I have not been handed many leadership positions in the past, but when l have been, I managed to bring the best out of the people under me. Whether it be coaching underclassmen how to become better at soccer, or pushing the cashier team for credits, l have done pretty well when it comes to leading people. In the summer of 2013, l was selected among hundreds of candidates to intern for a Medical Firm. After the first week or so, our employers divided the 8 interns they had hired, into groups which were then assigned different branches of the firm they needed help with. They entrusted me to not only carry out the tasks provided to me by the Finance Branch, but also to look after all the other interns.
l was the second to youngest in the group, with all the other interns being college students. So not only was I under the pressure of working with thousands of dollars at hand, but was also supposed to direct older interns. It was a fun learning experience where I was handling contracts with medical staff, bills for medical machinery and information of patients. Throughout the two months I interned at Crescent Hospice, 1 was the mode of communication between the interns and the employers. I was supposed to make bi—weekly reports of the tasks handed to the interns, address the concerns of the interns and also keep the team of interns in shape.
It turned out to be a real professional experience that prepared me for the next leadership position I assumed right before the end of my internship, I was hired at Kohl’s as a POS (Point of Sale) Associate; a fancy name for cashier. [ always had a fear of paper money and was scared on my first day of work when a customer handed me a $100 bill. But after about two days in to the job, I felt like I had been there for years. Every cashier at Kohl’s is supposed to get customers to sign up for Kohl’s credit cards. Now this is where I assumed a leadership position. My mentor/supervisor at work is amazing at getting credits.
So the longer I stayed with her, the better I became at getting credits until we both became the powerhouses of the store. Now that l have become her “backbone”, as she likes to call me, | naturally push for credits and try to give tips to new employees on how to help the store with sales. In these six months at the store, the manager and supervisors tend to consider me as a leader of the young POS Associate team, and the team looks up to me too. These two experiences are the most important leadership positions I have had. They have helped me learn a lot. I look forward to taking up many more leadership positions in the future and performing at the high level people are accustomed of seeing me perform at.
