How has this experience (Internship) made you consider your college path that will ultimately lead to your career?
Consider what you have observed and learned about your mentor or other employees at your site, and reflect on your own academic & professional preparation. This experience at my internship has made me consider many things about my college path. It has made me contemplate what i want to do as a major. Before this experience I wanted to strictly study nursing and medicine, however after this experience I have considered studying business, or marketing as my college major or minor. I also know that if I do end up not studying nursing in college, I would want to work for an action sports company in an environment much like this one. One that is casual and laid back, but also on top of things when they need to be. After observing my mentor and others, I have learned that there are times to be serious and times to be relaxed and talk to your peers. I have learned that there is a way to balance these two things and have a fun and positive work environment while also maximizing proficiency in projects. That is also something that I need to learn to do in order to prepare myself for college and beyond. Another thing I have learned from them is how to focus on the task at hand and make sure I get things done while also advocating for myself I need to. Something about my own academic and professional preparation that I have learned is that I should wake-up earlier in the morning so I am not rushed to get to internship and try to get at the site 5 minutes before my time actually starts. Another thing I learned academically is that a lot of math and just simple logic seems to go into sales with the spreadsheets and all, on top of that being able to evenly balance work time with social time. In order to get all the projects finished, I need make sure I set myself up to be able to finish things before the due date even if that means missing a lunch or a break.
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How did you make a meaningful contribution to your workplace?
A way that I have made a meaningful contribution to my workplace, or more specifically, NIXON as a company, is by completing a series of mini projects that help progress the sales division of the team. By physically being in the sales division, and also being able to complete numerous projects, I have been able to make things easier for the people in the department and they have been able to get other tasks they need to done and out on time. In the overall scope of things I am making the department more efficient for clients and their retailers. While I am in the sales department, I make sell through documents for large retailers such as Zumiez, Pacific Sunwear, Macy’s BloomingDales, Nordstrom, Buckle, and more. I also do the simple things like supplying POP envelopes for clients and retailers, categorize catalog samples and make sure the samples are present, accurate, and up-to-date and more. By being able to complete these things with efficiency, I have been able to clear up a good amount of time for the people in the department so they can work on big picture things that really make the company run and prosper. How was your work significant or meaningful to the world beyond school and your specific internship site? Some ways that I find my work significant or meaningful to the world beyond school and my internship site is by seeing the bigger picture of things by completing the smaller tasks. I see it as much of a domino effect. The domino effect is a chain reaction of the cumulative effect produced when one event sets off a chain of similar events, its term alludes to the falling of dominos and how if one piece falls and touches the other it causes everything else to fall because of the individual’s precise placement of the dominos. An example of this would be supplying POP envelopes for clients and retailers. This is a great example since in these packages, there is a series of POP cards, these are the cards that go behind the company’s watches in a specific retailer’s casing display, as well as a planogram which instructs the retailer or client how to set the casing up according to NIXON’s standards. Preparing these and filling the package with the content it requires seem to not play a big role within the sales aspect of things, however if the packages aren’t filled with the supplies the other party needs, many things would happen, an example of one being a depression in sales, which could lead to the retailers not wanting to business anymore, and a decline in profit for NIXON. However by making sure all the essentials are in the envelopes, this could be the opposite of the situation I mentioned above, and overall give NIXON a steady growth in not only number of retailers and clients, but also growth in sales. Also by ensuring this means satisfaction for all other parties, this includes the multiple consumers, as well as the retailer and client, which is above all, something crucial when you are making a sale. Another thing that closely follows the pattern of customer and retailer satisfaction is making the Sell-Through sheets for the online stores and the physical stores as well. These sheets determine which item is which, such color, SKU, UPC, and more. If the wrong number or color is put down on the sheet for the retailer’s .com store, the customer would be getting the item they are not at all looking for, and just to name a few the item could be a different color, or even a different product if a number or color is inaccurate. How did your view of life beyond high school change or develop during your time as an intern? A big way that I feel like my life beyond high school changed or developed while spending time at my internship is that other than being a nurse and going to nursing school, I also would not mind majoring in business, or something that has to do with sales. I feel like a cool path down the line for me to take would be not only possibly majoring in something like business or sales, or even entrepreneurship, but also making a name for myself, or having a position somewhere in the action sports type industry. This is good because it has given me another option rather than only having one path. Going down a route similar to this would be really neat if going to nursing school doesn’t work out well. Something that I also feel would be cool other than going to nursing school would be doing something with engineering and design. I feel like designing a watch, making a new series of watch for a company such as, NIXON, Movado, and others would be something super cool as well. I do enjoy creating things, and figuring out how things work so being involved in something like this would not be something I wouldn’t consider other than nursing school. How might internship influence the direction of your life? A big way that my internship has influenced the direction of my life is that other than being a nurse and going to nursing school, I also would not mind majoring in business, or something that has to do with sales. I feel like a cool path down the line for me to take would be not only possibly majoring in something like business or sales, or even entrepreneurship, but also making a name for myself, or having a position somewhere in the action sports type industry. This is good because it has given me another option rather than only having one path. Going down a route similar to this would be really neat if going to nursing school doesn’t work out well. Basically working in the action sports industry would not be something I mind doing as I find it to be quite interesting. I feel like I am learning something new everyday, probably because I am very unfamiliar with the action sports sales environment. Something that I also feel would be cool other than going to nursing school would be doing something with engineering and design. I feel like designing a watch, making a new series of watch for a company such as, NIXON, Movado, and others would be something super cool as well. I do enjoy creating things, and figuring out how things work so being involved in something like this would not be something I wouldn’t consider other than nursing school. What qualities or characteristics did you see in the people around you that you want to develop in yourself? Why? Some qualities of characteristics I see in the people within my work environment is that they are able to go from working, to not working, then to working and being focused and getting everything done. The work environment at NIXON is much more casual than I thought it would be, and to be in a casual work environment with your friends, but to also work and get things done efficiently requires surreal focus and attention to the task at hand. This also shows the time management, organization, and work ethic skills. I want to develop these skills and apply them not only to my work in school, but in everything I do so that way I can have a social life, while also maximizing quantity and quality of work that I do. I also need to learn how to focus and stay on task with things. Sometimes I often find myself having a hard time sticking to doing something without finding a way to get distracted whether that is my phone, or a peer. By cutting out these distractions, I’d be better off on studying for things, preparing for exams, or let alone getting out of the house on time in order for me not to rush to wherever I am trying to get to. There are a lot of pros to having great focusing skills and I hope to develop skills like this by trying to incorporate strict time tabs. A flat set time to have a break, and a flat set time of work time and making sure I get whatever I need to done. This is my photo essay regarding the last two weeks of my internship while here at NIXON HQ. Some ways that I have shown advocacy throughout my time at internship is by asking for clarification on things that I am unsure about, or don't know if I am doing a task properly. Whenever I am unsure about what to do, or how to do something I ask my mentor for clarification and try to break down the process into methodical steps in order to make the task more simple. Another thing that I do to show self-advocacy, as well as just to make sure that everything is going right is by having my mentor/s look back over what I had completed just to make sure everything is right, much like editing an essay. If I did not do this, and end up messing something up, the whole project could topple since the smaller things build up to make the bigger picture. Much like math in algebra, if you mess up on a single step, you will have the wrong answer.
I am following the advice on How to be an intern everyone remembers". I am doing this by treating this place like my part time job at a retail store. I do this by being professional, and responsible, a well as friendly and polite. I also make sure to be aware of what I look like from a third person point of view. This could be being aware of how much food, drinks I am consuming, or even how often I go to the bathroom. I try to limit these things in order to put the most time into my work and projects. Another thing I do being diligent and efficient in everything I do. I always remind myself that this company was nice enough to give me the opportunity to intern at their corporate office. I see this as a fortunate opportunity, not as an assignment I have to complete for class. This is what makes me want to work hard and make sure I am a memorable intern. Blog 5 Prep
Describe what a typical day of work is like at this site:
- A typical day of work at the Headquarters of of Nixon is busy. Everyone is doing something, from business meetings, to business calls, and more. People always have projects going on in order to sell more of their product, and things they need to prepare for in order to be ahead of the retail game for the next fiscal year. Business Policies: - For NIXON, I feel like the policies are that you need to have a valid excuse if you are late or tardy, and they need to be factors you can't control, or emergencies. You can't just not come in one day and expect to be all good. Dress Code: - Dress code is very casual, it seems like the rule is shorts or pants, a t-shirt, as well as close toed shoes if you are a guy, no flip flops or slides, etc. You can even wear a hat inside. Reflection: - Career Day was very smooth for me. I got introduced to people I haven't met at the work site, then got started on helping with a mother's day project where NIXON will have a booth set up for people to come and make custom watches. Custom watches is a new thing they are trying out since it had worked very well for them when they recently thought of this idea a month of two ago. I expect the professional work environment to be very organized, and that you will always be busy with something important to do, in order to benefit and better the company. This can be arranging things, doing graphic design for their advertisements, or even looking at the spreadsheets to make sure the pricing of everything is right. How will your high school classes and skills come in handy for me to apply in this profession: - A class that I think will significantly help me is math class, since I am going to be doing sales, as well as keeping inventory or things they need for specific events, and trips. For this you need to be able to count and do math efficiently and well. A skill that will help me that I possess is being able to be hard working since I need to always be ontop of my work or it could cause a dip in productivity which leads to much more within a company. Another thing is graphic design, such as photoshop or adobe illustrator. If I am going to be helping with the graphic design for the product, as well as product design and brainstorm, I need to be sure I am proficient in creating these types of things which requires the skill of using and being familiar with these Adobe programmed applications. |