Shania Ali: WLE Blog

Week 1: My Workplace

My workplace is called Deloitte. It is an international consulting and auditing firm. It helps businesses stay successful, be prepared for risks, and solve problems. It is a large corporation and has over 100,000 employees. It is located on Mission St. in San Francisco. It is a huge building with glass windows all around and beautiful views. Deloitte employs all sorts of people such as consultants and technicians. Most, if not all, have a 4 year college degree. My workplace serves big companies in different industries like automotive and medical centers. I work in the Advisory department of the company. Some strengths of Deloitte is that although it is a colossal business, everyone is supportive and welcoming. They are also communicate a lot and are great collaborators. A weakness of my workplace is that it does not have a program to educate and recruit high school students. Their recruiters travel from campus to campus but never schools.

Week 2: My Mentor

My mentor's name is Laura Dirtadian and she is a manager for a team that creates business continuity plans. A typical week for her is going to the client's site and incorporating the client's needs into the plan. Everyday is different for her because sometimes she is at the client's site or the main office doing meetings, trainings or presentations. The timetables for projects are always different so she does not have a precise schedule. She became interested in Deloitte while she was working at E* Trade and collaborated with many different Deloitte members. My mentor was impressed with Deloitte and how she could see a "clear path" for herself there. She could reach her highest goals at Deloitte. It was a community that she could see herself be a part of. For Laura's job, she needed knowledge on software development lifecycle and technical skills. However, what she believes to be the most important skill needed for her job is the talent of building a relationship with clients. Communication between the client and her team is vital because Deloitte looks to give 110% to their clients. Without her ability to network with others, she wouldn't have been able to land her position.

Week 3: My Role

I would say that my main responsibility would be to support any members of the AERS teams. My roles range from using creativity to make the Deloitte Wheel of Fortune, depending upon my critical skills to check separate spreadsheets, or utilizing the grammar lessons from school to review proposals. Just like my mentor, my days are unpredictable. However, that uncertainty adds to the fun of my internship. Unlike school where there are precise routines, working at Deloitte requires me to be adaptable. A regular Tuesday starts off with me catching BART at 8 and meeting up with Angela on 2nd Street. After we scan our badges in the lobby, we part ways so I can go up to the 6th floor to start my day. On the 6th floor, my mentor usually reserves me a desk near her so she can be there to help me. Then we go down to 4th so I can get my laptop and charger. After that we go to Peet's Coffee to start off the day with energy. When we return to the office, I work on any tasks that Kevin or the other employees have.Kevin works in the Application Integrity group of AERS. All the jobs at Deloitte are so interesting and unique. When complete that task, my mentor and I head out to lunch. Every week, I have something totally different. The first week I had seafood then I had salad and last week, I had Thai food with my mentor. The food is absolutely delicious in San Francisco and I wish I could eat forever. After lunch, I work with my mentor on anything she may have for me. That usually takes up the rest of the afternoon and I end my day by going down to ITS to return my laptop. I walk to Montgomery Bart Station to wait for BART and officially arrive home. That is an average day in the life of a Deloitte intern.

Week 4: Project Brainstorm

For my WLE project, I plan on creating activities for when high school students come to visit Deloitte. It is such a complicated business that it is difficult to break down to understandable concepts. Although Deloitte is an international corporation and a part of the Big 4, not much is known about it. I actually did not come up with this project because Jen Powell had produced it. I will be working with the other interns, Angela and Elliot, to formulate an agenda for high school visits. I am excited to work on this project because I am helping educate teenagers about the real world and what kinds of jobs are offered here. We are also thinking of talking about college and what you need to get in because not all high schools focus on the requirements like Impact does. Our plan to complete this project is by dividing the different sections of the proposed agenda and working on them individually. In the end, we will put together all our parts and have a cultivating and interesting plan that informs students about Deloitte.

Week 5: Progress on my WLE Project, part 1

Today at my WLE I helped out with the Recruiting department. Angela and I went through interview forms, sorted them into 4 piles, and then I put the names into a spreadsheet. It took a while because there were so many forms and each interviewee had 1-3 different rounds of interviews. Then we met up with Elliot and laid out the framework for our project. We created an overall agenda for high school visits. Each of took charge of a different part of the day and started working on it. We plan to be done by next week with our individual sections then work on the office tour and extra activity together because they require lots of planning and details. After that, I went into my mentor's office and resumed working on my project. Before she left, I showed my mentor my progress on the project. She was impressed with my work.

Week 6: Leadership Skills

A leadership skill that I am using is Complete Projects Effectively because everyday I go, I am given different projects. I need to complete these projects on time and make sure that I put my effort into them. I also ask questions when I am confused about the task at hand. Another leadership skill that I use is Collaborate Productively. I use this leadership skill when I work with the other interns. Our project will only succeed when we cooperate and pull the weight equally. We meet in conference rooms and we work together as much as we can. I feel that I am utilizing these skills at my workplace. These leadership skills help me produce quality results to my assignments. My mentor uses Completing Projects Effectively and Collaborating Productively. My mentor's work is related to creating business continuity plans for businesses. These projects need to meet deadlines and also please the client. She also uses Collaborate Productively when she works with clients. She needs to maintain a good relationship with them and be able to communicate with them to produce a good end result.

Week 7: What I learned

From this WLE experience, I have learned how to be an independent person. I am always working with other people such as teachers, students, or parents, but coming to Deloitte has taught me that I can function without the extra support I get in school. I have to rely upon myself to finish my assignment. People treat me like an adult. Even though it means acting more professional, I get respect and trust in return. A challenge I faced during my weeks was getting over my shyness. I usually get uncomfortable around new people and working with them made me really nervous. Over the weeks as I started to acquaint myself with my mentor and her team, I began to open myself up more. Another challenge I faced was getting my parents approval to come to San Francisco alone every Tuesday. Even though it isn't that far, my parents are really protective. My dad wanted me to find an internship on this side of the bay. My mom was just worried that I would get lost in the big city. To solve this problem, my mom came with us on BART and taught us how to get to and from the building. Now, every Monday night, she makes sure I have enough money on my BART ticket and for food. I hope that this experience will help prepare her when I go away to college. During this period of time, I learned that I could actually see myself working at a large consulting corporation like Deloitte. I feel comfortable and the work does not feel like work. I also realized that there are more career options than a lawyer, doctor, teacher, scientist, etc. I am beginning to consider all positions and having a closed mind. I used my creativity when I helped out Hal by creating the Wheel of Jeopardy for a business conference. I had to use a template for the markers on the wheel for each different prize. It was frustrating at first because I could not get the template to work. After messing around with it, I overcame my technological weaknesses and created the wheel in time for the conference. My WLE placement affected me because I forced to adapt to an environment that I was not used to. I was now working with professionals not teenagers. My laziness and procrastination definitely decreased after working at Deloitte because I had to step up and complete all my tasks. Some specific skills that I used were productive collaboration and creative expression. If someone asked me about my WLE, I would tell them that I have the coolest WLE ever. I get to work with motivated and mature people, have my own laptop each day, be able to drink 12 different types of tea in the pantry, get adult treatment, and to top it all off, its in San Francisco! Working at Deloitte has showed me that there is more to life than just school and work.

Week 8: Professionalism

In order to get hired at my Workplace Learning Experience, I had to meet Jen Powell when she came to Impact. She came to my school to get together with Nida, my advisor, and talk about the logistics of WLE. The next week, Angela, Elliot, and I met together to do a project assigned to us by Jen. We had to research Deloitte and write our interpretations of the company. We started working the next week. As a result of my WLE, I think being a professional in the workplace .

Week 9: Life At My WLE

Today I worked on a project my mentor assigned me last week. I also meet up with the other interns and we talked about the details of our project. We also prepared for our presentation next week. I have improved as an intern because I am more self-sufficent now. I am not as shy and nervous as I was the day I started. Instead of feeling awkward, I can ask other employees for help or go out to lunch with them. After being forced to work independently when my mentor is traveling, I am able to create good progress without the push teachers give us in school. Deloitte is a great place to intern because they don't judge you on your age, but the quality of work you do. The building is huge and amazing. Mean people don't exist in Deloitte and there is always someone to support you. The fact that it is located in San Francisco just makes it all the more better. Once you get a taste of the real world, you won't want to go back to school.

Blog 10: The End

My final thoughts are that I am incredibly lucky to have worked at Deloitte and I am definitely going to miss it. It was such an amazing experience, from the meetings to the lunches, I'll always remember my time at Deloitte. This WLE will affect my choice next year because I can see myself working in another business. This experience has enlightened me about the business world and I think that this could be a possible path for me in the future. I also might not want to do a business internship because I want to get the feel of a wide range of jobs, just so I can have a clearer path for myself. The main influence that this WLE will have on my choice next year is that sometimes its better to try something completely new because you might end up loving it. Truth be told, I'm not exactly going to miss writing blogs every week, but I am going to miss the feeling of coming home from a day in the city and just reflecting upon this once in a lifetime opportunity.