Ankie's March
Week 3 Reflection
Please share how you feel about the onboarding process. What are some resources that were helpful, and what’s something you’d like to see implemented in the future?
I appreciate that there’s an onboarding training for co-op students who are still new to the workplace; it provides me with an idea of how supervisors want things to be done, expectations, and how the organization works. Overall, I found the onboarding process well-structured, and all supervisors gave me a clear understanding of my responsibilities and the tools I’d use in future projects. I think the training sessions were the most beneficial resources in helping me to prepare for work, as supervisors are there to answer questions and give immediate feedback to clear up confusion. Also, the mandatory sign-out every day helped me keep track of progress during onboarding. By reviewing other co-op students’ sign-outs, I was able to ensure that I’ve completed all necessary steps. One thing that I would like to suggest is to have a check-out meeting for all co-op students on Fridays as it’d be a great opportunity to sum things up, give feedback, discuss what we’ve done, and maybe talk about project plans for the next week.
Describe one main task you worked on this week. Who did you work with? How did you approach the task? What did you accomplish?
I was added to Kevin-Daphne’s digital team at the beginning of the week to work on a spreadsheet called the Carole Web Inventory Sheet. Kevin sent the instructions on what we had to do, which was to review each website and provide insightful suggestions accordingly. I was assigned as the team lead, who had the responsibility for reviewing everyone’s comments, and ensuring that they are understandable and reasonable. I connected with my team and scheduled a meeting with them to check on their progress and guide them through challenges. When reviewing the web page, I used tools like ChatGPT and Google to help me with suggestions, as requested in the instructions. Up until today, I’ve finished writing suggestions for three websites and am working halfway through the second last one.
What is one big challenge you faced this week? Who did you turn to when you needed support? Describe what you learned and what you would do differently the next time.
One challenge that I faced when working on the spreadsheet was having difficulty editing it. I checked Slack and realized other co-op students had the same issue, so I searched for my concerns on Google and found the answer. If Google didn’t provide the answers I needed, I would contact my supervisor for help. From this experience, I’ve learned to try solving issues on my own first, and if they can’t be fixed, I shouldn’t hesitate to reach out for help.
What personal motto or guiding principle would you bring with you to your role next week, and how do you see it helping you contribute to our organization’s mission?
A quote that inspires me a lot is “It always seems impossible until it’s done” by Nelson Mandela. We have to review around 160 URLs and complete suggestions for each of them. I was worried that I wouldn’t be able to complete it on time as it looks like a lot of work. However, as I was working on it, it wasn’t as overwhelming as I expected it to be. This quote gives me the motivation to persist, and I believe this positive mindset and attitude will help me contribute more to the organization’s mission.
