Overall I was satisfied with my internship. I would recommend this internship to others that have time, money, or location restraints. I didn’t enjoy all the work I was doing, but it was very helpful information that will help me or someone else find future employment. I’ve learned many skills during the internship on how to find people that are in charge of the hiring in the sports industry and have gaine
d a much broader perspective of the numerous jobs on the market. As an older student this mentorship allowed me to continue on with my busy life while completing the 200 hours. Brett Cooper was very helpful and has offered me employment. I don’t know what kind of salary is included, but if nothing else I can pad my resume. Brett was almost always available for me when I needed him whether it was through a phone call or an email. Monday's a very busy days for him though so I never tried on that day. At first I was not very pleased with my mentorship because for weeks I just did the same thing. It was sometimes hard to get onto a computer knowing I had to do almost the same tasks for another 8 hours. I was given new tasks eventually and I enjoyed just doing new things and learning. I got more out of the internship than I expected. A large portion of my time doing the internship required me to find sports jobs, and the people that actually do the hiring, from all over the world. It was helpful for showing me just how many jobs are available in the sports industry and has given me ideas for future employment. This I feel is great knowledge and will be utilized by me long into the years to come. I never really planned on working with computers for a living so my career objectives have stayed the same. I want a job that I enjoy, working with people, and facing new challenges. I was thankful that I used the computer so much while I was getting my degree. It helped me with excel and working with the spreadsheets. I know that the thing I will take away from this internship experience that will add to my personal development is more respect and admiration for my father. He passed away several years ago but spent his whole life as a computer engineer at a nuclear power plant. I couldn't even think about doing that and doing a virtual internship has left me on the computer too much. Today I worked on the master contact spreadsheets. It is a bit painstaking to locate the people in charge of several sports industry. I also have to make sure that the people that I do have listed still work at their jobs. I don't think I'll be able to finish these spreadsheets before my internship time is completed. I will finish what I started even if my mentorship is up. I was glad that I have worked with excel during my graduate degree. I've never had to use the program that much and was glad I got to know it through taking classes at Tiffin. It saved me a lot of time and helped me to develop a great looking mater spreadsheet. If I was Brett I would've given these spreadsheets to me at the begining of my internship. This would have helped me to locate the people I needed for the uploads I started doing for my internship. Maybe I wasn't given the sheets because I had to first learn to find the information for myself and I also developed my own contact sheet? An area I feel I could further develop would have to be my ability to find enjoyment in doing repetitious tasks. I know most jobs can seem redundant, at times, and maybe the challenge for companies to keep employees from becoming complacent. Repetition could reduce costs from mistakes but it could also affect production. I need to find a way to tackle these tasks and stay motivated. I did find often that taking a walk or just drinking a soda for a reward after working for a while helped me stay more focused and productive.
Today the internet was working better than yesterday. I think it was slow because of cyber Monday. Anyway, I'm still working on updating all the connections that I have been given. My time is almost done and I don't know if I can finish it in time. Brett told me just to turn it what I had finished and that would be great. I think I might work a little longer on the task and see if I can bring it to completion.
When I first started my internship I was worried that there would be problems with communication because of it being virtual. I know from my BA degree in Organizational Communication that many times the message is lost or misunderstood in emails and texts. The reason for this is because people usually get meaning by the communicators tone and body language, not so much what is said. Since the first day I talked to Brett Cooper he treated me like one of the team. I never felt is I was a burden or unwanted during my time with Firstjobsinsports.com. He was very good about getting in touch with me when I needed him. There was only a couple of times when I couldn’t reach him for a day maybe two. If there was anything misunderstood he was always there to advise me. Today I had to redo all the work I had lost from last week. It wasn’t very much fun doing work that I had already done once, but sometimes things get lost. I had one of my friends, who is an IT guy, come over to look for it but with no sucess. I told Brett about the problem and he took it in stride. He has been nothing but helpful throught my mentorship. If I'm doing something that needs improving Brett will explain to me the way the company does it and give me the reason for it. He has never seemed demeaning or rude.
It took about half the day to organize all the spreadsheets again and then I just began to check the information on them. The only things that will change with these spreadsheets some of the names and contact emails, but there is a lot to check. I have also been adding the contacts I’ve gathered throughout my internship. I've enjoyed the new tasks and it has given me something different to work towards. I didn't work on the spreadsheet today because I've not been able to locate them on my computer and it is depressing to lose all that work. Instead I went back through the new website to see if I can think of anything else that should be added to improve it. After reviewing competitors sites again the only thing I can offer as a suggestion is that the pages need more color. I think by adding pictures this will help to fill up open space and provide more eye appeal to the site. I know that the colors red and yellow are ideal for attracting people to fast food places but I don't know if it transfers to webpages. Most of the sports employments sights use the same colors of blue and green. I guess this most work.
I'm going to take off a few days for Thanksgiving and hopefully when I get back I'm ready to tackle the spreadsheets again. The break will be nice but I know I've still got a lot to do in order to finish these list before my internship ends. I will do my best after I get a little R and R to come back inspired and ready to attack my new challenges. I have had a terrible day today. I have been working on putting a master contact sheet together for two days for Brett and I can’t find it in my computer anymore. I saved it and then went to look for it again and it is nowhere. I’m so angry right now. I don’t want to have to repeat everything I’ve done but I might have no choice. I will continue to look through my computer for the file and just hope I find it.
I think my computer skills need improving. I've never been the best on a computer but have gotten better. My father use to help me with computer problems when he was alive and now I rely on friends. I think that going to school online has taught me many ways to use my computer as a information tool, but I don't know a thing when it comes to problem solving certain issues. If I can't find it I will call someone that knows more about computers than me and see if he can pull my work out of cyberspace. Last night Brett got ahold of me and this morning he started me on some new tasks. I’m excited to begin something fresh to break up the repetition that has set in. Brett gave me several lists of well over a thousand contacts of in sports. My job is to combine all the spread sheets into one. Next I have to go through every one to make sure that the information is still current and available. to do this I'll have to basically to the opposite of what I have been doing for the uploads. This time I have the names, email addresses, companies, web addresses, and phone numbers and need to research to ensure these people are still in the same positions. These steps are going to take a long time because of the procedure of finding the sites and just because of the sear number. I will also be adding all the connections that I’ve developed. These spread sheets are impressive and have so much useful information for finding sports businesses, employment, and the right people to be talking too. These lists are great tools for me to use in the future to gain meaningful employment in the industry.
I’ve almost am finished with my day and I hate to say it has been more of the same. I have just been uploading jobs and internships to the website. I did find some interesting jobs while doing the searches and apply to them. I have not been able to reach Brett for two days. Yesterday I took the day off and it was refreshing not to have to gaze at a computer for 8 hours plus. The time off has rejuvenated me and my production is up. I wish I was helping the company with other aspects of their business but I’m an intern and do whatever the mentor wants me to work on. I was hoping for a broader understanding of the sports website business and wanted to work on some sales. I have still not been given the opportunity to do so. I think I'm having trouble being inspired because I’m a real people person. Not being able to work alongside others, communicate, develop relationships, and share ideas hurts me when it came to inspiration.
Today went by fast and I feel like I got a lot accomplished. I was just uploading data again today but I came across several strange sports jobs. One was asking for a cheerleading coach with only a year of experience and another was looking for a mascot. I don't think I'm qualified for either one. I don't enjoy all the work I'm doing, but it has been very helpful information that will help me or someone else find future employment. I’ve learned many skills during the internship on how to find people that are in charge of the hiring in the sports industry and have gained a much broader perspective of the numerous jobs on the market. As an older student this mentorship has allowed me to continue on with my busy life while working towards completing the 200 hours. Brett Cooper was been very helpful and has offered me employment when I'm finished. I don’t know what kind of salary is included, but if nothing else I can pad my resume.
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