Recruitment+Site

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=Recruitment Site=

__Introduction__
The Florida State __University's__ College of Communication and Information has commissioned our team with the challenge of analyzing, promoting, and making recommendations for their new recruitment site. Below this introduction you find a project summary, team member name's and contact info, and other information that pertains to this project.

__Project Summary__
As Recruitment Site Team members, it is our goal to help FSU's __College of__ Communication and Information enhance the functionality and use of their recruitment site. That said, we have provided (or, rather, will be providing as this project is ongoing) recommendations that will allow their site to cater to their ever expanding target audience. We have also assisted in the __promotion__, as well as, the analyzing of traffic (or lack there of) to their site. In addition to the aforementioned contributions, we have provided a SWOT Analysis on this wiki to help us recognize any limits we may have as a team, potential threats to our project, and to help us stay focused on our goal.

__Goals__
Our goals are as follows: (1) To make quality and influential recommendations to CCI that will be adopted, (2) implement a unique marketing strategy that produces results (i.e. increases awareness and traffic flow to the recruitment site), and (3) accumulate, interpret, and present the measurable results from our analytics.

__Team Member Information__
Leader: Michale Johnson __Phone__: 850 - 272 - 3282 Email: mtj11c@my.fsu.edu Availability: Notes: I can pretty much meet any time. This (Memorial Day) weekend is no good though.
 * Sunday || Monday || Tuesday || Wednesday || Thursday || Friday || Saturday ||
 * yes || yes || yes || yes || yes || yes || yes ||

Member:Stephanie Mears Phone: 727-741-1576 Email: sm09h@my.fsu.du Availability: Notes:
 * Sunday || Monday || Tuesday || Wednesday || Thursday || Friday || Saturday ||
 * all day || all day || after 6 || before/after __class__ || after 6 || all day || all day ||

Member: Jervishia Walker Phone:954-670-6421 Email:jmw09h@my.fsu.edu Availability: Notes:
 * Sunday || Monday || Tuesday || Wednesday || Thursday || Friday || Saturday ||
 * after 3 ||  || 12-6 || before __class__ ||   || after 12 || after 3 ||

Member: Jonathan Wright Phone: 352-702-1584 Email: jjw08d@my.fsu.edu or jonathanwright5.jw@gmail.com Availability: Notes:
 * Sunday || Monday || Tuesday || Wednesday || Thursday || Friday || Saturday ||
 * 10am-9pm || all day || all day || after 7 || all day || 10am-10pm || all day ||

__Tentative Timeline__
6/6 - First Meeting, Perform team/project SWOT analysis, make preliminary recommendations

6/13 First Presentation

6/13 - 6/19 Finalize promotion ideas and analytics plan

6/20 - 6/22 Johnson, Walker, Wright began posting flyers on multiple campuses: FSU, TCC, Chipola College (Marianna), Gulf Coast State College (Panama City)

6/21 Mears submitted research about competition (i.e.which schools have IT programs, with website URL's for analyzing)

6/28 - Hooked up with Guerrilla Marketing team at Seminole Discovery to help promote site (passed out flyers).

7/11 Second presentation

7/14 - 31 Finalize recommendations and measure analytics

8/1 Final presentation

__Team Meetings__
First Meeting: June 6th

Attendance: Johnson, Mears, Walker, Wright - 100% participation!

Our goals in our first meeting were to (1) identify our teams __S__trengths and __W__eaknesses, (2) recognize any __Opportunities__ and/or __T__hreats that could become apparent before the completion of this project, and (3) establish our preliminary recommendations for the recruitment site.

Goals met! SWOT Analysis and and preliminary recommendations can be found on this wiki (below).

Next Meeting June 13th @Strozier. Topic will be site promotion.

2nd Meeting: June 13th

Attendance: Johnson, Mears - Only half showed up :-( However, Walker and Wright made contact and understand their upcoming responsibilities, yay! :-)

Assigned responsibilities. Johnson - Analytics, Mears - Recommendation Research, Walker - Sidewalk Calk, Wright - Fliers.

No official meeting this week. However, I (Michale Johnson) will contact each member individually so that we can implement plans.

Next Meeting: Sunday June 24th @4: We will implement sidewalk chalk marketing (i.e.draw sidewalk messages promoting recruitment site)

3rd Meeting: June 24th

Meeting/Sidewalk chalk cancelled. The tropical storm rendered the implementation of the sidewalk chalk pointless.

Next Meeting: June 27th / After Class @5

Attendance: Johnson, Walker, and Wright. Mears has left to take a job in Texas.

Team members met after class and decided to get together after the holiday to implement sidewalk chalk. I(Johnson) and Wright will be showing up tomorrow (with flyers), June 28th, for Seminole Discovery to help the Guerrilla Marketing team.

4th Meeting: July 11th

Attendance: Johnson, Walker, Wright

Team members met during/after class and got up to speed on where we are at and what is going to happen in the closing weeks

__SWOT Analysis__
The Recruitment Site team feels that it is important to identify the internal and external attributes of our team and the project in order to anticipate any problems that may occur that could hinder the completion of the project.

__Strengths__
The two strongest attributes of our team are its diversity (age and gender) and web develop0ment experience (HTML, CSS, PHP, JS, etc...). In a project such as this nothing can replace expedience coupled with intricate and diverse perspective.

__Weaknesses__
Coordinating scheduling for team meetings is a great challenge for any project where team members are spread geographically and have different work schedules. We are no different. For example, one of our team members will be moving soon and there contributions will have to be taken through some digital communication, therefore, we will lose valuable face-to-face interaction between all team members.

__Opportunities__
The best opportunity that may be presented from this project may come from the potential adoption of any recommendation, we may give, by FSU's College of Communication and Information. We feel that making, what would be, an active and quality contribution to our school, and more specifically, to our department will be very rewarding in and of itself (not to mention it will look good in our portfolio).

__Threats__
Time! Time! Time! With the shortened Summer semester and considering that we will lose a team member in just a few short weeks, time is an enormous threat to our project. Additionally, adoption and acceptance by the CCI Department loom in the shadows to destroy this project. That is, regardless of our efforts and abilities to overcome the aforementioned weaknesses and threats, if our ideas "suck", :-(, the project will be considered a failure.

Again, our team has taken the time to recognize all of the previous attributes in order to maintain focus, prepare for upcoming and unforeseen issues, and qualify our findings. If we consider the potential problems and limitations, while relying on our positives, we should complete the task at hand and produce a quality end product.

__Preliminary Recommendations__
You will find a list below that contains the preliminary recommendations to the CCI Department concerning its recruitment site. As this project is ongoing, the list will change over time and the final recommendations will be provided in a more formal report and/or PP presentation.

> Links should be easy to find and accessible, don't make audience have to find them
 * Move the Twitter API/College Feed!!!!
 * Graphically unappealing and not exciting, this is the IT Department right? Add some pictures...
 * Site logo should be more dynamic, that is, changing pictures, etc...
 * Introductory video, welcoming and inviting
 * Provide information for transfer students, that is, provide, as specific as possible, curriculum guide....
 * Answer the question: "Why IT?"
 * More statistical data, like the link in the first paragraph on home page (excellent strategy Ebe!)
 * Bureau of Labor Statistics

__Final Recommendations__
Recruitment Site Recommendations: Ways to Improve the Current FSU Recruitment Site

Prepared For: Prof. Ebrahim Randeree 101D Shores Building Florida State University Tallahassee, Florida 32304

Prepared By: Michale Johnson Stephanie Mears Jervishia Walker Jonathon Wright

Date of Submission: August 1, 20112

Preface

The last twenty years have bared witness to an explosion in human connectivity and communication. Small businesses, corporations,  and individuals from all over the world can now advertise, connect, and communicate at the speed of light with seemingly endless <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> numbers of potential customers, associates, and friends. However, these new opportunities bring new challenges. One such challenge <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> is identifying and reaching every qualified, potential person/student to our universities, in order, to educate and equip them with the <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> tools necessary to actively contribute during these remarkable times.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 24px;">Table of Contents

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Preface……………………………………………………………………...….ii

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">List of Illustrations……………………………………………………...…….iv

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Introduction…………………………………………………….…………..….1 I. Design…………………………………………………….………..2 <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> A. Strengths/Weaknesses/Recommendations..................................2

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> B. Design Summary…………………………………………….....7

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 24px;">List of Illustrations

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Illustration A.1 – Screen shot of the CCI’s recruitment home page…………………………...….3

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Illustration A.2 – Screen shot of the University of West Florida’s IT program’s home page…….4

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Illustration A.3 – Alternate screen shot of the UWF IT home page………………………………4

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Illustration A.4 – Screen shot of the University of South Florida’s IT program home page……..5

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Illustration A.5 – Alternate screen shot of the USF IT home page……………………………….5

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Illustration A.6 – Screen shot of the college feed…………………………………………………6

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 24px;">Introduction

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">This report examines the design, content, and functionality of the newly constructed recruitment website of The Florida State University’s <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">College of Communication and Information (CCI). More specifically, this report identifies the strengths and weaknesses of the sites ability to <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> attract and inform potential students of the CCI programs, Information Technology(IT) and Information, Communication, and Technology(ICT), respectively. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Our team has thoroughly examined the CCI site and comparable competitor websites from within the state, in order, to supply the following assessments*.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">*Note: Any comparisons/contrasts of FSU’s CCI recruitment website may have been made directly to some competitors’ main college or program’s official <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">home page. That is, all assessments have been made on behalf of the recruitment website alone (recruitment.cci.fsu.edu) and not the official CCI site (cci.fsu.edu). <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> Independent recruiting sites for comparable IT programs do not exist or are hard to find.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 24px;">Design

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">A- Strengths/Weaknesses/Recommendations

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> The overall design and functionality of the CCI website is strong and should be commended. The streamlined flow of pertinent information is almost seamless <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;"> and impressive. For example, after the home page’s introductory statement, there are brief, yet eloquent, introductions to both respective programs (more on this later). <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">These program introductions contain links to more meaningful and informative pages that flow with the same ease as the former. Any potential student visiting this site <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">should find no flaw or confusion in this site’s present structure. Although the present design has no obvious problems, it should be noted that there are areas of concern.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">The most disappointing design element of the CCI site is its very obvious, flat and “non-dynamic” appearance. The site contains no photos and/or videos. Without those <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">elements, the site’s appearance does not seem representative of what one would expect from an Information Technology program website from FSU’s CCI. For comparison, <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">on pages 3 and 4 you will find screen shots of the CCI site (Illustration A.1) and the University of West Florida’s IT (Illustration A.2 and A.3) respective home pages. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">There is a sharp contrast between the two. At the top of the UWF page, there is a simple, alternating montage of IT related photos which expose the visitor to the ideas <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">of the site (and their program) without the visitor having to read a word; while, the CCI’s recruiting site’s header is flat and uninviting.

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Illustration A.1

//

//Illustration A.2// ////

//Illustration A.3//

//

In addition to UWF, we also examined the approach taken by the University of South Florida. On page 5 (Illustration A.4 and A.5), screen shots have been provided demonstrating USF’s ideas. You will notice they have implemented photos of students during class meetings and photos of students conducting their daily activities in one of USF’s more visually appealing student lounges and/or places of study. These types of photos allow their perspective students to imagine themselves in those types of situations and/or being there in those aesthetically pleasing environments of study. These types of photos’ ability to make such a potentially, personal connection with USF’s visitors cannot be understated. Any potential student (or visitor to their site) is likely to see themselves there at/in there college and/or program. Presently, CCI’s site lacks all of these qualities.

Illustration A.4 //

// Illustration A.5 // // //

// After viewing the examples provided by UWF and USF, it becomes clear that FSU’s CCI should improve their design to match (at a minimum) // // or exceed what the CCI’s computations have implemented at this time. It is the recommendation of the Recruitment Site Team that the CCI should // // implement one and/or both of these approaches for their recruitment site. Tech-related montages/collogues and/or images of students that provide // // a “personal” connection would enhance CCI’s recruitment site and inure their position and ultimate goals. //

// One of the most appealing design features of the recruitment site is the “College Feed” console. The console implements a Twitter API and invites // // visitors to the site to join the conversation and add comments and/or useful information (more on tis later) and links to the feed. Implementing the console // // was clever as it provides real-time information and updates that can be very useful to any serious potential CCI student. However, there is serious concern // // about the choice of placement for the console (See Illustration 6). It is currently situated out of sight and near the bottom of each page next to some // // contact information. Although it looks really nice, its placement lessens the overall appeal and effectiveness of the API. //

//Illustration A.6//

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// It is the recommendation of the Recruitment Site Team that the API console and contact information be relocated to a more relevant position on the // // sites pages. We feel somewhere below the “Related Pages” segment (See Illustration A.1) would be perfect as it would streamline all of the additional and // // informative information (i.e. Related Pages, Contact Info, College Feed) in one collective and relevant segment. //

// B - Design Summary //

// As stated in our introduction, the overall conceptual design and eventual implementation of the CCI recruitment site is strong and deserves minimal reproach. // // Collectively, the Recruitment Site team feels their design is solid, but does indeed need to focus on the areas we have shown with the aforementioned examples. // // We have no doubt they will continue to improve upon what they have done and hope that our suggestions were helpful and will lead to the improvement of some of // // the site’s design elements. //

// Content //

// <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 14pt; line-height: 200%;">A. Strengths/Weaknesses/ Recommendations //