I was simultaneously blogging and filling out applications online as I, once again, continue the search for a new and hopefully lasting career. I decided to attempt government employment. In this process, I was forced to perform a self professional evaluation. I decided that this might boost my confidence and allow me to see myself with much more accomplishment. When I complete my previous post "Strength From Loss," you will better understand the necessity of this boost. We will see if this new self perspective will produce a positive outcome. Disclaimer: I have purposely removed the all the position titles and company names. Of course, I copied and pasted from other documents. However, I carefully selected the arrangements and wording that best reflects my self image.
Now the evaluation:
I am extremely interested in the position at the company. I cannot imagine working for a better company
to secure a situation that will fully use my acquired skills and further
develop a professional expertise in Administrative Management. I love new
challenges and work well with a diverse group of people. I would like to join a
friendly office team that not only works together, but also appreciates the
hard work of each of its team members. However, I previously found comfort in
working alone under the direction of a supervisor as well. I am easily trained
to perform new tasks and have worked in many different industries. I quickly
adapt to new environments, yet I continue my search for the company with which
I will be most useful.
Within the past eight years, I specifically sought out to
gain experience in a broad variety of administrative processes so that I may
perform a full range of routine and miscellaneous clerical tasks
simultaneously. I often worked for companies that had difficulty meeting
staffing needs; many times I was forced to assume multiple roles in order to
complete my assignments.This experience
taught me to appreciate the assistance of others and value the efforts of
associates because these efforts often directly or indirectly affect my
productivity.
During my most recent work experience, I was promoted twice
within the first six months of employment. Although the wage I earned was lower
than I preferred, I was granted the opportunity, with unlimited overtime, to
continue special tasks, research, and data analysis that resulted in the
improvement of quality and safety to obtain greater compensation. Frequently, I
chose to sacrifice personal and family time to accept challenges and prove my
abilities in order to earn a justified salary. I supported shift, quality and
safety, training, account, human resources, payroll, general, and regional
managers concurrently.Therefore, it was
important that I understand their roles to meet their specific and dissimilar
administrative needs. It was imperative that I separately develop professional
relationships with each manager so that I can better assess their strengths and
weaknesses: some may require daily reminders while others prefer only that their online
calendars are updated regularly to meet time sensitive correspondence or
priority responsibilities. It was also important that I keep all files, logs,
and other records extremely organized and accessible so multiple managers can
validate my varied reports or conduct their own researches. I was responsible
for “hosting” weekly managers meetings: sending reminder memos to include the
meeting’s topics, confirming who will or will not be in attendance, preparing the
conference room with adequate seating and necessary presentation equipment,
duplicating materials and reports for each attendee, providing note-taking
materials, and occasionally preparing refreshments for lengthy meetings.During these meetings, I take the opportunity
to present any reports or update my progress on continued research. Usually, I
would prepare my weekly reports of time and attendance records to separately
evaluate the subordinate staff of each manager as well as evaluating as a
group. This allows managers to reward their top performers and discipline those
that may not be following procedure. Often, my reports initiate managers to
submit staffing requirements to HR to meet operational needs. After the
meetings, I would document all new goals set by the meetings and forward to
appropriate people. I am accustomed to drafting, proofing, and editing memos
and letters of both confidential and non-sensitive matters.I proudly enjoy editing any form of literature
for grammatical errors.
I prefer a well supplied office. In preparation of numerous
office supplies orders, I keep in mind that most budgets do not reflect a
realistic availability for office supplies. I tend to place monthly orders in
bulk to reduce overall costs of supplies. It is a success when supplies last
for the entire month without having to place an emergency order for toner or
paper and have been known to ration and monitor supplies in order to achieve
this monthly victory.
I learn quickly and am very consistent. I make a conscious effort to replace all responses of “I don’t
know” with a response of “I’ll find out for you”. I am not afraid to ask
questions, especially so that I may completely understand new tasks and ideas.
I have been distracted by countless paper jams, fax transmittal errors, and
other office equipment failures. Although I am frequently asked to use my
troubleshooting skills, I welcome the guidance and knowledge of numerous
technical support professionals that have generously contributed to my
handiness.
I would describe myself as an ethically motivated, highly
organized, independently proactive, career focused team player. My personal
goal in any office setting is to end each workday prepared for any random
audit. This frame of mind allows for a smooth transition when advancement
opportunities are presented. I am confident that the position at the company
appears to be a good fit. Furthermore, I fully appreciate the opportunity to
request consideration, yet I realize more qualified candidates may also apply
for this position. Additionally, please do not hesitate to contact me or pass
on my resume for other vacant positions that might be more appropriate.
Duties From Company A
Conduct
weekly payroll audits and process valid adjustments prior to end of
each pay period. Input approved manual time confirmations. Input
temporary position and pay data adjustments. Update permanent changes
of schedules, positions, and pay data in both on-line and off-line
databases. Research payroll discrepancies and offer explanations of
accepted adjustments and denials. Prepare weekly presentations of
employee attendance and performance analysis. Initiate requests for PTO
balances and process authorized employee leave requests. Manage
communications to and from employees, supervisors, managers, payroll,
human resources, and corporate offices. Prepare personnel action and
disciplinary action forms. Provide one-on-one and group employee
consultations regarding company policies and procedures. Organize file
material and validation records for multiple managers to reference with
ease. Export and prepare reports from multiple data bases. Conduct
searches and other follow up action. Coordinate job fairs. Review new
hire and incumbent employee applications and conduct initial
interviews. Process immediate hires and schedule 2nd interviews. Track
results of pre-employment screening and fingerprinting. Conduct New
hire orientation and training. Schedule and conduct recurrent testing
and retraining. Submit, track, and file employee and passenger injury
claims. Test and develop operating procedures to improve quality of
service and productivity. Monitor property inventory and maintain
accountability records. Monitor functionality and schedule maintenance
of all office equipment. Order and distribute office supplies and
uniforms. Screen documents, forms, and letters addressed or routed to
various offices. Maintain spreadsheets for tracking and reconciliation
purposes. Receive, sort, distribute, and schedule the delivery and
pick-up of interdepartmental mail. Maintain calendar of appointments
and meetings for managers. Schedule travel arrangements. *Accomplishments:
I clearly expressed my aspirations to advance and received my first pay
increase before the standard 90 day evaluation. With a manager who
shared a similar image of productivity, I was able to creatively
organize a more functional work space with little supervision. I
accepted new and increasingly difficult tasks. After working for only
six months, I was recommended to join the Start-Up team of a new
division of the company in Houston, TX. I traveled weekly for two
months and served as an executive assistant to the new regional manager
as other team members could not spend too much time away from their
home divisions. With unlimited overtime, I was able to successfully
staff 350 employees, including supervisors, after processing over 500
applicants. I prepared new employees to begin working several weeks
before originally expected. I was offered the Human Resources Manager
position for Houston even without formal background or training, but I
could not relocate my family.
Duties From Company B
Calculate daily, weekly, and biweekly hours from stamped time cards. Submit time and attendance data for payroll authorization. Perform daily audit of transactions. Reconcile credit card transactions. Maintain logs for tracking petty cash transactions and reconciling bank deposits. Analyze and submit performance and occupancy reports. Organize and file hard copies of daily reports. Establish and maintain administrative operations. Monitor
functionality and schedule maintenance of all office equipment, indoor
pool, elevator, smoke detectors, and fire extinguishers. Order office, breakfast, and maintenance supplies. Monitor property inventory and maintain accountability records. Update employee work schedules. Conduct training for front desk representative and housekeeping positions. Complete housekeeping, laundry, maintenance tasks when staffing inadequate for daily operations. Respond to routine questions, walk-in customers, employees, and telephone callers. Input reservations and sales. Check guests in and out. Perform security checks throughout the property. Prepare deluxe continental breakfasts to accommodate occupancy.
Duties From Company C
Establish and maintain administrative operations. Organize office, lobby and break area. Purchase office, lobby, and break area supplies. Monitor functionality and schedule maintenance of all office equipment. Monitor property inventory and maintain accountability records. Purchase supplies as needed between scheduled orders. Update posting of employee work schedules. Calculate daily, weekly, and biweekly hours from stamped time cards. Perform daily audit of transactions Reconcile credit card transactions. Maintain logs for tracking petty cash transactions and reconciling bank deposits. Organize A/R and A/P files. Prepare all payment and payroll checks for signatures. Verbally initiate collections of direct bill accounts and hand-deliver aging bills. Respond to routine questions, walk-in customers, employees, and telephone callers.
Descriptive List of Skills, Knowledge, and Abilities: (in alphabetical order to avoid selecting between synonyms) *requires re-wording suggestions
Accepts
Challenges*
Analytical
Appreciative
Articulate
Assertive
Attentive
Broad-Minded
Capable
Career Oriented
Challenging
Committed
Communication Skills
Competent
Competitive
Conscientious
Consistent
Cost Conscious
Creative
Critical
Curious
Decisive
Dedicated
Dependable
Detail Oriented
Diligent
Diverse
Easily Trained
Effective
Efficient
Enthusiastic
Ethically Motivated
Exceptional
Experienced
Explainer*
Extensive
Fair
Flexible
Focused
Goal Achiever
Goal Oriented
Grammatically Cautious
Handy
Imaginative
Implementer
Improviser
Independent
Informative Innovative
Instinctive
Intelligent
Interpersonal Skills
Knowledgeable
Leadership
Loyal
Mature
Meet Deadlines
Motivated
Multi-Tasking
Objective
Observant
Organized
Original
Outstanding
Patient
People Pleaser
Perceptive
Pleasant
Poised
Positive Reinforcer
Precise
Proactive
Problem Solver
Productive
Professional
Proficient
Quick Learner
Reliable
Resourceful
Responsible
Self-Directed
Self-Motivated
Self-Reliant
Sincere
Skilled
Strong
Successful
Tactful
Take Directions
Team Player
Thorough
Thoughtful
Tolerant
Troubleshooter
Trust
Trustworthy
Under Pressure
Understanding
Unique
Versatile
Well-Rounded
I obviously described myself at the end of the begining of the evaluation before I compiled this descriptive list and will probably edit that with a more personalized description.
Have you had enough for today? I think I need to get in the bed now. Good night.
It has been a short while since my previous post. I was doing pretty well with posting in October. This is what happened . . .
Disclaimer: For those who do not know or experience much loss, I hate you! No, I don't really hate you, but I want to arrange a meeting so you can let me kick you . . . or possibly just slap you with some Oscar Meyer ham! If you do not understand, you're just going to have to search old posts or something.
Let's get back to topic: October ended with Halloween and November began with a costume party at Sherilyn's and Allston's.
All seemed well, as far as I can remember, during the first weeks of November. I planned on spending some time with Sherilyn, but somehow it just did not happen. Mid-month, I began to worry a little although a little irregularity did not trouble me so much in the past. I came to a realization that the days of the past are long gone. New days require a different perspective. These and future days have high expectations and necessarily demand cautious behavior. Open your mind. See what might have previously been missed. Hear what might have been previously inaudible. Discouraged by the decrease in new postings for interesting opportunities, my lack of interviews, and the plummeting of confidence led me to another realization: my new perspective may not be the right new perpective. My open mind, seeing eyes, and listening ear thought, saw and heard more than my heart would accept. The problem, evidently, was that this new perspective turned out to be a wild imagination. Good thing I realized this, or all I know would be in serious trouble.
Moving on . . . directly after a realization often follows change. Or promise to change. With promise, comes obligation. With obligation, comes a necessity of communication (if at least to courteously request an extension or touch base with progress of meeting that obligation). Lack of this communication will only result in disappointment. It is amazing how people expect your trust as they continue to disappoint you. Have I ever disappointed you? Have I apologized and made up for it, yet? Sometimes people are unaware that their lack of action disappoints. I admit that I too am guilty of this.
So, at what point do you put your foot down and demand attention? When is the appropriate time and place for an ultimatum? Or is the lowering of expectations the only method of protecting yourself from disappointing people? Well, this is what happens when you choose the expectations lowering method: you lose!
However, what you you get from loss? I will definitely get back to this topic, because I did not even get near the place where I wanted to take this title. Due to time constraints, I must abandon this topic and begin a new one for now. Maybe I'll post the new topic separately to avoid confusion.
New Addition to this blog: (01/12/2008 @ 9:30pm)
Let's elaborate where I left off: when I said to protect yourself from disappointing people, I do not want you to misunderstand. I did not mean to lower your expectations so that you do not disappoint others, rather I meant to lower your expectations to protect yourself from people who would disappoint you. Maybe I should have worded that better, but then again, why not vent when you are venting?
Back to Loss: What do you get from loss? Contrary to poular beliefs, I have experienced much loss. Therefore, I will not need to arrange a meeting with myself to either kick or slap myself. The end of November and the begining of December brought a great deal of loss for me. Thanksgiving 2007 was not the best. I was feeling pretty lethargic at odd hours of the day. I had trouble sleeping at night. My senses were hightened and I could not stand the smell of ice. I lacked motivation to complete daily tasks and lost most confidence to succeed in anything. I spent hours sleeping away my depression thinking I would wake up to a better outlook. Soon after, I was starting to believe that it was making things worse. I spent several unconsecutive hours contemplating a way to get it together. I found that the shower is a great place for these hours as it imaginatively washes away the negativity. I was begining to feel sorry for myself, my girls, my husband, my family, and my life. I had to snap out of it. It's a difficult place to be.
I felt guilty for not seeing my family on Thanksgiving night. Dad came into town, but I just didn't feel like going to Atlanta. The next day, Jill and Nicole went to Union City to get something done on Nicole's car.
Falling asleep at the computer . . . To Be Continued . . .
Today, Camille's school had their first "I CAN Achieve" awards assembly. It was about 8:15am when I spoke to Lola to pick up Celene and I. The ceremony was scheduled to begin at 8:30am. I hoped the kindergarten classes went last. I watched her stand up and sit down as her teacher called out the names for each category. Camille was the only student in her class that was recognized in 4 out of 5 "I CAN Achieve" categories: Initiative, Excellent Conduct, Perfect Attendance, Notable Effort, and Academic Achievement. I noticed that she kept getting called, but Lola noticed which one she missed. If you know me, then you know which one it is. Unlike the End-of-the-Year ceremonies I grew up with, no trophies, no medals, and no certificates were presented; then again, school has only been in session for 9 weeks. Only the second through fifth graders with all 4s received t-shirts. We left after congratulating Camille and went to Waffle House for breakfast. Lola missed a call from one of her co-workers only stating in a hushed tone, "the cat is out the bag. I repeat, the cat is out the bag." Of course she had to explain. Debating on whether we were going to visit Camille for lunch, we went to Books-A-Million in The Avenue. 11:05am rolled around and we decided not to have lunch, and Celene and I went home. I didn't sleep well last night, so I was grateful that Chris picked up Camille from school as I napped on the couch with Celene. To my surprise, Camille brought home a certificate that indicated her achievement categories. A double surprise was that the "2nd Mile Award [was] presented to Camille Bennett for going that extra mile in showing INDIVIDUALITY." I asked her why she didn't tell us, but she said that she forgot. The note attached said the following:
"Congratulations. your child has been chosen as the classroom recipient for our 2nd Mile Breakfast sponsored by Chik-fil-a. Our 2nd Mile student breakfasts have been a lot of fun. We serve orange juice and a donated Chik-fil-a biscuit to one student from every class who demonstrated the word of the month. Each classroom has a procedure for choosing their student. So far, we have celebrated students for showing responsibility and individuality. Your child was recognized on Thursday for Individuality. Great Job!"
Camille said that Dorothy got the responsibility award and got a breakfast too. Upon completion of my analysis of the ceremony, only one student got 5 out of 5 "I CAN Achieve" categories and that was Anna. Camille talks about Anna all the time. Her other frequently mentioned friends Lauren, Jordan, Dorothy, and Reese each got 3 out of 5. Since Camille also received the 2nd Mile Award, I think that she ties with Anna in the number of achievements received for this first 9 weeks. If only one of those were not a category, she would have had the most recognition.
Today, I made my first batch of Witch Finger Cookies: I'm practicing for Sherilyn's Halloween Party. I also wanted to make some for Mom, Nicole, and Jill to take to their jobs. One batch is supposed to yield 5 dozen cookies: we'll see. They turned out pretty good. The dough chilled for more than 30 minutes because of a few episodes of Law&Order: Criminal Intent, so it was tough to separate the batch into 4 parts. I let it rest at room temp for about 10 minutes before I could work with it. I only used about a third of 1 of 4 parts of the batch and ended up with 10 cookies. At that rate, I may end up with 10 dozen cookies from only one batch! the end product was a little fatter than I expected, but it did not only happen to me. I got the recipe online and they warned about the fattening of the fingers as they baked. I thought that I formed the dough pretty thin, but obviously not thin enough. Camille and Celene helped me put on the almond finger nails. The recipe also called for the cookies to bake at 325° for 20-25 minutes; however, if I didn't get them out at 10 minutes, They would have been so burnt that only the garbage could eat them. After baking, the girls both helped me paint the Witch nails with the blood red candy paste Celene and I made earlier. We'll try again tomorrow.
I'm feeling much better today. No pain. My face is almost back to normal. I'm taking my meds as directed by Dr. Jill and Dr. Nicole. Exercise has decreased over the last two days. I guess I should get off the computer and get on the elliptical. More later . . .
Maybe I should have worded that better, but then again, why not vent when you are venting? 
Therefore, I will not need to arrange a meeting with myself to either kick or slap myself.
The end of November and the begining of December brought a great deal of loss for me. Thanksgiving 2007 was not the best. I was feeling pretty lethargic at odd hours of the day. I had trouble sleeping at night. My senses were hightened and I could not stand the smell of ice. 
I lacked motivation to complete daily tasks and lost most confidence to succeed in anything. I spent hours sleeping away my depression thinking I would wake up to a better outlook. Soon after, I was starting to believe that it was making things worse. I spent several unconsecutive hours contemplating a way to get it together. I found that the shower is a great place for these hours as it imaginatively washes away the negativity. I was begining to feel sorry for myself, my girls, my husband, my family, and my life. I had to snap out of it. It's a difficult place to be.