Diary of Work Experience

Title:

Diary of Work Experience

Name:

Calvin Swart

Name and Address of Employer:

Anne Kavanagh, Glenhaven Foods, Kilbride Industrial Estate, Arklow, Co. Wicklow. 18th June 20th June 2012

Dates:

Position: Duties:

Assistant in Glenhaven Foods.

File away daily invoices in the accounts department, and place out of date invoices into boxes to be archived. Dispose of old paperwork from the sales department. Organise the paper work and office for the sales department. Update wholesale prices on the computer for the factory management. Shadow the factory floor manager.

Work Experience Links:

As well as having an interest in Health Science and Physiotherapy I also have a great interest in business as I feel it is vital to have knowledge of business no matter what career you choose to pursue. And I feel that I am easy going and very easy to talk to. As a result of my DATS test it was concluded that I am a very quick thinker which is essential in business. From my day at the Higher Options career exhibition in the RDS I was greatly interested by the speakers that had graduated from business courses. From the career evening held in the school and after speaking to a business graduate from UCD I became more interested in the thought of pursuing a career in business. From studying Business for the Leaving Certificate I feel that I will cope and understand what my work experience will entail. By doing Honours Maths for my Leaving Certificate I feel I will understand and follow what is going on in the accounts department.

Day 1: Date:

Monday 18th June 2012

Starting Time:

9.00a.m.

Finishing Time: 5.00p.m.

Duties Preformed:
File invoices in the Accounts Department. Organise receipts for Accounts Department. Archive out of date invoices in Accounts Department.

Introduction to Workplace:
On my first day I was greeted by Anne Kavanagh the Office and Accounts Manager. Anne introduced me to all the other staff members and different departments including the accounts department, the sales department, the production department and the test labs. She showed me where I would be working for the day and where the staff went on their tea and lunch breaks. Anne also took me through the steps to take in the case of a fire or an emergency in the building and showed my all the fire exists in the building.

Daily Performances:
On my first day walking into the offices I felt very nervous and out of my comfort zone as I had not yet worked in an office environment before. After being introduced to all the employees by Anne I felt much more at ease and comfortable. I was appointed my desk for the day and soon after was assigned to filing away the invoices handed to me by Orla who was in charge of handling the receipts, I arranged these in numerical order and placed them in the corresponding files. After lunch Anne handed me a pile of receipts from various payments he business had made, I proceeded to arrange these in alphabetical and date order. With the receipts arranged I then matched them up with the corresponding payment in the bank statement to ensure they were all there. After doing this Anne showed me how they put all this information onto their computer database. With that done I was asked to take all out of date invoices in the folders and place them into boxes that were going to be archived and I proceeded to do so.

Observations:
After getting to know all the employees and the workplace I felt much more relaxed. All the employees were very friendly and helpful when I was unsure of something. I felt that Anne explained the safety procedures in the building very well and made feel confident that if anything was to happen that I would know what to do. I felt that I did a lot of paper work which I didnt like as I found it boring and very time consuming but was reassured by Anne that tomorrow I will be doing something completely different.

Problems I encountered:
On my first day I found finding my way around the office building tricky but the employees were happy to point me in the right direction. I also found getting used to the filling system they have implemented in the accounts department hard to get used to but during the day I slowly got the hang of it.

Day 2: Date:

Tuesday 19th June 2012

Starting Time: Finishing Time:

9.00a.m 5.00p.m.

Duties Performed:
Shadowed the factory floor manager. Updated the prices on the computer. Helped staff members move into the new offices.

Daily Performance:
Today I felt more confident going into the workplace and I got to know all the staff members names. Lorraine the factory floor manager met me in the staff changing room and supplied me with a hair net, coat and shoe covers before we entered the factory floor. She took me on a tour of the whole factory where they make all their chicken products starting where the chicken gets defrosted all the way through to where it gets packaged. After lunch I was instructed by Anne Mols one of the stock taking staff to update all the wholesale prices on the computer onto a special software package. This took quit some time as there were so many different products for different buyers. In the afternoon I helped Anne pack all her things into boxes from her old office in the main building. We then moved them all into her new office outside that was much more spacious and accessible from the stock room.

Observation:
I felt today was much more enjoyable than yesterday as I got to experience what its like on the factory floor of a big company, which Ive never experienced before. Lorraine the factory floor manager also said that I was a pleasure to show around the factory and that I asked very good questions that she was happy to answer. I found spending time on the computer doing the stock take interesting as I enjoy working on computers and I worked with a computer software package that I had not used before so it was good to gain the knowledge of how to use it so if I was ever to encounter it again in the future. I also found it exciting to see the new office.

Problems I Encountered:
When I first started to use the computer software I found it very confusing as I had not used it before but Anne Moles was very happy to help me when I got caught with a problem.

Day 3: Date:

Wednesday 20th June 2012

Starting Time:

9.00a.m.

Finishing Time: 5.00p.m.

Duties Performed:
Reorganised office and paper work in the Sales Department. Disposed of out of date paper work. Arranged sample packaging.

Daily Performance:
Today I felt optimistic going into the offices as it was my last day. Anne arranged for me to work in the Sales department with Sales Manager Hilary Tobin. The first thing Hilary and I did was go through the three filing cabinets in the office and clear out any out of date paperwork. After showing me how to do the first few I was left on my own to do the rest, this took quit some time as there were hundreds of sheets of paper some dating back to 1993. I then placed all the up to date paper work into sections and shredded all the old paper work. After lunch I was back in the Sales department and proceeded on sorting out all the sample packaging and taking a count of how many of each type there was. I then moved onto rearranging the cupboards full of messy office supplies, it was a big task but I managed to get through it easily enough.

Observation:
I felt today went extremely well as I had a change of scenery working in the sales department. The Sales staff was very friendly and grateful that I had done the things they had been meaning to get to for the past few years but just never did, and Hilary made a comment that I was very good to have in her office and that she needed someone like me around to do those type of things that she never gets time to do. I felt Hilary was very good at her job and I was informed that she had not only got a Marketing Degree but had previously done a Degree in Business itself meaning that she spent 8 years in college. I felt I did a good job at organising the different things in the office as I am a very neat organised person myself.

Problems I Encountered:
Today I felt shredding the piles upon piles of old paper work very tedious and boring, and I felt as though I gained nothing from doing it that I didnt have before. I would have preferred to do something on the computer for the Sales department as I find that much more interesting than shredding old paper work.

Evaluation:
I felt that overall my experience went well however, after spending three days in an office on the factory floor, in the Sales and Accounting departments I came to the conclusion that I would not like to pursue a career in any one of these fields. My reasons being that I found the work to be a bit boring and repetitive whereas I have found myself to be a more hands on person. I did expect the experience to be slightly different to what it was, for it to be more involved in how the business is run than doing the small jobs that I did like organising messy offices and shredding old paper work. However in saying that Anne Kavanagh the Office Manager did say that I was a hard worker, fast learner, very reliable and a pleasure to work with in my reference letter. Although I do feel this experience has improved me as a person and has made me aware of the duties and responsibilities of an office worker, it has improved my organisational skills which play a very important role in doing well in my Leaving Certificate and it has also improved my communication skills by having to communicate with the different members of staff in the business. By using these skills I am very determined to get the required points for the course I would like to pursue in third level education and has also opened my eyes to other options. And it has helped me conclude that Physiotherapy will still be my first career choice and business being my second as I prefer to do field work over doing desk work. I am going to apply for the physiotherapy course in UCD as well as the Business and Law course in UCD and this work experience will help me because I now know what o expect if I go into business in the future.

Application:
As a result of doing three days work experience in Glenhaven Foods I have gained many new skills and knowledge: One of the main skills I feel I have improved on while doing work experience in Glenhaven has been organisational skills. This will give me huge advantage when preparing for my Leaving Certificate exam as I am now able to organise my time wisely by drawing up a study plan for myself and by organising my school work into different folders and sections it has made it easier for me to revise for tests. My motivational skills have improved too. I feel this will enable me to set goals for the future regarding studying and homework and by rewarding myself after achieving these goals will make it all the more worth while. I feel that I have also greatly improved my communication skills. This skill is a necessity in all aspects of life. This has also allowed me to better communicate at home with my family when it comes to helping out around home. By improving my organisational skills I have been able to draw up a timetable for our home where by setting out times to do study and homework and times to go out with friends or spend time with my family. I have also been able to assist my parents in the Sales department of their business as a result of my work experience. This has also benefited me in the community as I have been motivated to referee matches on my free days during the weekends for the younger teams in my football club. It also allowed me to better organise my time so that I can still play and help coach the juvenile football team for my football club outside of school and still have enough time to study and do my homework.

The main knowledge that I have gained from my work experience is that I do not want to be stuck in an office all day everyday when I am finished studying as it is not for me. It was important for me to learn this as I was considering going down that career path before doing my work experience and might have been stuck in a career that I was not happy with, which in my eyes would be the worst of all.