Another topic I feel like I have learned a lot about is Leadership Skills. Combining my Leadership Theory class with my Internship taught me a lot about how to lead successfully by using different techniques to help please all people involved. The attached material is a pretty recent viewing of how much these course have really been beneficial to me and my daily life.
Laura Page
Evaluation of Internship
COMM 4900
Dr. Raffo
I have always been told that it is the experience that will teach me the most about anything I was interested in knowing, to get out there and try and the rewards will be far greater than any I expected; this is one of the most accurate statements I have encountered so far in my life. I have been very fortunate to not only gain internship type experience but also real job experience. Getting tossed into a serious job situation before graduating college was a little scary but it has been a continual learning process that I enjoy everyday.
I was hired on at HotFlops in May 2009. HotFlops is a small business that consists of 6 people. We currently have over 3000 accounts throughout the U.S. and Canada. My boss bought the company from a woman in Santa Barbara, CA, moved the business to Smyrna, TN and I happened to be lucky enough to land a job with them. Since I landed an actual job, not just an internship, I was automatically expected to do way more concentrated work than I would have as an intern. Some of my daily responsibilities include imputing orders, handling accounts, handling accounts receivables/collections, returns, customer service issues, controlling our third party distribution center in Murfreesboro as well as overseas in China, any shipping
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issues that might arise, integrating new systems into our existing system, and currently getting everything ready for our 14 tradeshows we are attending nationwide in the spring of 2009. The trade shows will last from the 1st week of January until the middle of March. It has been especially hectic the past month because we are launching our kid’s line at the tradeshows. In dealing with an entire new flop line I have learned about the production side of things. HotFlops uses a company to produce prototypes for us of any new style. We then decide if it needs any corrections and if all goes well, have our flop produced in a feasible amount of time. This process can be extremely lengthy to have an entire line produced in time to get shipped all over the U.S. for the individual trade shows. Overall, no matter the task, my main responsibility is to be effective and efficient in whatever it is that I am trying to accomplish.
I have worked for all different kinds of people and I know I am fortunate to have found such an amazing situation. My co-workers are a joy to be around. We are a very diverse group ranging from the early/mid 20’s to the early 50’s including 2 men and 4 women. Everyone is generally enthusiastic on a daily basis and fairly laid-
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back. We work out of a brand new office building that is decorated very “posh” like with an open floor plan. The walls are all painted soothing colors and our comfortable furniture makes it a lot easier to sit at a desk for most of the day. To add to the already amazing atmosphere, my boss Sean is great at thoroughly explaining something I might not be so sure about. He is patient, but also quick to let me go and try to figure things out on my own. At times he can be a bit intense but it makes me push myself even harder to get the job done accurately. Being able to work in an exciting, fresh, uplifting environment is definitely a pleasure for me. Working hard to get the job done is very easy to do with such a great team.
No matter how wonderful a situation might be there is always something that can damper the party. One thing I do not enjoy doing is opening work at 8AM in Smyrna! Although I am a morning person, I do not find it fun in any way to have to get up at 6AM everyday. I still wish I could be spoiled with my “later in the day” school schedule, but I find it a little easier to deal with when I get my paycheck every 2 weeks. Another minor issue is sometimes my boss does not quite think things through and will have us start on a project that is going to affect numerous aspects of
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the business. We employees know this but sometimes he will not listen to us and we end up in a rat race to get everything straightened out. To me, if this is the only issue I really have to deal with on a daily basis, I am in great shape!
It has been the simplest things that have made me so excited about having this job. When I started this job I had never even booked an airplane ticket for myself, but a week into the job I was making reservations, booking flights, learning how to use all the basic office equipment and getting the gist of the business world. I now realize the world does start at 8AM and all you can do is drink a cup of coffee and prepare for it to hit you full force. I am a firm believer that you should take something good from every experience you have. I think that is also another reason why I find most everything about the experience so enjoyable.
My main objective in starting a job like this was to obtain a position that will utilize my skills and education while providing me with the opportunity to strengthen my business knowledge and acquire knowledge and experience related to the communication industry.
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Some of the ways I have broadened my knowledge on the job would be:
·Providing quality customer service that was enhanced by equipping myself with solid product knowledge
·Maintaining and managing all outstanding accounts receivables
·Managing the relations between our company and our third party logistics companies
·Managing the process for all software integration
·Assisting with coordination of logistics for tradeshows including booking all travel needs as well as serving as on-site representative
·Assisting with website update as well as creating marketing materials (order forms, price sheets, sales literature for upcoming sales year)
By no means is this all I have done since starting here, but this is a good idea of how in depth my responsibilities are on a daily basis.
Overall I feel like I was very prepared for the type of job I was getting myself into. I really appreciate our teachers taking the time to get most of our classes in the
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EXL program. I have never loved my major more than looking back on it now and understanding the significance of forcing us to get out into the community and really getting that hands-on-experience that we would need.
I think that of all the classes I had, interview was by far the most beneficial. Although I have had numerous jobs already, I did not quite understand the level of importance that being overwhelmingly prepared for an interview would have on helping me to land the job. I know for a fact I would probably not have gotten this amazing opportunity if not for Dr. McCormick scaring me into being extremely prepared for all sorts of things.
Some other classes that were very valuable were Innovation, Leadership Theory, and Conflict in Communication. Innovation really intrigued me the most. I love being creative with whatever it is that I am doing and I loved being forced into seeing every possible angle just in case something did not work out the original way. This has really helped me with daily duties at work as well as helping Sean, my boss, to come up with a better and usually cheaper way to implement things. Having the chance to take a piece of MTSU and mold it into what it is now really opened my eyes to the idea that I can change things if I
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want. It takes a lot of hard work to make changes, but I can do it if I really put my heart and soul into the cause.
I definitely feel that everyone should be required to take Leadership Theory. Understanding and accepting people’s different styles of leading will make your life a lot easier and stress free. Once you have accepted that most people do things in different ways, you can begin to collaborate with each other and create a system that is almost flawless. My boss is very laid back and situational. He takes things as they come and deals with them accordingly. I, on the other hand, am very managerially based in my beliefs. I kind of feel that if you are doing your job and doing it well than you should be rewarded, but if you are not following through then you should be reprimanded, but being able to mess the two together make for a great team.
I also really enjoyed my Conflict in Communication class. I loved learning about how to deal with problems that arise in the workplace. After all, it is somewhat inevitable that bad things will happen and I for one like having answers as to how to fix them, or at least the resources to go to if needed. Whether it is a behavioral problem or something that needs to be tweaked within the
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business itself, I feel like I am prepared to take on the challenge of making the situation better.
This year has definitely been a whirlwind for me. I have gone from taking 18 hours and working part-time to landing a full-time job to working that full-time job and taking 8 more hours of school to finish up. I do not think I ever fully comprehended life until this year. It has always been a struggle for me to get myself going, but now that I am going full force I cannot stop. I have gained so much knowledge about the real world from some amazing professors and now I am getting to put my knowledge to use. I appreciate having a tight knit group of people to look to if needed in the ORCO major. It is honestly a tad bit emotional finishing this paper up knowing that my journey here is almost over, but I know it really has just begun. I have an incredible job that I love getting up and going to every day and hopefully this will only bloom into more wonderful opportunities.
