1. To what extent have you learned new disciplines for learning and managing your time?

 

Throughout this summer internship, I was able to learn new disciplines and how to manage my time better. The most significant disciplines that I learned at Anna’s House were flexibility and versatility. Learning to be flexible with my schedule, work hours and being willing to learn different jobs has not only given me new technical skills but also built trust with my team. Having leaned new skills such as serving, tip share and opening and closing a restaurant has given me versatility within my workplace and has made me more well rounded as a future manager. With these new disciplines and tasks, I have also learned how to manage my time more efficiently and know when to delegate tasks to other people. Time management is a key component of our industry and I have been able to improve on it as both a cook and as a manager in training.

 

2. Have your career goals been reinforced, or have you decided to alter your original goals?

 

My career goals have been reinforced and I am excited to continue my personal growth at Anna’s House. Even after this summer internship, I am still passionate about what I do, and I want to improve not only myself but any establishment that I step into in the future.

 

3. What new skills have you acquired and what present skills have been reinforced? Consider the full range of skills: leadership; technical; communication; artistic; social; political and others.

 

I was able to acquire a wide range of new skills during this internship. In terms of leadership, I learned how to lead a team through a busy service by giving directions, communicating with my staff, and delegating tasks if need be. I have learned how to communicate better with the staff and management by being thoughtful with my words, posture and tone and adapting to the wide range of personalities around me. I also attempt to speak Spanish to my Spanish coworkers and try to pick up on new phrases while getting to know them. Artistically, I am working on my presentation and plating skills, and I am making better effort to set higher standards for myself and making sure I am inviting our guests visually with each dish I make. My social skills have improved as well, as I make attempts to relate to cooks, servers dishwashers and managers in conversation and make myself more approachable as a line cook.

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4. What specific techniques have you learned which will improve your interpersonal skills? How will these improve your ability to be a successful manager?

 

To improve my interpersonal skills, I have learned to keep my emotions in check, be more assertive, actively listen to who I am speaking to, and empathize with more people. Keeping my emotions in check will help me be patient with others and not only keep myself calm and professional but everyone else around me. This is important when you are faced with rude customers or coworkers you do not get along with. Being more assertive will help me express my opinions in a way that won’t offend anybody but also effectively communicate what my needs and limits are. This can improve leadership by delegating tasks to others and create an honest work environment. Active listening is a way to let people know that you are present and engaged in the conversation and that you are trying to understand them. This helps with engaging with customers that are either complaining or praising about their experience and can help create a genuine and helpful conversation. Empathy is incredibly important in almost any workplace because it involves putting yourself in someone else’s shoes and relate to them. Having a sense of empathy improves your ability to be a successful manager because it allows you to create solutions and know how to help customers and coworkers.

 

5. How could your internship learning experience have been more beneficial? What were the most positive and negative aspects of your experience?

 

I am very grateful for my experience at Anna’s House and their willingness to teach me new skills and develop me into a future manager. If there is anything that could have made my experience more beneficial, is having more time to learn new skills and apply them. We are very fast paced at Anna’s House and I can understand why management sometimes does not have time to teach me everything. Regardless, management has taught me a lot so far and are always open to having conversations with me. The most positive experience was having management actively teach me new tasks such as inventory, ordering, cash counting, using tip share, analyzing profit and loss statements and eventually front of the house duties. The most negative aspect of my experience was finding time to learn more and actively apply them on a daily basis. I wish I had more time to learn more skills within the timeframe of this internship. Again, we are in a fast-paced environment, so time is critical to everyone, and I look forward to growing more with Anna’s House in the future.

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6. What suggestions would you make for improving this internship learning experience?

One suggestion I will make for improving my internship learning experience is possibly shadowing either Bill or Sharlet and see what they do throughout a given day. I feel like that would have given me more perspective on what it is like to manage a restaurant. Another suggestion I would make is setting aside more time to learn new concepts at work either after hours or during slow work days.