assessment-one

[assessment-one]

Your overall reflections on the internship and your studies.

This internship experience was completely different to what I imagined it would be when I first started my studies. I’m extremely proud of everything I have achieved during my time, especially when things got tough. I never thought that I would be able to apply the skills and knowledge I learnt from my studies into real life, I had no clue how I would do that, but I was quite pleased with myself when I realised I could do things.

I thought my internship organisation was a great fit for me, as I know that I want to work for a big organisation once I graduate. It was great to have to work on a team where everyone is in different places around the country, so we have to work with different time zones. I also think working from home was good for me, since I know many work places like to do a hybrid working style these days in order to create good work/life balance.

[assessment-one]

Reflection on your supervisor evaluations and how these align with your future career professional development requirements (these will be available at different times for individual students).

My half way evaluation didn’t really surprise me. There were some nice words which Ag said about me, but they’re things I already know about myself. He mentioned my self motivation and i’m glad that that is a strength I have, because I found that during my entire internship, especially working from home, I needed that. It is much easier to work when you’re in the right environment and are around the people you need to ask questions to. Another thing im proud that he mentioned was my attention to detail. I’ve always been good at paying attention to the small things, which I believe really makes my work stand out amongst others.

One thing he mentioned was that my design skills could use an upgrade and I one hundred percent agree with him. It’s not one of my strong points, and if I find I want to head down a more creative route in the future, I need to upskill in those areas. Despite this, I’m pleased with the way my evaluation turned out.

[assessment-one]

Career aspirations including goal setting (you will arrange an interview with the Holmesglen Skills & Jobs Centre to review your CV, interview skills and preparedness for applying for work post-studies).

I always joke to everyone that I’ll be the first female CEO of the AFL. I think it’s good to have a big goal that may be unachievable, but I can still strive towards. It’s about trying to continue to strive for next thing. Right now, I still have no clue what I’d like to do, and it makes me nervous. There isn’t a particular area that I can see myself in, and it worries me as I always planned on getting a job as soon as I was done with my degree, but I just don’t know what I’d like to do. One thing that I’ve taken away from this degree, when I think back on the different guest speakers we’ve had, is that you can enter the industry in one area and end up in a completely different area to where you envisioned yourself being. I think my main goal is to just get a job and see where it takes me. I’m trying not to put too much pressure on myself, but I think it just stems from the fact that I’m older than all of my peers so I think I should be ahead of them. I try and remember that we’re all at the same spot in our sporting careers, and it helps me calm down a little.

[assessment-one]

Achievements and milestones (both technically and professionally, during the internship and personally).

It’s hard to think of many achievements, but I think one of the biggest has just been my ability to continue on despite how tired I may be, or how much I don’t think I can continue. For me, I found that my internship wasn’t really about the technical skills, but about learning how to balance both work and life. Having a completely different internship experience to my peers is something I didn’t intend on happening, but I found that I’ve grown so much through it.

Professionally, one of the things I think I’ve been able to achieve during my time at AusCycling was building my confidence both in myself, and in my work. I’m naturally not a people person, so talking to new people is something that terrifies me. Going outside of my comfort zone was something that I knew I just had to do, and even though it may have taken me a while, and it may not have looked like much, I was able to do it. Building my confidence in my work was something I was proud of because I find I can be so critical of my work, and I struggle to be proud of the things I do. I constantly think I can do things better, which is sometimes good, I like striving for perfection, but a lot of the time it can be detrimental to me. Being able to show what I’ve worked on is something that makes me excited now and not a nerve-wracking experience.

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Challenges you faced (the nature of the work, working hours, organisation, motivation, tabling of ideas).

I think one of the biggest challenges I’ve faced so far in my internship is time management. Having to balance classes and assessments, my part time job, the internship, my social life, and being pregnant is a lot. Sometimes I do find that if I finish an internship task early, I take some of that time to work on assessments. It’s hard to stay on top of everything all at once, and I found when talking with Bryce, he did explain to me that real life with a job in the industry is much less challenging because you don’t have everything else to focus on. I think that helped me stress less and put everything in perspective. This semester is probably the hardest that I will ever work.

In terms of challenges specifically to do with the internship, I find that I’m very hard on myself at the moment. I knew back in first year how important this internship was and that I needed to put in 100% to put my best foot forward and get everything I could out of it. Right now, I can’t put everything I have into it which is very unlike me. With being pregnant I haven’t felt like myself, so knowing that I’m usually capable of so much more is getting me down. I had all of these expectations that I physically just can’t meet anymore, so I’ve had to just come to terms with that. I’m slowly starting to feel better about it, but it’s been a challenge.

[assessment-one]

Becoming an effective team member and contributor: how did you utilise the support of your supervisor/co-workers to help build your confidence and become more efficient as in intern (this may include feedback, training or other support/opportunities).

I think I found it hard to be an effective team member. I know that I can offer a lot more than I am given and due to the lack of work I think I struggle to see myself as a part of the team. There is not much to do as of yet, but I’m hoping that once the organisation becomes less busy I’ll be able to contribute much more.

Coming back to my internship after my break, I find there is much more for me to do. I have been given a range of tasks which are all quite different from each other, so I feel as though I’m learning multiple new skills. Working under a different team since Agostino left has been a little hard. I was so used to working with Bryce and Melissa, now I’m working with the memberships team who are all in different parts of the country, so I don’t know them as well. They all however have been great to work with, as I get a lot of help from them and can send them messages whenever I don’t know how to do something. The one thing I would say that doesn’t make me an effective team member is that I hate asking questions. I feel like a bother people even though I know it’s better for everyone if I just ask my questions.

[assessment-one]

Finding your feet in the internship: induction, and completing initial tasks (i.e. the first 40 hours discussion.

I feel as though I never really got to find my feet until I reached maybe 60 hours in. It was quite hard for me, and I never really knew who I was reporting to. It could have been a little bit of my fault; I did tell them that I wanted to learn a broad spectrum of things rather than sticking to one area. So, because of that, I was passed around to help out a lot of different people, but never really had any clarity in tasks I was doing. When I started my internship, it was an extremely busy period on their calendar. Everyone was so busy with the set up for nationals, and then the event itself, that I feel as though I was forgotten about. I understood that this is a working organisation, and I am not their priority, however I would’ve loved to offer my services on anything they could’ve needed.

After having my 40-hour meeting, I did realise that I probably could’ve communicated a little better. Especially since I must do a lot of work from home now, communication and checking in with the staff is vital. I finally had the chance to go into the Melbourne CBD office and meet more people face to face which was really nice. I did appreciate that one of the first things they all did was apologise for the lack of communication and direction given to me. Small things like that I believe are really important for culture and even though I completely understood why, and they don’t owe me an explanation, it was cool to see them hold accountability for their own actions.

Since that day of going into the office, I have had much more to work on. I think having past Holmesglen student, Bryce, there to talk to is great because he understands the workload of balancing assessments, internship, work and life. He is also good at giving me tips on balancing tasks and prioritising certain tasks above others. In the time he has been with AusCycling, I can see that he has transitioned well and it gives me a lot of confidence that I will be able to do the same.

[assessment-one]

Your preparedness prior to commencing your internship and how you assimilated into the organisations culture.

I never thought that I would be prepared to start my internship. I felt like I could prepare all I want, but I would never be fully ready to join a professional company. The transition to professional practise class did help me feel better about starting, but I think I was still hesitant. I felt as though just because I was getting good marks in subjects, I was not learning anything that was going to help me in the real world. My interview with Ag made me feel a little bit more like I would be ok going into it, but naturally there were still nerves. 

When starting my internship, I had no idea what to expect. The organisation is a lot more laidback than I assumed, and I was completely ok with that. It was really nice to be able to meet a handful of them on my first day rather than going into an office building and being overwhelmed with how many people were there. I think that working for a National Sporting Organisation, I thought everyone would be based in Victoria, however, it was amazing to see how many people work remotely and from all around the country. I think had I done my internship before the pandemic, the workplace may have been completely different. I do enjoy that I can work from home, especially considering my health at the moment, and I am still able to go in and see everyone face to face when needed which I find helpful. I think the capabilities of technology has made working from home and working with the members from other states a breeze.