Using Work Readiness Skills

Using Work Readiness Skills:

Strengths:

- On one of the days of my internship, I had to leave early for basketball practice. I communicated with my internship advisor, Catriona, to notify her that I had to leave early. If she was not satisfied with me leaving early, I told her I could stay, but I was allowed to leave early. Because I told her so far in advance, she was able to email me what we would be doing that day at the internship so I was informed about the material we would cover. Turns out we ended early and I didn't miss anything. But I'm glad I was able to communicate with my internship advisor proficiently. I learned that communication can pay off in the long run.

- This week in our internship, we interviewed a German scientist named Christian Frankenberg. We performed a conference call over the phone to interview him about his new discoveries involving chlorophyll fluorescence. When we were choosing who would prompt the questions, no one was volunteering. We were all nervous, but we finally picked people to ask the questions. I ended up being one of those people. Next, we had to decide who would start the interview. Again, no one volunteered. I was out front and honest. I said I would do it, but it might not be perfect because I was very nervous. Everyone said I would do fine, and they appreciated my honesty. In the end, honesty was valuable because my teammates could expect what would happen.

Weaknesses:

- One of my weaknesses I experienced throughout the week was my level of dedication. Before conducting our interviews at EarthScope, we had to formulate interview questions amongst the group. Instead of completing the questions efficiently, I didn't finish them until the night before the interview. Our work wasn't completed efficiently, and it was stretched out throughout the week. I should have gotten the work done early in the week. Then I could have reviewed the questions later in the week to improve their quality.

- Another weakness I experienced throughout the week was my professionalism. The first week of the internship, I showed up dressed in business casual wardrobe. My internship supervisor, Catriona, said I could come in more casual clothing. I think I dressed too comfortably this week for an internship. To show that I'm committed and interested in the internship, I should come looking professional. This could also apply when I started working in a career.