How to Nail Your Next Job Interview, The Big 5 Personality Traits, Intellectual Curiosity with Melanie Boudreaux

Melanie Boudreaux is an Assistant Professor at Nicholls State University—she teaches Human Resource Management. She's also Faculty Advisor for the Society of Human Resource Management and works as HR Director at Environment Safety & Health Consulting Services (ES&H). And just in case Melanie found herself with free time—she's also enrolled at University of South Alabama, where she will soon finish her PhD in Business Management.

In lieu of eating and sleeping, evidently, Melanie enjoys being a wife to Benny Boudreaux, a mother of 6-year old twins, and paints Louisiana-themed crafts at Brushed by BouDreaux.

When I asked Melanie why she puts so much "on her plate," she said it's because she loves to learn and help people. Plus, being an HR Director enables her to bring practical knowledge from the corporate world to her students. I love that.

In this episode, after a brief story Melanie tells about declining her mom's calls so she could get a much-needed break from kids, we discuss a Youtube video where a grandmother lectures college students on "texting etiquette."

I didn't realize when I mentioned the lecture that it was Melanie's mom in the video, Ms. Mary. A few examples in the video were LOL funny. One hilarious instance was when Ms. Mary encouraged students to be mindful of how a text is going to be received. To illustrate her point, she told a story of receiving a text from her sister, "T," that said, "I'm in the hospital."

Immediately, Ms. Mary called T's workplace to find out when she left [for the hospital], because she presumed her sister wouldn't answer the cell phone she just texted her from [if she's in the hospital].

But when Ms. Mary called T's workplace, her sister answered the phone. So Ms. Mary said to her, "Hey T, I thought you were in the hospital."

That's when T told Ms. Mary to have a closer look at the text—what she'd actually sent was a screenshot [of someone else's text to her]. She was simply sharing news that someone they knew was in the hospital.

The texting etiquette lesson was this. Be careful sending texts, because you don't know how your text is going to be received. Meanwhile, I'm rolling on the laughing floor, and said to Melanie, "That's something my mom would do."

So that's how the episode begins. Then we get into advice for sending emails in a professional setting. Great examples shared in the video (and on this episode). Additionally, Melanie & Ms. Mary provide a helpful list of words not to be used in the workplace.

Melanie & I also chat about how she prepares her students for the real world. She says they do face-to-face and Zoom mock interviews, which she records so the class can watch.

Students hate mock interviews, at least at-first. But later Melanie gets so many "Thank You" emails because her students say role-playing in class helped them to land their dream job.

Come to think of it. My favorite professor when I was in school had us role-play as part of the final exam. Dr. Chris Cox, former Department Head (Management & Marketing) would setup a tripod mounted with one of those old-school giant video recorders in the corner for a mock "sales call"—he was the Buyer.