Blog Post #2: Work Readiness Skills

Communicating Effectively

My internship requires a lot of charm and the ability to deal with a wide variety of personalities. This is especially true of my supervisor who deals with internal physician relations in Marin General, along with external relations with UCSF and Stanford. Another department I work with, foundations, works to attain donations for funding new projects such as the new hospital complex. I had my experience with this aspect of the job during an important meeting for a fundrasing event in the fall. Another instance where communicating was vital was last week. On that day I received my first assignment involving computers and countless names of future and past donors. After a quick run through of the database and programs I had to use, there were still many questions left unanswered. I had to quickly formulate and compile important questions in order to limit the amount of interruptions I had for a co-worker. This was a job that needed communication and efficient, but 100% correct, work.

Dedication

On the day of my "interview" I was asked how many days I could come in and how many hours those days would last for. I answered with a desire to come in almost everyday for as long as possible. This answer seemed to have delighted my supervisor and expressed my large interest in the opportunity. However, I many have dug my own grave with that answer because now my internship is almost everyday for 4 hours (including Wednesdays directly after class). Nevertheless, I aim to meet my supervisor's expectations and continue to work positively, bringing my all to the job.

Professionalism (Dressing Appropriately)

I am a girl who loves to wear t-shirts, sweatshirts, and assorted colors of pants. In no way, shape, or form am I delighted by the fact that my internship requires that I clothe myself in dresses, skirts, cardigans, and shirts with endless amounts of conniving buttons. When I walked into the office I thanked all that was holy that I chose to wear a nicer dress instead of my stunningly fashionable pair of scrubs. There were skirts and button ups, pencil skirts and dress shoes everywhere; during a golf tournament meeting the benefactors brought their channel bags and polo shirts. This was utterly ufortunately for me, because now my mornings include shifting through the closet for twenty minutes to capture the "I look nice and professional, but not pretentious" appearance. Never before have I been forced to put this much care into my professional exterior (and my legs are slowly getting back their tan).