Human Resource Paper

I have only held two post - college education jobs. The first was at a call center which employed many minority groups including women, Asians, African Americans, and individuals with physical disabilities. I found this to be a great learning experience because I was able to experience and learn things about other cultures to which I otherwise would not have had access. Through this experience the most important lesson I learned was to never “judge a book by the cover.” I had always heard that expression, but never truly understood its meaning until I entered the “real world.” Now, as I have previously mentioned, I work at Wal-Mart and diverse and minority groups are well represented throughout the company.

Where I currently live is much different from the small town, where I grew up. As a child I lived in a small farming community. As you may have surmised this small town was predominantly white. We had only one African American family who lived in town. Now, where I live in a college town, there are many diverse groups of people in a concentrated area. There are many students who come from different countries to study here in the United States.

Growing up in a small town did not provide much interaction with diverse groups. This lack of interaction did not affect me until I began college. After finding out some of my new fellow student’s backgrounds, I wished I knew a little bit more about their cultures. This had an impact on me because many of the things people from big cities knew and took for granted, I was clueless about. My personality aided in finding out more about each culture, as did research. Another great opportunity to learn about cultural diversity was taking a course on intercultural communication. This taught the faux pas to avoid when doing business with those from other cultures or countries.

I do not make it a habit of seeking out diverse groups of people. However, if I encounter these individuals at work or school, I find myself very...