Intern: Max Steigerwald
Dates: 15/07/2013 – 23/08/2013
Context
Max commenced a six-week internship with Elevating Success UK – a training and personal development company – on 15 th July 2013.
Duties
His duties included ad-hoc office administration such as organising new folders for
upcoming training programmes, filing away materials and producing labels for draws/
folders etcetera. However, it was quickly established that Max’s strength lay in his
adept use of IT applications and the internet, which resulted in his being allocated
tasks such as the production, enhancement or researching of teaching resources.
For instance, Max worked on an existing training programme called On The Road
and improved the current PowerPoint by adding additional information - and most
importantly graphics - which significantly enhanced the overall appearance of the
training materials. He also converted the existing paper resources for our Business
Enterprise course into a PowerPoint. However, Max’s biggest contribution to the
organisation has been the creation of an Access Database for the purpose of
mapping the progression of our course graduates. This will have a significant impact
on the organisation going forward as we gather, store and have easy access to the
positive outcomes of our graduates over time, which will strengthen our bid writing
and funding applications.
Attributes
Max had a can-do attitude, was impeccably dressed and was enthusiastic in his approach to tasks. Most notably he had excellent time-keeping and was not late on
single occasion throughout the 6 weeks despite travelling more than a 30-minute bus journey to the office.
Progression
Over time, Max’s social interactions with colleagues became more enriched and extended to his interacting with employees from other organisations within the business centre.
Areas for development
At times communication proved challenging as Max struggled to understand the task he had been set. At these times a more forthright attitude in telling the member of
staff immediately that they had not been understood would have been good. In addition, if Max was with us for longer we would have wanted to stretch him by
getting him to complete more writing tasks. As it was, information was emailed to colleagues without text in the body of the email. However, staff were grateful to
receive the high-standard of work that he produced and as a result this was not queried. Nevertheless, to ensure that Max gets maximum benefit from a future
placement he should be charged with writing more. Last, one would just suggest that
when working in the office environment that he becomes accustomed to taking a
note of tasks using a pen and paper to ensure that he has captured all the
instructions at the outset.
In summation, Max was an impressive candidate and we would have no hesitation in both recommending him and hiring him in the future. In fact, his presence at
Elevating Success UK has made us reconsider the level of IT skills we will require from future British interns with the bar being raised that bit higher!