We have officially hit the first of July, which is crazy I’m even saying those words, but even crazier that we have a little under three weeks remaining until our program will officially come to a close. This week was filled with a little calmer of sorts, but the weekend was once again filled with events, great memories, and amazing scenery! I spent a large portion of this past week getting to know a decent amount of individuals I was not as close with in previous weeks, and it was truly inspiring. You can imagine what someone’s life may be like from an outside point of view, but you truly don’t know much until you have a truthful one-on-one conversation with them. It was very insightful and emotionally calming to get to know some of these people more, and I can say it has made my experience with my friend group a much better time. Furthermore, I was forced to take off a day of work this week to get my health back on track, and the hope is I will receive word I can remove my boot and begin walking normally again! Additionally, my supervisor was absent from work due to a family emergency, so most of my week was spent catching up with co-workers and finalizing project completions. Lastly, I took a tour of Croke Park, the third-largest stadium in all of Europe. We got a tour of the dressing rooms, and even got to walk right off the stadium pitch. It was a great experience! For the grand finale of the weekend, a few friends and I decided to visit Galway, and this was one of the best trips I’ve had here yet. We walked around the vibrant city, which was full of street performers, and had life to it that I hadn’t seen in Ireland yet. The culture truly popped out in so many ways, and it was so nice to shop, eat some amazing food, and take in true Irish life. We then visited the Cliffs of Moher for our final stop and went home after that. An amazing experience all around, and I’m ready for the new week ahead.
With over a month of my internship experience down here at Jobcare, I think I’m honestly as surprised by how much I have changed individually. With the skills I have learned living here, my global competency has been able to thrive and adapt to situations. One of the largest ones is being more social in the workplace regardless of what you’re doing for the day. If you don’t say something, surely someone else will bring you into the conversation for you. Furthermore, my understanding of being out in public has changed as well, especially with the way round systems work. Yes, it is different than the states, but it’s allowed me to adapt especially when I’m with my coworkers out in social settings. All of these experiences, even with simple things such as public transportation courtesy, and other personality traits have been able to adapt smoothly over time here in the course of my internship.
I have learned all terms of skills, from soft to hard skills. To start, one of the first soft skills I have begun to gain more insight into is the power of being a leader. For the longest time, I felt I should live my life as a follower to play life safe and make as little mistakes as possible. However, this job in Ireland has made me realize that is not how you get things done and succeed in this world. Even with leadership positions back home, I never had the courage for some moments to make that jump and take charge. However, this workplace has given me the confidence to make those leaps of confidence, something I have never done before. I think I have become more confident in the skills and ability I can bring to any workplace, which has allowed me to feel more ready to take control of a project that is brand new and intervene in other pertinent situations.
One of the hard skills that I believe will assist me a large amount in my future is the art of building a resume. With my internship, the primary focus of this company is to help individuals become better in their careers to allow them the opportunity to become employed in the Irish market. Although my life will probably not rely on the Irish market(only time will tell!), the idea of CVs versus resumes falls around the same principles. I knew a decent amount of information on how to build up a resume as college went on, but I never truly learned what resume viewing looks like from an employer’s point of view, and I learned this information from the real bosses of the workforce. Places such as LinkedIn, other business CEOs, and so many more seasoned professionals have been giving me constant feedback and advice for my future career. The most important technique I learned was that one resume does not fit all applications. It’s important to tailor your resume and experience/skills to each job you are applying for, which I never really thought about. This mentally allows me to feel more comfortable going into the real workforce in the coming years, and I’m excited to see the experience I can use from this knowledge in my future.