GuamTemps Employment Services recruiting manager Rose Songsong and administrative assistant Christie Pangelinan gave a presentation that outlined how job seekers should act during an interview and what it is that employers look for in potential hires.

Songsong and Pangelinan stressed the importance of first impressions and preparedness. They provided students with a checklist of what to keep in mind when interviewers ask interviewees to tell them a little about themselves.

These tips include keeping it professional, refraining from volunteering personal information, highlighting previous work experience and educational accomplishments, tailoring answers, studying the job description before the interview and answering in chronological order.

“It’s all about first impressions,” Pangelinan said. “The recruiters do message me and tell me how they [interviewees] are when they first come in so it is one of the important things when you first enter into an interview.”

The first impression does not begin with the interview itself, however, according to Songsong.

In an environment where it is seemingly normal to pass the time by browsing through one’s mobile phone, Songsong stressed that while waiting to be seen by one’s interviewer, it is best that he or she waits patiently and attentively to be called with the phone stowed away.

“I have tried to initiate an interview when, as I walked out, that candidate was on their phone. For me to wait for them [to put their phone away] I feel is unprofessional. If it were myself going to an interview, I wouldn’t have my phone on. I’d be sitting there waiting,” Songsong said.

Good first impressions can also be made by picking up application forms when the establishment first opens, according to Songsong, as it shows employers that job seekers are eager for the job. She also emphasized the importance of appearance.

“I’m the person who comes in, even just to get an application, in business attire,” Songsong said.

As a mock interview exercise, Songsong and Pangelinan asked

After the discussion, Sonsong and Pangelinan underlined the need to provide solutions to weaknesses to demonstrate to employers one’s ability to overcome obstacles.

GuamTemps has been helping people and businesses succeed in the workplace for over 25 years. In addition to interview tips, students can contact them for resume-building assistance. If interested, you may reach GuamTemps at 646-3541 or at admin@guamtemps.net.

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Instead, they now have the choice between a focus in communications studies or mass media and journalism. This change in the Communication program was made official in the undergraduate course catalog for school year 2016-2017.

Prior to the revamping, students had the option to choose among four separate communication tracks: communication studies, mass media, journalism, and public relations.

The reason for the change was due to the unavailability of instructors and consequently, the postponement of certain classes until instructors were available to teach them. Issues like these have the potential to push back expected graduation dates.

During the “Good to Great” audit, Tom Brislin, Ph.D., the associate dean of the College of Arts and Humanities at University of Hawaii, suggested to combine the four tracks into two tracks to help alleviate the problem.

However good its intentions, some students and professors in the program express their reasons for wanting to revert to the previous program.

For former UOG student Justus Casino, it is an issue of concentrating on one discipline. Casino transferred to the University of Maryland at the beginning of 2017 as he feels that it offers a more comprehensive Mass Communication program.

“If I wanted to do mass media and specialize completely in that and I don’t have any intentions of doing journalism, adding journalism on to that is simply hindering my overall education and the burden falls on me to make up the gaps in my education,” says Casino.

Raymond Anderson, Ph.D., an associate professor of the Communication department, shares this concern. He stresses that the scope of each individual focus is too large to be condensed and that the skills students could develop are now sacrificed.

“Whether you get the faculty or not, it should always be about the program and maintaining the program,” Anderson said.

Students who follow preceding undergraduate catalogs retain the choice of individual tracks or combining tracks in any way that suits them. This was not the case when student Sophia Madlambayan declared her major in Communication.

“I feel that it restricts the flexibility students had with the four separated concentrations,” Madlambayan said.

Two buildings down, the Chemistry department is doing the opposite.

Maika Vuki, Ph. D., a professor of Chemistry, is excited for the addition of three new tracks to the Chemistry program, a movement that has already been approved.

The added tracks are pre-pharmacy, teaching, and chemistry and biology as a dual degree. The program’s new plan entails reducing the number of credit hours for general education requirements to make room for more core classes as well as tracks.

The addition of classes does not mean an extended stay at UOG. Vuki says the plan is designed to help students graduate within four years with a maximum requirement of 124 credits.

Vuki sympathizes with students who are double majoring in different schools of learning.

“I would like to see that disciplines can work across and try and streamline any courses so that students don’t have to take 130-150 credit hours just to try fulfill the two subjects,” he said.

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Officially, she is a senator of the 34th Guam Legislature. Unofficially, she says she is many other things: a group exercise certified instructor, a performing singer, and a mother.

For over 20 years, she has led exercise classes for those looking to get into good physical shape.

As a former radio personality, she hosted the program, “My Story,” which highlighted the struggles of cancer survivors. On a personal note, Muña’s father passed away from complications with diabetes and her mother lives with cancer.

“I started to realize what a big problem that [cancer] was on Guam and how people needed to be helped and that was my main motivation,” Muña said.

These health-related focuses were the key factors that compelled Muña’s decision to run for the Guam legislature.

Muña’s cancer mission has speedily been carried out through new laws that ensure health insurance coverage for prostate, cervical and colorectal cancer screenings, and the granting of administrative leave to employees of the government of Guam for the purpose of donating organs, tissue, or bone marrow.

However, Muña did not always see her life taking the political route.

When first approached to run for a legislative seat, Muña had no previous experience in politics. Her supporters told her this could be an advantage—being a political outsider made her a representation of the average working class people who want their voices to be heard.

She adopted the campaign slogan “A Working Mom,” which was displayed on billboards all over the island. Muña seeks to focus on more legislation that would help working families.

“I think that touched a lot of people personally,” she said. She feels that being able to relate to the public establishes a foundation of trust between herself and the people she represents through her legislation.

As a “working mom,” family is of the utmost importance to Muña. What she refers to as her “de-stressor” entails going to the movie theater with her son, where they spend quality time together.

Muña also enjoys singing, a hobby she has held on to since her teen years. She regularly performs on Friday evenings at the Point lounge at the Sheraton Laguna Guam Resort.

Yet Muña still has goals to achieve.

Since being elected to office, Muña continues to pursue her many interests. Muña’s outlook is an empowering one: “If it doesn’t interfere with what I do as a senator, then why not?”

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This year’s theme, “Languages of Leadership” highlights the qualities needed to improve and maintain effective leadership skills.

John Decoteau, divisional director of the West SHRM National Chapter and Julie Felker, Ph.D., faculty affiliate and senior organizational development consultant to the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan, are the conference’s featured speakers.

This conference has attracted human resource management professionals and business owners from Guam and Saipan. The organizers of the conference offer exhibit space for companies to promote their products and services.

SHRM is the largest human resources conference in the world. The organization holds a national conference in the United States every year. The Guam Chapter continues to host annual local conferences with different themes that focus on human resource management.

The 2017 SHRM Guam Chapter invites guests to register for the conference at guam.shrm.org. For further inquiries, email Charlotte Huntsman at shrm.guam.chapter@gmail.com.

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“The problem is now that it’s become electronic, students aren’t doing it,” said James Sellmann, Ph.D., dean of the College of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences.

Sellmann estimates that student response rates prior to the change averaged between 90 to 95 percent. Reports from 2014 to 2017 show that figure has dropped to 45 percent.

According to Sellmann, the information from student feedback is used for annual increment and promotion and tenure purposes.

“Professors seem to be getting slightly lower scores now than they used to,” he said. This could be a problem for instructors seeking advancement.

“I think we’re going to have to push more for the electronic version,” Sellmann said.

Jose Cruz, an English instructor at UOG said, “When I was part-time, I would push it [student participation] and say when I become full-time, I can use that as evidence to become full-time.”

Cruz said he uses evaluation results to improve his teaching methods and syllabi course content, as do many other English instructors. But if the decrease in student participation persists, the value of what few responses there are is questionable.

Georgiana Quintanilla, an art major who has attended UOG for five years, has experienced both written and electronic versions.

When asked if she continued to participate in the online evaluations, she replied, “Not always—simply because I or the instructor wasn’t concerned.”

However, Quintanilla finds the online evaluations easier to do and has witnessed instructors improve their teaching methods based on the feedback she provided in the evaluations she did complete.

Cruz gives fellow instructors a possible approach to achieving higher response rates. If his students do not participate in the evaluations, he takes them to the computer lab to complete the evaluations.

Considering the many factors that are affected by student participation, all university instructors may want to take a page out of Cruz’s book.

Anita Borja Enriquez, Ph.D., Senior Vice President of Academic and Student Affairs said, “Conducting evaluations during class time improves participation rates.” She encourages this to faculty.

“It would be good if the students took it seriously and recognize that we really do use it,” Sellmann said.

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