Week 2

I completed my first full week at Delaware Today. It consisted of a little bit of brainstorming and a whole lot of research. I came in on Monday and met with Erica. We came up with a list of criteria that each job could meet. It included stability, salary, benefits, fun at work, perks, job growth, and diversity. I then met with Amy on Tuesday and shared our list with her. Together, we came up with a few more, like varying opportunities that the workplace offers.
I'm working on Mondays from 1:30-5, Tuesdays from 9-2 and Thursdays from 9-2. Because Erica works Mondays and Wednesdays and Amy works on Tuesdays and Thursdays, I've become the laison between the two. It makes it a little difficult, but I only see it being a problem at the very beginning when we're all trying to get on the same page, as long as we can meet and share our ideas periodically (for instance, Amy's coming in for an hour on Monday so we can all meet and discuss).
Overall, things have been fantastic. I spent most of my time going through the 2007 edition of Delaware Today that listed the best jobs, researching what's new about them, and picking out which of those were still among the "best." For instance, W.L. Gore and Associates was on the 2007 list, but they were also on Forbe's Magazine's list of best places to work in 2008. There's no reason they shouldn't be on the new Delaware Today list. However, a Chrystler dealership in Newark was on the 2007 list as well. And, well, let's face it. I certainly wouldn't want to be working (or worrying about not working) at any Chrystler, Ford, or GM dealership right now. Obvioiusly, I didn't put that on the revised list.
I'm looking forward to actually sitting down with the other two research assistants and Mark on Monday. It will be interesting to see what everyone else has come up with, and if theres anything I should be doing differently. The project will be fun when everything comes together and we can start making calls and doing interviews and whatnot. I'm actually up for going on some roadtrips to see what these places are all about rather than sitting in the office making calls. We'll cross that bridge when we come there. For now, I'll keep my face buried in a computer screen trying to find some good places to work.