I am finally ready to work, and again it feels like I am at an internship. I'm starting to think that THIS is what "work" entails. It is difficult for me to be the proactive individual that I claimed to be in the interview. Was I lying there, or is there actually no way for me to harness my motivation into something productive? I honestly believe that I can add value to an organization, but, so far, nobody has had work to delegate to me.
I started my job on Monday. I love how the first thing that every organization does is lead you around and introduce you to people. It's doubtful that either party remembers names during these introductions, making the entire episode pointless in my mind. Wait a week. Let the person get settled down and understand the organizations structure. This will allow for easier conversation.
It is difficult to come up with effective work when I really don't know what it is that the department is responsible for, and who I can work with to come up with ideas to help the organization. What do I do? How can I help to streamline what my department does and accomplish something that betters our mission?
At the same time, I am able to use the day and feel productive. I try to read and learn about anything I can. Learning all that I can about Excel will be exceptionally useful going forward. I suppose that this is part of what I can do right now to have an impact. The better I get at Excel now, the less time I will spend on perfunctory work and the more I time I can spend supporting other projects. It is my responsibility to spend down-time practicing Excel. I hope to find MLS data and put it into a spreadsheet format as a way to practice and improve my speed and efficiency.
It always feels like I understand what my boss is explaining in the first minute, but she continues to outline the entire project for the next 5 minutes. It's a common theme amongst the people I have worked under. It's usually more effective to learn from my mistakes, to jot down the questions I have, then ask them all together when there is time. I always want to cut them off and say that I understand, to wave my arms around and ask them to move on to something else, because I get it. But that's rude, so I sit and nod in earnest.
