Positive:
#1: One of the work readiness skills that was really helpful during my internship was professionalism. At the branch of Marin General where I'm working, everyone around me is wearing business casual clothing, so in order to gain respect and be taken seriously by my peers, it's very important to dress and act professionally. A lot of the people who I first met at my internship were very surprised to hear that I'm a high schooler because they I act and look very professional. Wearing professional attire definitely helped everyone at my internship take me more seriously because they know that I'm there to work hard and learn, and I'm not just some high schooler that they can't take seriously.
#2: Another one of my work readiness skills that played a large role in helping me with my internship is computer literacy. Although some internships don't require it, the majority of the tasks I receive from my supervisor involve creating tables and charts, as well as sorting and inputting information onto Excel spreadsheets and Word, so it's crucial that I know how to work these programs, along with a lot of other Microsoft Office applications. Being computer and technologically literate has also come in handy a lot in my internship when communicating with my supervisor, because she will send events scheduled in her calendar on her phone to my phone, so it's important that I know how to work all of the technology on my phone as well, so that I know what we have on the calendar for certain days or when we're meeting in a different building for an event so that I don't get lost and so that I'm in the loop for what we have planned.
Negative:
#1: One thing that I struggled with at my internship was communication and asking questions. Although both of my supervisors are very friendly, I don't know them or anyone else in the building very well, so it was intimidating for me to ask anyone questions. Since I didn't ask a lot of clarifying questions, this caused me to work a lot harder in many of the tasks that my supervisor gave to me and I had to figure a lot of it out on my own. Although as I got to know my supervisor better and began to relax a little bit around her, it was easier to ask questions and have casual conversations with her, which made doing tasks for her a lot less stressful and time consuming.
It is great that you work well with computers since your internship has you do that. Also, I can relate with your struggle on communication skills and glad you overcame it.
ReplyDeleteNicole, I think it is great that people were surprised that you were a high school student based on the way you present yourself. I agree that looking professional is an important part of being taken seriously. It sounds like you are great with computers, which is a very important skill to have. I can relate to your struggles with communication. I love how you didn't let your lack of questions hold you back from doing a great job at the tasks you were given, and I am impressed that you worked on your communication skills.
ReplyDeleteIt is good that you know how to work with computers, because that is a big part of communication in the hospital. I know how it feels to not want to talk to supervisors because it is scary, but it's good that you got over that! good luck the rest of the way.
ReplyDelete