Introduction
Well, this week flew by. Most of my pictures for this blog relate to my trip to Segovia this weekend. The city was beautiful, I vividly recall the palace, cathedral, and fortress, although sadly the tower was closed by the time I arrived. We lost a couple of hours figuring out the rail system. Thankfully I made up for lost time by trying every gelato I saw and even picked up a bracelet and a couple rings.
Here’s a picture of me in front of the Alcazar, a old palace/military academy.
Soft Skills
Today I’m writing about skills I’ve learned and how I’ve applied them. The first of those, writing for different topics and formats, relates directly to the work I do on a day-to-day basis. The majority of what I do is expand upon a prompt. For example, I wrote a list of tips, along with an introduction and sales pitch, to make a classroom home in after summer break. I’ve also written prompts for newsletters, landing pages, and Instagram posts/stories.
When I finish writing, I summarize to my colleagues. I’ve participated in meetings where I had to show I understood the discussion and could communicate my progress. At first I was nervous, but I immediately understood I had to quickly relay what I’d been doing while demonstrating my skill and work ethic. I acted accordingly by cutting out filler and emphasizing my contributions humbly.
Here’s a picture from the interior of the Alcazar.
My last soft skill, communicating my needs and taking requests, is where I use the most diplomacy. I often ask what I should do next early, and recently I asked for a set of deadlines. The head of the marketing department also asked me to compile a list of possible partner foundations. In the meeting I replied, “I’d be very interested in learning how I can help.” In response, my supervisor nodded and smiled, signaling I had correctly navigated an important interaction with my boss.
Hard Skills
Here’s me outside the famous Segovia Cathedral.
As far as hard skills go, the first one that comes to mind is how I’ve learned to design visuals on Canva. This is where I’ve struggled the most as I’m not very artistic. Thankfully, my supervisor supplied me with several online resources, including a slideshow of corporate-approved color palettes and logos, previously used Canva templates, and a licensed website with thousands of stock images.
Through my supervisor’s help and my own desire to succeed I’ve been able to design an aesthetically-appealing and logically organized header you can find below.
This particular header came down to learning to search Canva by keywords to find additional thematically-fitting visuals as well as the base template. I also took the logo from my supervisor’s slideshow.
Here’s a picture of the entryway of the nearby Bishop’s Palace.
The second technical skill I’ve learned is how to find requested data on unfamiliar software. The Smile and Learn app is an education platform with thousands of videos, games, and activities. That means I had to sift through thousands of activities and dozens of subjects to find summer-themed activities for a demo. To succeed, I learned search and retrieval.
Search and retrieving comes down to intuition, experience, and patience. I utilize my intuition to follow a line of topics to my desired theme. I use experience to choose the right keyword to plug into the app search bar and to navigate the platform. Lastly, I draw upon my patience to spend hours at a time scrolling through the same application without falling asleep.
Here’s a Spanish rock band performing covers of American songs in Madrid!
Global Competencies
Through my critical thinking/problem solving competency I have approached tasks in a way that works toward my own strengths. For example, I started out writing robotically. As I became comfortable, I started to speak in a way that my target audience, teachers, could identify with, using my research on common teacher issues and DIY projects.
Leadership was the competency I wanted to develop the most. I foresee effective leadership being integral to my professional future as a leader of international business. Sadly, I haven’t had much opportunity to be a leader. As an incoming intern, I naturally slipped into a subordinate role. As I continue my internship I will keep an eye out for how I can practice leadership, perhaps by shaping my work and seeing what changes my superiors are willing to consider.
Here’s a picture of the Segovian Aqueduct, built by the Romans in the first century AD.
Lastly, developing my professionalism or work ethic was a big priority for me. I wanted to practice conducting myself to gain connections and promotions Thus far that’s primarily consisted of being friendly, but I’m starting to see how different situations call for different approaches.
Here’s me with a couple friends out in the evening.
In the mean time I’ll continue acting professionally. My workplace is informal. Most employees wear casual clothing. My coworkers have low expectations for me in particular. With that said, I always dress in a button-down and dress pants to give the impression that I’m capable of more responsibility. I also always act respectfully while being friendly to form rapport.
Here’s a picture taken just after entering Segovia of a residential area.
Final Thoughts
My biggest takeaways are that I need to look for leadership opportunities and remain sensitive to the atmosphere so I can fit the situation. I could also benefit from practice with frequently-used software such as Canva and the Smile and Learn App. To maximize the benefit of this internship, I will see what my supervisors are open to letting me take on and listen more carefully to verbal and nonverbal cues from my coworkers. I’m excited to see how I can continue shaping my experience and refining my transferable and technical skills.