Progress Report

Over the last few days, our group has been working diligently on preparing our section of the website. We took on the task of designing and formatting the donations and volunteer pages. We chose these pages because we already obtained a lot of the information from Shelby. We have done our best to tailor this section of the site to our client's preferences.

This week, we met to put our finishing touches on our section of the site. I'm pretty sure that all we need now is a few pictures to add. We hope that our efforts are consistent with our client's wishes. We believe this portion of the website is designed for maximum accessibility and convenience. Please comment on this post with any questions or comments.

October 19 meeting

Our visit to Anderson proved to be extremely effective. On a team level, we got to know each other better in the car ride both to and from Anderson which helped build more effective communication lines. At the restore, Shelby seemed very enthusiastic about the project and was very informative. We came prepared with a list of questions which she answered then by giving us brochures containing the information. About a week later Shelby emailed me with document with the rest of the information needed. After returning to Clemson, the group split up the workload for the proposal and set a deadline.

October 18 meeting

During this meeting the group sat down and planned the main homepage links, and sub links. The link content was determined using other Habitat for Humanity web site ideas and the current Anderson Habitat for Humanity Restore website. Our group decided we would like more clarification regarding the clients vision so we planned our next meeting at the Anderson Restore to meet with Shelby.

October 11 Meeting Update!

On Thursday we had a group meeting to discuss initial ideas for the project and future meeting dates and agendas. We were able to view a variety of existing habitat sites in order to assess the strengths and weaknesses of different possibilities. We put together a rough list of what we want our proposal to include. The group was able to work extremely well together, and we have two more meetings planned for the upcoming week. On Friday we plan to take a trip to the Habitat store in Anderson in order to take pictures and obtain a bit more information. We are looking forward to the project and have been able to get a positive, productive start!

Resume and Cover Letter Tips

I read the article “Six Tips to a Winning Cover Letter” and found it very helpful. Some of the suggestions they listed were ones we had already discussed in class such as being specific about the job you are looking for and making sure you research the company. This way you can find out what type of work they do as well as their needs in the future and cater your cover letter to that. Another tip they offered was using your connections to establish some familiarity with the person who is reading your cover letter. The article gave the example of saying “our mutual acquaintance so-in-so thought I should email you,” on the cover letter. I definitely think that is one way to get your cover letter noticed, but you have to be lucky enough to already know someone working at a company to which you want to apply. It also stressed the importance of keeping the cover sheet brief and making sure you proofread. This seems obvious, but it could make or break your chances of getting a job if you have spelling mistakes or write the wrong company name.

The article “Pretty in Ink” also caught my eye. I thought it was interesting that the look of a resume can have just as big of an impact on the employer as the content. Design elements such as company logos and pull-out quotes can help highlight a resume making it easier to read. One of the more unique resumes in the article was a shiny brochure, which is sure to grab an employer’s attention. The article also gave good advice of not going overboard with designs; after all you are applying for employment so you do not want anything really flashy. After reading this, I realized that you have to make your resume stand out to get noticed because employers may be looking over dozens of them a day.

Team Introduction

On behalf our our team, Helping Habitat for Humanity, I would like to introduce each of our team members. First off, my name is Heather Leroux and I am in my junior year at Clemson studying nursing. Rachel Coury is a Food Science Major from Maryland and is also a junior. Next, Robb Jackson is a junior level Industrial Engineering major. Furthermore, Katie Bickers is Financial Management major and brings some web design experience to the group with work experience on the Clemson University web page. Our last team member, Stacey Metzer is from Boulder Colorado studying Finance.