One of my purposes for working is doing something that makes me happy. I have always believed that if you find something that makes you happy, then it doesn’t feel as much as a job, which is really important to me. Another one of my purposes is to help people. Helping people is one of my greatest wants in life. Wanting to be a substance abuse counselor or a school counselor allows me to do that because it would allow me to help those who are either struggling with things that I have personally struggled with or issues that I personally know have struggled with. My last purpose is making money and being able to live a comfortable life. This is important to me because I have struggled with money before, and I would like to work to be able to live a comfortable life where I don’t have the added stress of not being able to meet my basic needs through money.
One of my motivations ties in with my purpose, which is helping people. It motivates me to know that I may be able to make an impact on someone’s life in a positive way, even if it may be a small impact. Another motivation is being able to grow as a person through the knowledge that can be gained from working. I think it’s important to learn many things, and I think that working can do that because different jobs teach different things, which I have learned through working different types of jobs. My last motivation is being able to make the people who are important in my life proud of me, especially my parents. My parents have always been a huge motivating factor in my life, and they have done so much for me that it makes me motivated to want to do well when working and finding a future career.
All of my jobs have made me feel fulfilled in a way. When I worked at Angela’s Italian Restaurant, it was fulfilling to learn how to serve and increase my communication skills with customers, especially since it was like my first job in high school. When I worked at Uptown Coffee Cafe, I found it fulfilling that I was able to balance college classes and work. It was also fulfilling to further learn while working in a different role in a restaurant. Lastly, working as a nanny was very fulfilling because I got to build relationships with the children that I worked with, and I was able to help them through tough situations and, therefore, have some sort of impact on their lives.
I enjoyed many things through my work experiences. I believe this goes hand in hand with what fulfilled me while working. First of all, I enjoyed working with people at Angela’s Italian Restaurant and being able to talk to them and build relationships with regulars at the restaurant. I also enjoyed creating drinks and just being able to be creative in my own way while working at Uptown Coffee Cafe. Lastly, while I was working as a nanny, I loved being able to hang out with the kids that I worked with and being able to let loose and sort of be a kid again while also teaching them certain life skills.
Although I had many things that I enjoyed with current/past jobs, there are definitely things that I did not enjoy. While working at Uptown, I did not enjoy the disorganization that the management had. It made working very frustrating because I didn’t have the power to organize it better. In addition, while I was working at Angela’s Italian Restaurant, I didn’t enjoy it when the kitchen would get backed up and customers would take their frustration out on me. It made me feel like I had no control, and it was very overwhelming. Lastly, while I was working as a nanny, it was also disorganized when it came to being paid on time, which I didn’t like because it caused an immense amount of stress on almost a daily basis.
Three hard skills that I possess are POS system management, inventory management, and Microsoft Office skills. I have POS system management skills from working at Angela’s, Uptown, and Lex on Main. I have worked on three different POS systems and was able to learn how to use them and teach others how to use them. I learned inventory management from Lex on Main. I have learned how to put things into digital inventory, remove things, discount things, and even manage if something was stolen from inventory. Lastly, I have Microsoft Office skills from having to use Microsoft Office throughout the entirety of my college career.
Three soft skills that I possess are adaptability, problem-solving, and teamwork. I have adaptability from working at Uptown and having to adapt to different situations that were caused by poor management and disorganization. I have problem-solving from Uptown and Angela’s because I would have to recognize issues that were happening and figure out a way to solve them, or at least make them a little better. Lastly, I have teamwork experience from all the jobs I have worked because I have had to work with coworkers with each one, and be able to work as a team to get certain tasks done. I also have teamwork experience from having to work in groups during projects in certain courses during my college career.
If someone were to describe what I am good at, I think they would say time management, patience, and working under pressure. I think they would say I’m good with time management when it comes to working because I can schedule things that I need to do within a certain amount of time and get them done within that time. I think they would say patience as well because I have had to develop patience when dealing with disorganization and difficult customers while still staying calm and level-headed countless times.
For critical thinking, I have shown this competency while working at Uptown Coffee Cafe. I had to make decisions for my team with the well-being of my team at the top of my priority list. For example, while I was working one time, we had an issue with the POS system going in and out and not working properly; therefore, we couldn’t take credit card payments. I had to assess the situation and make the decision to only take cash payments because customers were getting upset with us, and we were getting stressed out because we weren’t able to take some orders.
For professionalism, I have shown this competency mostly while working at Lex on Main and during my internship. For example, while I was working at Lex on Main, I had to make sure that I looked professional enough for the job as well as handle myself professionally in front of customers. During my internship, I showed professionalism heavily because I showed up promptly on time and even early most of the time, while always looking business casual, even if I had stressful events happen outside of the internship.
For communication, I have shown this while working at Uptown Coffee Cafe and during courses during my college career. More specifically, at Uptown, I had to keep open communication with my boss and coworkers about what we were out of and what we needed to order for inventory. I also had to keep open communication if anything wasn’t working at the cafe, such as the ice machine, oven, and even the POS system. I have also shown communication while working in group projects by making sure we knew when and where we were meeting, if we had to meet up, and also keeping open communication about changes in projects, etc.
Lastly, for teamwork, I have shown this through all of my past jobs. I had to show teamwork with all of my past coworkers when trying to get through tough days at work and making sure things went smoothly for us as a team. For example, while working at Uptown, when it was really busy, my team and I would make sure to split up the workload so that we were all putting in equal amounts of work and so that the day would go by smoothly.
Resume
Cover Letter w/ Job
The resume and cover represent my attempt at the presentation of self because they give off a very professional look regarding myself. My resume showed my personal achievements and goals, which included my work experience as well as my project and leadership experience(s). My resume also consistently presents a positive view by showcasing my skills that I have acquired through my work experience, and it conforms to social norms by looking like other professional resumes. My cover letter also showcased my personal goals and achievements when I provided examples of where I gained specific skills. My cover letter also presented a positive view of myself consistently throughout. Lastly, my cover letter conformed to social norms because it also included components that other cover letters have.
There are many different areas where stress might be induced by this job. One of the areas where stress might be induced is secondary stressors. For example, stress from other people’s stress could affect my own stress. In addition, there might be stress that’s induced by not being able to help everyone I come into contact with during the job. Lastly, there might also be stress that’s induced by external factors, such as stress from disorganization during the court process that may rub off on me and the people whom I am trying to support through said process. The first model of stress, the differential exposure model, may help explain how to deal with stress by helping me determine the source of stress as well as the patterns of said stress or exposures. In addition, it can help me change habits or the environment around me, as well as determine coping strategies. Lastly, the differential vulnerability model may help explain how to deal with stress by determining coping resources that I may have access to and helping me to find coping mechanisms to regulate internal responses to stress.