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August 1, 2007
Skill recount
I'd like to thank all the little things that have made my transition from school to the workforce possible (and successful).
Blog, I've written to you before, mostly to apologize, but I wanted to thank you. Your initial bland white and black templates (with hideous shades of blue and some putrid yellow) inspired me years ago to begin fiddling with your look. In this experimentation, my zeal for color change grew to more of a stylistic fetish. I've taught myself a lot through trial and error. I'm not afraid to try something I've never done before. And while I've never formally had a class in HTML or CSS or any other code I believe that working with you, dear blog, is what has led me to competence when, in fact, competence is exactly what I needed--competence and confidence to work till I get what I want, which is what I've always done with you, blog.
I'd like to thank the internship I had at SHU during the fall of my sophomore year (when I took the semester off) for forcing me to do "cold calls." No one likes to do these, but being comfortable calling up anyone to tell/sell them something gets easier with practice. It also makes dealing with the "unknown" easier for some reason.
Gratitude goes to my experiences with both Eye Contact and the Setonian. Running publications and understanding the system of deadlines that needs to be in place for things to truly work is invaluable when one is starting a publication from scratch... Not only that, but the work ethic required to adhere to deadlines when at all possible is contagious if one forces the virus onto others. :)
Skills developed through mere management of my own personal and school-related tasks are to be applauded. Budgeting is easier when one has never been a free spender. Scheduling time, remembering to pay bills, consolidating loans, and other miscellaneous--but highly necessary--tasks would not be so casual a nature to adopt had these not been practiced prior.
Finally, perhaps being used to rapid communication (whether via IM, email, blogging, or just cell phone use) along with my persnickety persistence (which could be mistaken for impatience at times) when it comes to getting things done has resulted in overcoming what I have identified as a serious handicap in the business world--a break in the loop of communication. Calling people for information and having to call and call and call might still be annoying (same goes for email), but I've realized, thanks to my experience with communication at a faster pace, that my concerns might not be at the top of their list--leaving my concerns to get pushed further and further down in the inbox and in the skipped voicemails.
Thanks to all these skills, none of which are taught outright in a classroom, I'm feeling success as it greets me. Another argument for learning to learn instead of just learning facts or methods--learning everywhere and anywhere, not just in a classroom or from a book.
Posted by KarissaKilgore at August 1, 2007 1:08 PM
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