This week has not led to any new major projects besides the usual office work. I have mainly been doing busy work like mailing out business letters. I did help the sports director, Dave Plevich, with a business letter he was mailing out. I rewrote and reformatted the letter and helped with the overall layout. Then we printed it out and so basically I will not have much to talk about because it was sort of a hum-drum week. Everything was sort of Deja Vu.
I was hoping to get a new project to work on, but Cindy didn't have anything for me. I had just been lucky in previous weeks to get a steady flow of new and interesting things to do. This leads me to reflect on how this is typical, everyday office work. Not every day at the office is a new adventure. A lot of it is work that you don't want to do--but it has to get done. Someone has to do it. Interns are good for that!! I think it's funny because regardless of whether or not there is a big project pending, on any given day I can walk into the office and if Cindy isn't in, then Lauryn or Dave jumps on the chance to give me work to do. The good thing is though while I feel there is definately a use for me in the office, I don't necessarily feel "like just an intern". I get to sit at a girl's computer desk that is never there, who is another coordinator at the visitor's center (Markeisha) and feel comfortable working with everyone there. I don't know where Markeisha is that she is never there, though. Hmm, it's one of those things I don't know, but when I'm there never think to ask!
Here are some things I've learned so far. It is all really common sense and basic though. However, it is so much different from actually stating these and knowing it in your head to actually applying it as an intern. That's why I think being an intern is really valuable. First off, I don't feel too shy to ask questions, but I have learned to try to figure out more things on my own before giving up and asking first. Also, if I can't figure it out, it's much better to ask questions than screw the whole thing up and get it wrong. Also, as I have said before set goals and deadlines even if your boss doesn't give them to you. Also, if there is nothing to do, instead of doing nothing ask around to see what you can do. I have so far never been turned down. :-P I actually learned to do that in my old job because employers really appreciate that. Well, I am done talking today because it feels like I am just jabbering on.
Thursday, April 9, 2009
Thursday, April 2, 2009
Finishing Projects
This week has been fairly busy for me. I have not yet finished my Heritage Research, but have only found like three heritage-related shops. I think it will be fine, though since there is in actuality not very many to be found. Also, Cindy gave me a copy of "The Retirement Times" in which my first published article is included. It was really cool finally seeing it in print along with a picture Cindy put with it. I can definately use that in my portfolio.
I was assigned a big task this week, which I, thankfully, finished today. One thing I have learned is to set goals about when I want to get things done (when their is no set deadline) and it makes me works harder. For example, Cindy didn't say have this done by the end of the week, but I calculated how much time it should take me and set a goal for the end of the week to have it finished. My task was to pick out every ad from the current visitor's guide and then mark each page, mail each business that put an ad out a copy of a letter Cindy wrote telling them there would be a new visitor's guide and please send more business info for ads like last year. I included the letter in the envelope and a copy of the current visitor's guide with their page marked so they could see their ad from last year.
Today I was also offered a job there this summer, but I'm not sure if I can take it. She told me to let her know. So, all in all so far everything has been going really well. I have enjoyed my internship.
I was assigned a big task this week, which I, thankfully, finished today. One thing I have learned is to set goals about when I want to get things done (when their is no set deadline) and it makes me works harder. For example, Cindy didn't say have this done by the end of the week, but I calculated how much time it should take me and set a goal for the end of the week to have it finished. My task was to pick out every ad from the current visitor's guide and then mark each page, mail each business that put an ad out a copy of a letter Cindy wrote telling them there would be a new visitor's guide and please send more business info for ads like last year. I included the letter in the envelope and a copy of the current visitor's guide with their page marked so they could see their ad from last year.
Today I was also offered a job there this summer, but I'm not sure if I can take it. She told me to let her know. So, all in all so far everything has been going really well. I have enjoyed my internship.
Thursday, March 26, 2009
New Projects
One good thing about my internship is that once I finish a project, a new one is waiting for me. The GMCVB works with "Parent Perks" (affiliated with WVU), which is a brochure that is distributed within the Parent's Club program at WVU. This brochure allows local businesses to promote discounts to WVU students' parents throughout the year.
This week I was given the assignment to contact each business that advertised a discount last year in the Parent Perks brochure. There were about 25 local businesses such as Ramada, Carvel, Gibbie's, Keglers, Qdoba, and various others that advertised the previous year. This activity required me to write their address on the envelopes, make copies of the letter that GMCVB sent out explaining the brochure and asking for the business name and discount they were willing to provide, and copies of the brochure page showing their ad from last year. Then I, feeling as if I worked at UPS, used their postage stamp machine concluding my project for the day. I finished this in two days, and I still have to do Step 2 and call the business managers' to do a follow-up and let them know that they should be expecting the letters. Step 3 of the project would (providing that some businesses decided not to offer discounts again) be to contact new businesses for the brochure.
Wednesday and Thursday of this week, I have been working a new project: The Heritage Project. This entails me to research restaurants and shops that are **heritage-related** and then write their name, address, phone number, web site, and a 50 word max. written description. So far, I have only came up with three heritage shops--The Old Stone House, Arrows Gifte Shoppe, and Arthurdale Gift Shop. I do not know of any heritage-related restuarants, so I am still researching.
Also, I have to revise a document that I created with MS WORD, because Cindy said she needed it on Excel.
This week I was given the assignment to contact each business that advertised a discount last year in the Parent Perks brochure. There were about 25 local businesses such as Ramada, Carvel, Gibbie's, Keglers, Qdoba, and various others that advertised the previous year. This activity required me to write their address on the envelopes, make copies of the letter that GMCVB sent out explaining the brochure and asking for the business name and discount they were willing to provide, and copies of the brochure page showing their ad from last year. Then I, feeling as if I worked at UPS, used their postage stamp machine concluding my project for the day. I finished this in two days, and I still have to do Step 2 and call the business managers' to do a follow-up and let them know that they should be expecting the letters. Step 3 of the project would (providing that some businesses decided not to offer discounts again) be to contact new businesses for the brochure.
Wednesday and Thursday of this week, I have been working a new project: The Heritage Project. This entails me to research restaurants and shops that are **heritage-related** and then write their name, address, phone number, web site, and a 50 word max. written description. So far, I have only came up with three heritage shops--The Old Stone House, Arrows Gifte Shoppe, and Arthurdale Gift Shop. I do not know of any heritage-related restuarants, so I am still researching.
Also, I have to revise a document that I created with MS WORD, because Cindy said she needed it on Excel.
Sunday, March 22, 2009
Dealing with deadlines
I have had many deadlines to meet for class and work lately, so lately I've really had to budget my time wisely. The week before spring break was a very busy one as during the middle of the week, Cindy told me to compile my list of hotel general managers and their addresses on a list on excel, which I did. The task was not difficult but she wanted it done by the next day which I accomplished. I found the hardest aspect of the task was paying attention to the fine details. Such as, I had to pay attention to putting the correct address or phone numbers and spelling every name correctly.
Mainly many of the tasks I have had to do so far in my interning deal with data entry and organizational tasks. I've also had to contact businesses, which I am still currently doing. I also did not end up going to the NYC job fair and instead went to the WVU fair. I have lately been working on my resume and fine-tuning all the details. I also in am in the proces of writing my very first personal statement. I am well-acquainted with writing cover letters, so I am hoping I can use some of the same guidelines in writing the statement. For example, I'm going to give specific examples of my goals and what I ultimately hope to achieve.
I'm looking forward to this week and the different tasks set out for me.
Mainly many of the tasks I have had to do so far in my interning deal with data entry and organizational tasks. I've also had to contact businesses, which I am still currently doing. I also did not end up going to the NYC job fair and instead went to the WVU fair. I have lately been working on my resume and fine-tuning all the details. I also in am in the proces of writing my very first personal statement. I am well-acquainted with writing cover letters, so I am hoping I can use some of the same guidelines in writing the statement. For example, I'm going to give specific examples of my goals and what I ultimately hope to achieve.
I'm looking forward to this week and the different tasks set out for me.
Friday, March 6, 2009
On the Job
This week at GMCVB, I was put back to work on their website to make some changes to the businesses I added previously this semester. For example, some of the motels needed to be classified under hotels instead. I added new shopping areas (many of them located downtown). Mainly, I went into further detail with the businesses I added, because Cindy said they wanted to include very specific details about the business. Like when I edit the website, I can click whether they allow pets, what kind of business it is (antique, mens and ladies, home and garden, etc.), or what kind of food they serve (American, Chinese, Mexican). I finished the task in about two days, but I still need to work on classifying some of the businesses differently. Some of them are kind of ambiguous, for example I wasn't sure where to classify the Amish Furniture Store. I was in between "home and garden" and "area specialities" as it was definatly not "ladies and mens". I decided on "home and garden", but since ulitmately some of them are not clear, I am going to make my changes then print a copy out and ask Cindy for revisions. This was actually her suggestion because I came to her with the problem.
The rest of the week, I attended the WVU spring career fair with Cindy graciously allowing me to time to do that during my worktime at the Convention. I also plan on attending the NYC Career Fair since I thought it would be a good opportunity. I definately feel like I need to get extra prepared though, to go to NYC--fine tuning my resume, resarching the jobs, and getting the rest of my materials together. Wed. and Thurs. I worked on a massive bulk order which involved me putting the visitor's guides into packets along with four or five other select brochures about the area (the Rail Trail, Cooper's Rock).
This week has been a really busy one, but I like the variety of tasks I have been given thus far.
The rest of the week, I attended the WVU spring career fair with Cindy graciously allowing me to time to do that during my worktime at the Convention. I also plan on attending the NYC Career Fair since I thought it would be a good opportunity. I definately feel like I need to get extra prepared though, to go to NYC--fine tuning my resume, resarching the jobs, and getting the rest of my materials together. Wed. and Thurs. I worked on a massive bulk order which involved me putting the visitor's guides into packets along with four or five other select brochures about the area (the Rail Trail, Cooper's Rock).
This week has been a really busy one, but I like the variety of tasks I have been given thus far.
Thursday, February 26, 2009
Internship Progress
I finally finished putting all the new information onto the TourMorgantown.com
website. It wasn't hard work, just more or less tedious. The list of all the businesses was long and extensive, and I wanted to make sure they were all added on the page. I was given the task from the CEO Director to make phone calls to about 10potential candidates for the sales manager position opening up. I called them and asked them which of the four available times and dates would work best for an interview. It turned out that I had to leave voicemails for many of them, but still managed to set down some dates for a handful of people.
The latest project I had been working on and just finished yesterday was writing an article for the Retirement Times. The article covered scheduled events in Morgantown through April-September, and I was given two former articles written from the past two years to help guide me through the process of writing it. I wanted to make sure that I talked about the major events and activities while still sounding orginal and professional. In other words, I didn't just want to copy what the other two articles said, but I wanted to find a way to also make it my own piece of work. I made the first draft and Cindy made her revisions. She suggested I make the work flow better and less choppy and to include other important events. I then made my second draft by rewording my introduction and making the paragpaphs flow more evenly. Then she revised my second draft making still more corrections. After that she had me title it and put my signature on it as the author. I found this project to be a very good one.
Today I went out to several of the new businesses in town, such as Red Lobster, Grace(the Chinese Restaurant downtown), and Mhaleys. I still need to hit a few more next week and after that Cindy said she had a couple more projects for me. I am enjoying this internship because I feel like the workload is sufficient. The projects' are very interesting to work on as well. While the atmosphere is somewhat formal (I have to dress up nicely) it very laid-back among the workers there.
website. It wasn't hard work, just more or less tedious. The list of all the businesses was long and extensive, and I wanted to make sure they were all added on the page. I was given the task from the CEO Director to make phone calls to about 10potential candidates for the sales manager position opening up. I called them and asked them which of the four available times and dates would work best for an interview. It turned out that I had to leave voicemails for many of them, but still managed to set down some dates for a handful of people.
The latest project I had been working on and just finished yesterday was writing an article for the Retirement Times. The article covered scheduled events in Morgantown through April-September, and I was given two former articles written from the past two years to help guide me through the process of writing it. I wanted to make sure that I talked about the major events and activities while still sounding orginal and professional. In other words, I didn't just want to copy what the other two articles said, but I wanted to find a way to also make it my own piece of work. I made the first draft and Cindy made her revisions. She suggested I make the work flow better and less choppy and to include other important events. I then made my second draft by rewording my introduction and making the paragpaphs flow more evenly. Then she revised my second draft making still more corrections. After that she had me title it and put my signature on it as the author. I found this project to be a very good one.
Today I went out to several of the new businesses in town, such as Red Lobster, Grace(the Chinese Restaurant downtown), and Mhaleys. I still need to hit a few more next week and after that Cindy said she had a couple more projects for me. I am enjoying this internship because I feel like the workload is sufficient. The projects' are very interesting to work on as well. While the atmosphere is somewhat formal (I have to dress up nicely) it very laid-back among the workers there.
Thursday, February 5, 2009
The First Two Days
I started interning at GMCVB yesterday, which was on a Wednesday (2/05), and also worked this afternoon for a couple hours. The first day Cindy introduced me to some of the workers there and showed me the storage room where they keep all their brochures. This storage room reminded me of the one this summer at Seneca where I worked, except GMCVB's is much more spacious and nicer (i.e. it's carpeted, wow). I was set to work at the sport's director's computer but we ran into a major problem. The mouse was missing. So I was moved to another desk. My first day's task was to work on their newly renovated "brand-spankin' new" website by editing their main four sections: eat, stay, play, and shop. I came up with a a page and half of editing corrections (mainly punctuation errors). I finished at the end of my two-hour shift.
Today I was scheduled to work for two hours in the afternoon, but as I remembered from one of the readings about the proper attire (and this is not jeans)I encountered a problem. I do own many pairs of dress pants, but they are all at home which is far far away. After reading the article, I was pretty sure I was scared to show up in jeans. So, needless to say I had to go shopping before work. I was assigned the task of adding new businesses to their websites under the four previous mentioned sections. Since the website is really new, there are quite a few businesses to add to the site. This task will take some time, but I think it will be rather fun. I finished adding the hotels section and started working on the shopping ones. There are a lot of new businesses and attractions, especially since the greater Morgantown area consists of not just Mon. county but the Fairmont area as well. I'm looking forward to continuing to work on this project.
Today I was scheduled to work for two hours in the afternoon, but as I remembered from one of the readings about the proper attire (and this is not jeans)I encountered a problem. I do own many pairs of dress pants, but they are all at home which is far far away. After reading the article, I was pretty sure I was scared to show up in jeans. So, needless to say I had to go shopping before work. I was assigned the task of adding new businesses to their websites under the four previous mentioned sections. Since the website is really new, there are quite a few businesses to add to the site. This task will take some time, but I think it will be rather fun. I finished adding the hotels section and started working on the shopping ones. There are a lot of new businesses and attractions, especially since the greater Morgantown area consists of not just Mon. county but the Fairmont area as well. I'm looking forward to continuing to work on this project.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
