in Indianapolis next Saturday. For the first time this season, I will not be covering the shows I will be watching, so it will be a different experience than what I've had so far. It will be a little strange not scribbling notes furiously while not wanting to miss anything in the shows. I can't wait to see all of the changes that have been made since that last time I saw the corps. Good luck to all the members, especially age-outs, as they start their final week of the 2012 season.
Thursday, August 2, 2012
Halftime Interview!!
Yesterday, at one o'clock in the afternoon, among piles of boxes and mounds of books, I sat on the floor of my mostly empty apartment at Purdue talking to the editor of Halftime Magazine. She asked me to tell her a little about myself. I discussed my musical background and education. She asked what I've been doing since graduation. I told her about writing for DCW and A Beautiful Thing and working at Nordstrom. She asked what one of my favorite articles was or if I have any ideas for articles that could be used in the magazine, (of course I do!) so I told her about those, which she seemed to like.
She gave me three options of positions that might be available for the magazine:
1. Editorial Intern- The original position I applied for. This is an unpaid internship where I would eventually get to write several feature stories for the magazine and learn a lot in the process. While unpaid isn't great, I really need the experience, and I had accepted this going in.
2. Freelance- Freelance work is paid contract work. However, they only use a freelancer about once a year, so I wouldn't get much experience.
3. Part-time- She proposed the idea of a part-time position as their web editor. Currently, her assistant editor is suppose to be doing the web content as part of her job. However, they are both so busy, it hasn't really happened. Halftime's website has an exclusive web section that is suppose to contain articles that are not in the actual magazine. My job would to write articles to be posted online, give synopses of press releases, and post interesting articles online. Because the magazine doesn't have the funds to take on another salary yet, the position would start unpaid. Hopefully, eventually, it would turn into a paid position.
I chose to pursue option three. I am really interested in web work and using online media in a business setting. She felt badly about proposing an unpaid position because I've graduated, but I'm excited for the experience. She asked me to email her the articles I wrote for Drum Corps World, then she's going to call me to discuss the job further.
She ended the interview by asking me if I was a magazine, what would the title be and why. Titles are not my strong point, especially not on the spot. I went with Written Musically.
She gave me three options of positions that might be available for the magazine:
1. Editorial Intern- The original position I applied for. This is an unpaid internship where I would eventually get to write several feature stories for the magazine and learn a lot in the process. While unpaid isn't great, I really need the experience, and I had accepted this going in.
2. Freelance- Freelance work is paid contract work. However, they only use a freelancer about once a year, so I wouldn't get much experience.
3. Part-time- She proposed the idea of a part-time position as their web editor. Currently, her assistant editor is suppose to be doing the web content as part of her job. However, they are both so busy, it hasn't really happened. Halftime's website has an exclusive web section that is suppose to contain articles that are not in the actual magazine. My job would to write articles to be posted online, give synopses of press releases, and post interesting articles online. Because the magazine doesn't have the funds to take on another salary yet, the position would start unpaid. Hopefully, eventually, it would turn into a paid position.
I chose to pursue option three. I am really interested in web work and using online media in a business setting. She felt badly about proposing an unpaid position because I've graduated, but I'm excited for the experience. She asked me to email her the articles I wrote for Drum Corps World, then she's going to call me to discuss the job further.
She ended the interview by asking me if I was a magazine, what would the title be and why. Titles are not my strong point, especially not on the spot. I went with Written Musically.
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