Michael Friant
Com 105
Commentary
Due 11 November 2020
To the hiring person for the speech writing staff of Jon Ossoff
Behind every viral line in politics, there is a team of communication researchers and strategists who research, work together, and keep up to date with what the opposing candidate had said. For instance, when Vice-President elect Kamala Harris said, “There was a little girl bussed to school every day. That little girl was me.” Likewise, I need to demonstrate the qualities that these individuals put into action. In this job pitch, I will be demonstrating my ability to show intellectual curiosity, take responsibility, and collaborate with civility and thus why I think you should hire me to be part of this team.
When working on a team or solo, one needs to have robust intellectual curiosity for the subject in order to be successful. An example of me exercising intellectual curiosity is: For a paper I had to write for an English class, I engaged in research and compared three different life experiences to find a common thread. Ultimately I wrote a compelling paper and got an A. This is important because as part of the speech writing team, I will have to utilize intellectual curiosity to go beyond the surface of policies and rhetoric to figure out how to combine those into a smooth sounding speech.
Equally as important to having intellectual curiosity is taking responsibility to complete crucial tasks. For instance, throughout my college career, both as an individual and as a team member, I assumed responsibility for the assignments given to me to the point where I have gotten AA in every class. In specific circumstances, I took responsibility to get things started. This is important because it shows that I can be trusted with the assignments that the team needs completed.
Finally being able to collaborate with civility is the crucial challenge. For instance, once I was on a team for my integrated marketing class and we had a disagreement with how we would divide the work. Through negotiating with my peers we were able to create a plan where we all agreed on the path forward. This shows that I am able to put others’s preferences over my own for the advancement of the team’s goal of completing speeches in time.
As a candidate for this speech writing position, I believe I have proven my ability to have intellectual curiosity, to be responsible, and to collaborate with civility. If hired, I will be committed to the success of Jon Ossoff just as Vice-President Elect Harris’s team was to her.