Journal Entry #7 The People who work in the Organization and Your Mentor

Please read this article:

https://www.indeed.com/career-advice/career-development/good-employee-qualitiesLinks to an
external site.

1. Who are the people? How many employees does your organization have? How does Human
Resources or Management work in hiring and retaining good employees?

2. Who is your mentor? How does your mentor fit into the organization?

3. Write a three-tier journal entry using this reading and your current experiences with service.

Description

The attached article highlights the things that make up a good employee. These are having
dedication, confidence, reliability, the ability to do teamwork, independence, leadership skills,
interpersonal/communication skills, self-awareness, critical thinking, and integrity.

I now volunteer at United Way. My organization has an immediate 3 people working there, the
director, Kari, and office manager, Nikki, and the person in charge of First Call for Help
specifically, Abby. I overheard today that they want to hire someone for the front desk, but would
need approval or some money to do so, so I'm not sure how Human Resources or Management
works in hiring new people, considering they spoke as if it was unlikely that they would get
someone.

My mentor is sort of all of them, but specifically Nikki. I'm given tasks throughout the day and
can go to any one of them for help on a call. Nikki is the office manager.

analysis

I am not an employee of this organization, but I suppose I represent them enough to get dress
coded for showing too much leg. I suppose I lack self-awareness, but I did not realize that
volunteers, who do the same work there, but for free, have to also dress to a particular standard
as well. Regardless, I was thrown into the position without much training and thus cannot say I'm
the best employee because of it. It takes a ton of mediation to recover after a day of people
trauma dumping on you, begging for help, when you often have to turn them away because of
how grants work, rules, and all these other little bureaucratic things. I hate it, actually. I realize I
do help people find resources they need, not unlike how I was helped when I was younger, but it
often feels like there are more denials than approvals, and it sucks.

I've also realized I never want to have an office job, after a few weeks of working here. The
environment is constantly busy, all while staring at papers and screens for hours on end. I can ask
for help, I learn to have patience, and I am fed knowledge on how to use a janky office phone.

Again, however, there are good things--like really repeating breathing exercises and knowing
that that woman will make sure her children have coats for winter. I want to help. I have been in
a lot of these people's shoes, growing up, but it feels so innately wrong to be the person on the
other side, turning down when I used to be turned down.

application

Again, in my personal life, I realized I never want to do office work. It is soulless and I cannot
breathe. I know I am a good employee, already. I have had multiple jobs, I have run multiple
publications, and I make good coffee at work. I care, deeply. Maybe so deeply, it's quickly turned
into bitterness because I can not help but focus on the bigger picture, when the smaller ones are
important too. That's something to ponder when I am waking up in the morning, however, in an
effort to shift my ever stiff perspectives.