My time at my internship so far has been time well spent. I have enjoyed working for my company, World Vision Ireland. World Vision is a global charity that is dedicated to helping children who need it the most. They help them by getting people to sponsor the children that take part in their various programs. With the sponsorship money, the help the kids get access to food, clothing, and education. It’s nice to work for a company that has such a positive impact on the world. My coworkers have all also been great to work with. They’re all nice people. It’s also cool because they all come from different backgrounds. I’d say that the majority are Irish, but there are also people from Australia, Tanzania, Italy. It’s a cool experience getting to know different people from different parts of the world, and hearing about how their experiences differ from mine.

One soft skill that I have definitely developed more during my internship is my communication skills. I talk to people all throughout the day, with my coworkers and my supervisors. I’ve talked a couple times during staff meetings to share what I’ve been working on, and I need to be able to communicate with my supervisors so that I know what to do. I think that I have been pretty effective in that regard, and I really do think that I have gotten better in regards to my communication skills. Another soft skill that I think I’ve been developing more is my responsibility. Since my supervisors have their own work to do during the day, so I’m left to get my work done on my own. There isn’t anyone checking on me to make sure I stay on top of my work, that’s all up to me. Because of this, I feel like I am definitely becoming a more responsible person.

I’d say a hard skill that I’ve been able to work on is my skill within Excel. As a finance major, Excel is something you pretty much need to know for basically any kind of the business that you want to get into. Last semester I took a class that teaches you how to use Excel, but that being months ago I was a bit rusty coming into my internship. I quickly got back into it though, and my supervisor has even shown me a few things that I didn’t know how to do before so now I have that addition to my skillset. I know that refining my skills in Excel will be a big help to me as I continue my academic and professional careers. I am also becoming better with creating dashboards and visuals using Excel’s data visualization tools, which are really helpful for presenting data in a clear and concise way. I have also gained experience in automating tedious tasks with shortcuts, which has boosted my efficiency and allowed me to focus more on thinking side of things rather than manual data entry.

My time at this internship has really given me some great experience. I think that it has really given me a good look into what it is like in the professional world. Having to get up in the morning and make breakfast and get ready. Then having to get on the bus for my morning commute and just working throughout the day. It’s been teaching me how to keep myself busy while I am at work, and how to get my work done in an efficient way and within the time that I have to get my work done throughout the day. It is also showing me how to work well with other people. Most of the jobs that I have there aren’t many people that I work with. Working here has shown me what it’s like to work as a part of a team and how to communicate and work effectively within the team. I am very happy that I decided to do this internship. It has been a great opportunity that I am going to remember forever. I have had a great time exploring Ireland, as well as being able to visit the other countries that I’ve been able to go to during my time here. My favorite one was probably Scotland, which I really hope to go back to someday. Although I am happy to be going home at the end of the week, it is a bit sad for this trip to end. It really has been a great time though.