Towards a Learning Curve
This was my first week of work, so I figured you might want to hear a little about it!
Here are 3 small vignettes that give an insight into the various aspects of my job and how this week went.
1)
On my very first day, I was given a letter by our Program Director, "I don't know if this is a bill or not and I'm not sure if we have to pay it."
I open it. I read it. It says that we haven't yet paid our water bill and we have 10 days for it to be paid before they will send a 3rd party collector. Clearly this needs to be taken care of soon. But where is the bill? How much is the bill? How can we get a check approved when our Executive Director is on vacation?
Ok. I'll figure that our later. I look at emails. There was a response to an email that had been sent out the week before about times that a women would be available for a signature. Who is this woman? What is she supposed to be signing? Where is what she is supposed to be signing? Why does she have to sign it?
About 3 hours later, I found a stack of unsigned checks, attached to bills and envelopes. Here were the payments for the water bill! Here were the checks that this mystery woman, who is actually our treasurer, needed to sign! It was all coming together now! All I had to do was send an intern with the checks to the treasurer and also contact our president to come and also sign the checks and then send the checks out.
By Friday, I had successfully paid about 10 bills.
2)
Also on my first day, a new intern came in. She introduced herself. I introduced myself. She paused. I stared at her.
"...ummmm. I think I'm supposed to be filling out some paper work today," she tells me.
Oh. That would make sense. I open my binder that weighs a couple pounds and has instructions on absolutely everything. I find on-boarding paperwork. I scan it and give it to her.
A few hours later, I find folders pre-made for all the interns with copies of the paperwork ready to be given to them. Oops.
Honestly, it's really weird to be in charge of interns when you don't really know what's going on yourself. But over the week, as I've organized myself, I'm starting to be able to come up with tasks for them as well.
My favorite decision this week, was deciding to meet for 30 minutes with all the interns individually so that I can learn a bit about them and what I can be doing to help them meet their goals for this semester.
3)
On Friday, a couple of our residents went to a local program to help make food for those experiencing homelessness.
As I was driving home, I asked whether they enjoyed their time helping out.
One resident responded, "It was really nice to be able to help out. It was really nice to be on that side of the giving. Can we help out every week?"
I feel like anything that I say to expand on that statement would be unnecessary. I just sat in the car thinking, "what a powerful statement."
~
This week I kind of felt like I was pushed into the deep end with no instructions on how to swim. I was playing a lot of catch-up and figure-out because they have gone a month without a person in my position. But I've always been a fast learner. My co-workers and interns kept saying, "we're so glad that you're here."
Even after just one week, I care so much about the residents, our interns, and my co-workers.
I still have a lot to learn and figure out, but I had a pretty good first week.
Here are 3 small vignettes that give an insight into the various aspects of my job and how this week went.
1)
On my very first day, I was given a letter by our Program Director, "I don't know if this is a bill or not and I'm not sure if we have to pay it."
I open it. I read it. It says that we haven't yet paid our water bill and we have 10 days for it to be paid before they will send a 3rd party collector. Clearly this needs to be taken care of soon. But where is the bill? How much is the bill? How can we get a check approved when our Executive Director is on vacation?
Ok. I'll figure that our later. I look at emails. There was a response to an email that had been sent out the week before about times that a women would be available for a signature. Who is this woman? What is she supposed to be signing? Where is what she is supposed to be signing? Why does she have to sign it?
About 3 hours later, I found a stack of unsigned checks, attached to bills and envelopes. Here were the payments for the water bill! Here were the checks that this mystery woman, who is actually our treasurer, needed to sign! It was all coming together now! All I had to do was send an intern with the checks to the treasurer and also contact our president to come and also sign the checks and then send the checks out.
By Friday, I had successfully paid about 10 bills.
2)
Also on my first day, a new intern came in. She introduced herself. I introduced myself. She paused. I stared at her.
"...ummmm. I think I'm supposed to be filling out some paper work today," she tells me.
Oh. That would make sense. I open my binder that weighs a couple pounds and has instructions on absolutely everything. I find on-boarding paperwork. I scan it and give it to her.
A few hours later, I find folders pre-made for all the interns with copies of the paperwork ready to be given to them. Oops.
Honestly, it's really weird to be in charge of interns when you don't really know what's going on yourself. But over the week, as I've organized myself, I'm starting to be able to come up with tasks for them as well.
My favorite decision this week, was deciding to meet for 30 minutes with all the interns individually so that I can learn a bit about them and what I can be doing to help them meet their goals for this semester.
3)
On Friday, a couple of our residents went to a local program to help make food for those experiencing homelessness.
As I was driving home, I asked whether they enjoyed their time helping out.
One resident responded, "It was really nice to be able to help out. It was really nice to be on that side of the giving. Can we help out every week?"
I feel like anything that I say to expand on that statement would be unnecessary. I just sat in the car thinking, "what a powerful statement."
~
This week I kind of felt like I was pushed into the deep end with no instructions on how to swim. I was playing a lot of catch-up and figure-out because they have gone a month without a person in my position. But I've always been a fast learner. My co-workers and interns kept saying, "we're so glad that you're here."
Even after just one week, I care so much about the residents, our interns, and my co-workers.
I still have a lot to learn and figure out, but I had a pretty good first week.
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