Tim Elmore is the creator of the blog Growing leaders(http://growingleaders.com/blog). Elmore's blog was created to help teach generation Y how to change the world and influence others. One article he writes in his blog discusses one of his friends and his experience with interns at his company. He had group of interns who weren't up to expectations. To help better educate future interns, Elmore told his friend to treat the internship as an interview. The internship should be treated as an interview for an actual job with the same responsibility and behavior. You should behave like it is a real job that you are fulfilling. He points out the top qualities he looks for are teachability, initiative, responsibility, and energy. These can all be applied to the internship I am currently involved in. Treat everyday as an observation. Your supervisor and boss are always watching and observing how you would do in a professional setting, so try your best!
The Occupational Work Ethic Inventory (OWEI) is an online test that measures the work ethic of a person. The information given from the test is split into three different groups. There are interpersonal skills, initiative, and dependability. The average responses from 1133 people were charted, and out of a score of 7 males received a 5.75 on interpersonal skills, 5.52 on initiative, and 6.07 on dependability. Females received a 6.00 on interpersonal skills, 5.67 on initiative, and 6.34 on dependability.
I took this test and made a 6.00 on interpersonal skills, 5.88 on initiative, and 6.43 on dependability. None of the scores are exactly 7. Because my lowest score was on initiative, that is definitely something I should try to work on better for my internship. Taking the extra measure to really prove an interest will stand out from the other workers. From taking this test, I learned how I need to improve on my work ethic to be a better intern and improve my internship. When talking with friends or family, it is more relaxed and comfortable. Conversations with friends are between peers, so there is a sense of equal footing between the two. When with with family, it is personal like with friends, but there should also be deference for family members especially the elderly ones. When talking with an employer or a coworker, all conversation should remain professional. With family and business conversations, there is a certain level of respect that differs from conversations with friends. Business emails would be much more serious and professionally written than an email to a family member which would be more personal. Someone's personal social media may be directed towards friends and family, but an employer can still view it, so it is important to keep anything that's public business appropriate because once its on the internet, its there forever.
When communicating with your mentor, its not just your verbal language that affects conversation. Some points to consider when talking to your mentor is keeping good eye contact and body language. Speak with confidence and show initiative to learn something new. When asked questions, pay attention and make sure to be listening and respond with good answers. Another point is to avoid office gossip because that's a bad form of communication that can get passed around the work environment. The article,Making the Most of Your Internship or Co-op, gave some great tips to make the most out of your internship experience. It began with telling what you should do before even starting your internship and how to handle the first two weeks. Some tips included: taking initiative, show enthusiasm, and creating a portfolio of your work and recommendations. I loved how it talked about networking. You want to build connections that could possibly help you in the future. I read that you want to have the appropriate work mindset and leave with a good impression because someday you may need a good recommendation or that person could even be your future employer. I thought this was a great help with my internship because it had brought up some points that I had not thought about before like getting credit for the internship or how to further get the most out of the experience.
https://goanimate.com/videos/0Z1KVMqvjpO4
This video is about a young worker who takes the initiative on creating a product for a candy company. He is responsible for the project, and because he works hard, he does well and succeeds at the company JD Russo states," It's not that people didn't know. They just didn't care" He blames this on the key idea of Indifference. Indifference is the lack of interest or concern. I believe that with today's generation, this is exactly the problem. People will only do the minimum but not try to exceed expectations. This is what stood out to me because of being involved in the Honors Mentorship Program. It has taught me that in order to succeed you must give it your all and try your best. Go beyond the necessary and strive for your goal. I hope to do this throughout my internship and reach my goal of becoming an optometrist.
Being a part of the cheer program at my school for the past three years, it has shown me the dos and donts in order to have a good season. From what I have witnessed In previous years, the teams have been very seclusive and cliquey. By being captain of basketball cheer and a senior, I hope to change that by including everyone and being open to everybody's ideas. Hopefully this will rub off on the underclassman , and they will continue it throughout their season even when the current seniors are gone. |
AuthorKristina Archives
May 2018
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