A Thinker's Reflections Blog #6: Placement at the Kingston Community Foundation

Getting used to working regular shifts for greenhorns, such as myself, is a very exciting and challenging time. This is especially true when you have the opportunity to test out the knowledge and skills you have obtained from your education.

For any of you reading this blog entry, I am currently conducting a placement at the Kingston Community Foundation, which is a renowned non-profit organization that serves the City of Kingston and its surrounding communities. The Community Foundation's main role is to support causes, charities, and non-profits that have a profound impact on people within the community, while being able to generate a positive effect for those influenced by a particular request throughout later years. The Community Foundation delivers its support through a process which is known as the Grants Approval stage; where the organization asks for all interested parties to submit Letters of Intent outlining their specific goals and cause.

I have already obtained insights into how office culture operates, and how communications should be conducted internally within an organization. Respecting others' time is a key lesson to remember, as there are often too many things to do in a single day. Many problems must be solved individually, and without the assistance of others. It is only after trying all other possible avenues, that it makes sense then to seek out the aid of your co-workers.

Marketing research is a field that has certainly captured my attention over the past couple months, and the skills I have received from my education have assisted me greatly in how I go about completing any of the tasks I have been assigned. In particular, data organization and understanding the process of collecting it (whether this is from digital resources or paper resources, such as filing), has served me well during my first week of placement. My education will continue to pay off, as I continue on into my second week, where I will be conducting in-depth data analysis.

As always, showing initiative in anything that is requested of a placement student within the workplace can deliver a good impression from one's superiors. I think it should be noted that a large portion of what it means to take initiative is when a person is willing to keep an open mind, and learn about things outside their current field of interest and understanding.

I hope my fellow classmates from the Advertising Integrated Marketing Communications program at St. Lawrence College are currently enjoying their placements, and continue to enjoy them as time continues going forward.