Work!

I love my new job! I guess it isn't so new anymore, as I have been there for a little over 9 months. I am not a corporate ladder climbing person, but I still need a job and a job that I enjoy. I have always wanted to be a Generalist, I just got stuck in the Coordinator realm for a few to many years, but it lead me to this amazing job. I really do enjoy my job and I love the variety of it. My realm of responsibilities changed a little a little bit the beginning of the year when one of our staff members retired. I took on a few of her job responsibilities. The first one that I took over the Catalyst Awards - it is like a team awards. This event is held the first quarter of the year. After big events we had to submit an article for our newsletter - my first byline.

In May I attended Affirmative Action Planning training - I have never worked for an AAP employer nor have I ever administered the plans before, thankfully the girl that has been doing the plans for a few years is still with the company - this was just one of the job duties that was added to my portfolio when I was hired. The training was really good and I was able to pick up continuing education credits for my precious HR certifications.

The other big event that I took over besides Catalyst Awards was Service Awards. I understand service awards - I did this for 4 years at MAF. A few things are a little different here. There is a lot of preparation before hand from getting the certificates printed, to having the president sign them to sending them to be framed to planning all the events and photo sessions. The big day was Thursday, July 8. This is what my day looked like!

While I can't show any employee photos, I did take pictures before people came in. The first event was a catered breakfast with about 50 people and the president. The breakfast was amazing - French toast, eggs, bacon, sausage, eggs, fruit, drinks. We had a lot left over, so as people walked by the room I invited them to come in and grab some food - it worked really well and I got rid of the extra food. And they tell you to never take food from strangers :)

The next event was a lunch at a club close to work with the president, my boss and the recipients that had over 25 years. There were 3 people getting a 25 year award, 1 person received a 40 year award and another received a 50 year award! This longevity at one job is unheard of in the DC area where most everyone in this area is in transition.After the lunch we had the ceremony where a short bio was read about each of the 61 honorees and then they came onto stage to receive their photo and picture with the president.

After the ceremony, which was about an hour long we had an all staff reception with lots of food.

It was an exhausting day, but so awarding and I really enjoyed the event and was so thankful for everyone that helped including the person that retired - she graciously let me contact her anytime I had a question. 

 I had by second newsletter article  - this was a 4 page spread. 

The same week that I had the service awards we also we the start of the interns for the summer. The first intern orientation was held on Monday, June 5 and we welcomed 22 interns. Then every Monday in June I oriented more interns until we had 28 of them. Orientation for 22 people is a huge deal. We had a catered breakfast, beverages, name tents, presentations, swag bags, brand new laptops - it was like Christmas for them.

We have an entire schedule for the interns with check ins, goals, performance reviews and activities. The first activity we did was on Tuesday, June 26. We chartered a double decker bus - it was surprisingly inexpensive when you consider you can have 58 people and you can customize the route and it is a live narration. I customized the route and we took photos at key places like the Lincoln Memorial, Washington Monument and the US Capitol. 

Managing the interns this year is getting me that valuable experience in employee relations and business partnership that I truly need to grow on my resume. It has been really wording and I am really trying to have this be an extremely successful program.

Lastly, I was asked to provide answers in the get to know you part of the newsletter - I tell you the entire June newsletter had my name everywhere :)

I truly feel so blessed to have been able to get such a wonderful job in DC. My boss is amazing. He is truly turning in an HR mentor and has given me the flexibility to do awesome things like work a compressed week. Like I said before, I didn't move to DC to climb any ladder, but moving to DC has improved my working skills.