Example Project Final Papers
Contents
Example #1: Navy
Exchange
Example #1: Navy Exchange
(Please see Grading Comments at the end of the paper.)
Proposed Changes for the Navy Exchange
I
work in the Human Resources Department for the Navy Exchange at NAS North
Island. The project I am using to benefit my department is to broaden the applicant
base for the many job vacancies we fill each year. This project will be
especially beneficial because the possibilities I am proposing have never been
explored before.
Description
of the Navy Exchange
The
Navy Exchange provides many services to active duty military, their family
members, retirees, and reservists. The different services in which they provide
are a retail store which can be compared to such stores as Target and Wal-Mart.
The retail store can also be compared to a department store because they supply
name-brand clothing, shoes, electronic equipment and other items found in a
department store. All of these items are provided at lower cost than on the
outside and are also tax-free. Other services provided by the Navy Exchange
include the Navy Lodge (hotel), many food service locations, auto service
center and gas lines, video store, and mini-marts. These all follow the same
low-cost and tax-free philosophy.
The
North Island branch serves as the "headquarters" for several area
bases called the North Island Complex. This means all administrative functions
are processed through the North Island location including budgets, payroll,
training, indoctrination, etc. North Island not only handles themselves, but
also Naval Amphibious Base, OLF Imperial Beach, Naval Training Center, Naval
Submarine Base, Naval Medical Center and El Centro. This totals over 500
associates this complex employs.
Description
of my duties
I
am responsible for staffing and recruitment of all locations named above. In
the 24 hours I work in a week I accept applications and pre-screen applicants.
This requires making sure the applicant is qualified for what he or she is
applying for and getting a sense of where this person would fit best in our
organization. When receiving a job requisition from a manager it is my
responsibility to see that vacancy gets filled. I do this by recruiting from
the applications I have on file and creating a selection package of qualified
applicants for the manager. To save time, at certain branch locations the
managers have even given me the authority to make the selection. After the
manager or I make a selection I schedule this new hire for indoctrination and
process them into the Navy Exchange.
In
1996 we successfully posted and filled 192 job vacancies. This equals
approximately 16 open vacancies per month. So far in 1997 we are averaging
approximately 12 vacancies per month (or 3 per week). These numbers may not be
impressive, but the time involved in each vacancy is tremendous. Therefore, I
feel I work in a very fast paced environment. Sometimes managers need a vacancy
to be filled immediately. This requires sometimes I work under pressure. ln
order to be successful I need to have a wide selection of applications on hand
to select from. Many times this is a problem.
Problems
with recruitment
Most
of the positions being filled at the Navy Exchange are "flexible"
category positions. These are 20 hour per week jobs usually for departments
such as sales clerk, housekeeping, warehouse, or food service worker. As with
any organization these types of positions tend to have a very high turnover
rate. The applicant base at the Navy Exchange is very limited, mostly to
military dependents. This is another reason for the high turnover because
military spouses always transfer with their husbands. It is also very difficult
to find people to work at certain locations. The applicants coming to me
usually prefer to work at the North Island branch. It is very difficult to find
someone who is willing to work at the Naval Training Center or the Submarine
Base in Point Loma. Therefore, I need a way to broaden my applicant base to
non-military applicants so I am able to fill job vacancies more efficiently.
Proposal
to solve problem
What
I need is to broaden our applicant base to non-military applicants and
basically just get our name out there. Many people believe that you must be a
military family member to work for the Navy Exchange and this is not true.
Presently, civilian workers only make up a small percentage of our work force
and I would like to find a way to increase that. I also needed to find a way to
broaden this applicant base at no cost to the NEX. For example, I wanted to
list job postings with the San Diego State University Career Center but they have
a fee of $14 per week of posting. With restricted budgets, the NEX management
would not allow this.
I
decided to work with the Employment Development Department (EDD) of San Diego
for two reasons. The first is because this would be at no cost to the Navy
Exchange and the second is because it is a win-win situation. I am looking for
qualified applicants and the people the EDD refers to me are looking for work
and are usually willing to work at any location. I am saving our taxpayers
unemployment wages by finding these applicants work. It's that simple.
Procedure
with the EDD
Whenever
I have a vacancy that needs to be filled I complete a form provided to me by
the EDD. On this form I provide all the information on the open position such
as job description, duties, hours and, specific qualifications. I fax this form
to the EDD and they immediately process my "job order" into a
database in the computer. They then run a search for anyone who would match the
qualifications for the open position. They begin referring applicants to me the
next day.
In
order to track all the applicants referred to me by the EDD I've been having
all applicants sign in a log book and disclose who they were referred by. I've
made sure all applicants are specific so I could get a good feel of where the
bulk of my applicants were coming from.
There
is one catch to the EDD referring me these applicants. I am responsible for
tracking these applicants and reporting to the EDD on the status of each
applicant. I usually receive several calls a week from an EDD representative
who has questions on who has been hired or interviewed. This can be very time
consuming for me, but the investment of time will repay me in a broader, more
qualified, applicant base. I've also added two smaller supplements along with
working with the EDD.
Posting
all flexible positions
Full-time
and part-time positions are required by the union to be posted for a period of
five business days. The vacancy announcement must be distributed to all NEX locations
including the ones outside of our complex such as NEXCEN, NAS Miramar and Naval
Station. This allows current NEX associates to apply internally and uses the
under-rated "word of mouth" to inform people of our job openings. Up
until now, I have only been required to create these announcements for
full-time and part-time vacancies, which are actually very rare with today's
budget cuts. I always recruit for flexible positions from the applications I
have on file. I have been creating these announcements for my flexible
positions and distributing them to the locations listed above. I hope this may
create more applicants through current NEX associate referrals. Unfortunately,
the creation, duplication, and distribution are very time consuming.
Send
postings to Family Service Center
The
last supplement I have included is sending our postings to the Family Service
Center. The Family Service Center is a service provided to military families.
They provide job postings, workshops on resume' writing, and even provide a
database of job vacancies for applicants. When most families first arrive in
San Diego they usually attend the Family Service Center for advice. I did this
myself. I thought by including them in our distribution list, we could increase
the awareness that we are always looking for applicants. Family Service Center
would not only be able to refer them to apply with us, but would have current
listings of our actual job openings. I'm doing this by creating the
announcement discussed above and faxing it to their office. At this time they
post it and enter it into their employment database.
Results of Proposed Changes
Employment
Development Department
The
implementation of a network with the Employment Development Department of San
Diego was very successful. I began tracking applicant referrals the beginning
of February and have steadily watched my applicant base increase each month.
The important thing is that these new applicants are non-military and sometimes
see a different outlook on the Navy Exchange. I found that most non-military
applicants found it exciting to work for a government agency and provided a
very fresh attitude. Many military applicants travel from duty station to duty
station and work for the Navy Exchange. Many assume they are all the same and
it is difficult to find someone with a fresh attitude.
As
shown in the table on the next page, my regular NEX applicants have remained
basically constant over the last three months. Also demonstrated is the steady
increase of applicants referred to me by the Employment Development Department.
The
month of January shown no applicants from the Employment Development Department
and 45 other NEX applicants. February was the beginning of the project which
only produced ten EDD applicants along with 39 other applicants. An increase
was beginning with 17 EDD applicants in March and the regular 42 NEX
applicants. April has shown the most promise thus far producing 28 EDD
applicants and 40 regular NEX applicants. These numbers show a very promising
increase of civilian applicants. Considering I only accept applications three
days a week, these are considerable numbers. In the month of April the EDD
applicants have increased my applicant base by over 50%. These are impressive
numbers and I am encouraged they will continue to grow.
I
have found that the EDD works better for some position vacancies better than
others. When the EDD runs a search on their database to find a match for a
position, they will not refer them unless they absolutely match the
qualifications required. The best response I received from the EDD was
generally for sales clerks, housekeepers, and janitors. These are very general
positions in which many people are qualified for. On the other hand I posted
barber and beautician vacancies and received not one referral.
Through
experience, I'm finding what positions create the best response and what I
should not spend time posting.
An
added bonus came in early April, which was unfortunately late in the project.
The Employment Development Department also implemented a new feature. As the
recruitment clerk I was able to designate whether my vacancy be posted as
"confidential" (for EDD clients only) or "public". If I
post it as "public" the vacancy is accessible on the internet to
anyone. This not only gave the Navy Exchange more exposure, but it also allowed
those applicants who didn't meet all of the qualifications to still come and
apply. This is beneficial because I retain applications for 90 days and I can
always place that applicant in a position he may be more qualified for. I
noticed in the last two weeks an increase in phone inquiries who explained they
saw our job vacancy on the internet. My only regret is that if they had
implemented this sooner so I may have seen even better results.
Throughout
the last three months I have posted 37 vacancies with the Employment
Development Department. This makes up approximately half of the vacancies we've
had open so far this year, but as was stated earlier, not all positions are
successful when posting with the EDD. Of the 37 positions I posted, they
referred 55 applicants to the Navy Exchange. Of these 55 applicants we have
presently hired 10 to become Navy Exchange employees. I feel these are
impressive numbers considering the complicated hiring process. Many times
managers tend to "sit" on a completed package of applicants for up to
three weeks before making a selection. The other delay is the background check
conducted by Pinkerton Services. Once faxed, this takes approximately a week to
receive the results. These two examples give a better picture of what is meant
by the "flow" of the hiring process. Once these applicants get into
this "flow" the actual number being hired should only keep
increasing.
Another
reason I believe the numbers will only increase is simple. The harder I work to
place their people, the more referrals they will send me in the future. The
representatives at the EDD are extremely grateful when we place their clients.
They're even happier when I can provide specific information on interviews and
hire dates. I have found that the more I work for them, the more they'll work
for me. It is a situation of reciprocity because we are mutually dependent on
each other.
The
proposal with the Employment Development Department has obviously been very
beneficial to the Navy Exchange. In the early stages I was worried it would not
produce the type of results that it actually has. This was not my only strategy
to increase my applicant base. I decided to post all flexible vacancies and to
post vacancies at the Family Service Center.
Posting
all flexible positions
The
idea of posting all flexible positions seemed to be a good one. Unfortunately,
it did not produce the type of results I was looking for. As seen in the pie
graph of the breakdown of applicants on the next page, the percentage of
applicants who applied because they saw the vacancy announcement amounted to
only approximately 5% of the total applicants. This amounted to 12 applicants
in three months. The majority of this 5% were actually internal applicants
(current employees) who were hoping to transfer to another department.
The
time involved in the duplication and distribution of these job vacancies
negatively correlates to the response received. I found that most people who
view these vacancies are current NEX employees and they usually aren't
interested in another "flexible" position. I actually received some
negative feedback. Some employees stated that when they saw the vacancy they
were excited because they assumed it was for a fulltime or part-time position.
Distributing these flexible vacancies created a lot of disappointment. This is
something I probably will not continue.
Send
postings to Family Service Center
Sending
postings to the Family Service Center (FSS) resulted in some success. Although
it did not increase my non-military applicant base it did increase my applicant
base overall. Throughout the duration of this project I received 21 applicants referred
by the Family Service Center. As seen on the pie chart below, this amounted to
almost 10%.
The
applicants received by this method are usually new to the area and very eager
to work. Since the vacancy is listed on a database in the FSS computer the
applicants tend to be more motivated since they had to take the time to sit
down and search for the position. Another advantage is that the amount of time
invested on my part is minimal. All that is required of me is to write the
information and fax it to their office. I feel this method of expanding my
applicant base is worthwhile and I'll continue to post my vacancies with the
FSS.
After
this three-month investigation, I have learned just where my applicants are
coming from. The main bulk of my applicants are still walk-ins, which are
basically military family members who know of Navy Exchange employment simply
from the experience of traveling to many duty stations. This is a number which
will probably stay very constant, no matter what changes are made to the way
recruitment is handled. This is also still the highest percentage of new
employees actually hired. This is to be expected. My objective was not to
reduce these numbers, but to increase them elsewhere.
The
most substantial improvement which is shown in the pie chart is the enormous
increase of applicants from the Employment Development Department. In the last
three months 25% of my total applicants are coming from this method. These are
non-military referrals who are looking for work and are willing to work
anywhere. This is a tremendous accomplishment and has made the job of
recruitment a much easier one.
This
project with the Employment Development Department has not only helped my
organization, but it has taught me that I can actually make a difference. I
learned not to be afraid to pick up the phone and create new networks for
myself. I also learned the lesson of visibility. This project has given me more
visibility in my organization and has helped me to gain the respect of
supervisors and managers. This portion of recruitment will be a permanent
addition to the Navy Exchange Human Resources Office.
Grading Comments: Note how clearly organized and written
this paper is. Consider the importance
of section headings to organize your thoughts.
Use simple, direct language and factual support in your writing. Also note how easy it is to see how this
student added value to the organization.
Example 2: MiraCosta College
Description
of Worksite
I am currently working at MiraCosta College where I
provide administrative support for the Cooperative Work Experience Education
program. When I first started to work
for the college, I provided administrative support for two grants as well as
the Co-op program. The grants, one for
curriculum development for Cooperative Work Experience Education and one for
technology training for vocational education faculty, have been completed,
however, I have continued to work in MiraCosta’s Co-op program for
approximately two years. In those two
years I have had the opportunity to see and participate in the growth of the
Co-op program at MiraCosta, not only in terms of enrollment numbers but in
academic excellence as well. In the
last decade, enrollments have grown from 80 students per year in 1990/1991 to
213 students per year in 1996/1997.
And, as a result of the continued revisions and improvements to the
program over the last two years, enrollments have increased to 419 per year in
1999/2000 – almost double.
Job Duties
My job
duties include making sure that MiraCosta’s Co-op program complies with all of
the State of California’s guidelines for enrollment and participation of
students so that they can receive college credit for the class, including
reporting and record keeping. I also
handle a variety of inquiries regarding the course and/or problems for students
who come into the office, via phone, and e-mail. All of the students’ homework assignments and time cards come
through my office to be recorded and are then sent out to the individual
instructors for grading. Because I have
to track these assignments and work hours, I get to see first hand how many
students have problems complying with the course requirements.
As a result
of this interaction, I have been involved in refining and revising many aspects
of the program to further ensure the success of students who participate in the
program. Some of these changes include
the web page developed through the curriculum grant, which offers examples of
curriculum for specific areas of vocational study as well as an on-line student
workbook, more detailed explanations of assignments and examples for completing
the required forms included in the student workbook, and the creation of a
database for accurate retrieval of student records and information.
Statement
of the Problem
There is no permanent, full-time faculty for the
Co-op program and each part-time instructor can take up to a maximum of 24
students per semester. As a result of
the increased enrollment of students, the number of instructors needed has also
grown from two to eleven. With the
addition of so many new instructors, it is even more important that everyone,
both faculty and students, have the same information regarding program policies
and requirements.
In 1999 the MiraCosta Co-op program received an award
for Outstanding Cooperative Education Program from the California Cooperative
Education Association. This honor was
awarded both for the achievements made through the curriculum development grant
as well as for the overall academic excellence of the program.
However, an area that is still of concern for the
program is student retention. There are
those students who enroll in Co-op and, for one reason or another, do not
successfully complete the class.
The Co-op program at MiraCosta College is similar to
the Management 401 Internship class at San Diego State University. Many of the course requirements are the same
for both courses. All students who
enroll in Co-op at MiraCosta are required to attend a one and a half hour
orientation class meeting at the beginning of the semester. The purpose of this orientation is to
outline the paperwork and course requirements.
A substantial percentage of this time is devoted to the discussion and
writing of effective learning objectives.
However, the orientation is the only actual class meeting during the
semester.
Students who have attended an orientation are
assigned an instructor after they have turned in a completed student data form,
have come up with one learning objective for each unit of Co-op in which they
are enrolled, and their first writing assignment. The writing assignment consists of a two to three page biography
outlining their work goals, education goals, and what they would like to get
out of the class. Instructors meet with
students at their work site twice during a regular semester and only once
during the summer semester.
Consequently, each student basically works independently with minimal
contact from an instructor to complete his or her learning objectives and
homework assignments. Since the class
is essentially an independent study course, students must be able to keep on
top of their assignments and due dates without being reminded. It is very important, therefore, to provide
consistent and complete information to all incoming Co-op students to help
ensure that they can successfully complete the class.
At this time, there is little control over what information
is being provided to the students during each orientation. Several different instructors are used to
teach the Co‑op orientation classes.
The information provided, the order in which it is given, and the
emphasis placed on various aspects of the program can vary substantially.
Description
of the Project & Value Added
My project
is to produce an instructor’s manual to be used during Co-op orientation class
meetings that outlines the talking points for all information that needs to be
covered along with the approximate time needed to cover each point and the
appropriate teaching aids, such as overhead transparencies, videos, handouts,
etc. This will help to ensure that
complete information is consistently provided to all Co-op students at the beginning
of each semester, which should reduce the level of student confusion,
noncompliance, drops, and failures. The
success of this project will be demonstrated by the completion of the Co-op
Instructor’s Training Manual for use in the Fall 2000 orientation classes.
I met with
my supervisor, Don Pratola, to discuss the project and received his
enthusiastic support. After receiving
his approval, I completed the training agreement, which was approved by my
instructor.
Steps in
Completing Project Including Analysis of Problems
To begin my
project, I made a rough outline of the important points to be covered in the
manual and possible visual aids for each.
Using this outline as a guide, I took notes during each of the
orientation classes given for the Summer 2000 semester. I then expanded the outline using input and
recommendations from my supervisor.
Something I
noted while attending the orientations was that it is helpful to have another
person present to assist with setting up the room, signing in the students,
handing out the syllabus, making sure students had brought their workbooks with
them, and taking care of other paperwork/problems. This freed up the instructor allowing them to pay more attention
to the lecture and devote their time to issues specific to the course.
The next
step was to refine the outline, adding bullets with subtopics and suggestions
for possible questions that might be asked at each point. Instructors who have taught orientation
classes were asked to review the outline for their suggestions as to
corrections and additions. Both my
supervisor and the instructors were valuable resources throughout the project,
providing suggestions for improvements.
I was able to draw on their expertise as teachers, which helped smooth the
flow of information and helped create a finished product that really works as a
teaching aid.
I
encountered some problems ordering the supplies to assemble the manual. The binder that I originally wanted to use
was not available. Due to time constraints,
I substituted a 3-ring presentation binder that cannot be propped up. This may, in fact, work better than the
binder I previously planned to use because the binder's rings will be open
during most of the class as instructors remove and use the overheads. Laying the binder flat will ensure that the
pages do not fall out as overheads are removed and replaced during the class.
The visual
aids have been placed in the section at the point where they are to be
used. This will eliminate shuffling
back and forth to find overheads and thus save time for discussion of important
topics. I have highlighted the references for overheads in blue, pop quizzes in
green, and references to student handouts in yellow. Colored index tabs makes locating sections quick and easy. The placement of visual aids and use of
color coding makes the training manual both "user friendly" as well
as aesthetically pleasing.
The cover
and spine art were designed to match that of the student workbook and were
printed on the same color paper. This
should give a feeling of continuity to the training materials and make the
manual easily recognizable to anyone as a Co-op document.
To complete
my project, it was necessary to completely revise and update both the syllabus
and student workbook. Pages were added
to both documents to provide clearer instructions on writing assignments, dates
were changed, and page numbers were revised so that they correctly referenced
other forms. It was quite an
undertaking but the training manual, syllabus, and student workbook are now
correctly cross referenced.
I waited
until the last moment to make the overhead transparencies, however, some dates
on the syllabus were changed and so those transparencies had to be redone. Even with these last minute changes the
training manual was still completed on time.
The timing
for each section represents a rough estimate and will most likely be revised
after the training manual has been tested during the fall orientation
classes. Again, it will be a challenge
to get all of the necessary information covered in the 90 minutes allotted.
Originally,
I had planned to assemble three copies of the manual, one to keep as a
guide/reference and two for use in the classroom. However, my supervisor and I have decided to wait until after the
fall orientation classes to assemble the other two copies. That way we can make any changes and/or
revisions can be made before the pages and overheads are copied. This will save on the cost of supplies. The training manual is a "living
document" and will continue to undergo changes/revisions as the program
evolves and changes to better meet the need of the students.
Expected
Outcomes
As stated earlier, it is hoped that using this manual
to teach the orientation class meetings will provide consistent and complete
information about the Co-op program to all students at the beginning of each
semester. Statistics regarding
beginning enrollments, drops, grades, and ending enrollments will be used to
measure the success of the training manual.
After using the training manual to teach the fall orientation classes,
at the end of the semester we would expect to see an improvement in the overall
grades issued, a decrease in the number of students who drop the class after
attending orientation, and thus a consequent increase in ending enrollment
numbers. If the desired outcomes are
achieved, these statistics will also prove helpful in justifying permanent faculty
and staff for the Co-op program at MiraCosta.
Reflections:
Observations, Insights, & “Discoveries”
While
working on refining the outline for the manual, it quickly became apparent that
there was a lot of information being given to students in only one and a half
hours. Furthermore, much of this
information was not written down in the syllabus, student workbook, or any of
the handouts provided to students.
Therefore, upon leaving the orientation, students who did not take notes
had no reference materials that might answer questions that arose. As a result, after presenting the idea to my
supervisor, we have decided to provide students with an abbreviated outline of
the orientation topics with extra space between each item so that they can take
notes. Also, to encourage students to
take the orientation class more seriously and to feel more responsible for the
information being given, I have incorporated a series of “pop quizzes”
throughout the training manual.
Students will be told at the beginning of the class that they will be
quizzed. This should encourage students
to pay closer attention during the lecture.
Periodically, the training manual will prompt the instructor to ask
students for information that was given in a previous section.
During the course of completing my project, it became
obvious that the training manual would be a “living document”. Each time I went through the outline I found
places where information had been omitted or where I could improve the clarity
of the information given. Also, working
closely with my supervisor and other Co-op instructors provided me with
valuable input from a teacher's perspective, which resulted in further
refinements and changes. And there will
no doubt be more changes to be made after testing the training manual during
the fall orientation classes.
Consequently, as mentioned earlier, my supervisor and I have decided to
assemble only one copy for now and postpone assembling the other two until
after it has been “test piloted” during the fall 2000 orientation classes.
Reflections:
Rigors of Project Management/Multitasking Abilities
In the course of performing my regular duties for the
Co-op program, I am accustomed to doing multiple tasks at the same time. During the summer semester I was closing out
the spring semester database, purging student records, and writing reports
while at the same time I was dealing with current student issues, registration,
orientation, homework, instructors, etc., and finally I was preparing for the
fall semester. It was more difficult
than I had first thought to integrate the training manual project into my
schedule. However, some parts of the
project did dovetail with my preparations for the fall semester, for instance
updating the syllabus and student workbook.
In some ways the project was like a Pandora’s
box. The more problems I solved the
more things I found that needed to be fixed or changed or added to the training
manual.
Achievement
of Learning Objectives
My first learning objective was the application of organization
skills through planning and project management. I found it challenging to integrate working on my project with my
other Co-op duties. It was helpful to
use my task list and target dates to keep myself on track.
My second learning objective was understanding of
presentation skills and time management by prioritizing the sequence and timing
of subject matter and talking points for the training manual. After attending the summer orientation
classes and keeping my project goals in mind, I had a better understanding of
the skills and tools needed for giving successful presentations. Working closely with my supervisor and Co-op
instructors not only helped me to improve on my interpersonal skills but also
provided feedback and input on my project that was invaluable in creating a
finished product that really works as a teaching aid.
My project required me to build relationships with
other departments to get the job done.
For example, I had to work with staff in the purchasing department to
resolve problems in getting the supplies I needed for the training manual.
Finally, my last learning objective was improved
computer skills through the creation and formatting of pages, program forms,
and overhead included in the training manual.
I encountered some problems in converting ideas and concepts into
realities when formatting the training manual.
I was able to use the help feature in word as well as the expertise of
MiraCosta's on-sight computer trainer to find solutions. As a result, the finished training manual is
both functional as well as aesthetically pleasing.