Saif's October Week 3 Reflection
Describe your main tasks this week. How did you approach the task? What did you accomplish? What did you learn?
This week I began the storage unit facility task where I am meant to locate storage units and storage companies and cold call them using a script written on the document. This task would have been extremely daunting to me around 2 years ago but within the last while I have improved my oral communication and speaking skills hence why I am now excited to begin calling. From previous cold calling experience, I know that it hardly ever goes your way and you will face failure a lot, but if it does work out it gives a huge sense of accomplishment.
What strategies do you have for staying on track during work and avoiding distractions when working in a virtual environment? What advice do you have for future co-ops?
I switch my mindset to allow me to not give in to the temptation to pick up my phone. I think if I was in a physical placement, I wouldn’t use my phone, so why should I use it now, this is work and if you can’t handle doing some work without having to constantly pick up your phone, you are setting yourself up for failure.
How do you measure success in the workplace? What are some standards you have set and feedback you’ve gotten from teachers, supervisors, and coworkers that help guide you?
I tend to check everybody’s completed tasks at the end of the day. If what I did throughout the day seems to be on par with everybody else’s, I’d consider that a good day. Likewise, if I seemed to have completed more than most others, I would consider that a great day, and if I had completed less than others, that tells me I need to work harder and get more done.
What soft/hard skills do you feel most confident in, and where do you still need improvement?
In terms of skills, a soft skill I feel confident in is problem solving. I feel I am able to look at a situation and evaluate possible outcomes and solutions quite well. A soft skill I think I need to work on is collaboration as I sometimes find it difficult to communicate with peers about how I want the end product to look compared to how they want the end product to look. When it comes to hard skills, I believe I have a decent understanding of computer software and hardware, along with programming as these were my hobbies throughout elementary and even in high school.