Below is my reflective journal for my 2016 Field Period!
January 4th
Today was my first day as an intern/observer at the P. A. Hutchinson Company! I was pretty nervous, but just as excited. I began my day learning about payroll, because it is payday tomorrow and so the Human Resources representative showed me what she normally does and allowed me to help with data entry. I was surprised to learn just how complicated it was to pay all 150+ workers! Most of the day was spent helping look for discrepancies in the payroll, and filing health/ work papers.
January 5th
I came in late today because of a doctor’s appointment. Today we worked on finishing payroll because there were some issues in the system that were paying people too much. Then, I went through numerous binders of old employee records and determined which to destroy due to the rule being they must be kept for a certain amount of time before destroyed in case of an audit. Finally, I finished my day by sorting paychecks by alphabetical order along with order by department number.
January 6th
Today, I began by looking for missing “I9” forms. My supervisor said they were most likely in the filing cabinet. They were not. That took about an hour of my time, which was fine because. She told me a little about why we need to keep the forms. Then, I went through job applications in search of a certain candidate from 2014 that was told that we did not need them, but now we would like to review their application. I then realized just how hard it is to find work in the world right now. There were hundreds of applications for “Any” job at the P.A. Hutchison company. I finished my day by scanning papers and shredding them. These papers are valuable for in case we get an audit. I stayed 10 minutes later than everyone else in order to finish scanning the stack I had.
January 7th
My day started by looking for interns! Aimee gave me a phone book and asked me to contact local colleges to hopefully fill the spots for 2 new interns. I have phone call anxiety but I got over it quick- funny how that works when it’s your job. I called Keystone, Lackawanna, University of Scranton, and Marywood University. All of them were excited and gave me instructions on how to post the internships onto their sites. This is very exciting because odds are I will be able to help interview and choose the candidates- exactly like Human Resources does! I’m very excited. I finished my day by scanning and shredding more files.
January 8th
Today I worked on an excel sheet. I also began working on inputting old job applications into the system. Some of them were funny because some people do not pay attention to what they write down. I finished my day by scanning documents.
January 11th
Today I began by sorting paperwork known as “jobs. Then I was tasked to administer tests to a few of the employees that had not taken them yet. These tests are sent by the Department of Human Resources and are aptitude tests that can show things like drug use in the workplace and employee reliability and math skills. I had to read the directions and time the employees. Then, I graded their tests and inputted the grades into the system with the others.
January 12th
Today I filed paperwork and learned about OSHA. I worked on workman’s comp paperwork for a few people who were injured on the job during the last year. I learned that a lot of work goes into workman’s comp to ensure that employees are taken care of. I finished my day by taking paperwork out of filing cabinets and putting them in boxes for in case we get audited.
January 13th
Today I began by participating in an OSHA seminar online with over a 100 people. It was pretty interesting and I learned a lot. Then I went to the accounting department and learned how to use the “Logic” system which is the system that the entire company runs on. I feel this was beneficial because now I can understand and have a greater respect for everything that really goes on in a company other than HR.
January 14th
Today I learned a little bit about Excel which is really quite the amazing program. I was given a large stack of papers and a calculator, and I had to add certain numbers together and input the information into the spreadsheet. This was fun, and I learned just how useful this program is. Having this skill (As I continue to get better with it) is something I find to be very beneficial to my resume. I finished my day by sorting photos from the Christmas party to put in the album in the Human Resources office.
January 15th
Today I continued working on my excel project. There is a lot left so I assume I’ll be done Monday, maybe early Tuesday morning. I also helped work on payroll. There is a lot of information required to find out how much each employee gets paid. I finished my day by scanning some documents and then shredding them!
January 18th
Today I finished the excel project, or so I thought, because then it turns out someone made an error and I had more of it to do. Then, I worked on the assesment results- I posted a sign out near the hand-scanner (where people punch in/out) and it told them that if they were interested in their scores to come and see me! Then, I put a new health and wellness newsletter up on the bulletin board. I finished my day working on the excel project.
January 19th
Today I began by finishing the excel project! It was such a relief to finally get it done. Then, I went out and interacted with some of the employees whom I had not met yet! Also, I had two people come into my office for their test results today! It was fun to give them their scores and see their reactions! (Nearly all employees did better than the national average. I finished by day by scanning/ closing some jobs, and then making sure payroll was ready to go for when they are handed out tomorrow along with the W-2 forms!
January 20th,
Today I gave more people their scores, and got the same reactions from them as I did last time! Then, I went through and made sure that all employees that are utilizing the health insurance we have are paying the appropriate price for what they decided to get. There were a few errors that I spotted and we fixed them! Tomorrow is exciting because we are going to the airport to pick up someone to interview for one of our sales positions! We are going to lunch and then he is coming back to our company to meet everyone else ad have the interviews!
January 21st,
Today I got ready for the interview! We grabbed the company car at noon and drove to the airport to pick him up. His name was Mike and he was a very interesting man. We took him to a small restaurant near our company and asked him a few questions. He is from Chicago, and had almost 30 years of sales experience in printing. Anyway, we took him back to the company and gave him the tour and then my part was done.
January 22nd
Today I worked on Life insurance. I wrote a letter to 40 employees stating the status of the life insurance they have at the company. Then, I went through and organized the wage increase papers. Many employees received a raise and did not know until they were given the papers! It was really cool!
January 25th
Today I put the letters I made into envelopes and handed them out! Also, I created an “On the Job” training program for new hires that use the State assistance program to get a job! It was pretty interesting and fun! I finished my day by making sure all the forms were filled out correctly and submitting them.
January 26th
Today I met the person I made the paperwork for! It was pretty cool! He will be working here on the state assistance program and receiving “on the job training”. Also, I took some photos of my works space and the office for my Field Period website!
January 27th
Today I worked on calling people to set up interviews! I had a few people who had already gotten another job, but I set up one interview tomorrow with someone who is very excited!! I also scheduled a drug test/ physical for someone who got hired!! Overall it was a pretty good day!
January 28th
Today I helped call people to set up interviews. We interviewed one person today and I’m fairly certain he is going to get the job! Tomorrow we have two people coming in for interviews at 9:30am and 10:00am! I also finished handing out important life insurance papers to employees! I really like being the HR intern.
January 29th
Today was my last day. It was very bittersweet. I am happy the experience was positive but sad that it has come to an end. I gave two interviews today. One person got the job, and the other did not-he was very unprofessional-lots of swearing and just overall not the type of person we were considering for the job. I filled out the paperwork, and then called a few more people to set up interviews, along with drug tests and physicals for those we wanted to start working soon. Overall a good day, but I am sad to go. I consider myself very lucky to have had this experience!