Journal for Internship Course 8
voyage
MyProfessionalWorkJournal1.docxRunning head: MY PROFESSIONAL WORK JOURNAL 1
MY PROFESSIONAL WORK JOURNAL 5
My Professional Work Journal
Name
Institutional Affiliation
My Professional Work Journal
This journal will describe my lessons, observations, and experiences, which I have acquired from my business courses this far, as well as my internship in relation to my professional career path and my goals. I have never created a professional journal before; this being my first experience; it has been one of my greatest experiences. The journals I have been writing have given me the opportunity to record the activities I have taken and the experiences I gained.
With the creation of a professional journal, I have been able to reflect on the experiences I have gained in my internship. Being a director of E-commerce at Sunway Nuts USA, creating my journal has allowed me to brainstorm my ideas and rethink my career goals, such as establishing my own company as well as enhancing my networking skills. The experience I acquired during the internship was important for my future career.
Keeping a professional journal has helped me in recording my career experiences, such as the success and challenges that I have faced any project that I was involved in, new things I have learned, feedback from my supervisor as well as any progress that I have made (Hughes et al., 2018). During my internship, I learned about professionalism, teamwork, and learning while working. I also learned the value of communication and adaptability, and efficient communication skills are essential for interpersonal relationships.
The main components in my professional portfolio are my work experience as well as my resume. Updates will be made under my new project experience since I have recently been working on a new project. I will also be adding the new knowledge and skills that I have acquired during this experience.
Since our focus was on Asian Sales only, we want to come up with a strategy that will allow us to expand our business to the mainstream market. As a result, this allowed me to improve my communication skills and offered knowledge on different things in the market. I will also be updating my resume in my professional portfolio since being part of the new projects has allowed me to earn more skills and experiences. These two components will improve my professional portfolio and make it more powerful.
On 29th September, I had an interview with Frank Li, the COO of the company. During the interview process, I observed that it was important to remain focused on the topic, watch facial expressions, avoid going out of topic and be well prepared before the interview. The interview also allowed me to learn about business strategy from the management level and the company.
For many people conducting an interview can be very challenging. I was very nervous during the interview as it was my first time conducting an interview. I experience successes and challenges during the process. My first success was the actual interview session. I was able to learn a lot about the interview process and how to conduct a successful interview. The challenge I experienced during the interview process was time management. It came as a challenge for me to manage the set time of the interview. Nevertheless, this led to growth and development because I learned how to manage time. The experience from the interview was very satisfying and a great learning opportunity.
The second thing that I would consider a success from the internship course experience is creating a professional journal. Being the first journal that I have ever written had a significant impact on me and my career. The journal gave me the opportunity to keep a record of the experiences I had acquired, key concepts, observations, and the progress in my career. This record-keeping enabled me to assess whether I was on track with my career (Maseko et al., 2019). In addition, I was able to constantly keep track of my professional portfolio and investments.
Working as the Director of E-Commerce in the food trading company, I have been able to add some accomplishments to my portfolio. These accomplishments are related to my career goal; this is establishing my own company and becoming an expert.
Another success that promoted growth was finding the balance between the whole business and the e-commerce retail. Once the balance was found between the two, it increased the revenue of the organization by promoting sales. I found it to be an educative experience.
Different people have different cultures, and this varies from one country to the other. Being able to introduce a new culture to an organization and the people who incorporate it is a great achievement. Culture tends to be crucial in the development of an organization. This was another one of the successes that I attained during my internship.
The final experience I got that promotes growth is good communication. I was able to learn about good communication and the effects it has on an organization. It is important to listen when others are speaking as it promotes decision-making and finding solutions to problems.
Despite these successful experiences, I faced some challenges. My biggest challenge was time management. I faced this challenge during my interview session with Frank Li. However, during my internship, I was able to learn proper time management. Proper time management will allow one to work on a project and have free time to do other things.
Another challenge was the implementation of change in a company. It can be very challenging to execute change in a company due to the fear of messing up. Even though I found this challenging, it was an experience that led to growth because it was addressed to the company’s vision.
Writing a journal has been one of my greatest experiences. The experiences I have come across have been educative and will help nourish my career. I have never conducted an interview before, and having done this now and gained the experience has taught me different skills which I believe will build up my career. Both the journal and the interview have aspects, and key concepts which I believe are beneficial to my professional career.
I have also been able to identify the internship success and challenging experiences that have led to growth. One of the key concepts I have learned is that effective communication promotes individual growth and development as well as organization.
References
Hughes, M., Rigtering, J. P., Covin, J. G., Bouncken, R. B., & Kraus, S. (2018). Innovative behaviour, trust and perceived workplace performance. British Journal of Management, 29(4), 750-768. https://doi.org/10.1111/1467-8551.12305
Maseko, B. M., Van Wyk, R., & Odendaal, A. (2019). Team coaching in the workplace: Critical success factors for implementation. SA Journal of Human Resource Management, 17. https://doi.org/10.4102/sajhrm.v17i0.1125
